Adding watermarks/copyright marks.

[Kobuk]

How do people add watermarks/copyright marks, etc. to their artwork when they post it online? Or don't you do it at all? I don't have any special editing software except for what's already on my comp such as MS Paint and MS PhotoDraw.

[Alsek]

http://www.gimp.org/

Gimp is free,  and can do most of what Photoshop can do.  To add a watermark,  all you need to do is create a second layer,  make the image there, and then adjust the layer's transparency.

[Avan]

proper watermarks are just an image with a translucent alpha, which are then applied over the image as another layer, and then merged down (programs like photoshop, gimp, paint.net all have this capability)

Personally, I prefer to just put a little bit of text down in the corner

[Mylo]

Personally, I prefer to just put a little bit of text down in the corner

Same here.  Or some kind of signature.

[Kay Alett]

I would like to know how to remove one. An artist on DA drew my new pony but she refused to take the watermark off. I think a lot of it has to do with her being unable to understand english well.

[Avan]

It depends on how the watermark is drawn

Generally, they have some very distinct patterns, which would allow from a program-based removal system, but there are ways of being evil and having one that is impossible to remove without manually doing it.

[Storm Fox]

What I did was make a 4K image for my watermark and save it,
Then, whenever I want to use my watermark, I import my source image as a layer in the painting, drawing, etc. that I’m working on.
Then scale that layer to a proper size and make it transparent.

The only requirement is that you need an image editor with layer support, like Gimp, PhotoShop, etc.

Mostly the same as what everyone else said…

Also, if you’re interested in protecting your work, adding copyright info to the metadata of your photos would be a good idea.

[Kobuk]

The reason I was curious about watermarks and such is that several months ago, some model ship pictures I had posted to various model forums were "liberated" so to speak by a person who then uploaded them to his PB account, then posted them on a model forum somewhere in S.E. Asia I think?  From what little I could translate of the forum, the guy didn't bother to credit me or where he got the pics from.    I'm not sure whether I should let PB deal with this guy or not. I can understand somewhat about "fair use", and "Once you put something on the Net, It's fair game and anyone can see it", etc., etc., etc.  But what this guy did still rubs me the wrong way. 

[Avan]

You can still demand attribution, as well as the right to be the sole displayer of the content (with some exceptions, such as the hosting of the content going poof, archiving, fair-use [reviews, parody])