Uncopyright

As of March 23, 2019, I release all copyright to my blog posts, artwork, and design resources.

All of my writings on this website, my artworks, my textures, my printables — everything on this website that I created and is mine to distribute or control as I choose is now released into the public domain.

What does this mean?

For you, my loyal reader, this means a few things. You can:

• Share my artwork or blog posts on social media
• Repost my blog posts on your blog
• Use my artwork in your artwork or as images on your website
• Translate my writings into different languages
• Make money from things that you make out of things that I make

Permission

You can share, use, and remix my work without asking my permission first. There are a few exceptions, which I will go into below, so if have a question about a specific item, feel free to contact me.

But for the vast majority of the images and writings you can find on this website, you can do what you want with it without asking permission first. That’s because you already have my permission! Go ahead, use my stuff! Use it however you want!

Attribution

Attribution is not required, but I definitely appreciate it! It helps let others know about me and my work, which helps me keep doing what I do.

It is my belief that giving credit where credit is due is a good thing for everyone, but you’re under no obligation to do so. It’s really up to your best judgment whether giving me credit is appropriate for your project.

Commercial Use

Yep, you can make money off my work without any obligation to pay me anything. If you feel good about it, I’d love for you to support me by buying something from me or giving a donation so I can keep making things.

Sharing

You are not required to share with me the finished product you create with my work, but oh my gosh, that would be wonderful! I love to see what people create.

Why I am doing this

I’m uncopyrighting my work because doing so aligns with my long-held belief that sharing is a good thing. I think sharing benefits all of us, and everyone is better off by removing boundaries to creativity.

People have been afraid to share with me a piece of art they created that was influenced by my work. They were excited to show me, but I could see in them a very clear anxiety over how I would respond to them copying my style. They needn’t have worried.

Because they moved past the fear and showed me their work anyway, I was able to reassure them, but what about those who aren’t emotionally close to me or aren’t bold enough to ask?

I think of those as missed opportunities, for them and for me. Their missed opportunity is in not using their creativity, and I think creativity should be given every chance. My missed opportunity is in not being able to see their creation, and I definitely want to see that!

What a concept!

I definitely didn’t come up with the idea of uncopyrighting my work. But here I am, taking on the idea and running with it, which is honestly kind of the point! As an artist who shares her work online, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about copyright, about sharing, using, and remixing creative works. Many people have influenced me in this decision, but I must give credit to two people who have been the biggest influences for me in making this decision, namely Leo Babauta and Gwenn Seemel.

Leo Babauta

I’m not sure if I heard about uncopyright from Leo or Gwenn first, but I definitely knew of Leo before I discovered Gwenn. I’ve been reading his writings on his website ZenHabits for a long time. His writings have inspired me a great deal in terms of crafting a better life. He uncopyrighted his website over a decade ago, placing all of his content directly into the public domain. It’s fitting that I credit him with influencing me in uncopyrighting my work as well.

Gwenn Seemel

I’ve been following Gwenn’s art career for quite some time now. I’m sure I first noticed her work because it’s full of incredible color, but she also caught my attention because she releases her work directly into the public domain. A successful artist, she has made a living with her art for over 15 years. Her videos, her writings, her art, and her career are inspiring, and what she has to say about copyright put into words the things I had always felt but never knew how to express.

Exceptions

While most of the content on this website is now in the public domain, there are some exceptions:

Thrall collaboration with Sophie Ricard

This piece, created for Comic Art Club, was in part created by me and in part created by Sophie Ricard. Because it’s a collaboration, this piece remains under copyright. However, you are free to share the piece with attribution to Sophie and me as its creators.

Art Showcase

From time to time I showcase other artists’ work on this website to introduce you to artists who inspire me. These posts are called Art Showcase posts. ALL images on those posts are copyright their respective owners. Those posts and the images in the post are clearly marked with the artist’s name and links to their website and/or social media profile. All of those posts live in the Art Showcase category.

Public domain / Creative Commons

To supplement blog posts or create illustrative graphics, I may use images that are listed as public domain, Creative Commons licensed, or licensed with some other permissible license. These images are clearly marked with the name of and a link back to the creator or the originating source, either as a caption under the photo, or in a Credit line at the end of the post.

• For images used in their entirety (or with minor edits such as cropping), visit the linked source to obtain your own licensed copy.
• For images to which I add text or graphics, I only use images where derivative works are allowed and “share-alike” isn’t required. As such, my version of these images, the version that contains text or graphics, is uncopyrighted as per this notice. For the original image, however, visit the linked source to obtain your own licensed copy. In some instances, I don’t post a credit line. I do this very sparingly and I only do this when it’s clear that attribution isn’t required. Feel free to contact me to find out the creator of the original image.

Contact

If this uncopyright notice isn’t clear enough and you still have questions or concerns, please get in touch. Or, get in touch just to say hi — I like that too!