Justyna Dorsz

Artist Life

I hired a law firm

I never thought I would need a lawyer.

I wrote previously about my most popular design. Unfortunately, a lot of people steal it and sell it in their stores. Reporting all those places where it’s for sale takes a lot of time, and it never brings me any compensation.

This time is going to be different.

"Not Today" - design by Justyna Dorsz
“Not Today”

A few weeks ago, I noticed that “Not Today” is, yet again, sold by a lot of sellers. I counted 19 of them! I hired a law firm to represent me. This week all those sellers got requests to remove listings with my design and pay me a small compensation. They have time until December 31st.

In January, we will sue those that will not have complied. I will write more about this as the situation develops. It will be helpful to other artists who want to protect their intellectual property.

Here’s the next part.

Advice for aspiring artists

It’s an advice for aspiring actors, not for artists, but it applies anyway.

Bryan Cranston is an actor, he played the main character in Breaking Bad. What he says is that you should do your job, as you can, and everything else is out of your control, so you should not even think about it.

His advice reminds me of what Elizabeth Gilbert said, that you should stubbornly continue making your art, even if people ignore or hate what you create.

When you are just starting out, it’s difficult to get noticed. For months no one may even know you exist, and no one buys your designs. Wait it out. Create more designs until, one day, one of them sells. It might be the one you expect the least.