When someone reposts art that doesn't belong to them without credit.

Even if you claim the art isn't yours, you still gotta credit the fucking artist for their work and effort. Sure, the drawing might not have taken long for them to make, and therefore isn't a lot of effort, but the amount of time it took to learn how to draw in a way that makes them feel proud of their own work definitely is effort.
Person 1: Why is Art Theft such a big deal? It's just free exposure to the artist, lmao.

Person 2: It's not free exposure when the artist isn't credited for their work.

Person 1 (now pissed off): tHeY sHoUlD bE gLaD tHaT i'M eVeN lOoKiNg At It! PeOpLe ArE sMaRt EnOuGh To FiNd ThE aRtIsT oN tHeIr OwN!!!!

Person 2: Clearly you aren't smart enough, since you didn't bother looking for the original artist to credit them.
by Typical_Ukraine April 11, 2020
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The act of claiming that you created a work of art so that you can get in on a small share of the praise and attention that is lavished on the best artists, without actually having to have any artistic skill whatsoever.

Since artists are incredibly vain, terribly insecure and need praise to survive in the same way animals need oxygen, Art Theft is considered the eighth deadly sin on online art websites such as DeviantArt, SheezyArt and StormArtists. Being an art thief gets you banned and sent straight to hell to burn for all eternity in the flames of the site's members.

Warnings pointing to this fact can be easily found in the thousands upon thousands of poorly made "Anti Art-Theft" stamps and clubs available on said websites. An ironic fact is that 95% of the people who bitch about art theft do not actually have the artistic talent to make their art worth stealing.

Being vocally against art theft on these websites increases the size of your e-penis by up to 200%.

Art Theft is generally practised by emo 13 year old boys who are so desperate for praise and attention that they will gladly accept it over the internet for something they didn't even make. If this is you, you should kill yourself.
"OMG Some horrid person posted a Sonic recolour that was the same as mine!!!11 I am so reporting them for Art Theft!"

"I'm so hardcore against art theft, I'm going to make deviantART's twenty thousandth anti-Art Theft club!"
by Angry Cosecant October 23, 2008
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The act of stealing art based on an other's character design. Fan Art can be based on characters from animated television series, or someones own character design they have published somewhere on the Internet.
I feel like tracing over this fan art someone else published, change the colours a bit, size and shape ratio from the original, and we'll call it originality. Fan art theft is nothing serious anyhow.
by Kudos1 December 24, 2013
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The claim that an art style can be stolen or copied by learning artists to gain attention. Usually claimed by unpopular artists/commentary channels to gain attraction.
Person 1: "That girl stole Sleepkinq's art style! Art style theft!!"
Person 2: "You can't STEAL an art style dude. Beginning artists often take inspiration from things they like and use it as grounds to learn how to draw. Even if they based it off that artist's art style they're creating original pieces with it. Everyone draws different anyway, it's impossible to 100% copy an art style. We're all going to do certain parts differently than other artists. Of course, artists need to branch off and experiment from one art style but it's not like some CRIMINAL thing that you need to be #ISOVERPARTY about."
by APuggle March 9, 2020
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