How to contact a Japanese artist about stolen art

**UPDATE! 11/9/18 With the help of a friend + observing the replies of Japanese artists, I have adjusted the template to include better terminology and read more smoothly.

While this method can only get one or two works removed at a time, dA has a three-strike system! With enough DMCA takedowns, dA will ban/deactivate the account. As of now I've used this to get 2 art thieves banned. It works, guys!

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I'm sick of seeing art thieves get away with posting work from artists on Pixiv because the process to get a piece taken down isn't exactly easy. The original artist needs to be the one contacting DeviantArt in order for anything to be done about it, but when the original artist is Japanese the language barrier becomes an issue. I got really pissed off the other day when I saw stolen art nearly on the front page so I decided to take matters into my own hands. My weak Japanese skills might be useful for once haha...

First off, find the original artist and contact them. You will probably need to make a Pixiv account to message them there, though some artists are operating on Tumblr as well. Check the artist's profile to see if they can understand English. If so, great, then you don't need any help. If not, you'll need to send them a message in Japanese.

You can use my example:

Be careful of just copying/pasting because DeviantArt unfortunately shortens the wiki link even in the copy.

[Name of the artist you are contacting]さん、こんにちは。[Name of the artist you are contacting]さんの絵がDeviantArtというサイトに無断で転載されたことに気づきました：[link to the stolen deviation here]

本人からの苦情でなくてはDeviantArtの管理者が何もできないということです。このフォームに記入すれば通報できます：help.deviantart.com/dmca（フォームを使うにはDeviantArtアカウントが必要です。アカウントがなくても管理者にメールする方法もあります。管理者のメール：violations@deviantart.com）

少し古いかもしれませんがDeviantArtについて日本語wikiもありますのでどうぞご利用ください：www39.atwiki.jp/dajp/pages/13.…　そして、フォームの翻訳はこちら：sta.sh/013xfbyrsltt

日本語が分からなくてすみません。無断転載のイラストが上手く削除される事を願っています。
(If your Japanese is at a level where you would be able to respond a bit, you can switch out the first sentence here for 下手な日本語ですみません。)

The translation:

Hello. I noticed your work has been posted without your permission on a site called DeviantArt. The fact is, unless it's a complaint from the original artist DeviantArt admin can't do anything about it. If you fill out this form you can report it. (In order to use this form you need a DeviantArt account. Even without an account, you can email DeviantArt.) It might be a bit old, but there's a Japanese wiki about DeviantArt you can use. Also, here's the translation for the form. Sorry I don't understand Japanese. I hope the stolen drawing will be successfully deleted.

As you can see, I made a simple translation of dA's DMCA Takedown Request form which the message links to:



If there's anything I screwed up (I know there's probably a more eloquent way to say this) or you have a question about, let me know! Hope this was helpful.