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Commissioning art for a commercial project
Grey Paladin
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I wish to commission an artist to draw the cover art of an ebook I plan to publish in a few months. I have no idea where to begin. Where can I find an artist? What is the proper procedure for commissioning art? Do I need to hire a lawyer to negotiate a contract and handle copyright issues? How can I make sure the artist doesn't simply runs off with the money?
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible." - T.E. Lawrence
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Or find an artist you like and ask specifically.
Proper procedure is literally just telling them what you want to commission and how much you would pay. You probably don't need a lawyer, but I highly suggest having a simple contract. If you need help with that the book 'Graphic Artists Guild Handbook' is invaluable. Its written for artists, but I can see it being useful in knowing what is normal when hiring artists too. The best method of handling the money in my experience is half up front, half on delivery.
Copyright, if you want to get more complicated -
Generally when getting into more official contracts you are only paying for the first 'printing' and you only get the rights for that specific use and pay more for each extra type of use. Paying for all rights is supposed to be a lot more expensive.
I am not a lawyer though, I am just an artist who's had to negotiate a couple contracts. Sometimes the contract and commission is super informal, and only a 'You do this, I pay this' is all thats needed. Sometimes something more. It tends to follow the skill level of the artist - more experienced artists will probably want better contracts with things like kill fees or revision limits (both super normal), while fresh artists may never even think to ask for one. Hopefully I helped more than confused. I do highly suggest that book though. It includes fully written contracts with various parts and clauses you can drop or add and make as simple or as complicated as you want.
As for getting burned. Unfortunately it happens. Can't do a lot about it. I did work for a guy in India once - he payed half up front so I felt pretty comfortable. He kept in contact really well, then I sent him my finals, and then he was gone. Never responded again.
you don't need a lawyer
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
If you are planning to use the art for more than the book cover, be up front about it. Even if you draft up the contract yourself, its less than ethical to ask for all the rights to a work and pay an extremely low amount. Some young, inexperienced artists may take you up on it, but that doesn't make it alright.
But yeah, drop a note in the artist's corner (either in the CHAT thread or the QUESTIONS thread) and you'll get some responses and portfolios to look at.
Use paypall with a credit card if you want a layer of security for your transaction.