19/07/2026
I never thought I'd have to make a post like this😮💨 Recently, I discovered that one of my illustrations had been taken, edited using AI, and reposted by another account as their own work. They even left part of my original text on the image, along with the same background and watercolour texture, making it clear that my artwork had been used as the source. After I reached out, my comments were deleted and I was blocked.
I've included a comparison in this post to show what happened, but I've hidden the account name. This is shared for educational purposes to keep the focus on raising awareness and helping fellow artists, rather than on the individual involved.
It was upsetting, but it also made me realize how important it is for artists to protect their work as much as we can.
After this experience, I spent some time researching and even consulted AI (yes, really 😅). Since people are increasingly uploading artwork to AI to modify it, I thought it would be helpful to understand how AI interprets images and what information it can recognise. While there isn't a magic solution, there are a number of things we can add to our illustrations that may help make ownership clearer, discourage misuse and provide stronger evidence if we ever need to report copyright infringement.
Remember:
1️⃣ Your artwork is automatically protected by copyright the moment you create it.
2️⃣ Keep your original files, sketches, layered files, work-in-progress images and screen recordings. They may become your strongest proof of ownership.
3️⃣ No method is 100% foolproof, but making your ownership clear can still make a difference.
If you have other tips for protecting artwork, I'd love to hear them in the comments. Let's learn from one another and help support the creative community ❤️
