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I had thought of the contact form as a simple convenience, but you make a great point. Thanks!Originally Posted by TimPaul
Well, honestly, I'd at least get ride of the contact form. Have your email. If an art director contacts you, if they have to use a contact form, that means they don't have an email to you in their outboxes, and I know lots of Art directors that use their email's in and out, to track what they have done and who they have contacted.
Each AD is different and some don't mind, some find it annoying and some won't consider you. At least make your email available as an option so they can contact you how they want.
I had thought of the contact form as a simple convenience, but you make a great point. Thanks!
I'm sure Sapiento wouldn't mind that I loosely based my commissions page off of some things he had on his. Mines is less detailed and presumably more open, then, and I'm sure he gets lots of work. http://www.fantasy-map.net/index.php/commissions
Last edited by Sarithus; 05-10-2015 at 12:21 PM.
I'm curious, Tim, do you execute a legal contract on paper, or something legal via email?
I can't imagine how I would police someone who used my map without a license anyway. Reputable publishing houses are probably fine, but these days a lot of people are self-publishing. Do you track your maps in any way?
No problem. I have extended it over time, as I encountered some issues here and there.
You should give a basic structure, but without pressing the clients into a rigid 'legal' frame. Some things on my site are also there not because I (or someone else who can use his brain) think it is necessary or important, but because in my nice little country, Austria, which suffers from quite incompetent politicians, many things are enforced by law. No matter if they make sense or not.
Last edited by Sapiento; 05-10-2015 at 12:52 PM.
That summarizes it quite good.
According to TimPauls post though, you're doing it wrong in terms of a commissions page. That's what my post saying I took some things from your page was meant to show.'Mines is less detailed and presumably more open, then, and I'm sure he (you) gets lots of work.' My point being that I'd have to disagree with TimPaul on that aspect.
I've tried a middle-ground between Sapientos page with lots of information and Max's page with only a contact form.
Last edited by Sarithus; 05-10-2015 at 12:58 PM.
That's the only point in Tim's post I don't concur with; but almost everything is open to negotiations ('If not another arrangement is made...). In the end, each commission is discussed with the client.
I always get a contract, or an email agreement of some sort. It spells out the terms of the licensing and usage of the map. There's nothing special I can do to track the usage of the map outside of just searching for it, or checking up on it.
Honestly, the amount of other usage someone is going to get out of a map is very little. None of the maps I've done for books are really worth trying to sell as prints or on products. They do make great mugs for art directors who hire me as Christmas gifts.
And if someone does use a map outside of our agreement, I'd simply send them a C&D letter, and if they fail, I can always take legal action.
Here's something to note. Register your art work with the copyright office. It provides you with all the basic copyright protection you have if you don't register, which is a lot, but it also allows you to sue for any legal fees you have if you do get ripped off. You have to pay the lawyer out of your own pocket, unless they are willing to work on contingency of winning the case, but if you can recover the legal costs, you aren't out anything. And you can get a bigger settlement if you win.
In most case's a C&D letter will get the person to stop. If it does go past that, about 85% of cases are settled before they get get to a verdict because one side realizes they are screwed.
Contracts don't have to be long or complex. Most of my contracts are 1-2 pages long for something as simple as a map.
I wouldn't say he's doing it wrong, as there are better ways to do it.
For example, I'd be less inclined for a client to say, I want the map to look like this, and send me an example of someone else's map. I'm not interested in aping someone else's style.
For books, I love it when I can tie the map into the story some how, to make it seem like it could be an object from the story. Example, just did a map for a book coming out, set in Wild West Texas of 1850's where Texas Rangers hunt monsters, like vampires, sirens, skinchangers and more.
Normally I don't read the manuscript, but did this time, and the idea I came up with was a period map that looked like it was ripped out of an atlas, and that a ranger had written notes all over it, marking the locations of various monsters. If I had just said, pick a style of map, I don't know if I would have gotten to that idea. I would have just executed what the client asked for.
Which is sometimes what you do. But to push things, you need to have your own voice. The map came out great. The author, who I worked directly with, and the creative director are both really really please with it. I am too, because it's more than just a map. It's an object connected to the text.
So, a commissions page can have a list of things for the client to consider, to help them fill out the information they need to provide.
If you really want to be a top notch map maker, you should be providing solutions and ideas to help elevate the map to more than what they were looking for.
That's how I personally approach it.
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