Licensing & Commissioning Illustrations
The Licence Model
Whether you use one of my existing illustration or commission a brand new illustration, you pay for a licence and not the work itself. That’s because when an artist creates an artwork, they automatically own the ‘copyright’ of that image and control the reproduction of the artwork.
The artist can then sell a licence for that artwork – which means someone else has the right to reproduce it, in specific ways, for a specific amount of time. A licence can be ‘exclusive’ meaning no one else can use that image while your licence lasts. It can also be ‘non-exclusive’, meaning that anyone can licence the work from the artist at any given time.
Licence Fees
One of the benefits of the licensing model, is that you only pay for what you need, rather buying the illustration outright. So, for every licence I’ll need to know the following:
- Territory: Which territory will the image be used in? E.g. UK / USA / Worldwide
- Duration: How long will it be used for? E.g. 6 months / 1 year / 3 years / 5 years
- Usage: What will it be used for? E.g. Billboards / newspaper / social media
- Client: Who will be using it? E.g. A big multi-national / small business / newspaper
Agreeing a Fee
If you know your budget, and are happy to share it, it will save a lot of time. There are lots of ways I can shape my quote to fit – e.g. limiting the licence, reducing the number of illustrations and amends, or by re-using elements.
Read the Licensing Existing Illustration and Commissioning New Illustrations pages for additional details.
Last updated June 19, 2022
