Any artist will tell you how positively irritating it is that everything on the internet seems to be “fair game” for the average internet user. Because images, text, and video show up on Google search, for example, the average person seems to believe these images came from nowhere and are free to use for whatever they see fit. This is, of course, not the case. Improperly using images, whether for profit or otherwise, can see you quickly in hot water with at best a bill for licensing/royalties but at worst with a copyright infringement lawsuit.
But what happens when a work becomes a meme? Does that somehow change things? The answer is: no, no it does not. While chasing down every single uncredited and/or used-without-permission instance of your work can eat up all of your waking hours and is not feasible, there are real consequences for those who want to monetize said works without first getting the proper clearance.
Realistically, what ends up happening is this: an artist’s work is shared a whole bunch of times without credit (or worse, the credit taken off) and the original creator gets just about nothing for it. Even worse these days, many digital artists who have had their work circulating as a meme for years are accused of being generative AI works.
I made a post a few weeks ago on Bluesky (and subsequently Imgur) where I sought out to credit a few popular images from memes and credit the artists. Sometimes, these are credited on Know Your Meme, but other times they are not. People helped to make the thread a living document of commonly uncredited memes, and I’m presenting a few of those memes here today. Bookmark this page, come back to it when you need to credit the artist, spread it far and wide. We see you, artists. Make sure to check out the Bluesky thread as there are a lot more than I can post here, and more coming in!
This Is Fine
Artist KC Green is quite the backbone of the meme community. Known for such hits as “This is fine” dog, and “I GUESS” guy, KC Green has been a veritable meme-able factory with his comic panels and works.
Knights at a table, pointing with swords
This one has gone around so often that I’ve pointed people at the artist, Galan Pang’s, Artstation so many times. Now, people are accusing it of being AI (it significantly predates AI ‘art’). Well, it isn’t… It was actually created for a game and the empty space was meant for loading screen elements.
Offering your sword to a God in supplication
Believe it or not, this artwork was an exercise (some may even call it a “sketch”) by Diana Franco. Looking at her list of 30 minute speedpaint works shows multiple amazing digital works by a practiced concept artist. So impressive.
Creepy woodland creature with stringy hair and glowing eyes
Artist Jana Heidersdorf created this creepy, spooky piece, and it hit a certain vibe with those who would prefer to be forest-dwelling cryptids. So much so this piece ended up on an inspiration board for a movie, The Wretched. When the glaring similarities came out, the creators of The Wretched offered to make things right by licensing with Heidersdorf. This is how you do it, people!
Goose Chasing Guy
Commonly used for memes in which a goose asks a question with an obvious and controversial answer, and then asks it louder, “goose chasing guy” is from TheyCanTalk.com by artist Jimmy Craig.
Frieren Looking Up
This meme took the internet by storm, mainly in the artist community. SpaceDev1 on r/Frieren made a frustrated post about a common difficult angle of the head. How does anyone even draw that? Many people from there went on to draw the difficult angle to varying degrees of success.
I don’t like the thing – OK
Jo Bee Illustration joined the thread to put down her own comic, which escaped containment and became an often uncredited meme. The comic perfectly envelopes the feeling of someone purposely telling you that they don’t like something (usually that you like) as if it will have any impact on your enjoyment of the thing. Jo said sharing the credited version (posted to the thread) was fine.
HA HA HA… YES!
The “sickos in the window” meme, drawn by Ward Sutton, was popularized by The Onion, but is a common meme people use… Especially when they are the “sickos” looking out/in the window. Gender swapped and animated versions also exist of this fun drawing.
WHY creature
You may recognize this work from memes in which someone questions the reasoning of something in a ridiculous manner. Turns out, this is a creation from a creature doll maker named Anya Boz. Gesticulating hands seems to be a detail she often uses, and we love her for it.
Brain, sleeping, too many thoughts
This comic perfectly encapsulates the feeling of going to bed, but having some unresolved thought floating around in your head and making you stay up. It’s often been changed what the actual thought is, but the fact remains the same that the artist is Hannah Hillam.
A few more in short form
- Werewolf ripping shirt – Endlen
- Yeah, gonna get stuff done today!
- The Contract is Sealed – BostonDanceParty
- Poe Reading a Letter – Kate Beaton
- Clean all the things – Allie Brosh
- CAW – FalseKnees
The takeaway
The takeaway is simple: Artists really really like being credited for their works! It is great form to mention them, or at the very least, not crop or obscure their watermarks/signatures/URLs from any given image. That is quite a bit of a jerk move to do. And if you’re an artist who has had their work lifted, you can monitor usage throughout the internet using a tool like Pixsy. Happy memeing!