Copyright and Artists, Friends?

I was able to sit in John McKay's presentation at the Arts and Cultural Convention, " Fundamentals of Copyright, Trademark, and Intellectual Property Rights."  He spoke eliquently on many facets of U.S. copywright law as it relates to artists, which I'm very clearly not qualified to pass on, however I ran across a number of articles the next day which carry on his points.

Cornell Information Center has a wealth of information on the nuts and bolts of the copyright law and ways your work is and is not covered.

The Blog Photo Attorney has an illuminating discussion about the legality of the use of the photograph that the now famous illustration of Obama was based upon.

TechDirt continues the discussion with "Yes, Artists Build On The Works Of Others... So Why Is It Sometimes Infringement?"

Finally, the Wall Street Journal has the definitive word in the comprehensive article on art and copyright:  "Color the Law in this Area Gray".

Web Comics

Webcomics and electronic distribution have been a tricky proposition.  The ease of distribution and the possibly is a huge draw, but with that comes the likely hood of having your work get lost in the shuffle amongst the thousands of other comics scattered across the web, much less receiving any type of money in return for your efforts. 

When I was working on a weekly comic, I distributed the last 100 through Pixelstrips.com, which was then a new venture.  I put a lot of research in as part of my decision to sign up with him, and I think I made a good decision.  Kevin Volo who owns and operates the site put a lot of effort into promoting the site and the individual strips involved.  Kevin works in the comic industry as a colorist, so he’s decidedly creator friendly.  From my perspective he did all the right things, participating in forums to get the word out, doing interviews and advertising exchanges with relevant podcasts and websites, operating booths at conventions, making t-shirts, distributing stickers, and starting a podcast about comics and web comics.  There wasn’t really much else as far as promotion I think he could have realistically done to make the website a success.   That being said, how much money did I make distributing 100 comics over two years  . . . roughly $2.50.  How many posts to the sites forum a month? A handful at best.  My point is despite excellent efforts by knowledgeable people, it’s an uphill struggle to build an audience for your work on the web.  Not impossible, but very difficult.

 "Comics are Feeling the Pain of Print" by Leslie Berlin at the NY Times

This article discusses the changing face of the comics pages with shrinking newspapers and growing channels for electronic distribution.

 "Let's Talk Webcomics" at Newsarama's Blog

 A good overview of the top tier of web comics and the thoughts behind their different methods of distribution.

 Web Comic Guide from Psychedelic Treehouse

What looks to be a comprehensive guide to putting your comic on the web and potential pitfalls to avoid.

Illustration Tutorials

Drawing books and tutorial sites are a dime a dozen, and I've always had a problem sitting down and actually working my way through them. I've found a few sites that I've found my self going back to again and again.

Illustration Class by Von. R. Glitschka

I've been following Glitschka's site for a while now and I can guarantee that every tutorial is top notch.  He works from his illustration comissions, and walks you through step by step starting from his inital thought process to working up a draft to the fine finish work that makes the difference between amature work and a real professional product.  You'd be well served to download a few that intest you and walk through his creative process.

DaniDraws by Dani Jones

Dani site is a more of a traditional blog with wide-ranging posts with toriials or videos about making a portfolio, to picking colors in Photoshop, to the process of making a children's book.  Every post may not intrest me, or you, but two out of three posts are exactly what I'm looking for.

Penciljack and The Drawing Board

I'm not a huge forums guy, but both of these sites are quality, with pros and amatures posting their work and exchanging an amazing number of tips for tranditional and computer asisted illustration.