Why do you say "do not repost" your art? Unless it's paysite material I mostly ignore that line. I mean, reblogs & re-tweets technically count as a art repost so that makes "do not repost" invalid. If you don't want your art out there don't post it to the internet. Not trying to come off as mean, that's just the mindset I have. Once you posts something to the internet... it's out there.
when i say “do not repost” i mean, do not:
save my art to your computer
reupload it to your own social media site, especially without credit
exploit my my art so you can become more popular/get more attention/etc
reblogging/retweeting is not the same as reposting. those actually allow the artist to keep ownership of their own art as it gets spread around. they are different things.
it’s not that i don’t want my art to be on the internet. that’s why i post it. but i don’t want OTHER people taking credit for MY art and the hard work i put into it. i have a store where i sell my art. having people repost my art to their own sites literally takes money away from me. because people don’t know that I’M the artist who drew it, then they don’t know about my store, and instead consume my art mainly through websites that repost my art for their own amusement or profit.
do you know how many japanese artists have deleted their pixiv/twitter accounts because people kept reposting their art without permission, OR credit, and have even profited from stealing their work? so much art is floating out there without an owner because the japanese artists were harassed so much due to their art constantly being reposted without any credit to them, that they had to disappear from the internet just so they could keep ownership of the rest of their art.
do you know how many people found my art through pinterest? i’ve gotten so many messages from people saying they found my art there, and it took them anywhere from days to WEEKS to find me and my blog, because most, if not all of it was posted 1. without credit, or 2, without a link back to the original, because the pinterest user reuploaded it from their own computer.
do you know how many people try to apply for jobs with their art, but can’t seem to claim ownership of their own portfolio because it’s been so spread out and reposted everywhere on the internet, that companies can’t be sure that the person they’re interviewing is the actual artist themself?
i don’t think you understand just how detrimental reposting is to artists. and i don’t think you understand how important it is for people to respect artists’ wishes. my art is not yours to use for your own amusement. there is a reason why most websites have a dmca report option, to take down unauthorized use of their art. even the law recognizes it as a personal right.
i do want my art to be shown to the world, but under my own terms. i want my wishes in regards to my art to be respected. you are not doing me any favors by reposting my art onto other sites without permission or credit. just the opposite, in fact–your hurting me personally, financially, and possibly hurting my chances of earning a job with my art.
so in conclusion, here are the dangers of reposting:
the artists loses ownership of their art
no one knows who made it anymore, and don’t care
the artists stop making art because all that happens is their art gets reposted without a source, and so they prefer to disappear off the internet entirely. the world has now just lost an amazing artist.
people make a profit off their art, literally stealing money and potential customers from them, because no one knows where the art originated from
they lose job opportunities because the reposting and art theft is so ubiquitous, that even if they are the original artist, no one can be sure of that.
reposting is detrimental. it’s not the same thing as reblogging/retweeting, it’s something that literally harms artists in the long run.
at the end of the day, the biggest way to prevent this from happening is by respecting the artist’s wishes with some basic human decency. that’s literally it.
i hope i’ve cleared some things up for you.
