Professional artists/photographers - how to use the internet.

I’ve been a commercial artist all my life. But I’m not well-versed in the area of artwork and the internet. I know that a lot of pros and amateurs post their work on sites like Deviant Art, Facebook and their own websites. Does making these pieces available on the internet devalue them? For instance, if I created a painting that would be well-suited for a particular type of magazine, would I want to post it on a website? Wouldn’t a magazine’s art director think twice about buying something for publication that was already ‘out there’?

It’s something of a calculated risk, in my experience. I worked as an Art Director for a while, and often our art department would be presented with a sample pulled from the 'Net or a sourcebook by an editor or writer who wanted us to come up with something with a similar look or feel. We were careful not to plagarize, of course, but unfortunately instead of hiring the “sample” artist to do the work, he or she unwittingly served only as “inspiration” for someone else. You also run the risk of copyright infringement if someone does lift your work entirely. Using digital watermarks can help prevent unauthorized usage, but if someone really wants to, they could probably find a way to use part or all of the image anyway in most cases.

On the other hand: if you don’t have a Web presence somewhere, your chances of getting work beyond a very limited local market are very slim. And it’s something of a comfort to think that the ones likely to steal your work are also the ones least likely to pay you a fair rate for usage anyway.

As for the work being “out there” and therefore less valuable; to some extent this may be true, especially if the work has already been published by a client (as opposed to just being on your site), but if the potential client is looking for clip art or stock photos anyway, it won’t matter that much. If they are looking for original work, then having representative samples of your work are invaluable in helping them find you to hire for new work. I think the potential benefits far outweigh the risks.

Yes it would. Most magazines I’ve been published in (photos and writing) have exclusivity clauses, typically for an amount of time after publication. By posting something on line you are already in breach of any of this type of contract you might sign later to sell the artwork.

Other venues (museum, restaurant etc) probably wouldn’t have those stipulations.