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Carlos Ezquerra's 2000ad & Judge Dredd colouring book

Started by rogue69, 10 September, 2017, 01:28:29 AM

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IndigoPrime

Careful, Bolt. When I had the audacity to criticise any elements of this book (even noting major typos that I suggested be corrected), I ended up being hounded by certain 'fans' online for months.

Bolt-01


JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: Dash Decent on 17 April, 2021, 12:54:20 PM
Always good to see Johnny Alpha with his nose done the right way, like a fish finger.

Heh!  You're dead right.  It's quite a uniquely-shaped schnozz, even for a broken one.  But I think Carlos' Dredd had pretty much the same one, as did Big Al Bestardi.   Nice to see Henry Flint carrying on the fecked nose tradition these days.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Rogue Judge

Quote from: Bolt-01 on 19 April, 2021, 08:00:12 AM
Out of curiosity - do the pages in the book say that these are commissions done for private sale? Also, did the folk putting the book together get asked if it was okay to have a piece of art that you commissioned

Good questions Bolt, I was wondering the same thing. When I get it I'll let you know of any notes etc. in the book. To read how this book was brought together would be interesting. And like you say, as a fan I'd be thrilled if they reached out and asked to publish a commission I owned.

Another question, could Rebellion use any of these pieces for 2000AD publication? For example, could they use one of these commissions of Dredd/Alpha for a new TPB collection? It's their characters but Carlos art...just curious to know how these things work.

The more fans have access to enjoy/see unpublished Ezquerra and 2000AD works the better.

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: Rogue Judge on 19 April, 2021, 03:18:50 PM
It's their characters but Carlos art...just curious to know how these things work.

Grey area. Technically, all paid-for commissions of characters an artist doesn't own are copyright infringements but publishers tend to turn a blind eye as a perk for the artists, as long as they don't take the piss — slapping your own drawing of Judge Dredd on a t-shirt or a mug and selling them at cons is likely to result in a polite "You need to stop doing that or the next communication won't be so polite" response no matter how big a name you are.

Sketchbooks and prints are usually subject to the same blind eye, provided they're small print runs.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

sheridan

I believe one of the covers to a Hachette collection was originally a commission (and the person who owns the artwork might not have been informed beforehand).  Can't remember if I read that on the Hachette thread here or out in the wilds of the internet.

Colin YNWA

Quote from: sheridan on 19 April, 2021, 04:02:53 PM
I believe one of the covers to a Hachette collection was originally a commission (and the person who owns the artwork might not have been informed beforehand).  Can't remember if I read that on the Hachette thread here or out in the wilds of the internet.

Given we know Kenneth Niemand's a pseudonym I wonder if he's practiced a signature for his pen names? feels like the perfect chance to do so!

Pete Wells

I think it was Saint Eamonn's commission and I don't think they asked, the cheeky scamps (as if any of us would say "No!")

Funt Solo

I would have assumed that the artist retains copyright on the work, and is effectively selling you a copy or a print of something they can reproduce if they wish to. Why would they need to ask you for permission to re-use? They haven't passed on the copyright. 
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: Funt Solo on 19 April, 2021, 06:42:36 PM
I would have assumed that the artist retains copyright on the work, and is effectively selling you a copy or a print of something they can reproduce if they wish to.

Again, not if it's an image of something they don't own the copyright to. In most instances, a drawing of the Millennium Falcon/Serenity/Enterprise A through Z would have more value to a commissioner than "random spaceship the artist made up in their head" and that value in part comes from the IP that someone else owns.

An artist can draw anything they like, but at the point of monetising the work then, if it's a pre-existing piece of IP or demonstrably derives from one, then ownership of that IP comes into play and the artist should only sell it to the owner of that IP, or to a third party with the owner's explicit permission, for which they would be entitled to demand a contract and a cut of the proceeds reflecting the added value.

It's grey area because of the long-established precedent of publishers/licensors turning a blind eye to one-off commissions and very short run sketchbooks and prints, but different IP holders set the threshold for where their tolerance runs out at different levels.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

Bolt-01

Back in 2013 (blimey, didn't realise it was that long ago) I commissioned the much missed Nigel Dobbyn for an Illo of Kid Knee.

Nigel was an absolute gent throughout the process and once the final work was complete -- all digital remember -- Nigel sent me a couple of different resolution copies as well as a fantastic hi res print that he made sure showed his art off to its full glory.

Last time I saw Nigel we were chatting and he just casually told me that he'd deleted the files to the commission once completed. I was aghast but he laughed it off and said as far as he was concerned it was the best way to make sure that the single print he did for me was as close as possible to an original page.

His reasoning was that he viewed the piece as work for hire. He completed his part and passed the work to me as the owner to do as I wished.

Another view of this is the wide variety of covers commissioned for Zarjaz. As I'm sure I've bored you all before Zarjaz is a not for profit zine, so I can in no way afford to commission the glorious works on the cover at market rate, but I offer the droids a gratuity to cover oil and bribes for Mek-Quake to look the other way.

This has resulted in some of the most astounding work to grace a fanzine but the point is that all I'm asking these artist for is first use. What they do with the work afterwards is their business.

TordelBack

Not for nothing is Boltimo de' Fanzinci known as 'Dave the Magnificent'

Link Prime

Quote from: Bolt-01 on 20 April, 2021, 08:12:37 AM

Last time I saw Nigel we were chatting and he just casually told me that he'd deleted the files to the commission once completed. I was aghast but he laughed it off and said as far as he was concerned it was the best way to make sure that the single print he did for me was as close as possible to an original page.

His reasoning was that he viewed the piece as work for hire. He completed his part and passed the work to me as the owner to do as I wished.


He was a real gent.

To think that both he and the headliner of this thread are now gone when they were both chatting and sketching away goodo at the 40th event - which incidentally feels like it took place only a month ago - is just too sad.