Why Did I Choose To Only Sell My Original Art?

1. Because I'm very creative and unique!

This has been my actual goal, ever since I opened up my small business in October 2021.

As an autistic artist, I love art and colour, and I love to create designs with my own uniqueness. I've come up with different kinds of categories over the years. I've even made characters that inspired by something, whilst sticking to my originality.

I do hope that one day, I'll raise awareness about what I create and sell.

2. Because I'm much happier creating my original art.

I always get excited choosing which design and colours work best, especially if it's for a particular season. Whilst creating my own characters, it may not always end up looking nice, and sometimes I think I can do better. But at least I've made something original.

When I show my art on social media platforms, people seeing them and giving them likes never fails to make me smile.

Another thing that I've realised, is when creating my own art, it's easier to create and show seasonal items during Easter, Halloween or Christmas. Many other creators do this on social media, so why shouldn't I?

3. Because selling copyrighted characters is NOT a good idea.

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer. If you'd like specific answers about copyright law, I recommend you consult a lawyer who specialises in this topic.

OK. Here's the biggest reason why I refuse to sell copyrighted characters. Selling them is illegal, believe it or not, and it can put my business at risk for copyright infringement.

I heard that big companies, such as Disney, Nintendo and Sanrio are bound to track down smaller businesses, even the ones that don't get many views at all. So basically, this isn't a case of if, but a case of when. If I sold these kinds of characters as physical items or as patterns, they would find me and take legal action against me. Had that happened, it would have caused a huge impact, not just on me, but my whole family as well. My Shopify website and Ko-Fi shop would be shut down, thus ruining my career.

I know that people are going to say that everyone else is doing it, so they should be fine. But no. It’s not fine. That’s because they haven’t been caught yet!

Another thing that I'm aware of, is when some people see a crocheted item based on a well-known character on social media platforms, they'd be like, "Oh my gosh, this is amazing! I need to have it!", or "I bet they could make loads of money from that.". Now, hold on a minute there. I realised that what people are actually doing is supporting copyright infringement. In other words, they're hoping that creators will sell well with these characters, whilst being at risk.

And for that very good reason, I'm staying away from copyrighted characters, even when I create free patterns or custom orders. I just feel uncomfortable doing this. Selling them is illegal and just not worth it!

4. Because if I sold a copyrighted character, it would cause a huge distraction from my own art.

This might be an unpopular opinion and I don't intend to offend anyone.

I understand that you'd love to have amigurumi plushies, based on a popular character. Unfortunately, to me anyway, copyrighted characters and original art don't mix. At all. Not only selling them is illegal, but it's also going to cause original art to get trampled on, when they're supposed to get the spotlight in my small business. This can be especially frustrating, when I try to show my originality.

5. Because sometimes, people request me to show my original work ONLY.

I plan to send off one of my amigurumi patterns to a crochet magazine sometime soon. However, I have heard that they only require me to use a character with a design I came up with myself. Fair enough. So again, no copyrighted characters!

Obviously, I can't stop creators from doing what they want to do. But for me, I just want to run my small business the right play, and play it safe.