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Freelance illustrator in Phoenix, I stopped putting watermarks on my samples after a $700 lesson
For 3 years I stamped a giant watermark across every sample I sent to clients because I was sure someone would just crop it out and run with my art, and honestly that fear cost me two good gigs in Phoenix last spring when a marketing guy told me the marks made my work look amateur. Then a client in Tempe actually paid me $700 for a design I had posted with a visible watermark, and he told me he could have easily removed it but never would have because it's just not how most people operate. So am I being naive here, or have the rest of you also found that trusting clients with clean samples works out better than guarding everything?
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emma_lee222d ago
The $700 client said he could have removed the mark but wouldn't have. Did you ask him what he'd have done if someone else had already stolen that same watermarked image and sent it to him as their own portfolio piece? Because that's the part that worries me. Your test case only really works as a test if the guy knew the art was already out there with your name attached. What happens when a clean sample gets lifted by someone who strips nothing because there's nothing to strip? Curious if you have a plan for that, or if you're just betting on most people being decent.
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