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Advice, please.
LewieP's Mummy
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've always had amazing advice from people in AC, something I value greatly, and that I know has helped me improve over the last 3 years.
I now have a problem, that I would really appreciate your views on, as I know I can rely on you to be honest and constructively critical. LewieP's Daddy has just been made redundant, and the economic climate in the UK is pretty tough, and is onlygetting tougher, with job losses in their thousands in most councils (I work for one). His next job (when he gets one) will probably pay £15k, $22.5k less than he currently earns, and I'm notwell enough to work longer hours.
Do you think I've improved enough to either sell some of my paintings through my website, or to offer to paint to commission there? It wouldn't ever change my painting for Oxfam and Child's Play, but if it worked, it would help our family budget.
Tell me straight, guys, I know I can rely on your advice.
Thank you.
I now have a problem, that I would really appreciate your views on, as I know I can rely on you to be honest and constructively critical. LewieP's Daddy has just been made redundant, and the economic climate in the UK is pretty tough, and is onlygetting tougher, with job losses in their thousands in most councils (I work for one). His next job (when he gets one) will probably pay £15k, $22.5k less than he currently earns, and I'm notwell enough to work longer hours.
Do you think I've improved enough to either sell some of my paintings through my website, or to offer to paint to commission there? It wouldn't ever change my painting for Oxfam and Child's Play, but if it worked, it would help our family budget.
Tell me straight, guys, I know I can rely on your advice.
Thank you.
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For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
LewieP's Mummy on
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Also, I was mostly a lurker, but I've seen your paintings over the last few years and they're simply great. I think there's definitely a market for your artwork somewhere, regardless of how much it could bring in.
Furthermore, you've helped raise a lot of money for charity over the last few years for several different groups. There's no need to have a disclaimer that working for profit during hard times would change the amount of charity work you provide. Times are hard, and everyone understands that.
In the US at a local mega mall in my town there's a guy who has a kiosk on the main floor where he sells his paintings and does everything from custom portraits to caricatures. He's there year round and not just on the holidays and it's his only location so I seem to think he does well enough. That would be my only advice.
Good luck!
It all depends on how much you can do and how much you would charge, and where the market is.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but virtually every single one of your charity paintings thus far have been rote reproductions of official videogame artwork, originally done by other artists. This is to say your portfolio consists of almost nothing but direct plagiarism.
The fact that you've so far been doing it for charity makes it easy to overlook this fact and generally give you a pass, since you're not profiting from it, it's for a good cause and you're making nerds happy with handcrafted reproductions.
If you start doing the same kind of direct copies for personal profit though, regardless of how dire your finanical situation is, then it pretty quickly becomes legally and morally questionable.
You would have to start producing original work. It could probably still be in the vein of fan-art for games and comics and such (might be legally murky, but given the small scale, It's not that big of an issue), but the compositions need to be your own. I have some concerns about whether you're capable of producing original works that are good enough to sell outside of your built-in fanbase of people who are familiar with your charity work. The hand-painted geek paraphernalia niche might be a significant mitigating factor, it's tough to say. You would probably at the same time have to increase your price in order to justify the time spent per painting, as compared to a minimum wage job or something.
Can you do portrait work or anything like that?
I know a few people have made brands of themselves, like MissMonster, but she has a range of stuff and a style of her own.
If you can copy game art, you can probably copy pictures of peoples kids/pets for profit, but If you want to make regular money, I dont think making reproductions of game art with no original spin on it is a good idea.
I'd fully believe Nintendo would drop the hammer. Didn't they send the suicide girls a cease and desist over a metroid tattoo?
Faces are my weakest area so far, I need much more practice there, but I quite like the miniature/ miniature picture idea- LewieP's sister's bf plays Warhammer, I could nab one of his unpainted ones and give it a try, and then paint a picture of it!
You guys are fab, I really appreciate your taking time to advise me. Xxxxx
Lock, please.
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
So getting online, getting commissions shouldn't interfere with your day job. You simply pace yourself so that you take only work that's doable in approx. 20 hours per week. That way you don't disappoint clients and you build a professional portfolio.
Amateurhour advice about a kiosk is worth exploring but again, don't commit to this fulltime. Rather, give the kiosk owner a percentage and ask him to hang your artwork or whatever other arrangement you come up with.
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Did Campbell's sue Warhol?
(not being sarcastic, I'm actually curious)
I'm no law student, (or artist) but it seems she may be just fine selling what she wants (within reason I guess)
It all depends on how original it is. Medium alone is often not enough--i.e. if she is copying box art from Super Mario, it may not matter that she is painting and the original was digital. Wildly different styles may justify protected usage, but still, it entirely depends on the company in question. It is good advice that she should not plan her entire income on copied tableau, but instead focus on creating original styles of the iconic characters.
Warhol is a bad example: copyright concerns were vastly different in the 60s, and he was bigger than big. It would be like Lady Gaga mentioning a vodka company in a song without an agreement now. They'd love it because of the exposure. Bear in mind, the 50s and 60s is when a lot of trademarks became "common usage" due to companies not pursuing litigation, which is why you can say "I'll xerox that", or "May I have a band-aid?" in media. The trademarks no longer can be pursued.
Companies are terrified of that now, and lawyers have to justify their paychecks, so they search out infringement and then send C&Ds. They may never actually sue you, but they do this to protect their right in future cases.
In fact, there have been cease and desists filed against restaurants/etc for displaying legal reproductions of Warhol's work, because Campbells is worried that people will "misunderstand" that the display shows Campbells endorses the restaurants.
So, I'll second the other advice. Make original composition of characters, with your own style, and I think you are fine, but I wouldn't let that make up 100% of your income.
sounds good to me
That's a better idea, the thing about just getting space in a kiosk to sell your work through someone else for a percentage until it takes off..
If you go the miniature route and character portraits, you can also look into comic and gaming/tabletop shops to sell your stuff and maybe putting fliers around a local campus cork board.
I think I'm going to try a couple of miniatures and tout them over to the local Games Workshop, and see what happens there, there's also a small gallery at my local mall, I might sound them out about some non-gaming related paintings I've got.
The copyright issue does worry me a bit if I'm selling paintings, it doesn't at all for the ones I do for people here, and the people I've asked for permission have all been very positive once they've known why.
I won't be giving up my day job at all, this is solely to try to supplement our income, specially while LPD doesn't have a job.
i know I've said it before, but I really, really appreciate the time you've all taken to give me advice; I knew I would get honest answers, that I could count on you to tell it straigh.
Thank you xxxx
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."