Reply With QuoteThat is fantastic !!!
Nice map! Congratulations.
That is fantastic !!!
I am the breath of Dragons...The Song of Mountains...The Stories of Rivers....The Heart of Cities.... I am A Cartographer....
Finished Maps
Kingdom Of Shendenflar Campaign Setting (WIP)
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Honestly, I'm not sure the client was 100% happy. Things became strained at the end. This took about 7 months to complete, because the client would go silent for long periods. I finally had to start to pull the plug on it, and he agreed to send me the rest of the information. I just can't sit around on half finished projects, and then suddenly have the client come out of no where expecting me to drop everything and finish.Originally Posted by Galendae
And there was always an issue of the copyright. I was granting him life time use of the map in-conjunction with the project. But it could not be sold as a separate product. Only in the books. He wanted to own the copyright, but not pay to do so, because he didn't have the money.
It's really simple, you don't have the money, you can't buy what you want. As it was, he was getting a pretty sweet deal, as I generally get 2-3 times more for a one page black and white map for a book. He just didn't see the deal he was getting, and would raise objections like, What if you get hit by a bus and die? Then you have to deal with who ever inherits my artwork.
I stood my ground.
See, that right there is why I don't do many commissions. Not worth the hassle.
But that's still a gorgeous map.
Beautiful map! There is so much detail! I love the tiny sea monsters and ships. It's sad that you had to deal with such a client.
Thanks. Normally I won't take private commissions either. Everything I dislike, always seems to happen. Project creep, to many revisions, needed information dribbled out, poor communications, and not understanding how things work.
The thing is, I could have said, sure you can sell the map anyway you want, knowing that the's not going to get rich or even make a months rent/mortgage off it. But I'm a professional illustrator, and you just don't give your hard work away.
While we were discussing the whole copyright issue, I got emailed by Random House Germany, wanting to reprint a map I did for a book in their German edition of the book. I got 50% of what I originally made off the map, and it was still more money than what I was making off of this map. Why? Because I still retain the copyright! That's why you don't give up your rights.
Last edited by TimPaul; 07-09-2014 at 07:48 AM.
I totally agree with it. There's too many people who think art is cheap and don't understand the value of the work and don't consider artists rights when it comes to talk about commercial rights or copyright. That's sad. Though the most sad is that some artist ( even some who call themselves "profesionnal") are giving away their work for ridiculous prices and don't know what's a copyright value neither. Which make people think art is cheap and....you see the vicious circle here.
Max, to be fair, the attitude that art is cheap permeates art schools, so why should one expect it to turn out people who know the value of their work? When I was at university no one there expected to make money with art. This is an attitude reinforced from the top. As such no skills or experience is developed as regards to the monetization of work. Those artist who are essentially giving away their artwork are a result of this attitude combined with their desire to make art even if it isn't a 'well paid' activity. Professional trades in any other field tend to be paid well or they simply walk away from the job, and then you are left with a broken toilet or a hole in your wall until you scrounge up the dough. Yeah a vicious circle is right.
I would also add that the readily available mass produced objects and art that is indeed cheap due to the nature of production certainly helps depress the prices of original work. People never reckon what it took to make the original copy or mold or whatever where the cost is covered with the ability to sell 10,000 units.
This is what makes difference between a student, or an amateur artist and a profesionnal artist. Sell your work cheap, people will ever buy it cheap, and you'll never be able to sell it at its real value. Each one can estimate his works, his own experience/skills, the time spent to produce it and therefore a rate value for all of that.
I think that attitude is more a reflection of changes in the industry, and not the ultimate cause.
There was a time when illustrators were well paid and valued. Mainly because they were the only way to get an image. The first big change was when photography advanced enough to be used in advertising and promotions. Consider movie posters. About 98% of them are photography based. And when they do an illustration based poster, it's mostly for vanity (the last Wolverine movie was a nice exception).
Technology is taking a bigger toll then we care to admit, I feel. Even when photography took a bite out of the amount of jobs that traditionally went to illustrators, technology has opened the field to more people.
Rather than having to master a medium, we can master software. It also helps devalue what we can do, since computers can replicate it.
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