this is not a duet

I’ve just been hit by the worst case of art theft in my life. My fan illustration, The Great Wave off Kanto, is being sold on phone cases through some of the shadiest websites I’ve ever seen, and there’s nothing I can do to contact them.

Most of these sites have contact pages, but their emails bounce, their phone numbers are fake, and the American addresses they list show empty farms and fields on google maps. The location listed on the contact page for shadeyou.com says their store address is on the corner of a California farm. Another one, lovedrstyle.com seems to be run out of an abandoned warehouse in Illinois. These sellers are likely somewhere in Asia and are trying to cover their tracks.

I’m not the only small artist these anonymous websites are stealing from either.

I feel powerless. This post is an attempt to warn people away from these sites and demonstrate what some of the knockoffs look like. These kind of anonymous sellers can’t be stopped, so it’s up to us to know what to look for when buying a product from a small artist. I know most people buying this particular design won’t realize that it comes from a small artist, but it doesn’t seem like there is much else I can do.

Here are all the websites to avoid purchasing my art from, as of this post:

So far I’ve had success in removing the cases from several sites, (amazon, ioffer, a few knockoff pillow cases from aliexpress) but most of the others have ignored my emails and calls or made it impossible to get in touch, so I cannot send them a cease and desist.

Please keep in mind, if a product by a small artist isn’t coming from their personal store, (Storenvy, Etsy) or service that prints art on products while crediting the artist, (Redbubble, Society6) then you’re running the risk of purchasing a knockoff, and the artist who made it sees no support. If you see someplace selling The Great Wave off Kanto and it’s NOT from my Redubble, Storenvy, Society6, or INPRNT - it’s not me!!

All my sales go directly towards paying for rent and groceries every month, and it’s the same for many other artists. Please be careful where you buy art from!

oh god i’d heard about the “i won’t commission artists who undercharge for their art” post and now it’s making its rounds on my dash.

please understand that this concept does not actually help anyone. the sensible thing to do if an artist is undercharging is to tip them for what you think their work it worth, and be sure to let them know that. even if this doesn’t cause them to actually change their base prices, at least YOU’RE paying for what it’s worth, and THEY’RE getting business instead of nothing.

by essentially boycotting artists who are already unsure of the value of their own work (and are thus underpricing) you’re not sending any positive message. no one is going to up their commission prices when nobody is buying them. the only thing the artist gets out of it is that people don’t want to buy their art for some reason, and people who’s products aren’t selling aren’t going to say “oh i guess it was because i wasn’t charging enough, i’ll pump up the prices!”

if you want to support a commission artist, please do it by actually SUPPORTING THEM WITH COMMISSIONS rather than by choosing to take your business elsewhere because their prices were too low.