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If you enter the Fine Arts Degree programs looking to recoup your investment, you’re too pragmatic to make it work. You should be in a Commerce program instead. My experience in pursuing Fine Arts withan (unnamed) institution led me to leave after Foundation Year: I saw too many older students who didn’t seem to have grasped the basics, or show direction toward doing advanced work. Your mileage may vary, but I gave up “the piece of paper” and went for practical experience, mixed with a sauce of night courses, workshops and ‘working till I dropped”, all of which eventually paid off.

It’s in Cerebus In Hell #0

Needs more Girard.

So Rich, after you nagged us to cover this unsourced story it turns out you had transcribed the issue number wrong.

IF this is not a metaphor for the entire state of Comics Journo nothing is.

At a geek culture show like AwesomeCon, attendees are mostly interested in existing properties and derivatives thereof. It’s no wonder that people want to buy prints targeted at their fandoms. These artists are catering to audience demand.

Rip off artists are reprehensible, but the ones who create their own works? If they can tap into the commercial market I say more power to ’em. Some are just really dedicated fan artists and would make the work even if they didn’t have a market beyond Tumblr.

Also, a local IP lawyer in the DC area just wrote up an article about this exact topic. http://www.sethpolanskylaw.com/2016/06/10/intellectual-property-the-wrath-of-cons/

To me, its like being in a cover band. You can dress like the popular band, put on a good show and have fun with it. I get it. You’re a fan too and you want to share that love with like minded people. But I think I prefer to write my own music that would barely sell because I am a no-name. To me, that is a more fulfilling life. I’ve made something. I’ve put it out into the world. I contributed to the big book of humanity. Its that journey in art that gets me off. Whatever this is, the wall of print people… not me.

I don’t begrudge anyone who is coming to it HONESTLY and doing it. I have friends that do it. But majority of them also sell their own comics with it. It supplements the income and pays the bills so they can do their real art. They’ve found a loophole in the system. And good on them for reading the customer base and being smart about it. Cause I think they’d rather be just self publishing. We ALL would, I think! But until the mentality of the consumer changes, we’re stuck with what is. So we can either play the game or get out. Or be a self publisher and use things like Kickstarter like I did and PAVE YOUR OWN AWAY!

Its much more rewarding.

This was very insightful and somewhat vindicating. I am a graphic novelist who publishes with an independent publisher (not a vanity or print-on-demand, but also not an IMAGE or Marvel). My books are entirely of my own creation and I try my very hardest to promote and sell them at cons. I recently just got back into the con circuit and watch now, more then ever, as people would breeze by my booth not recognizing anything and suddenly freak out and crowd around the ones on either side of me with towering displays of Pokemon, Doctor Who and Spider-man fan prints. I’m not complaining, I get that they’re satisfying a market of familiar material, and I am proud of surviving in a sea of fan art with my creator-own material. The funny thing is, I was considering doing the fan art myself to draw in more crowds, but after reading this…I question whether or not I’d just be watering down an already over saturated market. The real problem is, the conventions are just getting WAY too expensive for artists who are trying to bring originality to the field. I don’t know what side I’m on yet, but this has definitely opened my eyes more.

The ones who are blatantly ripping off images created by other artists, as in, pretty much photocopying and passing it off as their own, should be held accountable. It shouldn’t be difficult to do once these Artists Alleys are set up. I quick look up and down should do it. As for height displays, I’d say that’s a separate issue entirely and should be dealt with just like any other vendor taking up more than their fair share of space. I wouldn’t necessarily jump down the throats of consumers. They pay to get in there (usually) and don’t know any better. If it’s for sale, then it’s for sale. It’s up to the convention’s organisers to deal with unscrupulous vendors. The ignorance on the part of people purchasing these ripoffs is somewhat understandable.

I don’t agree about the tchotchkes. Why can’t they be set up alongside others? It’s still artistry. Seems a bit silly to demand they be somewhere else. Just my take on this based on my own experiences.

So how do they rectify commissioned sketches by artists that are not necessarily owners of the property or owners of a license? This would effectively end any commissioned sketches at conventions as well wouldn’t it? The people selling prints of other peoples artwork and passing it off as their own are the real problem, I have total agreement in that. But for the comics industry to “crack down” on anyone drawing a picture of a character is fucking ridiculous. If you put the time in drawing inking sketching creating an original piece of artwork, you should be able to sell it without the fear of getting your ass sued off by some ginormous company. That’s my opinion and its certainly not the law, but seriously Marvel/DC whats next, you gonna put out lawyers in high schools to sue kids drawing pictures of their favorite characters for their friends? Its big versus small, and the big guys have the most money to blow on such nonsense, so ultimately the little will lose out. And in doing so the fans will as well.

Several thoughts on this article.
1) it’s funny that the pros who do this very same thing don’t get targeted. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve seen Greg Horn take up 3-4 tables in artist alley with his “team” selling his artwork…. no greg in site.

2) Most of the print vendors in artist alley are not ripping off someone else’s artwork. There are some like those splatter guys and some of the folks just tracing movie images but most are artists who are drawing the characters they love for fans who are looking for just that.

3) It’s funny that the pro’s are the ones who complain about these things but they themselves do not offer an alternative for the customer. If the customer doesn’t care that an artist who worked for spider-man is signing books and that artist isn’t selling a variety of prints with the characters fans want….then that’s that creators own fault. The popular creators make buckets of money (ask J.Scott Campbell) and there are plenty of people shelling out money for original sketches from guys who work for marvel/dc. That has nothing to do with print walls.

4) I do agree that artist alley should be for artists selling their product (prints or originals…whatever) but for those representing other artists (print vendors) there isn’t a better alternative. Take Wizard World for example, $300 for an artist table a table that is roughly 2 feet wider with the same print wall set up would cost over $1000 in the vendor area. There are definitely print vendors making more than that at shows but not that much more…. and if that person really is a print vendor representing an artist then there is probably a profit split in the works.

In short, if pros want a pros section at cons… they should demand one. if pros don’t want an artist alley section then it’s simply because they want more money. they aren’t protecting the fans because the fans are getting what they want. if shows want to eliminate print vendors from artist alley then they should provide an alternative.

*pros don’t want artists selling prints of characters in artist alley ^

@Adam Talley – not all these guys are like cover bands unless you know of bands who charge people to watch them mime to the songs of the original artists!

Calling 3D Artists ‘tchotchke’ sellers is highly offensive and dismissive to the artists. They take just as much time and talent as a print artist, if not more time due to inability to mass produce large numbers of prints repeatedly. As someone who solely sells original 3D works in the artists alley (as well as some original prints), you had me agreeing with you up until that point. Why even put that in this context? Are you trying to lump us with ripoff artists? That is dismissive, uninformed and elitist.

It is really a nice post. I think it will be so much help full for the users.

Momma was a favorite as a child.
Rest In Peace.

I’d never seen his old work before. He was a good artist.

The “Missy Peachy” strip on the Beat’s news page is actually a parody by Wally Wood.

I grew up reading Miss Peach in comic collections that my step-dad would bring home.

LOVED those. RIP, lady. Thanks for many years of enjoyment.

Jackie’s right it’s a parody but it’s by Bob Clarke. It’s from “Comic Strips We’d Like to See,” a bonus insert that ran in THE WORST FROM MAD #2.

I can see this copyright issue getting hot quickly.

But if it extends into Artist Alley, what’s an artist to do: someone wants you to draw Batman, so you refuse, and draw “Grampman” or “Dampman’ instead? That will never work.

Hopefully this stops at the level of: do not reproduce the art from a comic cover and sell it on a T-Shirt or print.

I doubt this will impact the sales of one-off commissions. Prints and sketchbooks might wind up in the crosshairs if TPTB get ambitious, though.

Heidi, so you know I believe my convention, Dallas Comic Show, was actually the first to announce (a month ago) a strict no fan art policy. It’s been talked about and debated heavily on Facebook already, and now (this week) at least two other shows have posted similar policies. I’m hoping this is the first step in bringing back the better days of originality to artist alleys everywhere, but I can tell you, for every bit of positive feedback I saw from our announcement, I’ve seen just as much much confusion and anger. Even had a few threats. I believe a change is coming, and I also believe it’s much-needed.

I went to a local Art Gallery in Cincinnati last night there was a few artist booths. All of them had prints you could buy of Superman, Spiderman etc etc. One artist had some paintings of Thor and others asking $65.00 up to $2.000 only a few things of his own…….

Were I selling any Star Trek-related fan film materials, I would think twice before bringing any of those items to any convention anymore.

I think it pertains to reproduction of art mostly. Especially in the dvd genre (of course). Artist sketches are Original Art.
No big posters of cover art not licensed.
Logically if they were to allow repro art someone could just print the whole book and sell it.
Artists will quit the cons if they can’t do original art. The aggrangment/permisiions given to current paid artists doesn’t need to include non contract workers either.
Will be interesting to see where it goes. As you may know Law is determined by lawsuits meaning someone has to sue someone before we find out what the actual laws do.

People have been saying this will happen for eons now. It’ll likely be a good thing if it does, but I understand how Artist’s Alley folks wind up heading down this path. Selling one’s original work is hard. You’re competing for a very few dollars against everyone else you’re set up with, & buyers are way more likely to want a print or sketchbook w/ a character they are familiar with than one they don’t know, yet.

I honestly think this will get applied more towards movies & other DVD’s for now. It would be a massive undertaking to actually police Artist’s Alley at every con, everywhere. But smart artists will get ahead of this curve, make their prints of either all original characters or parodies of mainstream ones that are enough off to keep them out of legal hot water. If you’re gonna do a sketchbook, don’t have it only be licensed heroes & put something original on the front.

Last time I set up at a (teeny tiny local) show, I had some good-lookin’ original character comics, a few original art pieces & some hand-drawn greeting cards. I have a pretty good sales face. I made almost nothing, but the vendor set up next to me couldn’t keep up with her sales, which were all copyright violations. They weren’t poorly executed, but it’s tough to compete next to someone selling prints of Superman, Batman, the Minions, etc. If people have to choose between a luxury item purchase of a known quantity versus an unknown one, they’ll go with the familiar.

Also curious whether “no fan art” policies will also apply to bigger & more famous artists. It would be crap if they cracked down on no-names while established talents – not all of whom have the “pass” of, they’ve worked on the material in question – still sell their sketchbooks, calendars, etc, with no consequences. I own a couple of Adam Hughes’ & J. Scott Campbell’s sketchbooks..would they have the same standard applied to them?

Obviously this doesn’t & shouldn’t apply to original art commissions. Those are one-offs & shouldn’t be subject to laws about copyright / reproduction.

i wonder if anyone ever goes into a bar a screams copyright infringement on a band playing cover songs? It’s an unfortunate truth about cons is that you are constantly making the effort to win over people in a pretty saturated market. I make self published comics that sell pretty well. Prints draw people in as they want to see how I draw the characters that they love – hopefully enough to be interested in my own work. The same way it works for that band playing cover songs at the bar. I would love to rely purely on sales of original characters, I just ask that table fees aren’t so ridiculously high for artists.

The music analogy doesn’t hold because music operates under compulsory licensing. This means musicians can’t stop you from covering their stuff live and there’s a framework to pay for covers. Does every band pay the fees after doing a cover? No. But the process is straightforward and fining them is simple.

With art, there is no “compulsory licensing” setup where artists can create without permission and then pay (or be fined if they fail to pay).

It’ll be interesting to see what happens. It’s certainly possible that people looking for copyright violators will use a few shows to enforce their copyrights to set an example. They can then just let the fear of prosecution act as a preventative measure.

Also I don’t know that bootleg DVDs have been banned or stopped from being sold at shows. I’ve seen bootleg anime and TV show DVDs at most conventions I’ve been to in the last few years.

I would love to hear that he continues to work because he loves it, not because he can’t afford to retire.

A belated happy birthday to Mr. Jaffee!

Happy Birthday, Mr. Jaffee. I’ve enjoyed your work for decades. Besides the Mad fold-ins, Al also did quite a number of “Snappy Answers To Stupid Questions”, which I always thought were downright hilarious.

Once again, Happy 95th, sir!

What else can one say but, “You Go Girl!!!”

I can’t wait to meet her. Ridiculous that she’s been put to trial in her own country.

If the (in)famous 1976 film ‘In the Realm of the Senses’ can be exonerated of obscenity in Japan (as it was in 1982), I fail to see why Megumi Igarashi and her manko-canoe should fall foul of the law.

Seems like a huge catch for Koyama!

[…] Beat – Deadpool artist Reilly Brown and his new family relocating from a fire and could use a hand – Please help […]

Sounds like they are trying to limit the economy like Bernie Sanders….smh…even comics aren’t safe from socialism.

This is a subject that has been on my mind for a while. I’ll likely be blogging about it soon, probably before my first (of many) convention appearances this year.

Sounds more than fair.

I think this is absolutely fair. Have been trapped behind a lot of people (sellers?) in lines who have stacks of comics for signing. This is obnoxious from a fan’s perspective because it causes the line to slow down. I would also think that it’s not good for the artists. I feel sorry for their hands sometimes for having to sign so many autographs.

5 is already a lot. 1 would seem OK for me, making people choose and think about which book they want signed.

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What is most important to us is that we get to meet and talk to every single fan that came there to see us, and Amanda and I really love this part of the job. The limit is to help this along and to raise money for Hero and Animal shelters. Anyone that has ever come to our table knows how important it is for us to all have a great experience together.

I love both Amanda and Jimmy. Good people!! I don’t mind dropping $2 for a book to be signed. It’s not like they are trying to be greedy like Neal Adams $30 a signature. It’s all for charity. I think this is a great idea and hope more artist and writers adopt this concept.

It’s fair. Seriously, you get an autograph to basically have a souvenir of meeting the creator. Sometimes you want it on a book because that is one of your favorites or it is significant to you. Maybe a few books, even. But a four issue miniseries and a single book should be enough for just about anyone. After that you ought to feel guilty about monopolizing the time and making an ass of yourself in front of the professional you came to meet in the first place.

Get look at how those french guys keep their books :

http://fahrenheit.lu/

Aww, thought this was Alan Moore.

Looking good! Who knew that smaller beard was hiding under there.