This is the deviantART account of, "Artistic Justice," a Gaiaonline guild dedicated to eliminating art thieves and art theft as a whole from the website.

For those of you that don't have a gaia, or simply don't know, every week, the website hosts a competition of literature, avatars, homes, and art.

Though the moderators try their best to detect art theft, they're only human, and spend their time working on the website, not on deviantART, so rather often, stolen art slips by them and goes unnoticed until the public does something about it.

When we see this, we comment on it, saying the artwork is stolen, report it, put the user on the blacklist forum topic, then, if we can find the original work, we go on deviantART and tell the original artist that their work has been stolen.

However, just like the gaia mods, we are only human, and we can't catch every art thief out there.

That's why we'll need all the help we can get! See stolen art on gaia? Send us a note or post it on this profile, and we'll take care of it.

Better yet, join our guild!

[link]

Don't have a gaia? Make one today:

[link]

And just so you can help us, below we have listed ways to catch those art thieves!

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If you randomly get watched by this account, feel special.
Your art is good enough to get stolen.
Don't panic, just keep an eye out for any messages from us.

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How to detect stolen art (or how we do it, at least):


-JPEG articles
Those pesky little things are always hiding (rather badly, might I add) in stolen artwork. No REAL artist would let their work be plagued with something as annoying, not to mention ugly, right? Don't know what JPEG articles are? ([link] to wikipedia)

-"A picture's worth a thousand words"
It's very rare that an artist has nothing to say about their work. If you see a description such as, "..."
or one that has absolutely nothing to do with the piece on a website other than deviantART, it is highly likely that the artwork is stolen.

-If it's too good to be true, it probably is
Our job is to browse gaia, looking for stolen art from deviantART and other popular art websites, not vice versa. Gaia is NOT deviantART, it's awfully rare that a VERY good artist is to put their work up on there. Does it look like something that no one on gaia is capable of drawing? Chances are, it is.

-Part of an image is good, the other looks like it was done in MS Paint?
Don't be fooled, someone's trying to crappily edit out the copyright/signature/watermark. It should be blindingly obvious that the work is stolen.

-Watermarks
In the not so rare case that an idiot comes along and uploads a work with a watermark on it... Need I say anything?

-The internet isn't THAT big of a place
If the picture is commonly seen on photobucket or other image hosting sites, it's probably stolen.

-There's now way something THIS small could be so detailed, right?
Some images can only be copied from a small source. Keep an eye out for distortion or shrinking of images.

-The art style usually gives it away
If you feel like checking out the "artist's" gallery and other pictures they claim to have done, and the art styles in the pieces are completely different, you can tell that the images were stolen.

-Humans have two hands, not 200
The alleged artist constantly posts amazing pieces in a small amount of time, claiming to have done them recently? They're only human!

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Things to remember:

-Don't jump to conclusions! It isn't professional!

-Art thieves are stubborn, and oh so aggravating. Even if you put the proof that the work they claim as their own is stolen, they'll keep persisting that it is theirs/their friend's. You may never be able to get your point across, but don't let it get to you.

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Affected artists (those who have had their art stolen):




Are you on this list, and don't want your name to be revealed? Send us a note and we'll take your name down right away.

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The deviants behind this account: