The question artists ask most is "Can someone steal my images from my website?" This page helps you think it through. For what ArtSites does and the settings you can use, see Protecting Your Images.
The reality
The only way to be sure nobody misuses your art online is to keep it off the internet. By that logic you would also stay out of galleries and shows, because someone could photograph the work there. All exposure has risks.
So the aim is not to prevent every copy. It is to lower the chance of misuse and lower the value of a copy, while keeping your website a good experience for the many visitors who are there to admire or buy your work.
Copyright
As the creator of a work, you hold the copyright on it automatically, and with it the legal right to control how it is used. How you use that right is up to you. For some artists it is about income; for others it is about artistic integrity. You might refuse to have your work on a cigarette package even if you were paid.
This is general information, not legal advice. Copyright rules differ between countries, so ask a lawyer about your own situation.
What do you want to give away, and what to control?
Artists land in different places:
- Show nothing publicly. You keep work private, ask people to sign a non-disclosure agreement before they see it, and limit what buyers may do after they purchase. Few artists find success this way.
- Give it away. You release your work to the public domain and let anyone do what they like with it. Many writers, musicians and photographers do this.
- Somewhere between. Most artists want as much exposure as they can get, with a say in how their work is used.
Putting up a website says you are willing to let people view your work on that site. It also makes it possible, though not legal, for someone to take an image and use it in a way you did not approve. Do you want to prevent that in every case? A copy that spreads can sometimes bring people to your work, and people who want to use it properly will still come to you. Your original is the thing of value, and a screen-sized copy rarely replaces it.
If you want to say yes to some uses, look at Creative Commons licences. They let you state clearly how others may use your work while you keep other rights.
How much to control is debated, and the best answer is different for each artist. Think about it before you decide.
AI training
AI training is the newest form of the same question. Companies collect images from the internet to train image-making software, often without asking. The same thinking applies: you cannot remove the risk of showing your work, but you can lower it.
ArtSites websites ask the major AI crawlers not to collect anything, which reputable companies respect. Tools that alter your images are another option, but they have limits. Protecting Your Images covers what we do, what we recommend and what we don't.