Adavanced Photoshop: 52 Protect Your Art Online

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PROTECT YOUR ART ONLINEImage theft may pale in comparison to robbing a bank, but to those who find their work stolen, the results can be traumatic. Nick Spence investigates ways to protect your work online

T he internet has many positives: the chance to learn, share, participate and collaborate, offering the possibility to explore the world beyond your horizon. As a tool to

showcase you and your work, it offers great potential, a chance to be seen by a global audience and attract clients and commissions regardless of your location. Yet for every positive, a few negatives lurk on the dark side of the internet. From dodgy downloads and scams to nasty viruses and dubious pills and potions, the internet is not a place for the reckless. Being prepared and aware of the potential dangers online should help protect you. The same caution should apply when putting your work online. Creating your own website, placing your work on a blog or forum, selling your designs on an online shop, these are all good, but you don’t want to find your hard work has been hijacked by those looking for quality images for free.

The simple way to ensure your work isn’t stolen or plagiarised is to stay offline altogether, although this will severely restrict potential interest in you and your work. Much better is to limit the damage that can be done by using a range of measures, including copyrighting

© ANDY POTTS

© MARC BESSANT

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© Imagine Publishing LtdNo unauthorised copying or distribution

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images, using digital watermarks, reducing images down to a size that’s difficult to reproduce effectively and creating a password-protected area of your website for high-res examples that’s only for clients. Each has its pros and cons. Digital spoilers, such as visible watermarks for instance, will prevent images from being printed and sold but won’t prevent anyone from simply borrowing or copying your image or design. No amount of protection will be effective if someone wants to mimic your style. Having your name stamped in big letters on everything can also be annoying to the viewer and allow you to be perceived as a misguided amateur; after all, few large studios and illustration representatives see fit to use watermark images. Getting the balance right should ensure you look a professional outfit without seemingly being overly precious about your work.

Watermark imagesThird-party sites where you can buy a simple but effective website off the peg should offer some image protection tools as standard, which you can choose to activate or not. “Just over 40 per cent of Clikpic customers, based on a sample of 100, have opted to watermark their images within the Clikpic system, which can be done literally at the click of a button, so it is clearly an important issue for artists”, explains Tim Hunt, a director at Clikpic (www.clikpic.com), which offers a website-to-go service. “It reminds a potential thief, who can often be a casual observer who is completely unaware of copyright issues, that they need to think before copying.” Stuart Spice, technical officer at professional website builder

Protect your art online

Case study Andy Potts

Award-winning London-based illustrator Andy Potts (www.andy-potts.com) couldn’t believe his eyes when he came across the work of a Dutch artist. A selection of his paintings, which he sells and exhibits internationally, bore an uncanny resemblance to his own work, created for a selection of prestigious clients and displayed on his website. Such was the similarity between Potts’ illustrations and these paintings that it raised serious concerns. What isn’t clear is whether the artist managed to copy them from relatively small JPEG files found on Potts’ homepage. “I’m pretty sure this guy was able to blow up some very small web images and paint on them large scale quite successfully,” explains Potts.

Potts’ US representative, Anna Goodson Management, and the Association of Illustrators here in the UK were both equally amazed at the artist’s sheer nerve, and felt rightly that Potts had a excellent case for copyright theft. Potts quickly informed the artist that he faced legal action if the paintings were not removed, and an agreement was signed that none of Potts’ copyrighted work would be used again in future.

Since many of the original paintings were sold, Potts asked for financial compensation. All well and good, except Potts discovered that to actually sue someone for clear copyright infringement, even in another EU country, would be a long and costly venture.

“I have been royally ripped off this year by this artist and there’s not much I’ve been able to do about it unless I commit to a very expensive, stressful and probably unsuccessful lawsuit,” adds Potts.

16.3 PER CENT OF IMAGES USED ON OUR GALLERY PAGES ARE WATERMARKED; THE REMAINDER ARE LEFT OPEN TO THEFT – STUART SPICE, MR SITE

service Mr Site (www.mrsite.co.uk), suggests that while fewer users watermark images, the numbers are still significant. “Around 16.3 per cent of all images used on our gallery pages are watermarked, meaning that the remainder are open to potential theft,” says Spice. “Watermarking offers you the best protection in my opinion, as it acts as a ‘spoiler’ for the image without detracting from the impact of the image.”

More primitive methods, such as disabling right-click (or Ctrl-click on Macs), fail to take into

FACEFULL (TOP): Personal work from illustrator Andy Potts, one of the most creative illustrators in the UK, who has been recognised within the industry by a BAFTA nomination and a prestigious AOI award© ANDY POTTS

GETTING TO KNOW YOU (ABOVE): Book cover design by Andy Potts for the collected short stories of sci-fi writer David Marusek© ANDY POTTS

EUROPA COVER: A striking cover design for French magazine Europa by Andy Potts about the rise of non-governmental organisations© ANDY POTTS

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Feature Protect your art online

account something available to all PC and Mac users, warns Spice. “One method people often discuss is the disabling of the right-click on the mouse to prevent people from clicking Save As when hovering over an on-screen image. This may offer a small degree of protection, but is no match for the ardent copyright thief. In fact, one of the most basic functions of Microsoft Windows that has been around since the old days of Windows 3.1 is the Print Screen function.” Mac users can use a similar method to capture images and professional screen capture utilities are available for both platforms. “The techies often talk about placing invisible ‘layers’ over the top of your image to prevent the right-click or any interaction with the image. This works to a degree, but again falls foul of the Print Screen button,” says Spice.

Tags and metadataDigital watermarking is another possible solution. Having your details on an image can identify you should a third party require legitimate copies or wish to compliment you on your design. “It also tags your images with your details,” says Tim Hunt. “So if some of your images from, say, a wedding are being emailed around, anyone wanting to buy one will see your details on the watermark and can visit your site and buy them, so digital watermarks can be a good marketing tool.”

You can create both digital and visible watermarks in Photoshop, and there are several ways to do this, like adding text with the Text tool on an additional layer. Experiment with different typefaces, opacity

and Bevel and Emboss effects to ensure the text doesn’t overpower the image. The Digimarc (www.digimarc.com) plug-in, which comes as standard with Photoshop, allows you to embed copyright information into your images. Copying an image with an embedded watermark also copies the watermark and any information associated with it. You can also create a metadata template in Photoshop, and in the File Info interface or the Metadata panel in Bridge, you can edit your document’s copyright info.

For those looking for a little more variation, many free and payable watermark and image-protection applications are available, found by searching websites such as Download.com (www.download.com), Softpedia (www.softpedia.com), Tucows (www.tucows.com) and MacUpdate (www.macupdate.com). TinEye (http://tineye.com) is an image search engine, currently in beta, that lets you search for your images online. Copyscape (www.copyscape.com), meanwhile, offers some free or minimal cost searches along with a premium service, Copysentry, which for around $5 a month aims to protect your site against content theft by monitoring the web for copies of your content and emailing you as soon as they appear. YouTube (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xem8KSnuhJI) has useful tutorials showing you how to watermark for the web, including using Actions to batch-process your images.

Small solutionsIf watermarks aren’t your thing, keeping images small and low-res will limit how they can be used in most

In places I’ve seen watermarks, they have always looked pretty awful. I thInk the best thIng Is just an overall dIsclaImer somewhere tIdy on the front – MArC BESSAnT

Visible watermark step-by-step

Get a watermark in Photoshop in several ways, like creating a new layer and using the Text tool to add the © sign, your logo, site or contact details

1. Create a new layerOpen the image you want to add a visible watermark to and create a new layer. Select this layer and use the Type tool to add your copyright text, for example, ‘© Danny Hughes http://danny21.deviantart.com’. Use a large watermark that fills most of the image. This will make it difficult to remove the watermark using the Clone Stamp or Healing Brush tool.

2. Adjust your watermarkUse Opacity and Fill in order to adjust your watermark. The lower the opacity setting, the less likely the watermark is to distract from your image. Additionally, experiment with typefaces, as some are significantly more pleasing on the eye then others. Finally, flatten the layers and remember to Save As to avoid writing over your original file.

Portishead: Marc Bessant produced artwork for cult band Portishead and their album Third, recently voted Album Of The Year by Uncut magazine© Marc Bessant

cases. “An image thief is limited in what they can do with a web image other than use it online. This is because the resolution is simply too low for the image to be reproduced effectively elsewhere, especially thumbnail-sized images,” explains Tim Hunt of Clikpic. Although there are software solutions, including

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Orphan Works 2008

As we went to press, the US Orphan Works 2008 was still slowly progressing through the legislative system with Congress going into a lame-duck session as a new President prepares to take office. During this time, it was thought the bill might still be passed despite numerous artists, photographers, illustrators and individuals attacking the plans as ‘grossly unfair’. The Orphan Works Act defines an ‘orphan work’ as any copyrighted work whose author someone who wishes to use the artwork is unable to locate, as long as they have performed a ‘reasonably diligent search’.

In a radical departure from existing copyright law and business practice, the US Copyright Office has proposed that Congress grant such ‘infringers freedom to ignore the rights of the author and use the work for any purpose, including commercial usage’, reports the Illustrators’ Partnership (http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com). In the case of visual art, the word ‘author’ means ‘artist’, and in theory, work that you have placed on the internet could be used by anyone. “It’s very easy for images, especially on the net, to lose their creator’s name and therefore be open to exploitation by anyone,” warns Derek Brazell of The Association of Illustrators (www.theaoi.com). “However, the EU and the United Kingdom are looking at orphaned works and it appears there will be more rigorous checks on who can do what with an orphaned work in these territories.”

The Illustrators’ Partnership maintains a blog with new updates and ways you can help prevent the US Orphan Works 2008 from becoming law

TINY DANCERS: A three-colour gig poster advertising an appearance by the band Tiny Dancers. Marc Bessant recently launched a new website showcasing his vast and varied illustration and design work © MARC BESSANT

MALAKAI: Promotional poster for Malakai, a two-piece band from Bristol, by designer Marc Bessant, who is responsible for numerous music-related CD covers, packaging and posters© MARC BESSANT

ENCHANTMENT: Marc Bessant provided album art and design for The Enchantment by Chick Corea and Bela Fleck. Bessant is head of design at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios © MARC BESSANT

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Feature Protect your art online

Case study Share and share alike

Although you need to be concerned about how and where you put your images online, many seek to actively share their work. If you’re stuck for suitable inspiration or reference material, there are numerous free and legal resources available online. Stock.XCHNG (www.sxc.hu), Freerange Stock (www.freerangestock.com), Fontplay (www.fontplay.com/freephotos), morgueFile (www.morguefile.com), Photo.net (http://photo.net) and Woophy (www.woophy.com) all offer free stock. Images may have restrictions on use, but many are offered under Creative Commons licensing or the Copyleft licensing scheme. This allows for some but not all copyright restrictions, giving the user the ability to modify an image, for example, as long as the resulting image is bound by the same Copyleft licensing scheme. Good karma dictates you always read the small print, but few restrictions should apply.

deviantART (www.deviantart.com) actively encourages the use of other people’s images. Some of the more impressive Photoshop photomanipulations found on the site take elements on stock images freely offered by the community. “The resource and stock art providers go out of their way to offer a wide variety of high-quality material that comes from artists that span the globe,” enthuses Kari Campbell, assistant director of artist relations at deviantART. Browsing the Stock Photography gallery enables artists to locate suitable stock for their various projects. “deviantART provides a forum for stock art and resource providers. Here, deviants are able to ask questions about tips, share information on what they find in terms of creating the best resources possible,” insists Campbell. “This open platform is a great way to communicate with the Gallery directors regarding any questions they might have concerning this valuable genre. Artists can also post threads if they are looking for something in particular for a piece that they are working on.”

third-party Photoshop plug-ins, to increase the size of images, results are mixed at best. “Place only very highly compressed JPEG images at small dimensions on your site. That way, if the image is stolen, it is of such a small size and low quality that an attempt to resize or reuse the image in any way will produce a very degraded version of the image,” suggests Mr Site’s Stuart Spice. There are positives and negatives in doing this, not least reducing your work down to a resolution and size that won’t do you justice. “There is one main detractor, which is that the image may lose impact so it won’t be shown in its best light, crucial if you plan on selling your pieces,” adds Spice. Play around with the Save For Web function in Photoshop to see how your work will look at different sizes while aiming to keep the resolution, 72dpi, the same.

I lIke CreatIve Commons lICensIng beCause It allows CollaboratIon and shared ownershIp – JoNATHAN WIllIAMS

The spirit of collaboration and sharing is central to online communities such as deviantART

Copyright and wrongsPlacing a copyright message on your website won’t protect you from theft, but it may deter some from simply downloading without thinking. Marc Bessant (www.marcbessant.com) is a well-respected designer and illustrator with numerous CD and DVD covers, books, logos and posters under his belt, who has never been a fan of visible watermarks: “In places I’ve seen watermarks, they have always looked pretty awful. I think the best thing is just an overall disclaimer somewhere tidy on the front end of the site. I’ve seen my work printed in magazines blatantly from a low-res source from the net. obviously, I’m thrilled someone is interested, and in the most part all exposure is good exposure, but I wish the effort had been made to get better-quality examples.” Much of

CharleS Darwin: 12 February 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and Nature magazine commissioned

this striking portrait by illustrator Jonathan Williams© Jonathan williamS

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SCOUTING FOR GIRLS: Since graduating from the Edinburgh College of Art in 1993, Jonathan Williams has worked as both illustrator and art director. His images have appeared in major publications, books and retail outlets across Europe, America and Australia© JONATHAN WILLIAMS

what Bessant does is already in the public domain, in shops and online stores, so he sees little point in protecting images that could be easily copied elsewhere. Any designer who respects what they do wouldn’t dream of wholesale copying another designer’s image. That said, ideas are hard to copyright, and that’s a grey area for Bessant and many others: “If people are going to copy, then they are going to copy regardless of scale. It must make it a little harder to do the smaller you go, but the idea itself is unprotected at any size.”

Plagiarism in art, design, music, literature, fashion and many other creative areas is clearly a problem, difficult to define and ultimately, hard to prove, especially in a court of law. “Possibly, we are all influenced by the things we see and the web is the biggest crystal ball ever,” says Bessant. “Anything that goes into your head potentially might end up part of what you do. I’m talking more about ideas and concepts really, though, rather than straight line-for-line plagiarism.” While the designer has, to his knowledge, never been plagiarised, he’s seen some sorry and shoddy reproductions of his work. “If I have been ripped off then I haven’t seen it online, although sadly I’ve seen plenty of bootleg band T-shirts laid out on pavements outside venues over the years that I had nothing to do with that have my design all over them and, of course, the pirate CD market is rife. All the elements for dodgy replication are up there online, but hopefully the savvy consumer will spot the rubbish.”

Creative CommonsLike Marc Bessant, Jonathan Williams (www.jonathanwilliams.co.uk) is popular and in demand. As an illustrator with a distinctive style and work showcased across the internet, on websites including AOI Portfolios, Altpick, Behance Network, Creative Shake, theispot.com and the TAXI Design Network, it’s not hard to find suitably impressive examples of his work. Again, Williams has yet to see his work copied, but increasingly clients are calling for work freely available online to be protected: “I haven’t been ripped off (yet) so I’ve never felt a need to watermark online images. Recently, a handful of clients have asked me to protect images they have commissioned from being downloaded. As the potential for online digital promotion grows, it seems that clients, more than ever, want to control and restrict the use of commissioned work.”

Recently, Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org) licences, which provide a flexible range of protections and freedom for authors, artists and educators, have begun to appeal. For Williams, it has the potential to offer the best of both worlds: “I see artists borrowing ideas and techniques from each other all the time, and can’t help wondering if ‘intellectual property’ is, in fact, far more fluid and communal than traditional copyright admits. I like Creative Commons licensing because it allows collaboration and shared ownership, while also recognising the professional artist’s right to receive payment for original artwork.”

Digital watermark step-by-step

You can add copyright information to Photoshop images and notify users that an image is copyright-protected via a digital watermark that uses Digimarc technology. Digimarc software is included as standard in Photoshop and a Digimarc ImageReader is also available

1. Embed a watermark into your image

2. Digimarc Professional Edition

To begin, from the Photoshop menu, head to Filter>Digimarc>Embed Watermark. Next, decide upon your image attributes, then enter your copyright year and set the strength of the digital watermark, too. Click the Personalize… button to enter your own Digimarc ID and PIN. If you don’t already have one, never fear, because you can purchase one from the Digimarc website at www.digimarc.com.

For those serious about protecting their images, Digimarc offers a series of subscriptions, starting at around $79 and rising to $499. Coinciding with the release of Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4), Digimarc introduced a new version featuring improved robustness for image format transformations, resizing and compression, as well as improved Search Service with expanded website coverage and monthly reports of where customer images are located online.

3. Read a Digimarc watermark in PhotoshopIn order to read a Digimarc watermark, choose Filter>Digimarc>Read Watermark. If the filter finds a watermark, then a dialog box will display the creator ID, copyright year (if this is present) and image attributes. Select OK, or if you want to find out more information then click Web Lookup. The Digimarc website will be displayed in your web browser, where contact details appear for the given creator ID.

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Adavanced Photoshop: 52 Protect Your Art Online

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