A number of you may be familiar with this News article concerning Designwar.net's unauthorized use of images made by deviantART members and other artists:

http://news.deviantart.com/article/72110/

Affected artists include, but are not limited to:

=alexiuss
~BleedingStarClothing
=guava
=H3AD3AD
~tasharoot2009
`lithiumpicnic
=Raven30412
`nighty
`larafairie
~moodSwing08

These problems are only on Designwar's older sections, by the way (see the previous article for details). The newer, current sections of Designwar.net do not make artists' works available for download-- they contain only a small sample of a featured artist's works, plus a short description and a link to each artist's portfolio page. This is proper circulation; all credit is given where credit is due, and members are directed straight to the artists' own galleries.

Anyway, back to the chase...

Thanks to some detective work by =H3AD3AD, we now have a proper contact name, contact details, and mailing address to which any affected artists, or their legal representatives, can send their concerns. If you or your friends/family have any artworks that are being distributed in Designwar.net's "Art Packs" or "Stream of Creative Packs" without permission, just send an e-mail or letter to this gentleman. He's the one who deals with Designwar.net's paperwork and administrative matters, and is in the best position to resolve any problems.

Philip Samarets
Chokolovski Buleward 14, ap 11
03186
Kiev, Ukraine
designwar@livejournal.com
fangone@gmail.com
ICQ: 44199144
Skype: fangdaone
deviantART: ~FangOne

(Note: although e-mail is faster and easier, an actual printed letter has more impact and shows that you're committed to making your point.)

Explain the situation-- let him know that you are the creator and copyright owner of your images, and that they can only be shown in your deviantART gallery or other personal portfolio site. They're your artworks-- you alone have exclusive rights to distribute them. (Because, let's face it: why would people come to your dA gallery or personal website if they can get all your works somewhere else? Designwar is a prominent designers' community-- a lot of its members won't bother coming to your dA page, or to your personal site, because they'd rather hang out at the site where their friends are.)

The reason for this concern is that Designwar makes your artworks available for free download in massive archives, usually mixed with the works of various other people. It doesn't give you any credit for the works, unless you're a popular professional artist like Martijn Oort or Corwin Prescott. In some cases, artists' signatures have even been removed, and replaced with the Designwar.net logo. Although Designwar does not allow its members to sell or profit from your works, the "Art Pack" method of distribution gives the wrong impression that your images are free to edit or recolor (or in some cases, for people to claim your work as their own. An art thief that I once encountered on deviantART, acquired her stolen images from a Designwar Art Pack).

If you send a letter or e-mail to Designwar's manager, be brief and direct, and most importantly, be friendly. He juggles a very busy site, and at the end of the day, he's a hard-working, art-loving person like all the rest of us.

Lastly, keep an eye out for any unauthorized distribution of artworks, whether they're from dA members or artists from outside dA. There's too much theft on the 'net for just a few of us to monitor. This is, after all, an art community-- so let's look out for our fellow artists!