Question for Tarot Creators and Aspirers.

With both the Gilded and Tarot of Dreams, I placed images on line as refernces of a work in progress. I received feedback and reacted to it, in some cased modifying the images based on suggestions and recommendations. I think the issue is more with the risk of showing the entire set of images and if so when.
I belive there is an inherent risk in doing so before a deck has been published. Not so much because someone may take those images to a publisher before you and claiming it in their name, because most publishers once its pointed out to them (even if they were't already aware) would'nt accept them from the guilty party. The risk is more with the possibility that those images may be downloaded by unscrupulous others and used to actually print with. I'm fully aware that downloading images from the web means that those images would be low resolution and not good enough for normal reproduction. But in this scenario the quality issue does'nt necessarily apply. The existence of a pirated deck even at a poorer quality may effect sales, and generally undermine the value of the legal version.
Some have suggested that since art should be free anyway, then so what. With all due respect, that is naive. If you have spent years of your life producing something artistic or otherwise, that should deserve some moral rights and protection wether your purpose or motivation in creating it was financial or purely for art (or both).

In my case I am often asked if my work can be used by others i.e. an image for their web sites or prints to auction for a charity, etc etc. I honestly don't think I've ever said no, but I do like to be asked, then I'll often even provide better images than can be downloaded from my web site. Sometimes you find your work used by others without having been asked, even then its acceptable (even a compliment) provided its used appropriately i.e. with the courtecy of a credit. But if its used commercially that also would be wrong and it has happened.

So back to your point, I think sharing your ideas and sample cards is safe enough, and even positive. But just be carefull of showing the full deck on line before its registered. With the ToD I initially placed only a selection of cards on line with a disceet watermark name on top. Once published, I felt safer in showing the full range.

I agree strongly with cirom. I am certainly not a Tarot deck creator, but as a henna artist, I have had to become very aware of the piracy that the internet spawns. It is very common, in henna, for pictures to be "stolen" from one web site only to be displayed on another bogus site as "examples" someone else's work. That can be tricky to find, in the world wide web, and as such, you may not know if someone has/did take something from you until much further after the fact.

Example: for my henna books, I include a free preview of 3 design pages. The designs I choose to preview, even when slathered in copyright symbols and warnings, have been stolen by unscrupulous others, and then resold in a "collection" of their own. My editor has had to get fraudulant materials taken down off other sites, and off ebay, for her authors and for herself. It's nasty, and it happens frequently for two reasons...

- people are ignorant of the copyrights, what infringement actually is, and are unaware that they are doing something very *illegal*, or...

- people don't care, and figure "who's gonna notice anyhow?" while they continue to bank off someone else's talents.

I know I'm not telling you anything you don't know... but for everyone...

Be aware that anything you post, publish or share on the net (certainly here at AT) can be stolen. After that, it's up to you if it's worth the risk or if it's material you want to keep private until it's the right time to make it public.

If you can't tell, my opinion is swayed by my own piracy experiences (in a different field), so I have a much stronger caveat to offer than most. Still, graphic piracy is graphic piracy, and involve stealing someone else's images, or intellectual proprety in the case of writings, for personal distribution and sales.