NOTE BEFORE SHARING: CREDIT THE CREATOR

Para bien o para mal los acontecimientos recientes han hecho que nos demos cuenta del impacto y del valor que tiene el arte en nuestra vida cotidiana, ¿qué sería de los momentos de encierro (por consigna gubernamental o por voluntad propia) si no tuviéramos películas, libros y otras manifestaciones artísticas? Sin embargo en medio del bombardeo constante de información se nos olvida un paso esencial antes de compartir: dar crédito al creador./ For better or for worse recent events have made us realize the impact and value that art has in our daily lives, what would happen to our moments of confinement (by government law or by free will) if we did not have movies, books, etc.? However, in the midst of the constant bombardment of information, we forget an essential step before sharing: to credit the creator.

🔔 REMINDER: CREDIT THE CREATOR 🔔

¿Recuerdan los proyectos escolares dónde se nos pedía incluir citas bibliográficas y referencias? Parece que Internet va tan rápido que se nos ha olvidado como dar crédito al creador, y más que protocolo se trata de un acto de respeto para quienes vivimos del trabajo creativo. No hay que olvidarse de que detrás de cada pieza hay una labor de investigación, horas de dedicación y el esfuerzo de muchos creativos que estamos intentando dar un reconocimiento a una industria que muchas veces se menosprecia./ Do you remember school projects where we were asked to include bibliographic citations and references? The internet is going too fast that it seems we have forgotten how to credit the creator, and more than a protocol it is an act of respect for those of us who live from creative work. It should not be forgotten that behind each piece there’s a research, hours of dedication and the effort of many creatives who are trying to give recognition to an industry that is often undervalued.

No importa si estás a cargo de un medio grande o pequeño, si cuelgas una lámina en tu despacho o si estás compartiendo imágenes de inspiración en tus historias: la mínima acción de poner el @ del creador en un post de Instagram es parte de una cadena que ayuda a reconocer y a valorar el trabajo de artistas pequeños y grandes./ It doesn’t matter if you are in charge of a big or small medium, if you frame a print for your office or if you are sharing inspirational images in your stories: the least action of putting the creator’s @ in an Instagram post is part of a chain that helps to recognize and value the work of small and large artists.

Es muy inocente (por no utilizar otra palabra) pensar que esa imagen que estás compartiendo en tus stories cayó del cielo, una máquina por si sola no es capaz de generar una expresión artística y pareciera que mientras más avanza la velocidad con la que compartimos contenido, menos nos detenemos a pensar por un segundo que “lo encontré en Pinterest” no es una respuesta válida./ It is very innocent (not to use another word) to think that the image you’re sharing in your stories fell from the sky, a machine by itself is not capable of generating an artistic expression and it seems that the quicker we share content and information, the less we stop to think for a second that “I found it on Pinterest” is not a valid answer.

Photo used in collage by Daniyel Lowden x L’Officiel USA

¿Cómo dar crédito al creador de maneras sencillas?/ How to credit the creator in simple ways?

– Poner a Tumblr o a Pinterest como fuente no vale, sé que muchas veces es complicado encontrar la fuente original pero hay un truco: aprovecha la herramienta Google Imágenes creada en el año 2000 gracias al jungle dress de Versace usado por J.LO. Aquí puedes arrastrar una captura de la imagen en el buscador y obtendrás más pistas y resultados para dar crédito al creador./ Putting Tumblr or Pinterest as a source is not worth it, I know some times it is difficult to find the original source but there’s a trick: take advantage of the Google Images tool created in 2000 thanks to the jungle dress of Versace worn by J.LO. Here you can drag a screenshot of the image in the search engine and you’ll get more clues and results to credit to the creator.

– ¿Quieres apoyar a tus amigos creativos en los tiempos difíciles? No puedes comprarle algo, difunde y etiqueta para que ese trabajo llegue a más personas. ¿Por qué si etiquetamos a marcas y a proyectos consolidadas no lo hacemos también con artistas que tienen plataformas más pequeñas?/ Do you want to support your creative friends in difficult times? Maybe you’re not able to spend money all the time, but spread and tag your creative friends so them can reach more people. Why if we tag consolidated brands and projects, do we not also do it with artists who have smaller platforms?

– Incluye links. Si tienes un blog o una revista online asegúrate de enlazar la imagen a la página web o redes sociales del autor, de esa manera no sólo estarás dando crédito al creador, sino también beneficiando a tu sitio del SEO. Me parece muy fuerte que en blogs pequeños como el mío podemos hacerlo, otras plataformas con más recursos ignoren este paso./ Add links. If you have a blog or an online magazine make sure to link the image to the author’s website or social media, that way you will not only be giving credit to the creator, but also benefiting your SEO’s site. If small blogs like mine can do that, other platforms with more resources should not ignore this step.

Al final las actividades creativas no sólo nos dan entremetimiento, son también una forma de entender la vida (¿o era al revés?), los acontecimientos sociales y abren ventanas para mirar las posibilidades de futuros cercanos mientras aprendemos del pasado. Dar crédito al creador es reconocer que el trabajo de un artista es tan loable y necesario como muchos otros oficios. Las herramientas están en nuestras manos./ In the end, creative activities not only entertain us, they are also a way of understanding life (or was it the other way around?), social events and open windows to look at the possibilities of near futures while learning from the past. To credit the creator is to recognize that the work of an artist is as commendable and necessary as many other trades. The tools are in our hands.

NOTAS / NOTES:

* Para hacer este post tomé como referencia el post CREDIT THE CREATOR de GADRIANA./ To make this post I took as reference the post CREDIT THE CREATOR by GADRIANA.

* Por artistas y diseñadores me refiero a diseñadores gráficos, ilustradores, fotógrafos, escritores, animadores y un largo etc. de creativos que nos hacen la vida más feliz./ By artists and designers I mean graphic designers, illustrators, photographers, writers, animators and a long etc. of creatives who make our lives happier.

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  • Ah yes this is so true. I went to design school and I worked professionally as an art director and designer in the publishing industry and much it entailed photo research so I am fully aware of what the rules are. It is amazing how so many peopled don’t do this and on YT too with music. Mind blowing. I hope more people read this post and start crediting photos and art on their sites and social media.

    Allie of
    http://www.allienyc.com

    • I know! Even in design school this topic is not discussed as should be, and the same with music and other creative works!

      Stay safe Allie! xx

  • Hey Fungi!

    What an important article with your wonderful illustration and collage!
    I have ever written ” See my Pinterest board!”, so I will change like you!
    GADRIANA is so great web magazine, so I am glad that you show it for us:)

    Thank you for your lovely and funny comments on my blog!
    Yes, I was inspired by Katie Holmes’s image that you post it on your blog, and
    your advice about Italian Vogue is so lovely 🙂

    I am looking forward to seeing nest post!

    akiko

    • Hey dear Akiko, thanks for your nice compliments 🙂

      GADRIANA is one of the coolest girls on IG, you should take a look at her profile+website ❤️

  • Such an important article Pablo! I always try to creadit the creator although I use a lot of public domain images. I always do it when it’s a CC mark. I think it’s difficult with Pinterest because so often you see a cool design or layout and you want to see more of the artist but there’s no information to be found. But great idea to continue the search on google images. I think we all could improve on giving credit and explore more of the designers/creators we enjoy! Have a lovely weekend Pablo! Xx

    http://www.thefashionfolks.com

    • Thanks for stopping by Mia 🙂

      Yes, as content creators we should spread this word for creative recognition!

      Stay safe and healthy, xx

  • This is a very important and controversial issue, Pablo!
    Basically I totally agree with you on everything you wrote, plus I’d be really happy to help someone that create something I like to beacame more popular (for much I could do), but the problem is that not ever you can found the creator even with google image tool….
    With Ig or Fb stories it is easy, when you reblog the image the tag is just inside, you have to really want to exclude the author publishing a story with the someone else content without the tag, but aside this case, is much more complicated.
    If I publish an editorial naturally I always put the credits, since they’re easy to found, but if i do, for example, a research on Pinterest or Thumblr about a topic (like spring dresses) for a post, as I usually do to illustrate better an article, it’s harder to find the creator since they were repinned several times before getting to me… Not to mention the amount of work to found the real souce of every pic you found on pinterest, i guess nobody would do it!
    I think that the only way, if a creator really wants to keep his contents, is to add his name on the pic, so that you have no problems on researching the author; but hoping that everyone that found a nice pic on Pinterest would research the font to get credits before publishing everywhere is pretty crazy (even if theoretically right), don’t you think?
    XO
    S
    https://s-fashion-avenue.blogspot.com

    • THANK YOU SILVIA! Thank you always 🙂

      I am happy to see that more people is concerned about this topic. I totally understand you, most of the times it is difficult to track the creator behind an artwork, so the ideal thing would be to name the author from the very beginning, but asking everyone to do the same in a hyper connected world feels almost impossible 🙁

      But adding the name from the very beginning in the piece is always a good idea!

  • Such a valid post Pablo. I think that the majority of people don’t value creatives and artists nearly as much as they deserve. I could talk about this topic forever. They think if someone has ‘talent’ it means that what they create belongs to everyone. They never stop to think about the endless hours of works and the cost of art supplies- and the loss of sight after all those long hours in front of a monitor etc.

    Crediting is the least a person should do, literally without crediting an image or a painting, it’s basically theft.

    • Thank you very much Ivana ❤️ Yes, we could go and go and go and talkg a lot about this topic, let’s recognize creative work 🙂

  • Such an other amazing post here Pablo !
    I all agree with you now with Pinterest, Instagram, etc.. everything go too fast and sometimes we really forget to look more into all the informations there is behind a picture.
    That’s why most of the times I prefer blogs than instagram because it always give the all story behind a picture than just posting one picture.
    And like you said it’s really important to credit a creator when most of the times there is so much work behind a simple picture, an outfit, an illustration or anything creative.
    Before I started to study fashion and do some internships in the fashion industry I didn’t know all the time it could take to just for example create a tee-shirt. All the research behind the fabric, the exact color, the pattern etc.. It takes so much time. So it’s true it’ll be a shame to not mention the creator or the brand when we share for example this tee-shirt.

    That’s why Most of the times in my blog I only use my own pictures but I’m not gonna lie sometimes when I research some inspirations for my next sewing projects I totally forget to keep the name of the creator. But I shouldn’t since like you said we have this google tool which is so so useful even when it can be a lot of research to look for the actual creator when this picture has been found on Pinterest.

    Thanks you for sharing this amazing reminder !
    xx
    Margot

    https://troughthepasturesofthesky.com

    • Thank you very much for taking the time to write this comment Margot.

      I really appreciate your feedback and I’m happy to see that as me, you know how much it takes to develop a creativity process. Results don’t fall from the sky and we should not take for granted everything we see on the internet.

      All the best and stay safe!

  • Super important topic. I def want to share this! I also liked how you pointed out that even if we don’t have the means to support a friend or brand by purchasing something, I think something as little as tagging them and promoting them if they or their product is something you believe in can also help.
    You’re super creative! Stay safe & positive!!

    Des | https://www.itsbetterinheels.com

  • Con la prisa que siempre tenemos en redes es algo que se nos olvida (Pensándolo bien es como: Prisa de que? 5 segundos hacen la diferencia ahora que el tiempo abunda?) a todos nos pasa, hasta la D*a L*ipa!

    En definitiva es algo de lo que deberiamos ser mas conscientes, al final hay cosas que nos gustan y a veces es dificil llegar al autor, no? Además a nadie le cae mal un poco de difusión de su trabajo.

    Dejando de lado esta situacion inocente de despiste ocasional, otro tema aparte son los casos mas severos de plagios, desde la marca más pequeña hasta la más grande pecan de lo mismo, pero supongo este tema da para otra charla aparte.

    • ¡Muchas gracias por comentar Adán!

      Sí, sé que son tiempos donde queremos todo rápido, pero no toma más que unos segunditos extra darle el crédito al artista, como bien dices nunca cae mal un poco de difusión extra…. Imagínate que la Dua Lipa se hubiera tomado ese tiempo extra para taggear al ilustrador? Seguro le hubiera beneficiado mucho a su trabajo 🙂

  • Oh my GOD this is such an important post! I’ve had numerous occasions in which I have posted a photo and not been credited for it, and it’s so infuriating! You put so much work into creating something, and for someone to just take it away like that is really awful. Especially when they get loads of response and you know that you would have received more readers from it.

    I hope you’re doing well during this quarantine, and that its treating you relatively okay!

    • Hey Amy! Thanks for stopping by, hope you and your beloved ones are doing well too 🙂

      Unfortunately many content creators have gone through this situation right? 🙁

  • Yes! This is so important, and that said I am guilty of at times using images I found on Pinterest and linking back to Pinterest because I haven’t been able to find the actual creator to credit to. I knew there was something on Google but I had no idea it was that easy. I feel really embarrassed telling you this but I also know how hard people work creating. I’ve seen too many times on Twitter people stealing tweets and creating “quotes” for Insta and as a writer it’s very heartbreaking (and one of my greatest fears).

    Sxx
    http://www.daringcoco.com