If you’re a fashion business owner or someone looking to hire a fashion illustrator on Fiverr, hold off until you’ve read this article. There are potential risks of purchasing artwork from Fiverr illustrators, and ignoring them could not only make you lose money but also expose your business to significant legal trouble.
In this article I am speaking solely from my real-life experience. My field of expertise is fashion illustration, and my observations are within this specific niche. However, I can’t imagine a reason these frauds aren’t occurring in other art niches as well.
With that said, let’s explore how the Fiverr fashion illustrator scam works.
Over the past 4-5 years, I’ve witnessed many businesses crumble before they even had the chance to take off, all because of one bad decision—they hired a cheap fashion illustrator from Fiverr who delivered stolen artwork instead of the original fashion sketches they were commissioned to create.
Writing this article isn’t easy for me because it touches on a deeply painful issue – having your artwork stolen. I’m speaking from experience, and the story is always the same. Almost every time I catch and report businesses or products infringing on my copyrights by using my artwork without permission, a well-meaning business owner contacts me, genuinely confused. They explain how they hired someone on Fiverr to create custom fashion sketches for them, believing the artwork to be original. But it wasn’t. The fake Fiverr illustrator had found the images online and sold them as their own creations.
Before diving deeper into this topic, I want to clarify that there are talented artists on the platform, and not everyone is like this. However, in my experience, over 90% of the books and products I’ve caught publishing my fashion croquis and art without permission were sourced from a Fiverr seller.
Working with freelance illustrators on this platform comes with real risks, and it’s about time someone spoke out about it!
Who Are the Victims of Fiverr’s Fake Illustrators?
Typically, it’s startup businesses that fall prey to these malicious con artists. Often, it’s fashion designers, authors of Amazon books, or entrepreneurs looking to create a product with custom drawings. It could also be an individual seeking to have their design idea sketched, but that’s more rare.
One reason people fall for fraudulent illustrators—and often only realize they’ve been scammed when it’s too late—is that they’re usually business-minded people. They aren’t artists who can spot the nuances in artwork and detect inconsistencies.
The second reason is money and a false sense of security. When launching a business, budgeting is crucial, which often leads business owners to believe they can purchase anything they want for as little as $5. It’s a well-established platform that business owners trust will protect them in case of any issues.
How the Illustrator Scam Works
Meet Jenny, she’s an entrepreneur who wants to create a fashion-themed book to sell on Amazon. She can’t draw, so she finds a cheap illustrator on Fiverr and places an order. A few days later, she receives her delivery, leaves an ecstatic 5-star review, and proceeds to publish her book on Amazon. She makes her first promising sales and decides to boost them with an ad.
A few weeks later, I stumble across her ad and notice that the fashion figures on her cover are ones I hand-drew myself. I never signed a contract allowing Jenny to use my images, so I file a copyright infringement report with Amazon, resulting in the immediate removal of her content (and sometimes even the suspension/ban of her account).
Upon receiving the frightening notice of her copyright violation, Jenny reaches out to me, apologizing and explaining that she had no idea she was using stolen content. She shares how she hired a freelancer on Fiverr to create original artwork for her book, genuinely believing it was hers to use.
At this point, both Jenny and I are victims of a fraudulent Fiverr seller. Jenny for being sold stolen artwork, losing money over the promotion of a book that will never be republished, and having to pay me, the original author, a commission for using my art commercially. And myself – obviously I’m a victim for having my art stolen and used without permission.
How to Protect Yourself and Your Business
This situation is incredibly frustrating and can make you lose trust in commissioning art online. However, there are steps you can take to protect yourself and ensure you’re working with genuine artists, not scammers who download a file from the internet and sell it to you. Here are my tips:
Ask for High-Resolution Files
Never accept an image smaller than 1500px in width. Require your artist to deliver high-resolution files of at least 2500px in width. The image must be large and crisp, without any blurry or pixelated areas. To avoid slowing down our websites, artists often publish smaller, lower-quality versions of our drawings online. The fake illustrators on Fiverr can only access and download these lower-quality images.
Request Revisions
Never approve artwork delivered to you finished. There should be a minimum of one draft for you to approve. Ask for a review of the drafts and request at least one significant change. Even if you revert back to the version before the change, you must verify the artist is capable to make alterations keeping consistent art style.
Do a Reverse Image Search on Google
When your illustrator sends you the finished files, download them and submit each one to Google Reverse Image Search. Google will show you if the image has already been published online and highlight any similar images, potentially done by the same author.
If you catch your illustrator trying to sell you someone elses’s art, immediately report them to Fiverr and collect your payment back.
Request a Video of Their Process
Ask your illustrator to record a timelapse video of their process if they’re using digital apps to draw. It’s easy for artists to record our drawing process. In many programs, it’s just a switch of a button, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
If they say it’s not possible, ask them to export a .jpg image every 20 minutes during the drawing process. This is something they definitely know how to do and is easy enough.
Requesting to see their workflow ensures your illustrator is creating the artwork from scratch. Even if it requires some extra payment on your side, trust me—it’s worth it for peace of mind and to save your business from legal troubles afterwards.
Ask for a Copyright License
Always request a copyrights agreement from the artist confirming they own the rights to the artwork they’re selling. However, don’t rely solely on this—scammers can easily forge these documents and have no qualms about doing so. Yet, if it comes to a legal battle, you will have a document to prove you were scammed.
Watch for Style Consistency
If you order multiple illustrations, pay attention to the consistency in style. I’ve seen my realistic croquis alongside other illustrations that were completely different in style. If your artist’s work varies significantly from piece to piece, it’s a red flag.
You must know that while experienced artists may be comfortable working in different styles, they will always deliver a consistent style throughout the same order.
Thoroughly Inspect Their Profile
Examine every detail of the seller’s profile to confirm they’re legitimate. Don’t be fooled by a high number of sales—that could simply mean their prices are low. I’ve encountered sellers with hundreds of sales who were just reselling stolen art without remorse. Always inspect the artwork they’ve delivered for other clients and check if it matches the quality you’re looking for. Often, fake illustrators use pretty images as their banners, which they’ve downloaded online. However, their actual deliverables fall short when they’re forced to draw something very specific they’re unable to download from the net.
Be Skeptical of Low Prices
We all love a good deal, but if someone offers to create artwork for $5, consider whether they can realistically spend hours on your project for that price. Isn’t it more reasonable to simply download images from the internet and sending them to you. Or perhaps use AI to create something that looks like art but isn’t licensable, meaning you won’t have exclusive rights to use it.
Also, remember that Fiverr takes a large 20% of the sales profit, meaning the artist is left with even less. Add the taxes and bank transfer fees and see what’s left. What kind of work is worth pennies—drawing an original art piece or left-clicking on an image that’s already made?
Work With Genuine Artists
The best way to ensure you don’t get scammed by an illustrator on Fiverr is to avoid hiring one altogether. My advice is to go for the artist you’ve been following on Instagram for years, someone with a website registered under their real name (which is easy to check at whois.com), someone you’ve seen recordings of their drawing process.
Remember, scammers can easily disappear and resurface under a new profile. They don’t care because they have nothing to lose.
Genuine artists will have social media accounts and websites with established followings. They care about their reputation and are proud of the skills they’ve built over the years. It’s unthinkable for them to steal someone else’s art when they know how hard it is to create. This behavior is only found in people who aren’t illustrators themselves and don’t understand the value of art—allowing them to sell you illustrations they don’t own.
In the past few years, I’ve witnessed over 70 cases of businesses and products failing because of the Fiverr Illustrator scam. And these are only the businesses I reported for using my artwork without a license. These scammers have vast databases of real artists whose work they take and resell in all sorts of art niches.
If you’re looking to hire a fashion illustrator, please stay vigilant and keep your business out of legal trouble by commissioning only artists you trust and who can prove they created original artwork for you!
