Sharing Artwork in progress?

[Oblit]

So I have made the base drawings for my mod race pawn
I wanted to share so people could give me their opinions about the body
But I'm a little paranoid in sharing things like this
Not that I don't trust the community, but I think it would be easy for someone to take and then say I'm the one who copied
Any advice about sharing artwork? should I not do it?

[VitaKaninen]

I think it would come down to establishing the date when they were first posted in order to prove who owns it.  If they claim that you stole it, then they should be able to show that they either possessed it before you did, or posted it online before you.  If you are the first person to post it online, then I think you should be safe, as long as the website you posted it to does not remove it.  Of course, if the hosting website got a copyright claim from someone, they might just delete your post, and then you would lose your proof.  You could email them to yourself to establish the date, and they would not be able to get them pulled from there, since they would not know about it.

I am not sure what you used to draw it with.  If by hand, then you have the originals to prove it.  If it is done with software, you can use layers when creating it, and then only share the flattened versions.  They will not be able to recreate the original versions with layering, and that would prove that you are the author since only you have the originals.

One idea would be to put a black bar across portions of some of the images that are not that important.  If someone claims that the images are theirs, they should be able to reproduce the missing portions of the images.  Which, of course, they will not be able to do.  Then again, they might just fill in the blacked out portions with something they make up, and even though it would not match yours, it still wouldn't prove which is the authentic version.

Another Idea would be to only share Low-res copies of your artwork, and keep back the High-res ones until you are finished.  They will not be able to reproduce your original high-res copies which only the true creator would have access to.  I think this is the best method since taking a high quality photo and reducing the size is a one-way process, and can not be reversed.  Even if they recreated their own high-res version by completely redrawing the entire images, you can tell which high-res version the low-res copy came from by just reducing both of them and see which low res version matches the one they claim you stole.

Another option would be to actually take a photograph of your screen or a printed version, or you could make a short YouTube video of your artwork and share that instead.  In order for anyone to reproduce it, they would be forced to completely re-draw everything by hand, and they would never even have access to the originals.



You asked whether you should share them or not...  What exactly are you afraid of? People share their artwork online all the time.  Sometimes it gets stolen and used by someone else.  If this happens, are you afraid they will sue to try to steal it legally, or are you considering what legal steps you will take toward them if it happens?

If you post your art online and someone puts in a copyright claim on it, you will be notified, and you can then respond with your proof that they lied.  However, this process can take some time to clear up and they are still under no obligation to do the right thing.  It is not like you can sue them for taking down your art since they are under no obligation to host it anyway.

Worst case, you get sued, which I think is extremely unlikely, but also easy to prove if you take a few of the steps listed above.  They would have to have a huge monetary incentive to steal your work, and will have to hire a lawyer.  Then as soon as they see that you have proof that you are the owner they will drop it, or the judge will throw it out at the first hearing.

If you are trying to protect your work, and do not want anyone else to use it without permission, then you need to be prepared to sue other people over it.  That will cost you a lot of money, and is probably not worth it, unless you are rich and/or care about the principle of it.  Unless your artwork is SO GOOD that a big company uses it for something, the person you are suing might not have any money to give you.  Still, you are only entitled to a set amount, plus damages, and since it was only for a mod, you really would not have any damages.

If you are only worried about someone else using it without permission, and you don't care enough to try to make them stop, then I don't think there is anything to worry about.  They will not have any need to try to claim authorship of your art unless you force them to by putting in a claim yourself.

Usually, you can just make a copyright claim, and wherever they posted it must take it down unless they jump through an enormous number of hoops to prove that they own it.

[Oblit]

Thank you for the answer
I know I'm overthinking about this
Its just a fear of people just stealing something I've worked on, even if its simple
I will do some of the things you said

[VitaKaninen]

If you are just trying to lessen the likelihood of having someone steal your work, then you can just try to make it harder for them and that should work most of the time.

Put a Watermark across the front of your work, only release the low-res copy, and put the words "Copyright, (Your Name) 2021" at the bottom, and put a warning in the description that says you will take legal action if anyone misappropriates your work without your express written consent.

That should deter most casual art thieves, I would think.

The lock on the front door of your house will not stop a determined thief or burglar.  It is there to keep honest people honest, and to not tempt people to do what is wrong.  If someone wants to steal your stuff, the lock will not stop them.

You just don't want to leave candy on the table, if it is not there for everyone to take.  Let them know that it belongs to you and that you don't want others to use it without your permission, and it will stop 99.99% of people.

Also, don't worry about it.  You were not planning to make money with it anyway, so you have not suffered any actual damage if someone steals it.  It is not right that they profit from your work, but they have not actually hurt you, especially if you don't know about it.  So don't waste time later searching for your image online to see if anyone is using it.  You will only torture yourself.

The only damage you will suffer is the time you spent worrying about it.