Potions
Someone Stole My Artwork
Okay, so earlier I was searching ‘Zootopia Shirts’ on the Internet and I came across my own artwork displayed on a t-shirt. It is the Zootopia Pixel Art by me that is shown above. The only problem with this was that I had no idea that my artwork was being used on a t-shirt. Curious, confused, and unhappy, I promptly clicked on the link and I was brought to the shopping page.
I found out that the user (who I will not mention) was selling shirts along with other merchandise like mugs, stickers, bags, cases, etc. featuring my artwork. I counted the reviews of the t-shirt and multiplied it by the price (which is about $28) and my mind was blown… They had earned more than $4,000 from my artwork that they had stolen (even though a portion of the money goes to the website/company, that’s still a lot of money). I had posted my artwork on tumblr on November 25th, 2015. It looks like they made the merchandise available towards the end of December. I immediately looked for someway to report them. I’ve done the research and I can definitely do something about this scenario.
This is unfair, hurtful, and against the law. I worked really hard on this and I recently come to find out that someone who didn’t even get my permission to use it, puts my art on t-shirts and starts selling them. I also find it disrespectful that they removed my signature and didn’t even mention that I was the artist. They basically took credit for my art. The stolen version looks a little different, but I’m sure that’s what happened to the quality when they compressed the original down for a shirt design.
I’m considering putting a watermark on future pieces of art by me and I really don’t want to. I’m just scared this might happen again. I’m going to file a complaint of copyright infringement and have their account either suspended or taken down so they can no longer sell my artwork. From what I’ve seen, this happens a lot. The bottom line is don’t buy any merchandise that has art on it unless it is confirmed that the seller themselves are the artist or at least have the artist’s permission. Don’t steal art and say it’s your own. That’s just wrong and I do not tolerate it. If you are the seller that stole my artwork, please take it down and have some respect. If you happen to see the above pixel art on any merchandise, please don’t buy it, I’m not the seller. If any of you by chance want this on some merchandise, just ask and I can most likely make it happen (possibly with way better quality and a cheaper price). And if anyone needs or wants to use my art, just ask; I most likely will say yes. Please share so that others can know. Thank you.
