Hi,

I had a similar problem with SS (they terminated my account). I would like to ask if SS keeps my portfolio at their databases.

I ask that because I would like to open new account with SS (my father's name) but I have some artworks that I want to re-submit to SS. Do you know if they can check that these artworks (vectors) are  already submitted with my old account?

If not, I believe that I can re-submit them.

Please inform me what to do.

Thanks

Quote from: art_vect_zm on December 29, 2012, 12:11

Hi,

I had a similar problem with SS (they terminated my account). I would like to ask if SS keeps my portfolio at their databases.

I ask that because I would like to open new account with SS (my father's name) but I have some artworks that I want to re-submit to SS. Do you know if they can check that these artworks (vectors) are  already submitted with my old account?

If not, I believe that I can re-submit them.

Please inform me what to do.

Thanks

Has your father already told you that cheating is bad thing?
You're in the wrong place if you're looking for advice how to deceive Shutterstock.

Designing is my only income. I made one mistake (to create an artwork based on a concept of a photo found in the Internet) but until then I had many artworks made by me without any copy.

I believe that SS could reject my artwork and not terminate my account (they had earn a lot of money from me).

This is the reason I want your help.

Hi,

I had a similar problem with SS (they terminated my account). I would like to ask if SS keeps my portfolio at their databases.

I ask that because I would like to open new account with SS (my father's name) but I have some artworks that I want to re-submit to SS. Do you know if they can check that these artworks (vectors) are  already submitted with my old account?

If not, I believe that I can re-submit them.

Please inform me what to do.

Thanks

1 - don't think anybody will answer to that
2 - contact SS
3 - don't contact SS and open a new account (then see how it goes)

I don't think you deserve a new account but the true is that you can do it

I have a question for the OP, the me too guy, and the other several dozen people who have posted identical problems over the years.

Even if we buy your story what do you expect us to do about it?

Quote from: ankarb on December 27, 2012, 15:17

Do you believe that Shutterstock fairly closed my account or not?

I am almost %100 sure that they "fairly" closed your account..

Claims like yours require proper evidence.. You are wrong until you post the image here.. The reason you don't post it here is because you already know that shutterstock is right on this issue..

Using other people's works for "comparison"_{(! yeah I am that naive to believe it is for comparison)} is wrong..

I use reference images as well, don't you?
If I am to create an illustration of an apple I create a moodboard to see what an apple looks like - with 5 or 10 different photos from Google (always photos though, no illustrations due to the risk of subconsciously copying the styles of other illustrators). I always place them directly into my Illustrator file when starting a project, and obviously I don't trace them, not even basic shapes, I just use them to get the feel of an apple from different angles, with different lighting, color etc. Therefore I kind of feel bad for the OP if this is the case for him as well, and the end result of his illustration cannot in any way be identified with his reference image (in my opinion he should have used way more than one reference however).

But I guess you're right, since we haven't seen the illustration and the watermarked image side by side, we won't know if that is the case or he simply is ashamed to post it because we would see the similarities immediately. That would not be acceptable of course, and in that case it was a fair move by SS. My concern, however, is that SS reviewers just saw the watermark and that alone was enough to delete his port, because they don't have the time to investigate all cases and they would rather delete one too many than one too few. That makes it very vulnerable to be a contributor

I guess the only way to judge if SS made the right choice is for the OP to post his illustration along with his reference image. In 2 seconds we would know whether they handled this right

I use reference images as well, don't you?
I always place them directly into my Illustrator file when starting a project, and obviously I don't trace them, not even basic shapes, I just use them to get the feel of an apple from different angles, with different lighting, color etc. Therefore I kind of feel bad for the OP if this is the case for him as well, and the end result of his illustration cannot in any way be identified with his reference image (in my opinion he should have used way more than one reference however).

I don't feel bad for him because he knows what he did.. He confirmed it with his last post.. That is why he is not posting the image here.. I have a feeling that it is nothing like the case you described.. I think the watermarked image he used was an "illustration"..

To answer your first question: as you know we all have various forms of digital cameras so I prefer to shoot the reference image myself if I can..

My second option is to sketch.. My last resort is looking at google images to get a feel, but really that doesn't happen much.. As you said, in any case, tracing is unacceptable.. I believe not just tracing, even using the same angle is not acceptable..

But I guess you're right, since we haven't seen the illustration and the watermarked image side by side, we won't know if that is the case or he simply is ashamed to post it because we would see the similarities immediately. That would not be acceptable of course, and in that case it was a fair move by SS. My concern, however, is that SS reviewers just saw the watermark and that alone was enough to delete his port, because they don't have the time to investigate all cases and they would rather delete one too many than one too few. That makes it very vulnerable to be a contributor

If that had been the case he would have been mad like a bull The feelings I can read from his posts are far from "anger".. It's more like: oups, have I been caught on the job? sorry, I wasn't sure what I was doing! Were they fair? (Asking our opinion without even showing the images)

He knows his fault.. and next time, he should be more careful..

I guess the only way to judge if SS made the right choice is for the OP to post his illustration along with his reference image. In 2 seconds we would know whether they handled this right

too late.. anything he posts days after his OP may be fake..

If he was confident he wasn't treated fairly, he would have posted the image in his first post..

It is funny how SS took action immediately to delete yr acct without explanation.

I tried deleting my SS and IS acct with 200+ images few weeks ago, and the images are still there.

I agree that earnings from there are quite good, but compare to gettyimages, corbis, it is nothing.
I am surprised that corbis and other sites (confidential) that sell illustrations as a CD collection are not even listed here.

However, most of this sites only accept pure illustration design work and no single design elements like abstract background, label and calligraphic elements which most vector artist does.

Each illustration are sold between 200 ~350 USD and CD collection are sold for 700 to 1200 plus (25 images).

Believe it or not,  it take about 1000 downloads at shutterstock or 350 download at istock to make 1 sale at this site.

Based on my 6 months journey with microstock listed here, the only sites that is worth uploading is Canstock, 123rf, Veer , yaymicro and GL, drawshop, toonvectors. This is based on illustrator point of view, not photographer.

Many ppl complain 123rf and Canstock is cheap, but for foreign contributors that are not based in US like me, they do not have W8ben form tax withholding rule and other silly foreign tax policies. Even though SS paid 35cent per dl, but after witholding tax, it is actually less than 20cent per dl, which is cheaper than 123rf.

IS is good, but they have 18 files upload limit per week. Unless yr files sold like hot cakes daily,  it is impossible to survive for a freelancer starting out like me.

Wish you the best of luck, Ankarb. The road is long, and there are many choices ahead.

I agree that earnings from there are quite good, but compare to gettyimages, corbis, it is nothing.
I am surprised that corbis and other sites (confidential) that sell illustrations as a CD collection are not even listed here.

Perhaps because this is the MICROstock Group(?)

Quote from: DavidBaker on December 31, 2012, 00:47

Ankarbs, even if u managed to escape today fate, you may not be lucky to survive the whistle blowers at SS in the future since there are too many artist who create the same stuff especially design elements.

Escaping the 'whistle blowers' is really easy.  Don't steal other people's work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hard to say, i believe if some of your artworks contain similar elements like most artist, example banner, rounded buttons, labels , you are in risk of whistle blower threat.

Usually, designs by artists that land on the first page in SS, has the final say to lodge a complaint against you, and yr port will be investigated.

I have an incident in which an artist has lodged a complaint against me for having the same hairstyle as his character illustration. This is really ridiculous because on the street, you can easily spot sameone who has the same hairstyle as you.

How do I terminate my account on shutterstock?

Quote from: MarkRyanDesigns on January 11, 2013, 15:40

How do I terminate my account on shutterstock?

upload vectors from others

actually it might not work, on another topic here a photographer using others work as blurred background for his pictures got back his account

If, as you said in your very first post in this thread, you submitted something that had someone else's watermark on it, you were just plain stupid...

That's the bottom line here. Regardless of whether the OP used the reference image or not in the final image, the act of leaving it in the EPS file is a stupid move, and stupid moves have costs. In a corporate job, doing something stupid can get you fired. In stock, obviously doing something stupid will have certain consequences.

I always get a kick out of these "I'm waiting to hear back from SS" comments, too. Let me guess, ankarb... you emailed them? If it's that important to you that you get your account looked at, pick up the phone. If email and a phone call didn't work and I was confident that my account was unfairly closed, I'd be in NYC the next day, knocking on the front door at SS.

If it's that important to you, then you can get in touch with someone right away, if you try hard enough and maybe are a little resourceful. Search around online, find the name of someone who can help you, and get on the phone until you are able to speak directly with that person.