Tell A Friend About Creative Commons

(Image From: lukeroberts on deviantart)

Well, I've finally arrived. I had my first piece of art ripped off yesterday. It was an accident really, the person meant well, but none the less, they took an image I spent hours making and pasted it right into their own work.

I always knew these things happen to artists, but it's pretty unsettling when it happens to you. Thankfully, it was exactly what I thought, just someone who meant well, but didn't realize they were crossing a line when they used it without asking permission first.

This is the reply I sent to him. Please, educate your friends and family about Creative Commons so we can all be creative together without stepping on each other's toes.

Hey man, thanks for taking it down. but I just want to make sure you know I'm not angry or mad at you. I had a feeling it was an accident, but it was a very unsettling feeling to see how easily things can get ripped off (even with the best of intentions).

believe it or not, I was more worried about you than my image. I'm not too broken-up about it, but I was worried you might accidentally tick someone off someday if I didn't speak up. (as in, tick off someone with lawyers or something)

the good news is, it's really easy to tell when artists do and don't want others to edit their work.

Just look for: "Creative Commons" here's a link to wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_commons

Flickr has Creative Common options and I noticed that DeviantArt is doing it now too. So just look for that and you should be all set to have fun with an image.

Here's an example: http://lukeroberts.deviantart.com/art/Creative-Block-43033454

notice the (CC) instead of (C)?

Pass on the word. The more people who know about these things, the better.

Best of Luck to You,
~Danny