watermarking images.

spider skeleton mount taxidermy artI’ve seen my work posted and reposted a lot online (it probably started in earnest, with my work, when this image was the main image on the wikipedia “tattoo” entry for almost a year) and I’ve never really thought about the amount of people who may be seeing it with no idea who made it.

A few things recently made me consider starting to watermark my stuff with this site’s address. First, I was looking at sketches done by some artists on a social network site I use, and found a sketch of my spider monkey mount’s skull and jaws. It was a great sketch, and I commented on it saying I loved that someone was using my work as inspiration. The artist blew it off, saying “Yes, I found this randomly online.” They had no idea they were talking to the creator of the work they were (tracing) drawing.
I explained that it was my work, she was excited to find out where it came from, we made friends.
It was a really good sketch.

Then, I found my spider skeletons posted to a russian site- and have no idea what on earth it says, whether it links back to me (update- it does) or not, and would love to comment but have no idea which buttons are for commenting or anything since I don’t read cyrilic.

Should I start watermarking things? I’d love it if every time my work was reposted or re-used, someone new came to see the rest of what I do, came here and maybe even said hi or spoke with me.
Having the site address on each photo is something I have alternately been too obstinate, or too lazy, to do. I don’t think even if I did this, that I would have the patience to go back and watermark all my older images (about twenty thousand images of my various works exist online) but maybe, going forward, I should make the effort.

What do you think?

online selling, etsy, ethics.

Update: people are beginning to migrate from the (myspace )I mean – etsy. Here is a page attempting to list their new shops and venues. And other are protesting it all.

The place has always had resellers; people breaking the rules to pass off mass-produced stuff as handmade.
There’s a lot of money to be had from people who want to NOT support corporations, who want to buy local, handmade stuff. A lot of people don’t like buying things that were made for pennies by slave labor. Lots of companies know that, and will lie about how their stuff was made, to get that dollar.

The people who produce things with slave labor want that dollar, too.

“Former eBay and PayPal executive Stephanie Tilenius has joined the Board of Directors of Etsy, joining Etsy founder Rob Kalin, FlickR’s Caterina Fake, Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson, and Accel Partners’ Jim Breyer (also on Walmart.com.’s board) on the board. Tilenius left eBay last year and now heads Google’s commerce division.”

So they invaded etsy (and a few other places) and have been trying for a while now to find ways to successfully sell to people who don’t want to buy from them. Recently, an attempt to pass off furniture built in Bali as “handmade in CA” was busted. The thing is- etsy isn’t supposed to be a place to buy factory-made goods being resold. Its own mission statement says that buying direct from people who are making things by hand, not in factories, is the point.

I signed up there because of that but now…well, the fact that when confronted with a (GIANT SHITPILE OF) evidence, including an email from the man who actually makes the furniture, that the stuff is not produced in CA, and that the original seller is a fraud, etsy chose not to apologize, not to admit fault and remove the seller—but to close discussions about it and deny. (note- the fraudulent seller? is not only still open, but still in their list of “featured sellers”)
So, I’m in the process of migrating. (check out my home page– new links to my stuff for now! All my rocks, sticks, logs, and moss will stay on etsy- but anything I made, art, paintings and stuff- originals- has been moved. still debating whether to keep my prints there or not, my “production work”)

(more…)

the gayest tattoo in the world

lgbt pride tattooI’m not even joking!

This was so fun to do.

Rainbows make me happy…

original post here.

no sopa no!

I am totally against SOPA, therefore I have contacted my government reps to shout about it. I suggest you do the same. I’ll be adding this little plea to all my images today—but I won’t black out.

Content is king- and if someone reading this happens to like my picture and read it, so much the better. SOPA would pretty much put me under. I post my original works to sites which sometimes include violating images- while my work doesn’t violate any copyright law, shutting those sites down because of other people’s sins would punish ME, an innocent bystander.

I also feel that there are enough and proper copyright laws right now to defend original works. If someone “steals” my image and uses it commercially, I can right now, without any additional laws, stop them. Legally. SOPA is good for huge conglomerates who don’t want competition, but would absolutely DESTROY the small, lone, artists, those of us who toil away in relative obscurity.

It will take away the venues we use to sell our original works, and it will destroy our ability to self-promote. It will make us vulnerable to any jerk that wants to take us down- and enable censorship by the few. If someone finds a work online offensive, right now, they can flag it or ignore it. Under SOPA, they could report it as a violation, and it would be immediately removed.

The burden of proof is on the person accused, not the accuser- and this is contrary to ALL previous law and statute in the US.

If you are not from the US, imagine all your US viewers GONE. Unable to see you. As well as the sites you use that are from the US- GONE.

For our sakes, and for your own, stand against this utterly stupid law. You can contact your representatives through this site:

https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8173

and let them know how wrong they are about what the voters want.

banned on etsy: her roses

human arm bone articulation. banned on etsy!

Apparently, despite many other listings of legal human bones, THIS one is unwelcome on etsy.

Their explanation? “Despite the fact that it is legal in your locale, etsy considers it to fall under the “illegal animal parts” clause of the TOS.”

In other words, the law is what etsy says it is.

Moving on.

 

Update: etsy has now included human parts as forbidden items, along with any thing  that has “health claims”.

kafka

When I die, please pile all of my creative work high on the pyre.

Burn it all down.

Please don’t go through it all, re-edit and assemble it for sale,

and then make a million dollars from my sad,

overworked corpse.

Kafka was firmly of the opinion that if they don’t want it now,

while it can do me some good to sell it,

they can’t have it later,

the bastards.

He worked full-time, NOT as a writer, throughout his life. He would come home tired from long workdays and stay up all night writing.

I’d have been pissed too. They always blame his lack of confidence in his own work- but I think, deep down, it was his fury that he had had to work so goddamn hard all the time while lesser authors had the leisure and funds to write, and to enjoy their lives.

Every time you think “I wish he had written more” ask yourself- when is the last time you PAID A CREATIVE PERSON for something, and spread the word, so they’d have time to write or paint more? People didn’t pay HIM either, so there’s your answer. He never had time, because he had to pay the rent. That’s how most creative people tend to live- I am lucky because my day job is art too, but even so, it’s not free, it’s not MY WORK wholly. Even so.

skinny women are evil, fat women are lazy. (or, SEA CREATURES UNITE!)

I don't care if you're skinny and covered in shag rug. I love you anyway.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of stuff addressing the lack of larger or fat women in advertising, as symbols of beauty. It’s good in a way to see more of this, because the focus on one body type in media can be really disturbing. The implications that anyone bigger than the models is sick, lazy, or unhealthy; that fat women are all ugly, these aren’t right and need changing. I really think it’s good to raise awareness about body image, and to show women of all different sizes as beautiful and feminine.

That said, I also find it disturbing that many of these essays portray thin women as “anorexic” “unreal” and “nonexistent”. Look, I do know that the use of photoshop and the like has made images of impossible women pretty damn common. And yes, a lot of celebrities have eating disorders. But this isn’t always the case. By portraying thin women as unhealthy, sick, or unreal, you are continuing body shame. You are doing the exact same thing to other women that media has done to you, and it’s just as rotten.You’re continuing the cycle of abuse. Yes, you. You were hurt, so now, you’ll hurt others. For shame?

(more…)

chai tea and plain donuts

I spent the day napping and drawing. I haven’t finished anything. Everything I’m working on is half-done, waiting. It’s been a strange day.

Here’s an older picture to tide you over until I find some motivation to finish something.

…

oh yeah, and an awesome video for you to watch.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh-hdLKITZA&w=420&h=315]

Childfree Stay-Home-from-Work Day

April 26, 2012.

Quote fromthe event’s page:

“April 26, ’12 is the next “bring-your-child-to-work” day. If you do NOT have or want children, and your workplace participates in this; if you are tired of co-workers who chose to reproduce leaving early, taking extra time off, and generally being slack because of their own life choices; if you think maternity leave should be mirrored by sabbaticals given in equal time to nonparents; if you are sick of your insurance rates being driven skyward by rampant breeding among your employer’s policyholders; in short, if you find it offensive that an entire workday is sacrificed because of the personal choices of others…

bring your child to work in a jar day

Take the day off.
Do your co-workers bring the kids in and then spend the day “teaching” them, so that you end up doing more work on their behalf? Do they abandon the precious creatures in the office, forcing childfree colleagues to entertain or supervise them? Do they wreak havoc at the workplace, and find it adorable?Does your boss think this is a great idea?

Do you wish you could spend an entire day being paid to do no real work?

(made & posted for a dear friend.)

gonzogurl

running on the freak ticket

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