How can you protect your work through copyright if it is an automatic right?

If your work falls under design and you are granted automatic copyright protection, how can you further ensure your work is not stolen? For most, the very first and obvious option would be signatures - if your work contains your signature, it becomes obvious when someone tries to steal it that it is not theirs.

However, this is not super effective, as it is very simple to remove a signature without detracting from the whole piece unless you sign right in the middle of your artworks - which is where the phrase "watermark" comes into play. A watermark is a body of writing pasted over any artistic work that is difficult or impossible to remove without ruining the piece (example below). It is usually translucent.

However, many artists believe that this detracts largely from their piece and so prefer not to use watermarks.

It is for this reason that it is useful to have a bigger following - if there are more eyes that recognise your work, there are more eyes to see when it is being used in other forums without your permission. Otherwise, it is best to keep your eyes open, if you post your work on social media you need to be vigilant in your search and attempts to protect your work.

Image taken from:
shutterstock.com