Hello all,
I recently started going to the market to sell my paintings.. On Sunday a man took my business card and said he will call me.. Today he came over and he is buying 3 of my paintings which is awesome.. he also asked about buying the rights to some of my designs, to be put on t-shirts.. he said i will get a payment and then a percentage of the sales!
so.. does anybody know how much approx people sell the rights to their artwork for?? i mean ive only just started selling work and have never had my own exhibition or anything! i dont expect alot but i dont wanna get ripped off! so any ideas about how much would be appreciated!!
Thanks
kara
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace- Jimi Hendrix
I think you should really ask some one who is in the art industry, try a gallery or try and contact an artist that you know is doing the same thing, I am sure the galleries will put you intouch with someone.
Cheers
Dave
i wouldnt do it kara, the offer is tempting, but stick to singular artworks as this guy might just buy the rights only to resell them for much more to a larger company. you never know.
judging by your painted spare cover, id say you're a brilliant artist. keep it up you can make a lot of money if you wanted to. just dont start deals so early in the game.
You sell only limited rights when selling for this sort of thing.
Go for the deal. Consider what he offers. There isn't much margin in t-shirts so don't expect dividends to be much.
A couple of hundred dollars for limited licencing would be about all you ould expect. A friend of mine sells his paintings for several thousand dollars. He licenced two images for t-shirt prints and another for a fabric print (pattern) for just $500 with no dividends.
Make sure you are specific in your licence. Specify that copyright remains with the author and that the images are licenced for a specific purpose and that rights cannot be assigned or on-sold without the authors express written permission.
Thanks for the advice kikko and matt..
Yeah im fully going to consider it, and find out all the details. He said that i will still own the copyright to the design.. and yeah im not expecting alot, just didnt know how much money this type of thing is worth!
he said he's bringing the paperwork round on saturday, so will probably have a read and a think!! hopefully all will be good..
thanks
kara
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace- Jimi Hendrix
Better get a lawyer son, you better get a reeeeal good one....Tex Perkins
" You're not a team player "
go to or ring dept of fair trading in morning
a place like that would give you invalueble
imformation on the subject (saxs advice is solid)
& dont sign without a lawyers imput even "legal aid"
I've been selling my work at markets for 7 years now.All i can say is theres lots of dodgy people out there willing to rip you off to make money themselves so be very careful & research what your doing thouroughly.Good luck, hope it works out for you.:thumb
P.s...What market are you at??
Oh....Snap.....!
joel mcdonald from the brisbane lions has his art put on t-shirts and gets around $100 for a shirt maby you could look into doing the shirts yourself.
yeah, about $200 is pretty fair. as te others said make sure you keep the copyright, make sure you get any divedends % in writing and try to find some way that you can keep track of the shirt sales so you know your getting paid for what's being sold. if you are weary of the guy get him to bring around some samples of some of his other prints and maybe go and sre him at a market/wherever he sells his goods.
Reimagined/Recycled/Upcycled Cool
You can ask whatever you like. You know what your art is worth, so you just need to work out how much you want every time it's reproduced. If he's selling a million tee shirts a year you'd be cool with $1 a shirt. In that situation, you'd need him and he could prob take or leave you, 'cos everyone would be wanting to supply art to him. (Although I'm sure he'd still be red hot for your work). If he's selling 1000 shirts a year, $1 doesn't sound so exciting....but if he's using 10 designs and they're each selling 1000, it's starting to get interesting.
The cost per shirt with printing is around $12- $15 depending on how many he's producing. He has to market them, pack and handle them, poss ship them etc etc. He would deserve to make $10 a shirt at $30 a unit would he? So if you could get an upfront payment that you'd normally get for selling a piece, plus a dollar or two per unit for each repro....you'd be laughing. All depends on how many shirts he sells. If he's struggling to sell 1000 a year, it's not real exciting, but if your designs and his selling skills amount to more, you've got something to work on together.
If he's an unknown quantity and you are too, prob good to start with a simple agreement based on a limited run. e.g test the water with an agreement on the first 1000 shirts @ say $2 per shirt and agree to re-negotiate a deal when that's done. If when you get to that point you realise it's your art that everyone wants, you've got something that's worth something and will be able to ask your price. If his marketing and selling skills are "Trump" like, maybe you'll want to be associated with him and be happy to take a smaller cut 'cos of the huge volume you'll be doing.
Don't get involved with solicitors yet. You'll only get bogged down with stuff that will de motivate you. If it costs you $1000 for a solicitor now, you'll need to sell a lot of shirts before you start to make any money.
Test each other out first. A small chunk of something big is always better than a large chunk of nothing.
Go hard!!
You should be writing up the paperwork with the help of a lawyer to ensure you dont have any regrets,
Imagine your artwork became as popular as the smiley face designed by Harvey Ball in 1963
theres a lot of money to be made and lost in such deals,
I would definately do the limited liscence with royalties thing, if he doesnt like it, he can do his own artwork.
62 Ragtop Herbie with a little extra oomph.
congragulations kara! dont get screwed over and good luck! why dont you show us some of your artwork?
everything dies baby, thats a fact..
maybe everything that dies one day comes back..
put your make up on and your hair up pretty..
and meet me tonight in Atlantic city..
A consultation with a lawyer is only about $60 last time I checked,
but I agree dont let it be too daunting just do some math and set it out there, always with a limitation that keeps you in control of the rights to the artwork.
As a Prop maker I am also an artist, 3D sculpture in many mediums, I sell the rights to my artwork with a limited contract each film, rarely can you get a film production company to give royalties in the deal but some do, I think Matrix 1 did offer a reduced wage and royalties deal to get the job they wanted for the money they had.
Wish I had been offered that when it was happening.
But for me a pair of scissors 11 times their original size, for example, wouldn't have a big market without the film to carry it.
So if I was too greedy, I would be hard pressed to recieve any money for my work.
In essence I am losing out, and the film company is making out like a bandit, but it draws a healthy wage and eases the pain, Money is not everything to me, But I like it lots.
Part of my deal has my name on the big screen, and I like that too.
You may have a real good opportunity here, just ensure you licence the artwork for a limited time or number etc, Time is easier for you to keep track of.
and see how it goes, a little bit here and a little bit there, you could imerse yourself fully into the artwork and not have to worry about the bills, sounds pretty Ideal to me.
62 Ragtop Herbie with a little extra oomph.
Can't add anything else - from what I see and know it's all been covered
Let me out, When I call my name
IGOR is ALIVE !!!! 😎
ohh thanks guys!! all your advice will be taken on board!!
i only just quit my 'proper' job to take up painting as my job, so its all pretty full on!! as well as trying to do full time uni 😠.. My dad said he will talk to some professional people (accountants etc) for me and see what they say..
split chick: i went to a local market called 'the fisherman road markets' in maroochydore, they arent that good, mainly fruit veg, plants etc... might try yandina markets soon because they get all the people that go to the famous 'eumundi markets' coming after...
65busser: yeah i agree that i dont wanna get too involved in all the legal stuff yet cause he may not sell that many anyways
will try get some of my paintings up for ya all to see!!
thanks heaps
kara
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace- Jimi Hendrix
one other thing 65 busser forgot to mention is that, even if only a sdmall number of shirts are being made a year and you are only getting a few buvcks out of it it is still a great way to get your name out and about, if you can get your name on the shirts it's like being paid for advertising yourself.
Reimagined/Recycled/Upcycled Cool
When your coming up in the art world it is best to not put to much on your work.As kid said its good to get out there a little first.
Hi Kara, I think you should get some information from your lawyer or your parents lawyer about trademark/copyright laws ect. Because if you sign the copyright completely over to him I think that means he can use the design as much as he wants and for how ever long he wants to. It's better that you add in the contract that you still own the design/artwork and outline exactly what he is aloud to use it on and for what amount of time. Atleast you could renew the contract every 6 months if all works out.
But it sounds like a great opportunity for you! Just make sure you don't sign anything until a lawyer reads it over for you!! 🙂
Foxy
