Stealing and Taking Credit for Artwork

While I was away on a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark, experiencing all the hygge it has to offer, I received a message on my Tumblr that my 13 Reasons Why watercolour piece was being used as a design on phone cases and sold across many sites. To my surprise my initial reaction was not of anger but more of amusement. But that might have been in part to do with the fact that I was on holiday and in a happy mood. I wasn't going to let anyone interrupt that.

To my knowledge this is the first time my artwork has been stolen and used elsewhere without credit being given to me, however I was aware that it was a possibility. My overall reach isn't the widest however my 13 Reasons Why painting is one that has gained a little more momentum on platforms like Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram. I completely understand why someone would think it was a good idea to put it on a phone case. I'm actually quite curious to know what it looks like on a phone but don't worry I don't intent on buying it. What I don't understand is why I wasn't contacted in any shape or form and that someone felt that they could just steal something that I put time and effort into and take all the credit for it.

The original watercolour piece

I should feel more pissed about this than I do. I would have definitely been more pissed off if I had felt the piece had been 100% mine - more personal and an original idea. However since I feel like the idea for the painting doesn't fully belong to me - the painting is very similar to the original reference photograph with the only changes being made to the background - I don't feel completely robbed. I should probably adjust this way of thinking because the work is mine and is being used for profit that isn't going into my pocket. At the end of the day my permission to use the image should have been seeked out.

Since receiving the message about my artwork (which by the way was really nice of that person to let me know!) I feel like I have been following breadcrumbs to find the route of the problem. My first contact was with Woo Pop Culture who responded to me fairly quickly and told me to "be aware it [my artwork] is on Aliexpress and thousands of dropshippers will be using it!!" They said they would pull the design but as of the posting date of this blog the design is still up on Woo Pop Culture. Currently I am contacting the multiple sellers of the phone case on AliExpress and trying to get information as to who their suppliers are. So far the only response I have gotten is so sorry we didn't know it was stolen and that their supply is bought from a "China website" (I mean is it that hard to send me the link. It's like talking to a brick wall!).

I won't be wasting too much time hunting down the supplier though but part of me wants to find the route of this all. What this situation has done is got me thinking about artwork thievery and fakery online and why people do it. As an artist I make sure to always sign my work if I plan to upload it online just so that if it is stolen you can clearly see that it is mine. But this alone still doesn't deter people from taking your work.

Online and especially on Instagram there is a large art community but unfortunately within that community there is often fakery and thievery. Sadly I have heard of many instances where people have taken someone else's artwork and claim it as their own. Some even tamper with reference photos and claim that they drew the image when in fact they have only tweaked a couple of things on Photoshop. I could never understand wanting to take credit for something that isn't yours or lying about whether it was drawn. You might be surprised to know there are a few people on Instagram who have very large followings but yet are fakes. These people have taken peoples money for commissions and then don't deliver what they promise. It is really unfortunate that these people still get any sort of recognition when the real talented people seldom get any.

Going forward I'm not sure what actions I can take to prevent this from happening again. I really don't want to resort to having to put large ugly watermarks on my work. If anyone has any advice I would gladly hear it. At least this all gave me a good laugh but if there is a next time I doubt I'll be laughing as much.

Hazel, xoxo       

May Sketch A Day Faves

This month has been a continuation of the #makeasplash watercolour challenge and it has reminded me of how much I like working with the medium. It's just so easy to set up, especially with block palettes. And since I can be quite lazy in the preparation stages of painting it is so much more convenient than say acrylic. If I was to leave acrylic to dry on a palette it would be a nuisance to reuse which means having to measure precise amounts of paint in order not to waste too much. But with watercolour just add water and hey presto your good to go!

Unfortunately I have not as been as consistent as I would have liked and missed quite a few days this month. I'm looking on the bright side though because I'm just glad I haven't thrown in the towel all together. Since i've been using watercolour paint all month it's a much more colourful month to look back on.

It's funny to see at what points I enjoyed using particular colours. Even though I like trying out different colour schemes, I always seem to revert back to certain colours and combinations. For instance near the start of the month I favoured greens and reds but then started to use oranges and blues more as time went on. 

I was so please with how my Lizzie McGuire piece turned out. It's far from perfect but the way the light shines from the middle was almost exactly how I wanted it - without using too much white paint and letting the paper show through. Plus I'm from the Lizzie McGuire generation of Disney so this basically screams childhood to me. "Sing to me, Paolo" could be the sickest burn of all time!

The heathers painting is in my favourites due to how tricky I found it to do but I'm happy with how it turned out. I managed to push through and find a way to paint it how I pictured. Whereas the tree painting just reminds me of a 70s travel ad because of the colour palette. Definitely want to revisit some 70s colour schemes.

I painted this one during Mental Awareness week and so wanted to create something that would illustrate how my head feels sometimes. These things can be hard to explain so painting is much easier. Plus I really enjoyed using the blues and reds minimally with the white showing through. 

 

 

These last few where just fun from start to finish and I can only hope for this to continue.

Even though the #makeasplash watercolour challenge is complete I will definitely be using watercolour more. Maybe not straight away just so I can flex my other muscles but definitely soon. Next month I'm aiming to do some acrylic canvas work. Back in January I worked on some small canvases and there is something so gratifying about seeing a finished piece on canvas. 

Also my goal for next month is for quality not quantity so that means I will be spreading workload out over days instead of small finished pieces each day. My black panther painting was done over two days and I was really pleased with how it turned out so I only hope that by lengthening the process I can I achieve better results. 

May has been a colourful one and may it continue! ;)

Hazel, xoxo

Watercolour Tips and Tricks - Video Playlist

Since starting the #makeasplash watercolour challenge last month I have slowly been getting used to watercolour paints and learning how to get the best out of them. Early on I realised how different they were to the acrylics I tend to use and so I had to adapt the way I painted.

Now I could tell you that I learned all of the tips and tricks all by myself but that wouldn't be entirely true. Of course I have picked up a few things on the way through trial and error but I also helped the process along by watching some tutorial videos. I thought instead of me waffling on about what I've learned in the past couple of weeks I would put together a playlist of some of the videos I found helpful. Visually seeing how watercolour paints apply, layer and dry has been very helpful for me. Plus sometimes you need to see it rather than read it.

These first two videos have some simple beginners tricks in the form of what not to do. Some may seem obvious but sometimes you've got to hear them in order to avoid simple mistakes.

 

The next video contains the basic painting techniques you can use and experiment with in watercolour.

This video talks about your painting set up and tips to make painting easier specifically in regards to water.

And finally a video from one of my fave art channels on youtube, MaryDoodles.  In this video she goes over watercolour supplies and what you might need. However she does miss out watercolour pencils but apart from that she's pretty on point.

Hopefully this playlist is helpful to those starting out with watercolours. I found these videos to be be quite useful in getting me started. Remember cass art's #makeasplash challenge is running until the end of May so I hope to see more watercolour on my Instagram feed. If you want to see my progress just follow me on any of my social media links (links in the sidebar).

Hazel, xoxo

April Sketch A Day Faves

April has been both good and bad regarding my sketch a day progress. Unfortunately I've missed quite a few days this month for various reasons. There have been a couple of days where I have taken a strong dislike to the idea of drawing. This feeling isn't new and usually stems from the feeling of being forced to do something. So I've realised on these days it's not a wise decision to force myself to draw something because usually the end result won't be anything worthy of uploading. Luckily this hasn't happened too many times and the rest of the days I haven't uploaded I physically couldn't because there weren't enough hours in the day. But most of the days I have uploaded I've felt pretty good about my progress.

I started the month off with a colouring pencil binge thanks to my new faber-castell polychromos. It really can make a difference if your materials are good. Polychromos are just so easy to use. Here are a couple of my fave pencil drawings. I began to work on my ice queen over a couple of days and really want to go back to that schedule at some point just because I really like what I managed to do and by the end of the year I want to look back and see some bigger pieces. Spreading the work out over a couple of days allows me to do bigger work.

 

In the middle of the month I went back to my first love, graphite pencils but also experimented with my promarkers. My addiction to dance moms has continued  and expanding to me watching Sia's music video Big Girls Cry featuring Maddie Ziegler and instantly loved it. Also Kimmy Schmidt came back on netflix so I had to commemorate it! 

Last month I said I wanted to do more painting since I hadn't got round to it yet. So within the last week or so I have gotten my watercolour out. One of my favourite things about watercolour is the fact it is so convenient. Unlike acrylics where you can find yourself wasting paint, watercolours can't wasted because if they dry on the palette you can just add water and they can be used again. Here are my fave watercolours. 

 

Beyonce's Lemonade is definitely a fave of the month. She is a true artist in my eyes. 

Looking back it has been a pretty good month. It's not until I look through my work for the monthly review that I can see it clearly. Next month I aim to continue with the watercolour, hopefully do some canvas work, try to miss less days and to aim for bigger pieces spread overy a number of days. Seems attainable. 

To follow my #sketchaday2016, Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr are the places to be. Hope to see you there!

Hazel, xoxo

Make A Splash - Getting out the Watercolour Paints

Watercolour painting by Hazel Stewart, Age 9

Cass Art have started the Make A Splash campaign to encourage people to experiment with watercolour painting. So I've dusted off my Grandma's old watercolours hidden away in my cupboard and decided it's time to challenge myself.

Watercolour has never been a medium in which I was completely comfortable with. Since it was my Grandma's chosen medium you would think I would take to it like a duck to water. I was surrounded by it and so I would have picked up some tricks. Subconsciously maybe they're in there somewhere. As you have seen from my sketch a day I have tried watercolour pencils and sometimes achieve good results. However I've always preferred acrylics since they have a strong colour pay off or pencils for their precision.

To some it up I like to have the control. With watercolour, especially since I'm pretty much new to it, I have none of it. The water chooses to do whatever the hell it likes and nine times out ten it's not what I want it to do. But hopefully as time goes on we can reach some type of agreement both the paints and I.

I'm four days in and I'm starting to understand a couple of things. The one thing that really bugs me though is the fact that the white paint is next to useless if I'm applying acrylic techniques. I'm probably going to have to invest in masking fluid because I'm not quite grasping that if I paint over the surface of the paper it will never go back to anywhere near as light as it was before. Even if I put white paint on top. Automatic pilot is clearly sabotaging me.

My hope is that one day it will all just click into place like I've figured out the DiVinci Code and I look like Phoebe from Charmed having a premonition when it happens.  

Hazel, xoxo