Hi! I’m certain that many of you guys know this already but there still seems to always be a problem floating around about not being able to find sources for images. While these tips may not always help and there will be images that may not show up in any of these results, it is best to at least try and find the source before posting up the image. Give credit to the artist if you can.
1. If you’re certain the image comes from Pixiv (Japanese art site), then try Saucenao. Upload the image you want and this site will scour through the Pixiv databases for the original source. The higher quality you have, the better.
2. Try Google Image next. In the search bar on the main page, there should be a way to upload the photo through a URL or an upload.
Upload the image and it should present you with all the similar results and many times the original source. If you have a lower quality image or only a part of the main image, then also run it through here, grab a higher quality image and repeat the process again. Hopefully you will find the source.
3. If none of those work, then try these various sites which do reverse image searches:
- http://tineye.com (Similar to Google Image search)
- http://regex.info/exif.cgi (Breaks down image information)
- http://iqdb.org/ (These are usually NOT original sources! Use this if you need a higher quality image to help you search for the original source! Zerochan and the like are NOT an source!)
- http://www.ascii2d.net/imagesearch (In Japanese. Searches for 2D images)
4. If your image doesn’t come up in any of these things (and it may very well not since there are some confusing sources out there), then please, please, PLEASE state that no source has been found! Do not source the image back to yourself! There may be people who may know the source out there so let them source it if you aren’t aware.
If you find an artwork and it’s been posted by the original artist here on Tumblr, then try reblogging the picture instead of posting it up as a new post! These are just steps of courtesy towards those who deserve the credit after working hard on their images. Thank you and I hope these steps help!
