After an incident with one of my ACC classmates yesterday, I have something I need to discuss with you, my Watchers and Visitors.

I Watermark my work. This is very obvious, as they're very well evident by simply looking at any part of my gallery. I have very logical reasons for doing so:

(1) Large Watermarks make it MUCH harder for art thieves to edit a piece without seriously marring it. Having just a signature in the corner of the piece and a small watermark (which was what the classmate would rather I do) in the same means that art thieves can simply crop both out.
(2) They WORK. I've only had three incidences of art theft, and those were mostly-well-meaning people who just made graphics and/or wallpapers without asking me first, and one who used one of my old drawings in a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic fan video. It wasn't a big deal, and it's the kind of thing I will usually let slide after I tell them that they need to credit me and ask next time they want to borrow something. But I have never, ever had someone take one of my drawings and try to sell it or claim it as their own.
(3) Art is stolen from deviantART all the time. Watermarks are a safety precaution. Not to resort to cliches, but I would rather err on the side of caution. Better safe than sorry, as that old saying goes.
(4) Theft and imitation are not the highest forms of flattery, regardless of what that classmate would like to believe. Theft of anyone's art is a crime. It is a violation of one's property to have their art stolen. If we were talking about physical property, something you owned in your home, say, a laptop, any you had the means to defend it if someone tried to steal it (say, you have a permit to carry a gun), you wouldn't let a burgler just walk off with it without doing anything, would you? The same principle applies to my art.

I don't mind people linking to it with credit (that is not theft, it is someone sharing a piece they like), and people can ask me if they can use my fanart for graphics. I'm not really worried about that. As I said above, I'm worried about the really serious art theft, where someone takes a drawing by someone else and tries to pretend it's theirs by uploading it to their gallery, or by selling it without the original artist's permission. Watermarks are a way of protecting that work.
(5) My work is mine. That is not naive or pretentious. I created it. Therefore, I have a right to restrict the use of my original artwork. I don't really claim that right on my fanart, but if it's something that's original, then I will protect my property.

If any of you have a problem with the fact that I Watermark my work, then deal with it and don't bring it up in any comments in my gallery. I am not changing this policy. I do not care that it looks ugly. That is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

The classmate in question has been banned from my gallery and his comments hidden. Suffice it to say that he crossed several lines in that thread. I will not mention him by name, because that would be "feeding" him. In short, he bullied me. I have not put up with bullying, even cyber-bullying, in over five years. I'm not about to start allowing it again.

That is all.

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