Illustration Contracts: Terminology You Must Know
Image by : Cytonn Photography
Contracts are something you can’t avoid when you are freelancing. Clients will hand them to you, companies will make you sign them and you should be handing them out. Contracts are designed to protect both parties and ensure everyone gets what they want. Now, I know no one here wants to be a lawyer but understanding basic terminology can save your butt from getting underpaid for your work or straight-up scammed. Now not everyone is trying to get one over on you but being able to spot when someone is can save you time and money. So here is some contract terminology you need to know as an illustrator.
Now a quick disclaimer. I’m not a lawyer, all the information here are things I learned in school and researched myself. Laws are changing constantly, and different countries might have different legal vocabulary. Always do your diligence and research the terminology for these terms in your country. In a worst-case scenario going to a lawyer specializing in copyright law is always a viable option. I can’t be held responsible for any misunderstanding of your country’s copyright law as I did get most of my education about this in Canada.
Contract Terminology You Should Know as an Illustrator
Copyright - The set of laws that lets the original creator of the work have the legal rights to sell, redistribute, recreate and display their work and sue anyone who infringes on these rights. These come into play once a piece is created, you don’t have to register your work for it to be protected by copyright.
Infringement- The violation of a person's copyright law
Contract Terms- The rules of the contract.
Breach of Contract- When one party breaks one of the rules of the contract.
Licencing- The act of renting out an image to a client for a specified period and use.
We as illustrators, lease out our creative rights to clients for a temporary period and a fee. This is the main way freelance illustrators make money, illustrators do not set hourly rates.
Your Rights
Authorship Rights- The right to claim you created an image.
Ownership Rights- The right to sell, reproduce, or publish an image.
First Rights- The right to be the first person to use an image for a one-time limited use. Once the time limit is over the rights return to the illustrator.
Secondary Rights- The right to be the second person to use an image for a one-time limited use. This usually happens when a client approaches you over an image that has already been previously made and used. You can relicense images to other clients but for a lesser fee. Similar to how cars are licenced, they lose their worth a little after they have been used. There is no limit to how many licences you can do, the name of the rights on the contract simply changes with the number of times the image has been licenced out.
Electronic Rights- The right to use an image on digital platforms. For example, websites, apps, CDs, company databases etc
Derivative Rights- The right to make a piece of artwork based on another copyrighted artwork. This one you’re going to want to keep most of the time. Letting a client have this right allows them to make some changes to the image and then claim it as something they made. People can use this as a loophole, taking your design and reusing it for other projects without having to pay you anything.
Sublicensing Rights- The right for a client to resell their rights to a third party. This is a big no, as any money the client gets leasing these rights doesn’t come back to you. You also lose control of how the third party uses your image.
Moral Rights- This protects your integrity as the creator/author of the piece. Essentially if an image is used in a way that contradicts your moral values you have the right to ask that your work not be used in that way.
Other Important Terms You're Going to Want to Know
Nonexclusive use- A contract term that lets the artist license the rights not being sold to the client to a third party.
Residual Rights- The term used for the rights that you are keeping and not leasing out to the client. Keep in mind you should always have some rights in your possession in a contract, always be cautious of the wording in a contract, you might accidentally give something away you don’t want to.
Work for Hire- This is a mostly American term, in Canada is not legal to do and I don’t think it's used much in the UK or Europe either. This term means giving ALL OF YOUR RIGHTS over to the client. Authorship, Derivative, Sub Licencing EVERYTHING. It's a big NO.
Buyout- This is when a client wants to buy all of the rights off of you excluding your authorship rights. These are rare though as it costs the client big money to do this. In Canada, the lowest it starts at is about 30K. I’ll let you guys calculate how much that would be in your country.
Limited Buyout- Similar to a buyout but it is usually just for a specific market, country or media type. For example, CD covers that are specifically being sold in Europe.
Blanket Contract- A one-time contract that covers all future assignments. Not something you want to sign as a freelancer. It's better to write a fresh contract for each project to ensure you're getting paid for what you're worth.
In Perpetuity- A fancy way of saying forever.
Speculative work- Doing work without the guarantee of being paid.
Crowdsourcing- A company's way of getting work for free or without having to pay very much. Usually seen in the form of a contest. Best to be avoided.
Celebrity rights- The right of a famous person to have control over the use of their name or image. Make sure the client has these rights before creating an image of a famous person for them.
With this page as a reference, I hope you feel more confident working with contracts.