Artists want 2 things, attention and/or money. A few "pros" only care about the money, a lot of "hobby artists" draw for fun and only post for attention (If they didn't want attention, they'd just keep their art to themselves. There are people like that, but they aren't posting art, so we won't worry about them.) A lot of artists are somewhere in between, posting for the fun and attention, but all for making a few bucks when they can.

Some people get overly protective of their art. In many cases, these are "hobby artists" trying to emulate what they see the "pros" doing. Its not right for someone to take your art without permission, but in a lot of cases, the publicity can benefit you, both in attention and sales. Sometimes the steps people take to "protect" their art is worse than the "art theft" they are so worried about. I see a lot of journals and blogs now of people all panicky about "orphan works" legislation. How many of you people have actually done any research yourself on this? How many of you didn't even know what an orphan work was until now? Bill Gates is not going to steal your artz and sell them on microsoft CDs. A reasonably written orphan works law isn't going to hurt you. I know its not going to stop me from drawing, posting, or selling my art if I choose, even if it was as bad as the uninformed say it is. Stop feeding off each other's panic and think for yourselves.

Someone once said "There's no such thing as bad publicity", while that's not 100% true, most of the time it is. If someone is posting your pictures without permission, instead of getting all butt-hurt about it, why not try contacting that person and saying "Hey, that's my picture. If you want to use it, how about a link back to my gallery?" Or if some retard is claiming to have created one of your works, just expose them. They wanted to get attention by claiming your art, but they won't like the negative attention they'll get once people find out they swiped it from you.

If you are selling prints (or the original) of a picture, don't go marking it up with ugly watermarks. That's like sprinkling dog shit all over your food because you're afraid someone else might eat some. You can do just as well by posting a lower resolution version. People can tell if they like they picture better without that junk distracting them. If they do like it, then they will be interested in seeing it full size. If you're looking to make some profit on your work, be it money or attention, publicity will get you a lot farther than being over protective of everything you create.

Money isn't my reason to draw, but when I do feel up to taking some commissions, I have no problem filling my list with all I can handle. Is it because I "protected" my art so much that they know paying for a commission is the only way they can see one of my pictures the way they want to see it? Of course not. It's because they have a whole folder of my pictures on their computer that they've downloaded here, from DA, from image boards, and emailed from friends. And now they enjoy my work enough that they like to get something from me.

If you aren't selling your work, then just post it in all its glory and let people enjoy it! I don't even bother putting my name on some of my pictures, the people I care about know who drew it. I love it when people appreciate my work, so I want it to look good when I post it.

Stop being so paranoid. Have fun with your art. That includes you "pros", because if you don't enjoy what you do, your art will be "lifeless" and no one will want it. I know what I'm talking about here, I made my living off art for several years, long enough for it to stop being fun and start being work. It took me a few years to start having fun with drawing again. There are artists on my watchlist who are, honestly, very amateur, but I enjoy their works because they put a lot of enthusiasm into it. While on the other hand there are a lot of technically excellent artists who's works are just just plain boring.