Injustice!

You've spent days creating some awesome artwork and shared it with the world - as all beautiful art should be. Later you find it's been stolen! Used on a site or product without your permission. This is not right, fair or legal. It shouldn't be that some unscrupulous seller can just come along, harvest the fruits of your labour and convert it into their own personal revenue stream.

In this article I'll discuss the topic of art theft and what you can do to minimize the chance of falling victim to it.

Not a new phenomena

The topic of online image theft has been on my radar since the late 90s. I've since become an expert on the matter.

In my late teens, I created my first art portfolio website back in the early days of the web. The sole purpose was to share what I'd been working on with like-minded people. Having my own website was great. It started as a hobby project and went on to generate many fantastic opportunities. It allowed me to become a professional, paid artist which, would have otherwise remained a pipe dream.

I recommend everyone has their own site!

Although it was and will always be true that where there are creative people offering quality content, there will also always be poachers looking to take advantage of the fact.

The internet was a much smaller place 20+ years ago, which meant fewer 'web surfers' and smaller potential audiences. This fact didn't stop a handful of image thieves from discovering my art. Looking back, my early work wasn't particularly amazing, but good enough to inspire a few fans. And wherever there are fans, they will unfortunately be thieves.

I remember several occasions between the late 90s and early 2000s whereby I'd spot wannabe artists who'd taken a few pieces of my work and were passing it off as their own. Sometimes it would be a straight-up Copy + Paste from my gallery to theirs. Other times they might colourise the image or add some small detail to it in order to make them feel as though they were its author.

I remember at the time being furious to find someone out there was taking credit for the art I'd created. I'd email them; complaining, either asking them to credit me or take it down. Most of the time they'd just take it down. The shame of being found out was normally enough to make these people comply.

What do these people have to gain?

There are 3 different types of art thief- some amateur artists copy your work, others who take the art and pend it's their own, and criminal thieves or infringe on your copyright to turn a profit.

Tracer/ Copier Art Thieves:

Years ago, the main concern from artists would be having their art copied or traced by another amateur and simply not giving credit. This still happens, but these days it typically doesn't worry me. A lot of the time it's just kids online wanting to emulate art for fun and aren't necessarily looking for trick anyone or profit from the endeavour.

Pretender Art Thieves:

Then there's those who steal another's artwork and pass it off as their own for kudos. If someone wants to fake being better than they are by trying to fool others, they are doing themselves more harm than they think. This type of art thief subconsciously reinforces the fact that they are a loser who's too lazy to put in the work themselves, so resorts to shortcuts- leeching off others and being deceitful in an attempt to gain external validation. Being that way will not get them far in life. They might get a few 'likes' on social media, but then how sad to feel as though your self-worth is tied to a social media platform's 'like' counter?

The damage this type of thief does to their own sense of self worth is often much worse than damage caused to the artist they've stolen from. My advice to this thief is to learn how to draw as good as the artwork you've stolen and taken credit for. At least then you wont have to know that deep down you're a cheat who's incapable of achieving great things. If you the reason you're stealing is because you simply can't draw despite many years of trying, then perhaps find something else you can get good at and focus on that instead.

Criminal Art Thieves:

Lastly there is the type of thief who wants to exploit and profit from an artist's efforts. These people frustrate artists the most. Especially commercial artists who understand the financial value in their work and want to be the ones profiting from it themselves.

Insane amounts of art Piracy!

We're more than two decades into the 2000s. The internet has become a big part of everyday life for most people. Art theft is hitting record numbers. Now, us artists do not have to simply concern ourselves with the occasional amateur taking credit for our work, but hundreds of illegal businesses could potentially be making huge amounts of profit via our art and designs.

I don't want to scare anyone to the point where they don't feel safe in posting their images online. As I say, I think everyone should have their own website and share their beautiful art with the world. To inspire others or evoke emotion from one's creative endeavours is one of the most virtuous acts one can perform.

However, we need to be realistic about the world we live in. Even during the last few years alone, I've discovered several hundred instances of my work being used on websites or products without my consent. I almost can't keep up! For every new artwork I create, there are multiple sellers seemingly waiting to pull it off the web and sell it on dozens of products. Clothing, cases, accessories, wall art or basically any item that can be printed on to. I've somewhat come to terms with it being part and parcel of being a successful artist. But that doesn't mean I don't take measures to protect my art or actively fight against the piracy of my work.

Why is there more art theft?

Here's a few reasons. I'm sure there's many more.

1. The internet has grown

According to Internet Live stats, In 2000 there were 17 million websites. Now there's close to 2 billion! Simply, the more sites and people using the internet, the more opportunity for web crimes to occur. There's now more art than ever to potentially profit from, and more thieves hoping to make a quick buck.

2. More countries have online access

Certain counties such as China do not share the same respect for intellectual property. Sellers in China do not need to battle with the moral or legal enforcement issues we have in western countries. And so for these people, the internet becomes one big buffet to pick from and exploit. Individual sellers in China can now access the west's online retail space via sites such as Ebay, Amazon, Alibaba, Wish or AliExpress. These sellers can afford to work for less and produce physical items at a lower cost. Therefore, making and supplying printed products has become a lucrative business.

3. The rise of Print on Demand

Print on Demand isn't new, but really began to take off between 2015 and today. Rather than need to print, stock and then sell hundreds of products in one go, companies now offer the production of single items at a reasonably affordable price. A seller doesn't need to risk printing 100 pirated t-shirts with the fear of losing the ability to shift them all if their operation gets shut down or their product is banned [Note- Retailers such as Amazon or Shopify do not typically ban blatant pirate sellers or their operations. Rather, they ban copyright infringed items and only when such items are brought to the attention of these platforms].

[blockquote quote_type="type2" author_name="Ben Krefta, Artist" width="100%"]"Where there are creative people offering quality content, there will also always be poachers looking to take advantage of the fact."[/blockquote]

10 Ways to Protect Your Artwork Images from Being Copied Online

At this time, there is no way to completely prevent your art being taken, reproduced or replicated unless it never makes its way to the web. A tiny percentage of artists might decide they won't ever share anything online and that's fair enough. But if your goal is to sell your work, promote yourself or services through your online portfolio and web presence, then posting your art is a necessity.

My feeling is that the more barriers and obstacles you put into protecting your work, the better. Some thieves will simply be deterred and instead go after images that are easier to attain.

1. Limit the size of your images

Smaller images can look fine on a screen- especially mobile devices. They only print small and when enlarged they become pixilated and grainy. This makes them unsuitable for printing onto products. Another advantage to uploading smaller images is that they load faster, taking up lass space on your hard drive or SD card.

Image size is determined by its dimensions and measured in pixels. For example, 400 x 600 px (pixels). An image's size can be described as it's 'resolution'. A high resolution image is one with large pixel dimensions such as 1000 x 2000 px or more. An image's pixel per inch (ppi) value can affect the print resolution of an image, which will be explained later.

How big should my online images be?

It depends who's viewing them and where they'll be used. If you've put together a slick, full-screen, online art portfolio to show clients, you might want to consider slightly larger files compared to something shared with the general public on social media. Consider who will have access to your art and who's likely to find it. If it can only be found via a direct link and your work isn't popping up on a Google image search despite your best efforts to find it, then it's safe to say that thieves will struggle to find it also.

◾ If the art is just going on social media, something like 700 x 700 px will suffice.

◾ When your work is featured in video content such as a Youtube video at high-definition 1080p, then you'll want to consider a bigger image to fill this 1920 x 1080 px resolution frame. At this time, stealing images from Youtube screenshots to later use on a printed product isn't common.

◾ For online use, I generally try to keep the widest part of an image at 900px - 1200px maximum.

2. Lower the print resolution of your images

Not to be confused with screen resolution, when an image is printed, it's pixels per inch (ppi) is taken into account to determine its print resolution and level of quality. [Note- for the sake of argument, I sometimes use the terms 'ppi' and 'dpi' (dots per inch) interchangeably]

Pixel dimensions and ppi are somewhat interlinked. If saving art in Photoshop, you can modify its dimensions and amount of ppi independently and under the setting: Image -> Image Size.

Lowering the image size and resolution before putting it online is one of the best ways to prevent art theft. However, some thieves will still attempt, and in some cases succeed, in selling low-res printed products to unfussy customers. As a consumer, you should always expect the artwork on any product you buy to look sharp as a knife. If it's not, ask yourself- Is this product counterfeit? And if so do I want to support counterfeiters? Less demand for low quality, stolen 'toot' = less reason for art to be taken in the first place.

Also, it's worth being aware that A.I. software exists which can attempt to up-scale low-res art into high-res sizes. It's not perfect, but something to consider.

3. Compress your images and save as JPEG

Most images shared online will be saved as a compressed JPEG file. This typically uses .jpg extension at the end of the file name. Even a large, high-res Jpeg won't be suitable for print if it's been super compressed.

You can vary the amount of compression applied to a jpeg. But the more compression, the uglier it looks on a display. You want to find a sweet spot where the quality will drop by a few notches but the image still looks decent on the screen. A Jpeg should still look fine on screen at 60-70% quality and also benefit from a smaller file size. Certainly, 100% quality shouldn't be shared online.

If I'm saving a jpeg for the web with Photoshop, I'll typically use it's 9 out of 12 quality setting.

4. Add a Watermark to artwork

Your digital watermark could be a logo or signature. Watermarks usually cover a portion of the art with a semi-transparent logo or word which makes the image less useful without totally obscuring it. 

I've found a 50-50 split with some artists advocating watermarks, while others think it degrades the quality of their work. Sure- a watermark will always somewhat interfere with the beautiful artwork beneath, and that's the point.

It's worth noting, anyone selling products containing watermarks is making use of 100% stolen art. Again, as consumers, we should resist the temptation to purchase these products so as to not support the pirates.

Amazingly, I once saw a stolen, watermarked artwork with a huge DevianArt logo over the top being sold on a garment by a printed hoodie business. The audacity to openly commit this act of fraud was remarkable. I would often troll their social media account asking why they steal all their art and don't pay artists for the privilege. It was an attempt to shame them into stopping the practice. Sure, they'd delete my comments and attempt to ban me, but when I see things like this, I can't ignore it. I don't like to see other artists being taken advantage of, whether they are aware of  it or not.

How do I know if I should watermark my artwork?

I've noticed certain styles and themes of artwork are more likely to be stolen. And so the need for a watermark is more important. Do you create fan art? Paint celebrities? Draw actors or characters from popular culture? Is your subject easy to cut out and paste on products, e.g. a character on a flat, plain coloured background? If so, consider watermarks. Something like a generic boat sailing on the ocean or a nice looking photograph of a local landmark is less likely to get swiped, even if it's a good piece of art.

5. Add a copyright notice or website address to images

Similarly to adding a watermark, you could add a copyright notice to your image. By default, any artwork created by an author grants them automatic copyright and ownership (other than in work-for-hire or other contractual relationships). However, adding a line of text to state the artwork has an owner may deter a few thieves and make people aware of the image's author.

Adding your website address to the bottom of an image could also deter and, in some cases, work as an extra benefit to the artist.  If it's the type of art that could get shared around a lot on social media, it could potentially earn you a few new site visitors. Or at least it gives no reason for anyone else posting the image to not give you credit for having created it.

6. Let people know you're the artist

Rather than adding copyright info or a web address to the image itself, you can always add this to any web page you post your images to. On social media, add hash tags including your name, company or brand in the description box. This helps mitigate the damage from social media shares where people don’t give credit.

A lot of people don’t understand the importance of giving credit and not stealing ideas. Add reminders explaining how giving credit helps you as an artist. These can be added to social media posts discussed on your blog or website. Anywhere you might post your intellectual property. No need to moan about it. Be professional and let people know why crediting artists is important.

7. Don't share the full image

You could decide to post just a cropped version of the full image you have. This isn't necessarily a great solution and the crop still has a chance of being taken, but in a few select cases, it could work as a deterrent.

8. Only post photos of your art

Particularly for digital artists and photographers, one thing to consider is printing out your work, then taking and sharing photos of it. It can be taken at a slight angle by tilting the work, placed in a frame or held up to the camera. Any ambient shadows or lighting stops a thief from being able to download a clean version of the image suitable to add to products.

I see this from a few Instagram artists I follow- they add overlapping pens or paintbrushes to their art before taking a photo. It looks cool. Or they shoot their work in different environments- perhaps with plants or other accessories surrounding the image.

9. Disable the right-click function

If you manage your own website and have some coding know-how, you can disable right-clicking on your images. Therefore not allowing the option to save them. Or you can make images only downloadable 'webp' files which means they'll only open in a browser. This makes it a bit harder for some people to save your images to their devices.

However, there are still several work-arounds to this. These include saving using a screenshot, searching through the website's source code to find the unprotected image location, or searching through their browser's cache of temporarily downloaded images.

10. Be easy to contact online

If you make it easy for people to contact you, they’ll be more likely to ask for permission to use your work. Mention your web address or how people can contact you on the sites you post on. If you don’t want to grant permission, you can still politely decline. On my site, the Contact page even has a drop down heading for 'Usage rights' so that I can address this topic more efficiently.

[blockquote quote_type="type2" author_name="Ben Krefta, Artist" width="100%"]"As a consumer you should always expect the artwork on any product you buy to look sharp as a knife. If it's not, ask yourself- Is this product counterfeit? And if so do I want to support counterfeiters?"[/blockquote]

Battling Art Theft

I appreciate the war on theft isn't the most uplifting of art-related topics. There are many articles and websites which promote posting your art online to gain exposure, or e-commerce sites promoting ways to display and sell your artwork with relative ease. However, it's worth being realistic and spending some time considering the 'dark side' of putting your work on the web.

How do thieves find my artwork?

You've created an amazing image and want to share it with the world. For the majority of web users, this will be limited to friends, family and a few strangers picked up on the way. You might share it on social media platforms or art-related websites. Most artists, or at least, aspiring artists, won’t need to worry about their work being ripped off because they're simply not famous or easy to stumble upon.

If you've managed to not only create beautiful art, but gained notoriety, fame or followers as well, Congratulations! You've made it into the upper echelon! But unfortunately, now you're a target.

Is your work is east to find?

Perhaps you’ve considered Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for your personal website? Or maybe you’ve shared it on a site which increased its findability with its own SEO? If your creations have proved popular with lots of shares, likes, sales and so on, they'll likely rise up and become easier to stumble upon. Is your work ranking high on a Google Image search? Or perhaps it is one of the first items to appear via a Pinterest search? Great! It's not easy for one’s art to gain that level of exposure. However, thieves now know it exists too. They also know that the cream of the crop rises to the top, so they're far more likely to see value in your digital offering/s.

The prime targets for thieves, however, are existing online stores. Thieves pay attention to the best sellers on each platform to determine which art will more likely award them higher profits later on. If you’ve been successful at selling your work on retail sites like, Red Bubble, Zazzle, Fine Art America, Society 6, Etsy, Amazon and Ebay, then you’ll need to understand the artworks on those products are at higher risk of being taken.

Some of these sites will put some measures in place to prevent art theft. After all, it’s in their interest to not have to compete against their own offerings on alternative sites. Unfortunately, for me personally, their measures have been insufficient. Most of my work is typically taken from various other retailers I’ve licensed with.

Thieves using their stolen art to sell their own products is only half the story. The other half is made of thieves re-selling artwork to other manufacturers or Print-On-Demand sellers.

Many sellers don’t even realise they’re effectively handling stolen goods when they buy a ‘digital image pack’ containing hundreds or thousands of popular images they can make use of on their products. Well, I say they don’t realise, but you’d have to be pretty naive about copyright law to think a nominal price for a huge collection of royalty-free professional art is legit.

I give a tiny bit more leeway to sellers who buy existing products already containing your artwork from sites like Alibaba in China. It’s funny how such a huge corporation can float on the stock market despite being a huge hot-bed of blatant illegal activity. Don’t take my word for it; just search for your favourite, popular IPs and franchises to bring up pages of unlicensed goods for sale.

There isn’t a solution to the whole 'being found' issue- we want our artistic efforts to go noticed. And we want our art-based merchandise to become the next hot seller. If it does, art theft is simply an inevitable consequence.

Should I always bother protecting my artwork?

Some things aren't worth bothering to protect. For example, thumbnail images for your online gallery will be too small to do much with.
Quick sketches, work-in-progress images or idea posts don't have a lot of commercial value, although the idea of having a link back to your site or including a web URL on these may still be worth considering.

Realistically speaking, is your art good enough to steal?

For most of us, we wouldn't even bother sharing our art if we didn't see at least some value in it. But while we may love our creations, would an on-looker sit up and take notice? After all, there's already such a huge buffet of pre-existing, quality content floating around on the internet. Perhaps there's no need for concern if you're just starting out on your artistic journey. Maybe wait until your work is good enough to steal or you've found it's been stolen before you worry about putting in more measures to protect your portfolio.

Your art may be good, but could still be safe if there's already something very similar ranking high on search engines. Or other art that already has a proven track-record of generating sales on other online stores.

It’s a waste of time to even worry about art theft

When it comes to taking measures to avoid art theft, such as adding watermarks to your art, it will be up to you to decide if it's worth the effort. Some artists just want to post their artwork online, then move onto the next thing. They don’t want to hang around, wasting time to consider if or when it could get stolen and used without their consent. This is fair enough.

I understand that life is short and we don’t necessarily want to worry about the dodgy, objectionable practices that take place within our global society. It can be a waste of life if you’re forever chasing thieves instead of moving on to your next exciting creation. Many artist friends of mine say the battle against art theft is too emotionally costly. The stress that comes from seeking out instances of theft or taking steps to resolve these infringements is too upsetting and not worth the distress.

Therefore, ask yourself, is it worth your time to take measures to avoid art theft? Is it worth your time to resolve an instance of copyright infringement? And do you have the mental fortitude to engage with the stress it causes?

Speaking for myself, my sense of justice and fairness is baked into my personality such that I can’t let artwork theft slide. Despite the mental toll it takes to deal with these instances, it’s even worse for me to do nothing while I know there are people out there profiting from the fruits of my labour. Also, if I am to sell my artwork on a print, canvas or product on Amazon, for example, I don’t want to have to compete against other sellers who are illegally offering the same art and product type, albeit of a lower quality.

Flattery

There is an argument I've never understood - "Why is this so bad? You should feel flattered that your work was good enough to steal". I understand there are many non-artists out there who'd love the ability to create good art. Art so good that it's noticed and appreciated. So much so that it warrants being stolen! However, they do not understand the effort and commitment that has gone in to creating the art.

Artists have developed their craft over many years to get to a point where they have become competent professionals. It has taken passion, effort and a degree of sacrifice (such as time) to have reached their level of ability. And with each artwork, a small part of them goes into its creation. An artist's knowledge, preferences, tastes and loves have been distilled into their work. It's personal.

But for thieves, it's not personal. It's business. The business of exploitation. This isn't something to be encouraged or thought of in a positive way.

Perhaps, for some, the theft provides a little boost of self-esteem? It makes them feel their efforts have value and so they are of value. I understand. It's nice to know we have something positive to offer the world, but that's not what this discussion is about. It's about acknowledging an injustice and considering what you can do to battle it.

Where do thieves sell my artwork?

Sometimes you'll stumble upon an e-commerce site making use of your work. Other times, a friend, follower, or good Samaritan will notify you so that you can take action. But if you are prepared to see if your work has been taken and is currently being sold online, there are a few sites you can use to assist:

Google Image Search - Upload your art / image and search for visual matches via  Google.

Tiny Eye Reverse Image Search - This works in the same way and can bring up matches from alternative sources.

[Note: In testing these sites while writing this article, I unfortunately found 7 instances of my artwork being used on Diamond Painting Kits and Jigsaw Puzzles by Amazon sellers. They've since been reported.]

In addition, you may want to try manually searching for products containing your art on sites like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or Print on Demand Stores like Red Bubble. This is easier if your work is more niche. For example, if you've painted a blue fairy riding on the back of a toad- you might try searching for "blue fairy on toad", "blue fairy on toad art", "blue fairy on toad canvas" etc. It may yield product results. It may not.

If you'd previously listed and sold your artwork for sale on a site like Red Bubble, a thief may have also found it. You might try searching sites for the same title you'd used on the original product listing.

What to do when you find someone has stolen your art

Many instances of theft are by kids or naive idiots taking your image to use as a wallpaper, avatar or perhaps an album cover for their stupid little song. Over the years, I've found my art posted on forums, in signatures, as a Youtube thumbnail or Ad banner, as a logo for a tattoo shop. I've also discovered it on several hundred different retail products and can still find them being sold illegally today. Typically, an artists work will be taken and used to sell posters, canvases, shirts, mugs, or any product where 2D printed artwork can be applied.

For non-profit use, I typically don't mind my work being taken and shared online. However, I have a problem when I find it's been stolen and used for profitable gain. 

If that's the case, firstly, try not to get too upset and know that it happens to a lot of artists.

From there you work out:

• Who's taken it?
• Where is the individual or business located?
• To what extent has the art been used?
• What will you do about it?

If it's an offender in the USA, Europe or English-speaking world, there's usually measures in place to potentially take legal action. But you may simply want to request the art/product be taken down. Contacting a site owner / seller, explaining the situation and threatening further action is often enough for them to take down the product.

Takedown Forms

On bigger sites, there's usually a form you can fill in if you want to request a product be removed which infringes on your copyright. I'll list a few of these below:

◾Etsy has an official Intellectual Property infringement report you may want to submit. I once submitted a report against a seller who was illegally using my work. The seller then issues a counter-notice to declare they had permission (a lie). They would obviously never win if the case was brought to court, but Etsy then requested that I submit evidence of taking legal action in order for Etsy to take down the infringing product. It made me realize, sellers can game the system if they are ballsey enough to deny their crime.

◾Pinterest - You can fill out a take-down request. I usually just do these if the Pin is pointing towards a for-profit site/product.

◾Amazon - You will need to have an account with Amazon to use their infringement form. You may find instances of infringement on multiple Amazon territory sites- i.e. Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk and will need to submit reports to the appropriate site. Years back, Amazon often sided with Chinese counterfeit sellers when it came to infringement reports, but thankfully, things have changed. These days they've usually been pretty good at dealing with the hundreds of reports I've submitted over the years, with the exception of Amazon Germany, often siding with the thieves for reasons unknown.

◾Red Bubble has an IP Report form. As do many of these large print-on-demand websites.

◾Shopify also makes you sign up to their platform in order to submit a copyright report. I'm not impressed with them as a company. I've contacted their trust and safety team on 3 separate occasions to report a seller who uses their platform. This seller frequently steals my art to sell on their products. Everything they sell is blatantly stolen from many different artists, but Shopify refuses to take action against them.

Issuing a complaint

Here are some examples you can copy and modify when registering a notice of copyright infringement via email or web forms to sellers:

1.

Dear Seller.

My name is [insert name] I originally created the artwork on this [insert product] and its copyright belongs to me. I have not authorized the sale of or reproduction of this work and therefore it is a crime for it to be sold. I would request it be removed from your store immediately.

If you fail to comply, I shall be taking legal action against you and any other sellers attempting to profit from this or any other product containing my artwork.

For more information about me and my work, you're welcome to check out my site at [your website].

Regards

[insert your Contact Details]

2.

Regarding Copyright:

Hello. One of my followers informed me that my artwork is being used and sold on your listing:

[insert URL]
My Artwork:
[insert URL of your art]

I appreciate this product was likely bought from or will be drop shipped from a counterfeit seller based in China, but as I have not given permission for my artwork to be used on this, I would like to request it be removed.

If you would like the rights to use this artwork however, let me know and a licence can be arranged. Costs start from [Insert Fee] per design.

Regards

[insert your Contact Details]

3.

Details about Claim:

THIS IS A COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT CLAIM. The manufacturers of these products are illegally reproducing my intellectual property on this product. The products feature artworks of which I am the artist and copyright holder. The use of my artwork on these products infringes my COPYRIGHT. I have not licensed or given permission for my intellectual property to appear on these products. Therefore, these physical products include unauthorised copyrighted images. As a result, these products infringe my copyright under International Law and I require that they are immediately removed.

What to do when you find another artist's art has been stolen?

If you can spare 5 minutes, contact the artist. I'm sure a few artists would rather be blissfully ignorant about the fact, but overall, I feel that making the artist aware, at least gives them a chance to take action.

It's useful if you're able to supply:

• Who's taken it?
• Where is the individual or business located?
• To what extent has the art been used?

And then it's up to the artist to decide what to do about it. I'd imagine most artists aren't going to care if their work was used, for example, as someone's personal avatar on a website. And consider that perhaps the artist has licenced the artwork to be used legally.

Personally, I might not mind it if some mid-sized company blatantly rips me off so that I can potentially sue for a hundred grand!

When should you find a Lawyer?

I use a site called Pixsy. It's purpose is to find and tackle image theft on your behalf.

You upload your art or portfolio of work and they will display websites they find which make use of it by finding visual matches online. After that, you have the opportunity to allow Pixsy's legal team to chase any unlawful seller for damages or fees to continue using the art by officially licensing it's use.

If you've been selling your art and images online or licencing your work for some time, it might be worth signing up to see what they find? It seems most suited to digital artists, illustrators and photographers.

Over the last few years, I've asked Pixsy to chase several offenders on my behalf. You put in a no win - no fee claim, so there is no risk. 

One claim netted me a few hundred dollars after Pixsy took their cut of fees. Another claim allowed Pixsy to register one of my artworks with the USA Copyright office on my behalf without needing to pay a fee up front in order to chase a compensation claim.

However, it is often the case that they are unable to recoup damages as the companies/sites using my art have been small-time 'pop-up' stores which don't list a business address and info you'd need to pursue a law suit. Similarly, they find many instances of infringement, but are unable to pursue sellers in countries they don't have jurisdiction in.

Other than Pixsy, you may want to contact an independent lawyer who specializes in copyright infringement. There are also lawyers who specifically focus on online image or art copyright infringement. It's worth noting there will often be fees to pay up front and know that any legal battle will be lengthy and stressful to deal with. 

[blockquote quote_type="type2" author_name="Ben Krefta, Artist" width="100%"]"with each artwork, a small part of them goes into it's creation. An artist's knowledge, preferences, tastes and loves have been distilled into their work. It's personal. But for thieves, it's not personal. It's business. The business of exploitation"[/blockquote]

What to do when a seller reaches out to use your work, or has used your work

In the event you have a genuine customer interested in using your work- well done. If its for use on a product or service, this is your chance to sell it's use for a licensing fee. If its for the promise of "potential" profits or "exposure", I'll often decline it's use.

Any business or serious individual will expect to pay you for the right to use your art. If they've scoured the net looking for the perfect image, and your art is it, then that puts you in a good bargaining position. Don't sell your work short. Of course, you'll then need to determine who exactly the buyers is and exactly what they want to use your art for before giving a price. I'll leave the details of how to price your work for another time.

If a seller has already taken your work, applied it to a product for sale, then at a later date asks for permission, again this is a chance to charge a usage/licencing fee. Of course, this puts you in a bind as you will be going into this new business relationship without having had the opportunity to negotiate terms up front. You may otherwise want to refuse a licence to use the art and potentially sue the seller for using your artwork to begin with. 

I had this happen on an occasion and decided to charge a relatively small licensing fee for the art already used. I thought it was better than nothing, compared to over-demanding more than the seller could afford. And at least the seller realized the error of their ways and wanted to put it right by later finding me and paying for usage. It highlighted the problem that, with so much art floating around online, it can be hard to find the original author. And so, can be tempting to simply just use the art for one's project without investing time trying to find the original creator.

Will people still be stealing your digital art in the future?

The online space is still very much the wild west and in it's infancy- there aren't measures in place to deal with digital crime or to cope with the vast amount of counterfeit sellers abusing the systems that currently exist.

For many years I've speculated about the internet changing in a way to safeguard digital content. Around 2010, I dreamed up an idea to publish or share images online via blockchain technology which keeps a ledger of ownership or transfer history. Funnily enough, NFTs started becoming popular with artists a few years ago and although owning an NFT isn't going to prevent it being stolen and used on products just like any other image, the concept at least has the potential to develop.

With A.I. now able to reproduce "original" art based on existing image data, I suspect it will become easy for many sellers to profit from these derivative artworks as an alternative. Less art may get stolen, although it means artists will need to work harder than ever to promote themselves and their 'brand' over and above creating glossy professional-looking artwork, after such work continues to flood the internet. 

Summary

Ultimately, it's important for artists to take proactive steps to protect their work, but it's also important to recognize that it can be difficult to completely prevent online theft.

If you found this post insightful, please share it a link to it. The more we can do to highlight this stolen art issue, the better.

Creating Kaleidoscopes

After completing my Unicorns Colouring Book, my publisher asked if I'd work on some sample pages for a potential, new Mandala / Kaleidoscope Colouring Book.

Pattern work isn't something I'm especially known for creating. I wondered, would I be able to create something worthy of being published? I was willing to give it a shot. Thankfully, after having now been producing artwork for decades, I felt like I've become versatile enough to tackle most styles of illustration. And so I began creating a short series of symmetrical patterns, kaleidoscope images and mandala artwork.

To try something new like this was great fun! The possibilities for creating unique, abstract images is limitless. Without the technical requirements of drawing, say, a figure or a scene, this type of line art is quick to create. It's artwork that can be completed in a matter of hours, as opposed to days or weeks.

I've never considered myself a particularly spiritual person so the religious or traditionally symbolic significance of the Mandala is somewhat lost on me. Although, once you spend some time immersed in these types of patterns, there is definitely something to be noticed. Something which has a sense of depth and meaning.

Here's some samples for the book:

[caption id="attachment_5347" align="aligncenter" width="918"] The cover art sample was provided to the client. Despite being a black and white colouring book on the inside, I wanted to give it a colourful, psychedelic vibe.[/caption]

[gallery type="square" columns="2" size="large" ids="5351,5350,5349,5348"]

You can't win them all:

As is the nature of these things, the book never ended up making it into production. My publisher had tried pitching it along with dozens of other titles to their customer (a big US- based publishing house). They liked the direction it was going in, but with so many similar books already available on the market, it made it harder to justify producing another.

I'd like to one day have the chance to pick up the project again. If there are any book publishers out there who produce similar titles, give me a call. I sure we can find a way to improve upon existing, similar books already out there!

Benefits to Creating Mandalas

I'd read that creating mandalas (and I'm sure is true of all self-repeating and symmetrical patents) can:

• Help reduce stress and anxiety
• Help connect with one's self and others
• Activate creativity
• Improves one's sleep
• Enhance focus
• Produce feelings of happiness and calm

Certainly it's something I found myself enjoying far more than expected. Even though I tend not to produce abstract art, there is something amazing about it. Well, some of it. Some abstract art can also be a load of pretentious, ugly-looking mess with the label "art" slapped across it.

If done well, a good abstract artwork can reach something deeper and feel more significant than illustration. Sometimes too much true-to-life detail can just get the in way of what is real and true.

Although there is an art to create good-looking patterns. What makes aesthetically pleasing shapes? It's difficult to put in to words. I found that the more of these kaleidoscopic patterns I worked on, the better they looked. Using a re-iterative process of trial and error is often the best way to hone in on what works. Or at least, that process works for me. It's very strange that certain shapes and arrangement of shapes are pleasing, while others feel unpleasant and disjointed.

Designing a set of Art Prints

I create several new mandala artworks. Each with a motivational message.

Sometimes life gets tough, and negativity limits our potential. Inspirational quotes can help remind us how to live or that adversity can be overcome. And so the idea to was to fuse these messages with a mandala. Something to help give the the message focus, while making for an aesthetically pleasing image. An image people might like to have displayed on their bedroom, kitchen or living room wall. Unlike the black and while line artwork for the colouring book, they were each given a unique colour scheme. Then converted to A3 size images suitable for high-resolution print.

If you're interested in buying one to decorate your home or give as a gift, they're now available for sale in the Shop. Each sale helps support my artistic endeavours and lets me know what type of artwork people like. 

[caption id="attachment_5355" align="aligncenter" width="900"] You only live once. But if you do it right, once is enough[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5356" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Dream without Fear. Love without Limits.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5354" align="aligncenter" width="900"] The best way to predict the future is to create it[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5357" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Turn towards the sun and the shadows fall behind you[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5358" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Seasons change and so do we[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5359" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Don't wait for the storm to pass. Learn to dance in the rain[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5360" align="aligncenter" width="900"] To be the best, you must be able to handle the worst[/caption]

A final comment

Are you a fan of the mandala? Would you like to see me continue work on the Kaleidoscope colouring book? What's your favourite motivational quote you'd like to see turned into a kaleidoscopic artwork? Let me know 🙂

4 Months later

Continuing on from my previous post, I've continued work on my new card game Total Blast. It's a 2-player, duelling, lane-battler strategy game which takes around 30 minutes (providing you know the rules and are familiar with the cards).

It's funny- initially I thought this project might get finished in 6-7 months. Month 7 has just passed! To be fair, since the last update, I got Covid and was out of action for weeks. Then took a few weeks break for Christmas Holidays. Plus I've been dealing with frequent migraines recently. For those that suffer them, you know how completely debilitating they can be. 

Thankfully there were a few months when I got the chance to crack on with the project. Mostly finishing card artworks. And they're looking great! All the Upgrade and Ability card illustrations are now finished for the core part of the game. That is to say, 17 unique illustrations. Many of the cards will be doubled up in-game to allow multiple uses. When I look over at the completed artwork I feel excited for what I've been working on here.

The Rule book is now on version 2.5 and I expect them to continue to refine as more play tests come in. Now that the card art is done, I can get the next prototype printed and tested in order to gather more feedback.

Art Development Overview

Here's a couple of 'Upgrades' examples showing sketches to finished card artwork.

I feel good to have broken the back on the artwork side of things and completed the majority of it. It was always going to be the most time consuming part of the project, with each card illustration typically taking several hours minimum. Now I remember why I'd been so adverse to working on card game art like this in the past! The graphics for the designs is not necessarily final, as I'm thinking of adjusting the card titles and perhaps the text layout.

Overcoming obstacles

Unfortunately it's not all been plain sailing.  For example, one of the card files became corrupt so had to re-create it from scratch. Luckily it wasn't the most complicated of designs, but still took a tedious 4 or 5 hours to recreate. What's going on with Photoshop these days? Frustratingly, I've had this issue 3 times in the last year on various files.

What's next?

1. I'll be designing the Characters in the game next. I've only tested a few of them, so will need more testing to find the right balance. Each will be lending a specific ability to help win the game. They will include: The Thief, Ninja, Mage, Merchant, Spy, King and an Alien!
2. The Rule Book's graphic design with diagrams.
3. Decide how the game will be packaged and then create relevant cover art/box art
4. Then comes my only real concern- how do I get enough eye balls on the project and market it effectively?

I've come back to the 'Artist's Alley'

It had been a while since exhibiting at a convention due to the whole pandemic situation. I booked a table for London's MCM comic con 2021 this October. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a lot more successful than anticipated. There was a good crowd in attendance and around 180 artists in the Alley. Along with what seemed like another 30 or so artists amongst the main retail sellers.

It's great to see so many artists having the opportunity to show off their art and products. I love checking out their work. I just wish I had more time to browse at what everyone was selling instead of spending 95% of my time behind my table. There's just something satisfying about viewing art in real life as opposed to through a screen. Plus I like having the opportunity to talk to my fellow artists and creators face to face.

From an Artist's Perspective

If you're an artist interested in exhibiting at a UK convention or would like to read a detailed report on the first load of cons I tried out, have a look at my 2016 article here. In that article I go in-depth to discuss my honest experiences during my first 10 cons. Plus offer insight on what to expect and give tips to potential success. Five years later and I've now finished con number 23. It took a while, but from a financial point of view, things finally turned a corner. In fact I generated more profit overall in the last convention than the previous 22 combined! 

I'm massively appreciative of everyone who stopped by this time to make a purchase, or even stop for a chat, to say hello, or offer feedback. It took a while and some trial and error, but I'm pleased to now offer customers a range of artwork they love. While I still like a lot of my earlier work, I can see why it had limited appeal so have since cut most of it from my inventory.

Mixing styles

I still don't know whether it's a good thing that I sell a wide mix of styles and themes; from big-eye small-mouth manga characters to moody tattoo-vibe skulls. I imagine being more consistent with my offerings would help customers understand the type of artist I am. Certainly, my pastel and rainbow-coloured Unicorns Colouring book just didn't seem to sit right on my table. Having said that, I would on occasion hear passers-by comment on how they like the mix of styles, so who knows?

Making artwork for a living

The art game is tough for any artist. I certainly know all about the struggle to monitize artistic efforts. When things go well financially, it allows me the potential opportunity to create more of my own designs rather than needing to devote my time to working on other people's projects. Taking on commissions can still be enjoyable, but I like having the option to decide what I take on. Opposed to doing whatever is asked of me in order to pay the bills.

I didn't get into the art game to create corporate info-graphics or draw generic, mass appeal illustrations for products I don't care about. So moving forward, I hope to work on more personal projects which I'll sell later down the line. 

Any new events coming up?

I'll be attending another convention in Birmingham in just under 3 weeks: 13th-14th of November 2021 at the NEC. I'll be using it as reason to take a break from my usual environment and check-in to see if my more recent selection of offerings fares any better than the last Birmingham Con I attended in 2015. (I'll be honest- It wasn't great!).

For 2022 I'll be at London MCM again from the 27th of May. I would be interested in attending a few other larger conventions in 2022. It's always depending if I'm granted table space to what is typically an over-subscribed Artists Alley. The smaller town hall size cons aren't of much interest.

Although I've been specifically invited to several smaller conventions as a guest artist previously and so if I'm invited to any more in the future, I may possibly attend. Having travel and accommodation expenses paid for me at these events can just about make it worth while.

In other news?

The rest of 2021 will be fairly busy for me. As well as managing sales through my Shop and Amazon Stores, I still tattoo part time and have several projects such as full sleeves yet to complete. And of course I hope to get back to working on my card game project 'Total Blast'. Around 70% of the core game artwork is complete. The main hurdles have been passed for that one so I'm looking forward to continuing with it.

On a personal level, I'm hoping to get in some more rock climbing, board gaming and making time to hang out with friends and family.

Where am I at?

Continuing on from my previous post, I've continued work on my new card game Total Blast.

The rules have been tweaked to the point where they're pretty solid now. I've finished all the Cannon cards and have begun creating Upgrade card illustrations. I feel as though I am trying to put a little bit more into each card illustration I produce. It's taking longer than expected, but I'm very happy with how it's coming along. It's been a while since I was excited to work on a new product.

The project has gone from simply a desire to just create a fun, little game for personal use to wanting it published, distributed and sold in shops. I'm usually very self critical, but I genuinely think I'm developing something of value here. When it comes to most art projects, I'd typically already have a publisher or client lined up with a budget agreed upon and money in the bank before even starting. This time all the work is completely speculative. It means devoting a lot of time to a project which may never see the light of day, despite my efforts. I'll discuss my concerns a little more below, but overall I'm trying to just stay focused on the work at hand.

What is Total Blast?

Here's an Intro from the rule book:

"In the kingdom of Blastonia warring armies settle disputes in head-to-head battles of firepower, strategy and cunning.

Unique, magical cannons are loaded with powerful, mana-infused ammunition. A range of upgrades, special abilities and some luck of the draw is thrown in for good measure.

As army commander, you’re in charge of selecting and loading cannon balls into their corresponding cannons. You aim to carry this out at the right time, reacting to each of your opponent’s opposing cannons. By sourcing supplies for the war effort you can increase your cannon damage score with more balls and upgrades in order to over-power your opponent’s cannons and become victorious."

What do you think? Something you'd be interested in trying out and seeing how it plays?

Art Development Overview

Here's an example showing the very first thumbnail ideas through to the finished cannon card artwork. It's come a long way and is fitting in well with the previous ball card art:

I've now not only completed all the cannon ball artwork, the full set of 7 cannons, but have started completing upgrade and ability card art also. It's looking great.

As with all the artwork I produce, it's never a quick process. Each card takes 4-10 hours to produce. The fact that the artwork takes so long to create is certainly one of the main reasons why I want to see this game published and not just become a hobby project that doesn't ever find an audience.

Although while time-consuming, the illustration process I use has it's benefits. I separately layer each colour so that amendments are relatively painless as opposed to a quicker single layer/canvas digital painting style. [See my book Digital Manga if you're keen to learn how I do it] No only are potential amendments a little easier, but my process allows for potentially creating line art only 'colouring book' designs of each card which might come in handy. And I could allow for simplified 'Print and Play' test versions of the game to be produced which don't have all the glossy bells and whistles of a finished, rendered card art.

Current Concerns

I've managed to find time to continue with art production by cutting down the amount of freelance work I'd usually be doing right now. I have enough content to see it come together and it's beginning to look like a real game. 8 play tests so far have proved I'm on the right track. The closer I get to the finish line, the more I want it to succeed.

Thankfully I've already got the ideal skill set for this type of product. I'm capable of tackling pretty much every aspect of board game development (concept, design, art, graphics, web design, logistics and admin. I could even produce an animated video trailer with, animation. sound and, effects without any assistance if I need to). And the satisfaction of tackling everything myself is fantastic.

However I'm discovering that I might be biting off more than I can chew. I don't feel like any aspect of the work is beyond my capabilities, but logistically speaking tackling a multi-facetted project like this takes a lot of time. It seems more often than not, a team of 4-8 contributors are typically involved with small to medium sized table top game projects. Yet there's only one of me.  And so my first concern is:

Do I have the time and resources to convert a game idea into a product and then turn a product into a success?

As I spend my days sitting in front of the computer screen, pushing pixels around and finalizing artwork, I'm often distracted by the realities of what it takes to bring products, especially a board game to market. It's not easy.

The market is seriously competitive, with tens of thousands of table top games already in existence and new games being published on a daily basis.  I'm coming to this venture completely blind and without experience of the niche. While I don't feel my product isn't and won't be good enough to compete, some doubts are beginning to creep in. My second concern is:

Will I be able to get enough relevant eyeballs taking an interest in what I'm producing? 

Like with most product niches, it's true that some games aren't particularly fantastic, yet become fairly successful, while other insanely underrated and unknown gems never get their chance to shine. And so it's evident that marketing and actually raising awareness of the fact that I have a thing, it exists and is good will be the biggest challenge ahead.

What's next?

I've still got months ahead of me to produce artwork for the core game's 'Upgrade' and 'Ability' cards, as well as seven character cards, which I've decided to add into the core game rather than have them as a separate mini-expansion.

The Rule Book is mostly there so far as text goes. I'll then start work on the book's graphic design, adding in diagrams to clearly illustrate how to play.

I'll need to finalize the game's logo and also work on the cover art/box art. For this I'll need to decide on the box dimensions first.

The creation of another planned 40 or so expansion card illustrations will have to come much later.

And along side of that, I'm gradually opening up myself to the business side of things. For example, considering publishers vs self-published via crown funding. In regards to self-publishing, researching manufacturing costs, marketing, distribution and order fulfilment.

Where am I at?

Continuing on from my previous post, I've further refined the rules for my new card game Total Blast. I've created some card art mock ups, and even gone on to finalize a full set of cannon ball cards. I'm making good progress. Although it's going to take some time. I've decided to move more towards illustrative card art as opposed to using basic icons and symbols, as per the first prototype. It's a good call from a visual standpoint and I'm hoping I can even develop a little bit more theme and back-story from the artwork to help give it some more substance.

New Additions

Speaking of adding depth, I've added in extra layers of complexity by introducing sets of optional expansions which can be added to the game to add more variety. These include:

• 'Power Upgrades' which can drastically power up your cannon's damage score.
• 'Power Abilities' which provide a one time use bonus
• Additional set of ball cards to help vary play
• Character Cards, which introduce an A-symmetric starting point giving each player an ability that the other won't have.
• Quest Cards (Or maybe I'll rename them to objective cards?), offering additional victory points for fulfilling certain conditions within the game
• Event Cards which introduce a small shift to the rules for each round.

It's getting exciting! The core game now consists of 101 cards. Adding in additional expansion cards means I'll now need to produce art for an extra 40-60 cards, (depending how many potential extra cards will work). Lots to be getting on with.

Card Development Overview

Here's an example showing sketch to colour mock-up to final card art. I may still tweak the layout, but it's as good as finished. The top portion of the card will remain visible when stacked underneath other cards. This helps calculate the damage score from each cannon at a glance. The bottom portion shows it's description.

Drawing this card helped decide on the theme and direction the game would follow. It'll be a medieval fantasy setting, with waring factions cannon-battling for supremacy. In this kingdom, rival mages and alchemists are summoned to infuse each ball with magical properties, increasing their potency. The balls now take on magical characteristics! I thought giving the balls some spice and character would look a lot cooler than a plain old cannon ball coated in red paint for example.

What Next?

I'm currently producing artwork for all the ball cards, then I'll move on to the Upgrade and Ability cards. Cards such as the "Coins" card and the "Gun Powder" card should be fairly straight forward. Others, not so much. There will be an upgrade card which allows you to add the damage score of your weakest cannon to the cannon it's applied to. I have no idea how to illustrate this!  Maybe I'll have to go a bit abstract with it.

In my last post I mentioned about getting a character art card and cannon card sample done- I'm more or less done with these also, so can post them in due course. Stay tuned.

Board games

Over recent years I've broken away from video gaming and have found myself more regularly playing table top games (TTG). I was always a fan of Scrabble, Boggle and Pictionary and would play lesser-known adventure game 'Talisman' for hours a time as a kid. 4 or 5 years back I discovered Catan, Ticket to Ride and Pandemic. These 3 in particular being known as 'gateway games' to modern board gaming. From there I stumbled into plethora of modern board games such as those listed on sites like BoardgameGeek and the many game campaigns running on Kickstarter.

The global pandemic and lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 made TTG a more regular past-time. With so much our day-to-day lives becoming digitized I can see why the TTG hobby is increasingly growing in popularity. To engage in activities which aren't screen based, allow you to connect face-to-face with other human beings and be a part of the real world is never a bad thing.

It would be fun to make my own game!

I felt inspired to try creating my own game. Nothing massively complicated, but also something with enough depth to want to play more than once or twice before shelving it. I'm not a pro game developer and not expecting this to be a global hit, but do hope to invent a cool little game and have some fun in the process. If I sell it after all is said and done, great! If not, I'll still get a lot out of making it. I can't lose :)

The brief I gave myself:

1. Keep it somewhat simple: E.g: A 2-Player game limits the amount of time needed to play-test at various player counts.
2. A head-to-head game e.g. 7 Wonders Duel as opposed to Co-Op games like Pandemic and Forbidden Island.
3. Must have a small footprint. Too many games these days come with boxes full of playing pieces, miniatures and additional expansion add-ons. There's a limit to the amount of huge box games a person can store in their home.
4. Is it possible to make it with using cards only? While I love tactile playing pieces and minis, a card-only game would likely be easier for a newbie like me to get manufactured.
5. Stick to what you know. Although being a gamer all my life, the world of TTGs is vast. I'll use knowledge of the 60 or 70 TTG I've played to create something original. I want to limit second-guessing if my ideas have already been done elsewhere or over-doing it with market research.

Adding Game Mechanisms

As with Videogames, TTG come in many different shapes, sizes and forms. 'Game mechanics' - a term more typically associated with digital games has found a home within modern TTG. Examples of these include: area majority, card drafting, deck building, take that, worker placement, story telling, push your luck.

Concept 

The first step was be to come up with a concept. After a few conversations with my brother about the prospect of creating a game, I decided to go with a shooting battle game. You'd fire missiles / bombs / cannon balls / projectiles represented by cards laid out in front of you. Your opponent would do the same. Whoever displayed the most powerful cards would be awarded the highest damage score and win the game.

Fleshing out the idea

Rather than shoe-horn in specific game mechanics from the start, we discussed how to create a basic scoring system. We came up with.:

• Players starts with 6 cannon cards (each a different colour) dealt and laid out in front of them in a line. 
• Each coloured canon card, 1 through 6, faces off against each opponent's gun's, 1 through 6.
• Players are then dealt a hand of coloured cannon ball cards.
• Each players take turns laying ball cards in front of the corresponding gun colour in order to increase fire power.
• Players are given 4 rounds of being dealt a hand and laying down coloured ball cards.
• End the game. Score 1 victory point (max of 6) for having higher damage score (more ball cards) in your cannon than the one it faces.

Then I thought of ways to increase your score. Rather than just adding more coloured balls, Upgrade cards were introduced. Some would, for example, multiply the coloured ball damage, while others would allow you to defend against incoming damage. There would be less upgrades than balls and there would be a limit to the amount any 1 cannon could be upgraded by.

Adding another layer

I'd brainstorm several more Upgrade cards as well as Ability cards. These would give options such as randomly removing a card from your opponent's hand or allowing you to take an extra couple of cards for free from the top of the deck.

It was time to add another condition of victory. In order to win you'd need to fire the cannons by obtaining an Ignition source Card and Gun powder Card. These can be collected during one of the 4 rounds of cards being dealt. In addition thought it wise to create a shop. This would be represented by a range of 3 cards+ Ignition and Gunpowder cards which would always be available to 'Buy'. You'd use an obtained Coin card or trade in/discarding any 3 cards from your hand to purchase from the shop. This way each player had no excuse to not at least fire off a cannon during the final phase of the game.

The game now includes mechanics including: a Variable Set up, Card Drafting, Deck Construction, Hand Management, a Trade Market, Take that, Card Layering, A tug-of-war style of back and forth, then the final, exciting showdown! For a simple game with only 6 points needed to win, I'm hoping it has enough elements to make it strategic and challenging, but with enough randomness to give anyone a chance for victory.

The game, 'Total Blast' was ready to play test!

Does it work?

I created a mock-up of the cards in the game just using clip-art and hand written notes. Cards were printed on scrap paper. Not ideal, but did the job.

After 4 play tests with 2 different opponents it worked surprisingly well. Each game took around an hour with extra time spent teaching the rules. Breaks were taken in between to discuss improvements and adjustments. Particularly balancing the cards takes some thought. I want to make sure certain Upgrades are fair and don't cause 'glitches' when used in conjunction with other cards.

The game is fun! I want to play it again. I'm now trying to check in with my brain to make sure I'm not biased because I created it or because friends and family don't want to let me down. I'll continue to play test and ask for honest feedback and go from there. For what it is, I think like I've nailed it 😀

It looks a mess, but makes perfect sense when you play it, trust me 😎 

What Next?

I've begun writing out a final rule book. Something which will continue to be tweaked as further play tests continue. The main thought now is- it needs a professional look. With a card game like this the graphics and artwork could make or break it. Illustration and design is my profession so that'll come in useful! I finally get to commission myself to work on my own project for a change. I'm looking forward to it.

I've not decided on art style, or even theme. Perhaps it will be set in ancient China? In space? On pirate ships? In a medieval fantasy world? And then what will the card art look like- Comic style? Manga? Painterly concept art style? I'm pretty adaptable when it comes to illustration, so that gives me options. Maybe too many options?

I'll start with a few sample cards - 1 for the cannon, 1 ball card, 1 character card and use those as a base to work from for the remaining 98+ cards. Stay tuned.

My latest book is published!

A new project has been added to my Portfolio - A manga style Unicorns Colouring book featuring a selection of pages which glow in the dark! I'd considered the idea of creating a colouring book for at least a decade. In 2020 I finally got the opportunity to create one. Red Bird Book publishers asked me to work on a special Glow-in-the-dark book for their client Thunder Bay Press in the USA. 'Unicorns and Mystical Creatures' has been available to buy for nearly a year now.

It's sold tens of thousands of copies and has received a fair amount of praise and positive reviews since. While I've certainly drawn enough unicorns to last me a life time, I wouldn't say no to working on another colouring book whereby I get to pick the theme. Monsters perhaps? 🙂

When is the next colouring book coming?

Customers who'd bought the Unicorns book often ask when my next colouring book is coming out. The short answer - there isn't another book in the works as of right now. I've had a few publishers ask if I'd work on a number of other colouring books since finishing Unicorns. We got so far as producing sample covers and a few pages of content for books on the theme of: Tattoos, Dream Catchers, Kaleidoscope patterns and Horror. Although due to budget constraints we couldn't quite make it work.

I'd be happy to work on another, but because of the amount of artwork needed to produce a good quality 96 page colouring book, I'd need to make sure there was sufficient funds to make it viable. It's tough- the market is saturated with colouring book options. I even noticed one on Amazon the other day which used one of my artworks for the cover - illegally and without permission!

Although with so many sub-par books to choose from, it seems like a good idea to create a series of premium books. Books which have a lot of nice, high-quality drawings to colour on good quality paper. Perhaps also including how-to guides and advice showing how to use more advanced shading techniques? If you're a book publisher that wants to make this happen, let me know.

In the mean time I look forward to seeing what artists and colourists alike can do with the Unicorns book 🙂

Here's a few coloured samples from the book:

[caption id="attachment_5031" align="aligncenter" width="940"] Colours by @colorfulcarey on Instagram[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5032" align="aligncenter" width="842"] Colours by @bizzie_lizzie.art on Instagram[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5030" align="aligncenter" width="930"] Art and Colours by myself - Little tester with some new marker pens.[/caption]

Other designs:

I printed out a couple more of the illustrations I'm created from the book. A Mermaid and Harpy. These were added to A3 Bristol board so I could give them the marker pen treatment. I used a inexpensive set of bullet-point markers to colour these. While I prefer using brush markers, these can certainly do the job.

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Horror Book:

As mentioned earlier, I didn't end up working on a sequel, although here's some work-in-progress images for the Horror colouring book which didn't quite happen. I hope you find these interesting. I like the first Haunted Horror sketch, although it was deemed too sexual even though it's for an adult colouring book. I guess the client felt ghouls looked as though they were preying on the girl?

[caption id="attachment_5037" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Horror Cover Sketch 1[/caption]

I then amended to the second Hellish Horrors sketch. I like this one even better and makes it clearer that the girl is the one in charge here! Again, client not convinced. I needed to try again with a different idea.

[caption id="attachment_5038" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Horror Cover Sketch 2[/caption]

I designed the 'Head full of Horror' illustration. I liked the pun for the potential title and thought it would be impactful. It wasn't accepted.

[caption id="attachment_5039" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Horror Cover Sketch 3[/caption]

Eventually the corpse/ ghoul bride and skeleton groom below was deemed a little more wholesome. They loved it! I especially liked the 'Eyes-cubes' in the glass.

[caption id="attachment_5036" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Horror Cover Final with Colour[/caption]

Making use of colouring books

With books like this, I always wonder how much detail is too much detail to include in a drawing? I've seen some colouring books which are effectively fully-rendered, grey-shaded pencil drawings which are presented as colouring pages. I'm not sure I like this idea. What do you think?

Someone choosing to colour a single page from the book might take several hours to finish. With close to 100 pages in a single book, it becomes a project which could take several months. With so many pages one could potentially colour, it seems to be the case that a colourist will more typically choose to work on just a few pages from each colouring book they buy. In the end I guess it's best to have a variety. Lots of details on some pages and not so much on others. If you like colouring books, let me know in the comments below what kinds of themes and styles you like colouring best.

Unicorns & Mystical Creatures was available to purchase via this site's Shop [Edit: I've now sold out! Sorry]. For Americans- you might find it available on Amazon, Wall Mart and Barnes and Noble. The Project / Case Study about this book can be found in my Portfolio here. If you'd like to share your coloured pages from the book, send me a message or link to your social media. I'd love to check them out 🙂

My Art theft experience

It's still happening. Every month dozens of new products spring up on the internet featuring my artwork. Art which I'd not given permission to use. I'm not a fan of my work being taken by someone else without consent- especially when it negatively impacts sales of my own products. I've added a video discussing (and ranting about) my experiences on YouTube and thought I'd share it here:

Removing infringements

After posting the video, I went on to remove 182 instances of copyright infringement! That's at least 300 removals so far in total. There's still more which needs taking down, and no doubt there will be hundreds more to remove over the coming year. For now it's a job I'll have to maintain like cutting my hair or mowing the lawn. If anyone reads this and wants to use my work, that's fine: For non-profit use, be sure to include my name and a link back to this site. For commercial use, send me a message and we can discuss rights to licence high-res versions of artwork you're interested in.

Your thoughts

Has art theft of this nature always been around? Am I wasting time by stressing over it? If people take your art/music/writing/content and sell it without permission online, would you try to do anything about it? Should companies such as eBay or Amazon for example take more responsibility for moderating products for sale on their platforms? If so what might you suggest they do about it? I'd love to know your thoughts.

Also see my previous related posts: 'Art theft and stealing images online' and 'Art theft and further criticism of pod sites' and most recently 'Art theft: The Story continues' for further reading.

MBTI and Art

Much of my life has been spent attempting to understand both myself and the world I inhabit. Part of this journey of discovery involved reading up on Psychology related topics where I'd learnt about the MBTI (Myres-Briggs Type Indicator). It's a test to reveal which 1 of 16 specific personality types you resemble. You can take the test here if you're interested in seeing which type you belong to.

My type? INTJ. I'm a person with the Introverted (I), Intuitive (N), Thinking (T), and Judging (J) personality traits.

"These thoughtful tacticians love perfecting the details of life, applying creativity and rationality to everything they do. Their inner world is often a private, complex one", says 16personalities.com.

Are all INJTs artists? From what I've found, most aren't! INTJs like myself are usually given the label of 'Architect' or 'Strategist'. I should be the type to work as a scientist or analyst, playing chess and reading technical books for fun. While I do enjoy analysing things, playing board games and would often rather read a manual or something more factual than fiction, I also love art and design. Rather 'ISFP' types are often considered to have the artist personality type in the MBTI world.

As a side-note, 'Psychology Junkie' assigned a Myres-Briggs type to a list of famous fine artists with different personalities on their site. It's interesting but may not be completely accurate. It at least highlights the fact that no matter your personality, there's potential for you to become an artist if that's what you want to do. 

My Experience and thoughts...

One thing I often felt didn't quite work with the MBTI was determining a person's stress sensitivity. Whether or not an individual is more prone to positive or negative emotions makes a big, noticeable difference in one's life choices, habits and interests. Unlike another personality model- 'The Big 5', stress sensitivity wasn't taken into account with the MBTI. Take the big 5 test here. Although 16personalities.com have added a suffix of T for Turbulent / stress-sensitive types and A for Assertive types to help address this. Although this does now kind of indicate 32 potential personality types and starts to defeat the purpose of pigeonholing in order to make quick generalizations. Suffice to say, MBTI is not the perfect personality model, but is still useful.

The reason I bring this up is because unfortunately for me I'm high up on the negative emotions spectrum. A guy with the 'Turbulent' INTJ variant who's easily stressed and cautious. And so my experience of being an INTJ artist might differ from the next INTJ. I want to discuss my experiences all the same.

[Aside: Having a more cautious personality can have it's advantages. Without going in depth; You'll be less likely to get involved in risky activities or having accidents. It'll make you more aware of and considerate towards the people around you - an otherwise common criticism of the INTJ type. To know stress and negativity so well allows one to fully appreciate positivity when it does arrive.]

Why do you create the things you do?

It's a deep and interesting question.

I would speculate that the type of art you focus on i.e. the theme and style would have some correlation to your Myers-Briggs personality type. Although I'm sure other personality dimensions such as orderliness and agreeableness could be used to more likely determine the theme and style an artist tends to prefer. Our tastes are shaped by both our innate personalities, but also the experiences we've had throughout our lives. Having grown up on 80s cartoons as a kid, then moving to anime into my pre-teens ensured a desire to imitate what I thought was inspiring. Hence I went on to produce and sell a million copies of manga related art books as an adult.

Being an INTJ makes me very forward-thinking

When it comes to creating art, I'm often focused on the end result rather than process. This can be challenging when I have a 50 hour image waiting to be created and I'm not always 'in the moment'. I've often felt agitated or unsatisfied until I'm on the home stretch and working on the last 10-20% of an image.

I want to bring beauty into reality

My philosophy for creating has always been "because it looks cool". A sentiment I share with one of my favoured anime directors Yoshiaki Kawajiri. As well as comic artist Todd McFarlane. I care about the aesthetics more than the deeper meaning behind the image. Every artwork an artist creates will communicate something, but my aim is to convey my own tastes with a literal illustration. Style, technique and subject often takes precedent over producing narrative, mood, something abstract and ambiguous.

Don't get me wrong, I can walk into a modern art gallery and understand what I'm looking at, unlike the laymen who might question "what the hell is this supposed to be?", but I have little interest in producing modern art and hate the pretentious side to it. Ascribing meaning to nothing then giving yourself a pat on the back? Yuck!

I want to create perfection

If an image doesn't look as close to perfect as I'm able to produce, I'm unhappy. I'm bound by the limits of my own competency, so while I know I'll never achieve true perfection, if such a thing exists, at least I'll try to get as close to the best thing I'm capable of. Not that perfectionism is an INTJ specific trait, but there's satisfaction when the plan comes together and everything looks just right.

Expertness is important to me. In general I like to be good at everything I do. Perhaps it's some ego thing whereby I don't want to believe I'm as useless as I actually am? But certainly I'm happier when others can recognise my accomplishments. If art happens to be something I'm being praised for, then I'll continue to do it. But more important to what anyone else thinks, I want to produce work to my own self-imposed, exacting standards. 

Best suited art careers for INTJs

INTJs are not the typical, whimsical artist types. INTJs will need to find a way to make certain artistic roles work to suit their needs. I've spent the past two decades dabbling with different artistic jobs and some worked better for me than others. I list these below.

I appreciate no two INTJs are the exactly same, and in fact some won't even understand the point of art! But INJT types like myself are a testament to how it's still possible to pursue and succeed in different disciplines within the field of art and design.

Most art jobs are going to require 1- a lot of time on your own (being an introvert makes this easier) and 2- devoting a lot of time to building competency in your craft. If you happen to be an INJT, or even if you're not, here are some job options within the field of art and design:

Graphic Designer:

Graphic Design roles gives an opportunity to create but with tighter restrictions than working with a blank canvas and paint. For example, you might like the idea of exploring the subtleties of typography and becoming an expert on the use of lettering. It's direct, clean, to the point and serves a purpose. No messy paints required since it's mostly all digital. Freelancing from home might be the way to go if you don't like the idea of mixing with other employees in an office or studio.

Web designer:

Allows for planning how a site should look and function, while coding gives the mathematical and logical circuits of the brain a chance to fire up. There's something quite satisfying about being able to read a page of code as well as design the visuals for an attractive, functional site.

Illustrator:    

This can be for books, ads, promo material. I suspect that understanding the rules of art and design and then applying them is the best way to go for an INTJ type. There are rules to art such as composition and colour theory, and once those rules are established, being able to come up with a plan to maximize each design's potential is the way to go. Illustration has a clear goal to communicate something specific up-front. Often the best advertising illustrations are well thought out and witty, giving an INJT like myself an opportunity to make use of that part of my mind.

Concept Artist:

For those who love to create characters or environments for games and films. INTJs may prefer this as it requires becoming a competent technical artist. Non-INTJ artists who are keen to create but have no talent, little skill or patience may instead gravitate towards abstract, modern art or learn to blag their way to a successful art career. You can't blag a your way into a concept artist roll. Of all the artist fields, I would guess Concept art might be one of the hardest art professions to succeed in due to the fact it's so popular and already holds a large pool of highly competent artists. 

Tattoo artist:

One of the few art careers these days which will allow for a lot of time away from the screen. You'll be more likely to get praise from customers on a daily basis, which helps facilitate the need for acknowledgment of accomplishments. It means working with people and being social which introverts generally prefer minimizing, although it's primarily 1-1 communication. Having worked part-time as a tattoo artist myself for over 10 years, I can say that the aspect of dealing with customers can be challenging but has helped me grow as a person.

Animator:

Although having worked on a several basic animation projects, I've not professionally worked as an animator for any length of time. It requires technical skills and patience which an INTJ might have a better time dealing with. Although animation takes a long time to reach your future vision and it's often repetitive. Despite being a huge fan of anime, cartoons and animation, I've always been put off by the prospect of needing to devote an entire day or more just to make a character move an arm or walk from one room to other for example.

Manga / Comic Artist:

This requires high level of technical ability. If you can handle lot of time on your own, this will suit you. If you like to write and conceptualise your own stories, this is the career for you. Although most employed comic artists will end up spending much of their time working from another writer's script. Having a successful career as a manga ka (artist) or comic artist is extremely tough. I would imagine the task of conveying different emotions through characters might be a little challenging to INTJs at first also.

Fine Artist:

You'll specialise in a particular medium and concentrate on a particular subject matter and type of art i.e. landscapes, portraits. It allows for a lot of autonomy which is great, but you'll need to work on selling which will be the hardest obstacle for an INTJ as selling will involve interactions with other people either face to face or through online videos. Having the freedom to create whatever you want is the dream of many artists, but for most, monetizing your creations will be extremely difficult.

[Aside: Being an artist is not someone who does modern dance, plays drums or writes poetry. As per what was described in a Reddit thread I was reading while researching this post. All those things are considered creative pursuits, sure, but you're only an artist if you design and create something tangible in 99.9% of cases. There's no criticism towards being a dancer, musician or creative writer, however there's no point over complicating definitions.]

To finish off

While I love art, design and illustration I often wonder; if I were to re-play my life would I have chosen it as a career? It's probably too late to trade up this profession so I shouldn't have regrets. I've been doing it a while and couldn't bare to give up the 20,000 or so hours I've invested in my pursuit of art and design. I suspect that inheriting my dad's  traits (a fellow INTJ) while having an artistically minded mum encouraging my creative side would always lead me to where I am now?

I can't feel guilty for my time spent on art. And I'm sure I would engage in it even as a hobby, if not my career. To think of an idea and to then bring it into reality through one's creative endeavours is an amazing thing and a worthwhile goal. No matter your 'type', if you're making or improving something, even through analysis and carefully considered critique then you're on the right track. I would argue, to bring beauty into existence is one of humanities' most important contributions to the universe. What do you think? Are you contributing?