Legal Agreement between artist and art director?

Hey everyone,

I am working on a new tarot deck, I am the originator of the project as well as the tarot "expert" and social community expert (my tarot presently called Abundant tarot explores certain social justice issues that are current) but I have no art skills so I partnered with an artist who is the art, design, telling me that's not possible to do on a card that size kind of person.

We have a great working relationship but we probably need to draw up some sort of contract or legal agreement moving forward once this deck goes live, as it were.

Have any of you done anything like this before and can give me some advice?

Much appreciated!

I think it depends on whether you "hired" this person (even if the pay was promised on actual sale of the merchandise and not on the completion of the work) or whether they are equal partners, even though it may seem you have more to do than the artist. This may seem over-paranoid, but you need to clearly (even if it is a verbal contract) define your relationship with anyone with whom you are doing a project for profit. Saves messes later. Both options entail their own legal hurdles, so it is best to consult a professional.

closrapexa said:

even though it may seem you have more to do than the artist.

Click to expand...

LOL!!!!! This comes up all the time with Manga and graphic art projects. There's one person who has the ideas and they're looking for an artist to just draw the stuff and they think it's done so easy by the artist.... BOOM work done. What they don't realize is that the artist has to start with a vacuum and has to do all the visual work putting it down on paper to convey the image and the necessary visual/perspective for the buyer of the future deck, it's not a minimalist thing, it's hard work and takes skill and it's at least 85% of the work in the project. Without the artist there's no final product.

The originator has to figure out what's fair between them. If the artist wants a 10% cut on the sales, or if they will do the project as is and be paid at the end, that's what the discussion is for. Each card will take time to design, sketch, ink over, color, upload and finalize with detailing. If they can do a fully completed card in under 2 days that'll be fantastic. Paying by the hour won't be easy on the pocketbook.

QofWands said:

Hey everyone,
I am working on a new tarot deck, I am the originator of the project as well as the tarot "expert" and social community expert (my tarot presently called Abundant tarot explores certain social justice issues that are current) but I have no art skills so I partnered with an artist who is the art, design, telling me that's not possible to do on a card that size kind of person.
We have a great working relationship but we probably need to draw up some sort of contract or legal agreement moving forward once this deck goes live, as it were.
Have any of you done anything like this before and can give me some advice?
Much appreciated!

Click to expand...

This is an easy search in the world of graphics artists and ethical practices. The freely available contracts are standardized boilerplate and easy to understand. You're looking for a letter of agreement, really, not a contract. You should both investigate this arrangement separately. A good graphics artist can get $100/hr. A good tarot deck can take 500 hours of development, roughing out and art preparation (and changes).
And you must agree on exactly what constitutes a billable change (you changed your mind) and a failure to deliver (he left out something vital).
You provide the script for the the deck, the concept, the cast of characters, their clothing styles and periods, the stylized approach of the environment, the precise description of every card, the smallest details, the esoteric school you are following, the list of symbols, the spreadsheet of suit and major characteristics and similarities, the color palette, the sources for your inspirations and lots of other stuff that will guide your artist on a path he knows nothing about because he cannot read your mind.

Together you will work your way through rough conceptual notes and then sketches and then color comps and then individual artwork for each card.

YOu must agree where his artistic knowledge trumps your ignorance of his craft and where your esoteric knowledge trumps his creative spirit.

Neither of you can complete the project without the other but one of you probably has much more invested than the other. That will require remuneration or some other form of compensation.

Helpful start:

<< https://www.graphicartistsguild.org/resources/contract-monitor/ >>


A trip to your local library should reward you with a recent copy of the Graphics Artists Guild Ethical Practices Guide

<< https://www.graphicartistsguild.org/handbook/ >>