Well, my master recently told me about another idiot art thief, whose name I should not announce, stole her art work again. It's not so much of art thieves that pisses me off, but the people who were duped by them! What is wrong with you people? ('you' as in those who were duped) How can you not tell?

=_= thus I came to the conclusion that you guys (no offense) are either very bad artists, or has not reach the level of awareness of what art style is. Aka you believe all art are the same.

Here is a lesson of how to identify art thieves.
1.) The MOST OBVIOUS...their art styles aren't consistent. Most artists develops their an art style that is recognizable to the naked eye. Although some artist style jumps from anime to realism or to abstract, there is always something about the art that will stick out to represent the artist. Like the brush strokes, the color choices, ect.
Ex:
Yuumie's art is different than
2.) They explain who they are in their artist's comment. Think about it, if it's your art, why would you need to explain that it's yours?
3.) The art have signatures, watermarks, or any sorts of trade mark that is only on one art, but not on any other. If it was your art and you care about them, you'd put watermarks on them. =_=

Maybe hints:
Although it's an awesome art, not a lot of people comments it or it only has a bunch of views. That could mean it was stolen.
They have no icons.
they hide their comments (because people like me fire at their comment box. )
Art thieves usually don't last long, so you might want to check the amount of views they have.
Uploads a tons of art at the same time, but does not explain how they made it.
Most art thieves don't know about photoshop, sai, coral, or any other art programs. so they are likely to just leave the watermarks on the art. They probably don't even know how to crop things either, so the evidence of them stealing the art will be there. Some can't tell you what program they used either. Each programs have different features that only that program could use.

Okay, so here are some of the obvious hints, if you readers feel like adding more, comment. If you have questions, ask. =_=

How to protect yourself from art thieves
Read it and spread the news. Copyright is important. Learn to protect your right and fight art thieves. [link]
Water Mark placing
This is what I usually think before I put my watermarks.
If you don't want your water marks on the art, place it near your art, like this one [link] . This helps, because many thieves tend to crop your art work so that your watermarks don't show. (however,if they get caught, you have the original size of the art to prove the art is yours)
You can also place your watermark on the art and be sneaky about it [link] or just show it off [link]
When placing a water mark, I tend to avoid the edges, because they are the weakest area. Because they can be cut off and ignored but still maintaining the main focus of the art. So I always have my marks on the art or close to it. So when the thieves crop it, they crop the art too. bwhahaha.



So if you want to be a better artist, pay more attention to details and not "oh! happy/pretty/coolio art **". Be sure to read at least half the artist comments, or look through their gallery. Hope that taught people something. Now be safe kids and Happy faving and commenting.