#watermarks

[watermarkglossary]

PURPOSE The Watermark Glossary is as its name implies: a glossary of Call of Duty artist's watermarks. With the rise of artwork being taken and reposted, this blog will serve as a way for someone to inform the artist. This blog won't prevent artwork from being taken, but it will be able to notify the effected artist that its happened.

Even if you're not an artist, creating a link on your own socials or posting about this watermark glossary will help spread the word. Artists supporting artists.

WHAT_TO_DO If you believe a piece of art has been taken/reposted on another social media site, we've provided a list of watermarks from all participating artists organized via art style. Please keep in mind this site is intended to inform the artist, not call out the person who took the art. It is the artist's prerogative to determine what should be done. If you wish to call attention to the person who did take the art, then please do so on your own socials, not this one.

HOW_TO_JOIN • Follow the Watermark Glossary if you have a Tumblr account. • Post a link back to the Watermark Gallery's page on one of your social's about page (we are helping get the word out about you, please help get the word out about us). • Use the "Message Me" button to send a copy of your watermark (no larger than 200x200 pixels) with three of your social media handles/names (please provide the social media platform & handle, not a hyperlink - we will do that on our end).

GUIDELINES Art is a very broad term. So we will accept most styles/types. Digital, 3D, 2D. We will not accept submissions from blogs that are primarily NSFW. We also will not be accepting fanfic. This blog is intended for a visual art style.

SOCIAL_MEDIA We will post links for most major social media platforms (DeviantArt, ArtStation, Instagram, TikTok, X-aka-Twitter). We will not accept for-profit/subscription sitelinks (Patreon, Ko-Fi).

FEEDBACK If you have any suggestions and/or feedback, please leave it HERE. As I am only one person doing this, I appreciate any constructive comments to help improve the experience.

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[thatdogmagic]

...that your audience won't hate.

This is a method I started using when NFTs were on the rise - thieves would have to put actual work into getting rid of the mark - and one that I am now grateful for with the arrival of AI. Why? Because anyone who tries to train an AI on my work will end up with random, disruptive color blobs.

I can't say for sure it'll stop theft entirely, but it WILL make your images annoying for databases to incorporate, and add an extra layer of inconvenience for thieves. So as far as I'm concerned, that's a win/win.

I'll be showing the steps in CSP, but it should all be pretty easy to replicate in Photoshop.

Now: let's use the above image as our new signature file. I set mine to be 2500 x 1000 pixels when I'm just starting out.

Note that your text should not have a lot of anti-aliasing, so using a paint brush to start isn't going to work well with this method. Just use the standard G-Pen if you're doing this by hand, or, just use the text tool and whichever font you prefer.

Once that's done, take your magic wand tool, and select all the black. Here are the magic wand settings I'm using to make the selections:

All selected?

Good.

Now, find a brush with a scattering/tone scraping effect. I use one like this.

You can theoretically use any colors you want for this next part, but I'd recommend pastels as they tend to blend better.

Either way, let's add some color to the text.

Once that's finished,

You're going to want to go to Layer Property, and Border Effect

You'll be given an option of choosing color and thickness. Choose black, and go for at least a 5 in thickness. Adjust per your own preferences.

Now create a layer beneath your sig layer, and merge the sig down onto the blank layer.

This effectively 'locks in' the border effect, which is exactly what we want.

Hooray, you've finished your watermark!

Now let's place that bad boy into your finished piece.

You'll get the best mileage out of a mark if you can place it over a spot that isn't black of white, since you'll get better blending options that way. My preference is for Overlay.

From here, I'll adjust the opacity to around 20-25, depending on the image.

If you don't have a spot to use overlay, however, there's a couple other options. For white, there's Linear Burn, which imho doesn't look as good, but it still works in a pinch.

And for lots of black, you have Linear Light

Either way, you're in business!

EDIT since this has escaped my usual circles, and folks aren't as familiar with my personal usage:

An example of one of my own finished pieces, with watermark, so you can see what I mean about 'relatively unobtrusive'-- I try to at least use them as framing devices, or let them work with the image somehow (or, at the very least, not actively against it).

I know it's a bummer for some people to "ruin" their work with watermarks, which is part of the reason I developed this mark in particular. Its disruption is about as minimal as I can make it while still letting it serve its intended purpose.

There's other methods, too, of course! But this is the one I use, and the one I can speak on. Hope it helps some of you!

[imfmi6]

(If it fits I sits😝)

[uwmspeccoll]

Fine Press Friday!

As promised in yesterday’s post, today we present a fine press edition of, Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, by Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), illustrated by Yasumasa Fujita, designed and printed by the Shimbi Shoin, LTD. of Tokyo, Japan for  The Limited Editions Club in1932.

This edition is richly illustrated with twenty full-page illustrations by Yasumasa Fujiata. The first two illustrations are original wood-block prints, which required fifty color impressions to create the two images. The rest of the eighteen images are collotype reproductions of the artist’s originals. The decorated end sheets are also appear to be block printed in a light blue.

The text was set by hand in old-style English character and printed on hand-made Japanese paper that has been watermarked specially for this book. The book is bound with a stab binding in silk-sewed Japanese brocade and the case has been wrapped in silk. This is one of an edition of 1500 copies with a facsimile of artist’s signature and seal. . 

Use this link for more Limited Editions Club posts! 

Use this link for more Fine Press Friday posts!

-- Teddy, Special Collections Graduate Intern.

[othmeralia]

Look at this watermark!

Recently I was working with my coworker, the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, to help broaden my knowledge of rare books, paper making, book binding, etc. We started talking about watermarks, their uses and how to identify them, and he pulled out our copy of Liber chronicarum (1493) along with a backlight. What better way to learn about watermarks than to see one lit up!

[mantacid-art]

It hasn’t even been a day since I posted a guide on how to make AI-Proof watermarks, and that guide is already my most liked post on Artstation.

A big thanks to @thatdogmagic for inspiring the research that went into this!

[squishedegg]

I honestly don't hear people talking about this but if you're an artist, editor, YouTuber, or any kind of content creator, please watermark your work more!!!

Especially in this era where people love stealing content lol

I've honestly avoided using art as pfps sm because idk who to credit because there's no watermark

Idc how big you need to make it or how small, it's better to have a watermark than having none

Who cares if it annoys people, if it does annoy them, then it's because they're pissed that they can't steal your work

[aso-bi]

-ˋˏ Commissions Open! ˎˊ-

Hello hello everyone! I'm Asobi, a freelance Graphic Designer and artist passionate about 2D graphics and illustration at your service!

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ Graphic design Services: ❥ Artist watermarks - $25 ❥ Logos - $30+ ❥ Emotes - $25 ❥ Vector Icons - $20 ❥ Custom graphics - start at $20+ ❥ And lots more! ╰┈➤ I can make or recreate specific graphics if you provide enough references!

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ DnD Services: ➸ Custom detailed maps in Vintage stages for both Cities and Regions, as well as watercolor maps, full-color maps, and illustrated maps ➸ Clan/Heraldry symbols for separating clans, families, kingdoms, armies, etc. ➸ Splash/Landing pages for online sessions, Twitch streams, or as decoration for neighboring DnD tools ➸ Spell scrolls or scrolls in general, for LARPG sessions, as extra detail for in-person puzzles, or simple decor

More info, examples, ToS, waitlist, and prices on my Carrd!

✿ Thank you for reading!

Commission Carrd | Ko-fi

[cocho388]

Seems like almost every 10 years, my watermark goes through an upgrade.

Happy that I used the latter so much throughout the years. Now with my new one, here's to many more~

[a-rock-nothing-else]

i love it when artists have a watermark that they put on every piece even doodles or sketches because that means I can safely download the images without forgetting who made it and I don't have to go through the whole reverse image search thing.

[sparrowhawk-rose]

There is nothing more frustrating than art without a watermark cause it is straight up impossible to find an artist sometimes

actually wait there is:

watermarks that are not legible are so frustrating because you're so close to finding the artist but their watermark is so tiny that theres no way you'll ever find this person

or if its just initials and not a username or something

all hail artists that use watermarks, good on you for keeping your art yours

[septicsnail]

Hello and welcome to my inconsistent watermark! Currently torn between two different online identities, those identities being Keiko The Lucky Fox (yes I know the watermark spells the name wrong but shhhhh we don't talk about that) and Septic Snail. Will I ever make up my mind? Who knows but I figured I should probably say something about it so people don't go thinking I stole someone else's work. Anyways these are probably the three most common ways you'll see me mark my work. They're all works in progress so please no judgement, I am very much aware that I am cringe. Btw the Keiko watermark was made as payment for a commission I did by someone on discord. I got permission to use it as a watermark for my art.

[makiruz]

So AI being able to remove watermarks is bad for artists who watermark their work to protect it from theft; but on the other hand it's useful if you're stealing images from iStock, so I'm conflicted

[uwmspeccoll]

Publishers’ Binding Thursday

While doing research on publishers’ bindings (as one does), I came across mention of this book, A Translation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s Life of Dante by G.R. Carpenter. I decided to see if we held a copy and, lo and behold, we do! It’s such a pretty binding I couldn’t help but share it. 

Bound in vellum over boards that has been stamped in orange with an art nouveau peacock design by Edward Edwards (1873-1946), the book features endpapers patterned in the same color in which the cover is stamped. The book also includes fancy headpieces, tailpieces, and floriated initials that are printed on handmade paper in red. It was published in 1900 by the Grolier Club in an edition of 300 copies printed at the De Vinne Press. This is the first book printed using De Vinne’s Renner type. The paper used for the book features a watermark that says “Grolier” as pictured here. 

View more Publishers’ Binding Thursday posts. 

View more posts about the Grolier Club. 

View more posts about the De Vinne Press. 

[itanity]

Well,uh ,first post? My art logo,this is.

Signing in ahaha I guess. ItanityArts,developing artist. Please support me 😁

[roguetoo]

More info:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/26/23572604/watermark-removal-stock-images-shutterstock-getty-adobe