FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP

Both House and Senate versions of the Orphan Works Act of 2008 can be downloaded from the IPA homepage:

http://illustratorspartnership.org/

Many groups are coming together to oppose this bill. We’re preparing letters you can customize and send to your representatives through our push-button link. Please stay tuned and we’ll give you the tools we need to make our voices heard.

For additional background on Orphan Works, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists.

Marcos Chin Interview

Most of you know Yuko Shimizu, our recent star guest at the Art Forum this winter, but you may not know that her studio-mate, Marcos Chin, is also an amazing illustrator.
Penelope Dullaghan interviewed Marcos as a feature on Illustration Friday, the website she created as a place to offer a weekly illustration challenge to participants worldwide (if you haven't created anything for Illustration Friday yet, you should). Please take a moment to read this insightful interview with Marcos Chin, one of the Young Guns of contemporary illustration.

©Marcos Chin 2008 All Rights Reserved

Illustration Contract templates

Illustration Students!

* Do you do freelance work on the side?

* If so, do you have the proper contracts set up to protect you and the client?

* Do you not want to get bamboozled with a commission or contract job?

* Well, you need to have a signed estimate/confirmation form stating all the terms of the job.

* You say, "Yea that's what I need, but where do I find that and how do I make it my own?"

* Well, I have been working hard on that solution and here it is.

I have created a PDF template for an Estimate/Confirmation Form and Invoice Form specifically for freelance illustrator students and recent grads. These are two page PDF files that you can add your contact info/logo at the top of each page. It includes a functional calculating form, and tips for what to write in each field. To modify and use these forms you need the Acrobat 8 Professional which is on all the computers at SCAD and apart of the Adobe CS3 Design Premium software package. Be sure to follow the steps listed in the "Customize_Your_ILLU_Contracts.doc" exactly. There are some advanced techniques explained in there, but once you do it once it's quite simple to get. These are the same forms and instructions that will be given to you in the ILLU 409 Self Promotion class taught by me. So I go over how to use them in that class. But if you need them before that class here they are. If you have any questions or problems feel free to contact me.

You can find these on my links page here.

or directly here:
Customize_Your_ILLU_Contracts.doc
estimatetemp.pdf
invoicetemp.pdf

Thanks,
Jay Montgomery

Orphan Works Outrage!

Our beloved representatives in Washington have in front of them a rancid piece of legislation that could shake the Creative world to the core. All us us who create images must educate ourselves to the law as it pertains to our business and our livelihood.
Brad Holland and the Illustrators Partnership have struggled mightily over the last few years to safeguard our creative work, but Congress is about to yank the rug out from under us all unless we quickly come together and demand our rights as the rightful owners of our own creations.
This article sums up what's going on, so please take the time to read it and call or write your congressional representatives and let them know how bad this legislation is.

Go here to download sample letters to congress, bullet point letters, and a list of lawmakers to e-mail them to. The more proactive we all are in this, the more likely we are to be heard. Our futures as artists and illustrators depends on it.

SEQA Pin-up Challenge

The SCAD-ATL Sequential Art Department has issued a "Fire-Breather" pin-up challenge to all it's students, and Shawn Crystal has offered the same challenge to the Illustration Department. We need to jump on this and show everyone that ILLU RULES! All the info in available on their blog, so click the link above and GO FOR IT.
Also, everyone is invited to sit in on the Friday Challenge that they have every week in room 389. Nolan and Shawn are there to work with anyone who's interested, so take advantage of this terrific opportunity to learn more about sequential art, and to make some great friends at the same time.

Serious discussion about art.