TLDR:

1. Most animal stock I post from now on will now have a small watermark in a corner of the image (it will not cover the animal in any way).  If the signature is hindering your use of the image, note me for access to a signature-less version.

2.  From now on, if you are posting an image made with my stock off of deviantart, it must have credits on the image itself or a signature on the image that marks it as yours.  This is to make your art less likely to be stolen. If your art is stolen, the stock images you used also have been indirectly stolen.

Hi all,

During the 2 years that I have been providing stock, I have experienced very few issues with noncompliance of my rules.  So thank you to all of my stock-users for that!  However, outside of dA I have been having some problems with my images being redistributed and recent law changes (see details at The Stock Directory's poll: [link]) have me wary of leaving my stock completely unmarked.  I love being able to provide the Deviant community with stock and have no intentions to stop.  However, the process in which I provide my stock is being changed in order to limit theft of my images and protect my non-commercial rule.  

A few months ago it came to my attention that some of my animal stock is being hosted in "free wallpaper" smartphone apps.  While this may seem like a non-commercial use at a glance, the app providers have advertisements in the app.  This means they are profiting off of people using the application.  These 'wallpaper' app providers likely do not have rights to any of the images that their app hosts.  They are profiting off of countless images obtained through a quick internet search.  Although this greatly frustrated me, I did not act on having the images removed as it was unwanted stress on something I consider a hobby.  With the recently changes in law, I am concerned that this type of problem will become more common.

As a result, most of my animal stock going forward will have a small watermark in one of the corners of the image. The more 'natural' looking images will be the ones to have this since they are most likely to be re-hosted.  I will do my best to assure that this does not reduce the usability of my images.  If for any reason the watermark is preventing you from using the stock, please note me and I will gladly make a watermark-less version temporarily available via Sta.sh.  I realize that this may inconvenience some artists and I apologize.  Changing my policy in such a manner will also significantly increase the amount of time I need to manage my stock account.  

Secondly, if you are posting an image made with my stock off of deviantart, it must have credits on the image itself or a signature on the image that marks it as yours from now on.  Essentially, I am asking that you, my stock-users, also take measures to protect your artwork from art-theft.  If your artwork is stolen and used for commercial purposes, that also means that the stock-images you used in your art have also been indirectly stolen.  An image with no way to identify the owner can be considered 'orphaned.'  This basically removes all copyright protection from the image.  Having a watermark, signature, or credits on the image reduces the chance that the image will end up classified as an orphan.
EDIT: If you are using my stock as a reference rather than photo-manipulation, adding a signature/credits is a suggestion rather than a requirement.  

Other than those changes, my rules and stock will remain the same as they have been.  The watermarks will be added as a 'going forward' measure, although I may go back and add them to the few images that I have encountered theft problems with.

I have created a small, 6 image exclusive stock collection of some popular animals for those who have read and reply to this journal. All you need to do is reply that you have read and understand the changes and  I will send a link to the exclusive collection via note. If you don't understand, please ask questions!  These exclusive stock images will never be posted into my main gallery (they will remain in Sta.sh).  Feel free to add thoughts, suggestions, or feedback.  


Thank you for understanding!
Sincerely,