Art swipes are file shares too

Perhaps you've been hearing of lawsuits by the recording industry against those who illegally (without paying) download and share music online.

The recording industry has mucho moola to "go after" your 12 year old if you won't own up to the deed, so beware!

But did you know that swiping art files from online blogs and galleries is file sharing too?

As a life-long artist who is transitioning from a 30-year career, it understandably behooves me to use the internet world as a platform for displaying my available artwork. And some of you know that I publish images of my pencil drawings here on Gather quite frequently--with my compliments, to be sure. I love my Gather connections who are all friends in my book.

And surprise! my art galleries/blogs show thousands of nabs and links through the stats I am able to keep track of especially from http://cosmicpersonadesigns.blogspot.com where the images are a smidge on the racier side than say, http://dreamyfishart.blogspot.com or http://secretmoonart.blogspot.com which has more of the children's art with some botanical flavor you might favor.

Yet adding a licensing agreement to my online artwork doesn't seem to have aided the situation--and it isn't that I expect mega moola, that's for sure. 

Yet attribution is the least one might expect for one's creative efforts, wouldn't you think? It doesn't strike me as too much to ask. Manipulating another person's images into your own projects (which probably represents a morphing neurosis) isn't top flight either unless arrangements have been made with the owner/artist.

Now there's a clue to the whole thing: owner.

Yes, it would be kind of people to visit http://lulu.com/cosmicpersonadesigns if or when they felt a file sharing/art download coming on.

(And thanks very much to all those who have done their Lulu downloading already! I've even created a group-with-storefront there, Art Mavens, in honor of my Art Mavens group here at Gather. It now has 20 members with their art on display...yay! They've published paintings and books too...give them a peek when you can.)

Well, this very day I've added two more images to my Lulu Storefront, and I daresay my art downloads there are modestly priced and suitable for your printing and/or desktop needs.

The new images are: Peche Claire and Five for the Dance. You've perhaps seen them both on Gather. Some of the other drawings there may look familiar.

After all: would you make off with a poster from a gallery or shop? Where would you stash it--under your trench coat? I kid, but really, the recording industry isn't kidding about protecting their artists' content and copyright.  

So skip Jude's Storefront all you like, but please 'find' images of original art online by artists who may be given due and fair credit for their work--then you'll feel good about yourself simultaneously. And put away that slinky trench coat please! 

Now it's clear that this fuss by yours truly may not pass on Download Fever to you (how catching is that?) but hopefully online visual artists may find respect from those who view and appreciate enough to nab--and preferrably legally so that art file sharing may become a win-win for everyone involved.

 

Lulu Philippe; detail (c)cosmic persona designs 2007 by jude cowell

Lulu awaits you at http://lulu.com/cosmicpersonadesigns