I'll cross the bridge when I get to your level of content creation. I do some illustrations on instagram but I don't have a huge following and just starting out. Watermarking them was an option but they looked bad on the image. I thought about whether I should really be minding the art I share then I saw my fave artist from their early days up to becoming a star.
Their popularity and network became big and people can immediately tell if the work was theirs even without the watermark. The style being too specific and known by patrons for years. So I hear stories that their works get monetized without permission and fans themselves take initiative to call out these booths at conventions to protect the artist's work.
I want to reach a point where my patrons would recognize my works due to the style and that serves as my indirect watermark. While the idea that someone out there is taking free money out of your effort is a pain, there's little control to stop these from happening at any point in the future. What I'd just do is focus on building a name for myself and let the works speak for me if I do get to that bridge and decide to cross it.
Thank you for your support. In some ways, I am in a place where people see my work as mine and send me images that were stolen and where. To have a huge following I guess these days artists have to do a lot of social media work to establish and maintain the status. My next-door neighbor has today some 900k followers on Instagram that comes also with some pressure I would not want to have. Free to create whatever I want to on my own time would be the perfect place to be. That would require some solid support that also I am far far away from. Yet I place I dream of some times. What artist doesn't?
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. It means a lot to me!