User blog comment:SilvaRex/Artwork licensing etc/@comment-4791684-20110502034753/@comment-4791684-20110502145221

A water banner/watermark is an almost invisible signature that doesn't (mostly) affect the image. But it does leave an indication of who created the picture or what the source is. Take this for example; stockphoto is one of many domains that like to watermark their pictures. Of course, these can still be edited out, but it's much harder than removing a signature in the corner of an image.

As for whether I'm an artist, I haven't really advertised a lot of my drawings, save for one early concept Spartan pic I posted on DeviantArt. If you were wondering, I've taken sketching/shading, watercolour, oil painting, and clay figure classes for 4 or 5 years in the past. But for the sake of argument, the example I present was theoretically based on my perspective if I did post a lot of my art online (which I don't, seeing as there's no way for me to prove that I drew it).

If you want, I can create a signature for you and watermark your images. But in my personal opinion, I think it's more trouble than it's worth, and an image looks a whole lot better when it's not marked.