Art Theives.

Yes, you know what they are. Ignorant people who steal another person's art and re-post it, sometimes posting "Copyright ME DO NOT STEAL", or "This is my character, ____. Hope you like them!", when they themselves actually saved the picture, colored over it ( or just left it as it originally was ), and gave the animal/person/character a new name.
I myself have seen tons or stolen art, some with the original artist's signature still on the stolen art.


But now, it's just getting worse. Now they are doing it for attention, and people are giving it to them, because of the stolen art.

It's hard to stop an art theif, and I admit it. But you have to let the admins do their thing.

What to do if:

You discover your art has been stolen:
Report the stolen picture! If you don't report it, they may get away with stealing your prized art.
When you report the picture, be sure to put the URL to the original deviation ( AKA Your picture ). That way the people who see that you reported it will be able to have solid proof the character/picture/etc. was stolen.
But try to refrain from posting something like "OMG MY ART WAS STOLEN" in a journal, beause all that does is start a flame war, and it can get you and your friends into trouble if you start harassing the theif.
( And we all know harassing is wrong, so don't do it! )

You friend/someone you watch's art has been stolen:
Be sure to tell to original artist, but make sure they won't post it in a journal. Again, that will start a flame war.
You should also report it and give the URL to the original deviation, as should anyone else that has seen it and knows it has been stolen.

A piece of art is stolen but you don't know who it belongs to:
You should still report it; even if you don't have a link to the original, someone else might. Yet again, refrain from posting in your journal or flaming.


If you see someone heavily tracing/referencing off of someone else's work:
Report it. You musn't let them get away with it, even if they are new to deviantART, or art all together.


If you see an art theif but don't want to go through all the trouble of reporting, you can leave a nice comment telling them that what they're doing is wrong.

Example of a good comment:

"Excuse me, but it seems you have violated the copyright policies. It looks like you have stolen art from another deviant, and I and the original artist would appreciate it if you would remove the picture."


BAD examples/ flaming is:

Continually swearing at the theif, typing in all caps or otherwise known as "yelling", or telling them to do something you wouldn't tell your best friend to do ( sorry, I couldn't think of a better explanation ).

An example of this would be:

"OMG WHY U STEAL MY FRIENDS ARTS TAKE THEM DOWN NOW OR ILL GET YOU."

Or, just simply telling them to "Get a Life" is also rather rude.
If you would just say "Please take down my/my friend's/watcher's/etc.'s art, you have stolen it and we don't appreciate that." gets the point across.


I know some art theives are very rude, and that they will respond with nasty comments. But don't worry, the admins will take care of it if you report the theif! The worst thing to do is flame the theif, as that will get you into trouble, too!

Not to mention alot of the art theives on dA are trolls ( people who create an account just to see the response an art theif might get/gets, or an account made to annoy fellow deviants without getting their original account reported. )

See a troll? Just report. It's a simple thing to do.


So, when dealing with an art theif, all you have to do is be polite, report, and have patience.

And remember: DON'T flame, harass, or "yell".