Artists concerns with Watermarking

Artists concern with Watermarking

Watermarking online art.

Artists concern with Watermarking! Artists Watermarking! It’s actually a very common question I get at my workshops…..do I need a watermark on my images (original art, jewelry and even reproductions of original pieces) that I post online?

Many artists and craftspeople are very concerned of pieces being “stolen“. Reproducing or the concern of copying off the computer and framed instead of buying.

Ok, so this actually is a real problem.

But, there are other ways to deal with this other than having an ugly “watermark” seal across your work. I mean really, do you want to see your work displayed like this? You want your work appealing to potential buyers!

Personally, seeing this happening, to me it cheapens the art. It could be the most beautiful piece of artwork out there, but all I see is a scared artist that is not marketing properly, and it even makes me hesitant to share.

So, what to do?

You still need to constantly be promoting. Of course much of broadening your exposure is showing your artwork everywhere possibly. Especially online!

Photographing

One of the aspects of my workshops is photographing artwork. Simple tricks that give you the best outcome without having to hire a professional. The next segment is what you do in your editing program.

Download photos, and be aware of what size you will need to crop them. An example is: Instagram at 600px x 600px and images for my blog are set to 300px x 300px. Resolution is set to 72 dpi. One screen for 300dpi and the second for 72 dpi. Why two different resolutions?

The lower resolution (72dpi) will load faster in your website. Speed is good! Also, if someone decides to try to copy your image, the printout will become pixelated that it deem it unusable.

The higher resolution (300dpi) is if you have a second image for blow-ups to see detail. This is when they move the mouse around your image and a larger image appears on the side. Your customer scans your artwork and sees everything very clearly. However, if you use this, set it so the image in its entirety is not available. For example: set your large image at 1000px x 1000px, and your roll-over image box to 750px x 750px.

The two resolutions are also good to have if you are doing or intend to do shows online or at a gallery. Most of the better shows jury the work and they ask to see your images emailed at a certain resolution. If you already have each piece set, you can just link and send. It’s a very good habit to get into.

So, you still are adamant to watermark your work.

There are ways to watermark without distracting from the piece. Try these ideas.

A small line of text on the bottom is still a clean look.

A clean soft “creative” watermark is not terribly distracting.

One more thing

….always put a general notice on your website or a caption below your artwork about copyright.

Artists concern with Watermarking

Do you think watermarks help or are distracting? Let us know in the comments……