We've all came across something in life that we feel is unfair, or unjust. Sometimes it's spawned by reading a book, watching a documentary or movie. Sometimes it's driven by personal experience or observation. Many of us, as artists and community activists will feel so passionate about something that we feel the need to express it via our channels of creativity, and of course, share it here on deviantART.

This article intends to provide you with a guide of how to do this in the most effective way, without breaking policy on deviantART.

First of all, you'll want to make sure that you have a balanced understanding of the subject which you wish to raise awareness of. State your facts in a balanced manner, present statistics and cite where you got these statistics from. Key point: You'll get more respect by citing resources which are neutral and which are not affiliated with a specific terrorist group, religious party, or any other element which may be biased within your agenda. Present more than one statistic and always remember to provide a comparitive reference so that you show you do actually take time to try to see things from both sides.

If you are aiming to raise awareness of a specific political situation, it may be very tempting to rush off to google, CNN, BBC News or Al Jazeera and find some images which you think best detail your personal opinion regarding the matter. You probably think that it's ok to edit these pictures in photoshop or your other favourite editing application using a familiar phrase such as "FREE GAZA", or "SUPPORT ISRAEL", or "FREE TIBET", according to the current most high profile news story which meets with your agenda.

You may have even came across some packs on deviantART, urging you to download and distribute freely to spread the word. A simple viral marketing tool which has been used successfuly by many. However, many of these packs which are labelled for redistribution contain images which are copyrighted to various Newspapers, journals and media groups.

This is where you really need to pay attention. Please stop, and think for a few minutes before you proceed any further in making your indended awarness raising deviation. Ask yourself if the photograph or image which you have ready to enter your text phrase onto really is acceptable for use here on deviantART?

"Free for use" is a term that should be thrown under the microscope. Everything is free on the internet, right? All I have to do is right click, save as..



FAQ #8: What does deviantART consider to be Art Theft?
FAQ #157: Can I use things created by other people in my submissions?

Our policy states:

You are allowed to use any valid stock resources providing that you obey the terms and conditions set by the stock provider.

Google is not a source of stock imagery. CNN, BBC News, or any of the major news channels do not provide stock photography. If you are intending on using an image which you obtained from any such source, you will be unable to upload this to deviantART without it being removed by our Copyright & Etiquette team. There may be some other communities whoallow you to take images from anywhere you feel like it, throw on some text and then submit them as your own, but we don't.

It's in the Terms of Service that you signed up for when you joined the community too, so make sure that you read it, understand it and stick to it.

So -- where can you find proper stock images? There is a tonne of such here on deviantART.

If you still can't find suitable stock imagery for what you have in mind, you might want to try out sxc.hu or i-stock.com, however please note that the latter will require you to pay for high resolution unwatermarked versions of any images which you wish to use, prior to downloading.

Once you've sourced a suitable image, you'll want to make sure that you keeping within our Etiquette Policy, which means that you cannot post something such as "DIE JEW DIE" and expect it to remain on our servers.

A lot of charities campaigning for the awareness raising of what they consider to be worthy causes have adopted ribboned colours to highlight their campaigns. Most people these days are very familiar with the pink ribbon campaign for Breast Cancer awareness and of course the Red Ribbon for HIV/AIDS awareness raising. Two very well respected campaigns which are globally recognised and respected due to the non invasive yet still very high profile coloured ribbons. Simple, yet effective -- exactly the way awareness raising should be.

So, if you are planning on the co-ordination of any sort of awareness raising campaign on deviantART, we would ask that you follow these guidelines in order to ensure that your work can remain in your gallery, and ultimately be viewed by millions of people across the globe. After all, that is the core point of awareness raising!