Art Theft Website

[wolfsquad]

I'm not sure how many people heard of this or not, but anyways...
There's a website that steals artwork off the Internet and sells it. It's horrible, like really.

1.) They take artwork from artists without permission AT ALL.
2.) If you try uploading artwork and/or buying artwork, they get your information and steal it to use on other things.
3.) If you use the "Violations" page, it downloads some sort of virus to your device automatically and messes up everything!

If you want to stay safe, I suggest:
- Keep your artwork safe
- Stay away from the website
- Don't try buying or uploading ANYTHING
- Don't report them, we're already trying to remove the website safely.
To keep you all safe, I won't put up the website's link or name.

Just be careful around websites that you don't feel are safe!
- Finni -

[greenart6]

I've seen quite a few of these websites pop up. Usually the news gets spread around places like Deviantart and the website gets removed/improved pretty quickly. Luckily I'm not a very great or popular artist, so I've never had to deal with my artwork being on one of those websites, but I've seen it happen to plenty other people I know.

If anyone sees a website like this pop up, I suggest spreading the word by something like posting a journal on dA. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM. Most likely its a scam, and giving them money will just let them continue stealing more and more artwork from artists who are unaware of what's going on. Just tell other people. If you don't know what to do, somebody else will, and more people knowing about the website will lead to more people trying to take it down.

Thank you for posting this! I hope whatever website is doing this right now will be safely taken down soon. It's actually just disgusting that there are people taking other people's hard work without permission and selling it to make money (and give other people viruses).

[wolfsquad]

With the watermark part, I could suggest putting it somewhere like in the character's clothes, eyes, hair, etc.
I usually do this but I mark it light so it's hard to see, then when I see someone steal it I'll brighten the picture so you can see the watermark and point it out to expose to all their fans that think they made the art.

You're welcome. I also hoped this gets fixed as soon as possible.

[Lilithnyx]

Hey Everyone,

I have heard of these are websites that take people's work as well and sell them as posters and such. There is one called  that actually had some of my designs on there. I wasn't to happy as you could imagine and you can try searching for yourself/work on here.

The website: http://wallpart.com/

There is a petition against it here: https://www.change.org/p/remove-wallpart-com-stealing-people-s-work-without-persmission?recruiter=9207378&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink

It's pretty ridiculous, but if most of you have actual drawings/prints etc, the easiest way to copyright something and the cheapest is to mail it to yourself. Also, digitally, you can watermark the artwork in photoshop.

I hope this helps stop the theft!   

~Fae

[Echoing harmony]

Thank you for informing us of this 
It's a great reminder to artists to put a watermark on their work.

[Nemena]

It's best not to touch wallpart- period. The site's unsafe, and they actually want people to report their misuse of art. I can't remember the exact details, but the site was essentially confirmed to be a trap. Everyone's art is there. Try not to visit and make certain to do a quick scan of your computer if you do, just in case.

Even so, my work's stolen on a daily basis, even by members of FeralHeart's community. This specimen (I blocked out their username) stole my art-- cropped out my watermark-- a few months back. I'm dying to catch them in-game to drive the matter home. Either way, I absolutely loathe anyone who steals or uses another's work without permission; it's utterly disrespectful, and hurtful, to the original artist. Of course, people are young, and make mistakes- it's best to be firm, but not overly cruel. Unless they're neck-deep in denial. If a thief's determined, a well-placed watermark won't stop them. A DMCA takedown notice, however, usually gets the job done. Although deviantART's report system is absolutely useless for art theft (they simply don't care), tumblr's DMCA takedown will remove the stolen piece and all reblogs.

Either way, be careful with these sites. They're common scams-- and using their on-site report system only gives them your personal information (which is likely what they're after). Hopefully an external source will shut them down.

[Rangeranger333]

That's awful! I hope that site gets shutdown soon.

[Neowulf]

I have nothing to say that hasn't been said here before.

This is a fate I would wish upon no-one. Even if Hitler was part of this era making art for the internet, I still wouldn't wish it upon anyone.
That is all I have to say, can say and/or will say on this topic without sounding like a broken record.