OK - Mild Rant time.

I understand that lots of people love cars. I understand that losts of people enjoy my auto illustrations. I understand that some people would like to use my work to create new derivative pieces, or use it to promote a forum, or make a sig-file or whatever.

What I don't understand is the lack of respect given when people just treat my work like free clip-art. Not a week goes by where I don't stumble across, or someone provides a link to an unauthorized use of one of my pieces.  I've seen tons of unauthorized deviations here, with no credits, no permission, and most of them simply butcher it in some fashion.  Be advised that if you post mods of my stuff without permission here, it will be reported and deleted.  Credits don't matter much - permission is required.  Unless we establish a "blanket permission" arrangement (rare), each separate work requires specific permission. None of this "He said it was OK last time" stuff.

The real problem is that I'm seeing commercial websites using my art as site graphics, others selling T-shirts, some people entering contests with my art, forum banners, cell-phone wallpapers for sale in magazine ads - All UNAUTHORIZED, without credits and without any licensing fees or payment of any sort!

Let me be clear that sites that want to host copies of my unmodified work, with credits and links are OK with me. Heck that's free exposure, and I appreciate it. It's when people clone out my signature, and provide no credits, not links and leave the viewer the impression that it's their work, or worse, a public domain work, that I get upset about.

As a professional illustrator, it is important to me to protect my copyrights, prevent dilution of my work, and prevent those from profiting directly from it without a fair license. My options are to stop posting work, or plaster ugly watermarks on everything making them unusable. For the most part, requests to copyright violators go unheeded. That forces me to make a decision whether to persue legal action at my expense to recover damages. Many violators are international, which complicates things to a great degree.

Typically my licensing fees are VERY affordable. Depending on the exposure and how I'm credited, I'll even waive any fees. The problems arise when people never bother to ask. If your neighbor asks to borrow your lawnmower that's one thing, but for him to enter your garage and take it without asking is quite another.  It seems silly to me to even have to say it, but "Quit taking my fucking lawnmower!"