Tumblr: Sharing, Thoughts, & Opinions

[MGarza145]

Hi all,

I know that this topic has previously been discussed but I wanted to ask what everyone thought about Tumblr:

As an owner of animation artwork, you are obviously allowed to display however you want. I have seen cel collectors upload scans of their cels on tumblr. However, the option to like and reblog images onto other Tumblr profiles makes cel scans more prone to be saved onto other people's computers(obviously). Personally, I like to just keep my artwork on my rubberslug gallery and sharing some artwork when it comes to seasonal events suchas the Anime-Beta awards. I've been planning on watermarking my images since right-clicking is something we can't avoid.
A few months ago, I found 2 of my cel images on Tumblr and it just really bothered me that these were being shared, although I'm flattered that people liked the images. I've seen animation artwork images used in various ways; one example is that I just saw a Little Mermaid cel scan in a fan made youtube video, I located the image on google which led to tumblr, etc.

What do you guys think? If it is your artwork that you're constantly sharing on Tubmlr, is that necessarily the best thing for your collection when it comes to exposure?

MG

[KuroiTsubasa4]

I think I'd only really care if it were being used for profit (pins, badges, etc.). People making counterfeit cels especially worries me, even now. I love giving people access to all of the artwork involved in making the cels that I collect, I just hope no one misuses it

[BuraddoRun]

If artwork is displayed on the Web, it's inevitably going to be "taken" (the digital version) and shared, kept, etc. Like KuroiTsubasa said, as long as it's not misused (for profit or fake cels), then I'm personally OK with it. A digital copy will never replace the original. And as for exposure, well, having it on the Net potentially exposes it to millions anyway, right? Watermarking is fine. I don't personally do it, but if you do, at least it leaves a trail back to the source of the image, and makes counterfitting more difficult.

Anyway, to directly answer your question, I don't worry about it being used all over the place, because if I post it, I have to simply accept that the possibility is there that it will be spread. It's the same philosophy I have with naked pictures and videos (don't worry, I don't have any of myself): If a photo or video is taken, it WILL be seen. Silly celebrities...

[theultimatebrucelee]

I usually feel honored and privileged when someone decides to share my scans elsewhere, if its on my gallery then its for sharing anyways and I think that's all images are good for. There are gazillions of images out there on the net, but someone else decided to take interest in something I have, I'd take that as a compliment. Conflicting thing though is that I can't keep track of which image goes where, and there are few images I wish would stay just in the gallery and not to be posted to the wrong place.

I've seen a few sketches on my rubberslug site being posted on an archive image site, with "likes" on them, made me feel pretty good actually.

[kizu]

Hmmm... I actually saw some of my treasured cels shared on a tumbler site dedicated to that particular series. There was no link back to my gallery or any credit given. Now this site was a pretty good fansite (meaning it's well known and updated fairly frequently). I was a little taken aback by it and initially thought of writing the maintainer but decided not to in the end. It's not that I didn't care about my cels, actually I do believe that if really good scans exists out there for your cels and it gets around then it devalues it to some extent. Some of the Japanese collectors I used to speak to mention this to me which is why they don't display or display only smaller images. But the fact is that I displayed my images online and on a site that is free and not under my control. So I will get this issue from time to time. I saw the images re-posted several times on tumblr and I could just sigh. I used to watermark just a tiny bit but now I wonder if I should go back to that and have a bigger one. It detracts from the artwork I think but maybe I should just take down certain ones. Dunno yet.

[KuroiTsubasa4]

Out of curiosity, why do they believe a good scan devalues it? Is it because it could lead to fakes? After all, it's pretty easy to see a nice big version of any cel through a DVD screen capture...especially with all of the Blu ray releases of older shows coming out lately in such crisp quality. (And those could be used to make fakes too...) It seems kind of silly because unless you have the actual cel, an image can't really compare, imho.

[kizu]

It's a perception issue. For the one's not being displayed it's thought of to not exist or is in a blackhole so if it's displayed or sold there is more interest in it whether in appreciation or selling. I think the smaller images is due to the same reason. Of course for people who don't ever plan to sell this isn't so much of an issue (but never say never because there is a lot of cel turnover) and collecting isn't all about aesthetic appreciation, it's also pride of ownership and thinking that you own something unique. If scans are just circulating around over and over it detracts from that. Of course it's different for everybody so YMMV.

[cutiebunny]

At least when it comes to original sketches, I think it's a Catch-22. On one hand, having a visible picture of a particular artist is helpful if you're considering buying what you think is a legitimate sketch. It gives you a visual of the signature and allows you to make an educated comparison to the item you're looking at. On the other hand, there are people that can make excellent copies of those autographs, and easily findable autographs allow them to do so. Fortunately for the collector, these people are few and far between, and most counterfeits are easily identifiable.

There are a lot of websites out there that are dedicated to reposting images off RS, E-bay, YJ, Mandarake, and a slew of social media sites. And I much as I'd like to condemn them for taking images scanned by us for the purpose of increasing their hit count, I also need to consider how many times visiting these sites have actually paid off. I've been turned on to some items that I would have never found using my usual YJ queries because they failed to mention a particular group of characters in their heading. Of the 8 sketches I've won on YJ in the past couple of months, 5 of these were posted on a site I frequent, and 2 of these were something that my usual queries did not turn up.