Ok, here's a whacky idea, what if "we" could assemble our own clip art CD from submissions by individuals on this board, much like the Songpainter music project? I know I have a hand full of shapes, symbols and doo-dads that I use all the time - things I personally created and can vouch for their originality. Is there any interest, and who would be willing to participate?
Here's a small example of the kind of stuff I mean: Posted by Michael Boone (Member # 308) on :
Im in...
Posted by James Donahue (Member # 3624) on :
It sounds REALLY neat.
But I'm about as good at vectorizing as I am at performing brain surgery, still, it sounds neat.
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
I think it's a great idea. Would it be jpeg's or vector art - or maybe a combo platter? I have lots of time-savers to contribute in both formats, as I'm sure most of us do. This has the potential of being the most relevant collection available to sign people.
Posted by Jack Davis (Member # 1408) on :
Joe, I think it is a great idea. I got a lot of positive response from my post of about 6 months ago. I created a vault.......... Vault .......... on my own domain, where you can download the files of your choice. I have a couple of samples in it. (eps, cdr, ai). A CD might even be better, but you would have to be updating it all the time. With the personal vaults, we just need a place to put our links, with descriptions and maybe thumbs.
[ August 25, 2003, 06:53 AM: Message edited by: Jack Davis ]
Posted by Joe Rees (Member # 211) on :
Hey Jack, I missed your vault announcement - I just downloaded the Corel "headphones" file and that is exactly what I'm talking about, very well drawn, but just as importantly, very well vectorized, a clean, small file with minimal nodes that will cut well. Good job.
Sonny, I am thinking VECTOR art. Bitmaps could always be generated from the vector art, but we all know the difficulty of creating those vectors - whether it is from scratch or a sketch or a photo - creating and cleaning up those paths is where we all lose it.
If there's enough interest, (make that 'participation'), some of the issues I can envision needing clarification is foremost, the blessing of Letterville to proceed and help facilitate the project; a review/approval process for the submissions; an authenticity or originality voucher so there can be no challenges of infringement; identifying the steps involved and organizing volunteers to take them on; how production costs will be handled; file size, format or content rectrictions; ???. I'm sure there are others.
Posted by Terry Baird (Member # 3495) on :
It sounds pretty cool to me, I'd be very interested in contributing.
Posted by Jack Davis (Member # 1408) on :
Joe, Here is the link to my past post. You might be surprised of the comments, as well as support. Add them to survey if you choose. I have a lot more pieces to display myself. I'm sure you can get the job done, and you can count on my help if you need it.
[ August 25, 2003, 12:34 PM: Message edited by: Jack Davis ]
Posted by Suelynn Sedor (Member # 442) on :
Hi Joe,
I like the idea! I'm in!
Suelynn
Posted by Dave Sherby (Member # 698) on :
Count me in too. I have some things I can contribute. This is a very COOL idea. Posted by Glenn S. Harris (Member # 2190) on :
Not sure if any of my stuff would be good enough for the CD, but I'd definitely buy that CD if it came out! The stuff I see on here is always cool. I've gotten lots of ideas from you people whether you wanted me to or not!
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
Thanks Joe!
I have a few Vectors or AI. Tif. and Bitmaps I will share......
Needing to know how to get them to you.
Can I send them dirrect? Remember the Worm that is going around!
I will Encrypt a ((code)) name here first before sending.
[ August 25, 2003, 06:12 PM: Message edited by: Stephen Deveau ]
Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
I'm in Joe!
Count me in for some balck and white illustrations for all those pesky jobs on vehicles like plunbing and carpentry art. All hand drawn, of course.
Rapid
Posted by Terry Whynott (Member # 1622) on :
The only thing I have a problem with is that you just know it's all going to end up on some other cd being sold on e-bay. Once you make your artwork public, it's gone.
I'd like to somehow keep this in Letterville. I liked Jack's original idea, but it seems like a lot of work creating and upkeeping it.
Not sure what the answer is. Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
The answer could be making them only downloadable to paid up residents here. It would need its own password that would change once a year (to encourage re-upping).
Whatcha think, Steve?
Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
Don, Awesome idea!
Posted by Terry Whynott (Member # 1622) on :
I was thinking that too, Don. Except Joe isn't a resident, and he brought the idea back up. Hint, hint.
Now thinking as I type, how is this any different from the vault that is already available to residents? I suppose, anyone that wants to could send Steve and Barb more goodies to put in it for the residents.
Posted by Joe Rees (Member # 211) on :
Well, I've seen enough already to know there is a good idea here - so good that Jack already trotted this out back in January, where Steve and many others indicated support for the general concept.
I think the reason it had a brief life back then is uncertainty over whether to make it downloadable or CD. If it's available for downloading, is that for members only or visitors too, and who's going to host and maintain it? If CD, is it a proprietary project or commercially published? But I think the biggest reason it died back then is no one took charge and pushed for it. Let the details would work themselves out, but get STARTED.
If this is going to happen, I say guidelines have to be established fairly quick and somebody has to agree to start accepting the submissions. I didn't intend to volunteer for the job but I will if it gets the ball rolling. Here's what I propose;
*Black and White vector files only. *Clean and cuttable to the best of your ability. *Small file sizes limited to 100k. *EPS format with no embedded bitmaps or fonts. *Absolutely, positively must be art you personally created. *Designs fall into one of following categories: People, Vehicles, Plants, Animals, Panels & Posts, or Embelishments.
Don't send anything yet, but that's one way to break the ice. When Steve gets back from FKAB I'm sure he will pipe in with some input.
Posted by PKing (Member # 337) on :
Coming out of the printing trade. I have ALWAYS kept and add to a "mourge" box. These are printed linear art from magazines,newspapers,flyers,brochures,cereal boxes comic books,etc.etc.etc. When needed,I will scan,print,trace the nessasary parts with a SCRIPIE. Re-scan,cut the (rough) out of black vinyl,trim or clean up with exacto knife. Re-scan,set size and GO WITH IT! After ALL this reworking,at least a 10% change has occured which is all that is required to by pass copyright infringements.
BUT....that is just me
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
If it's produced as a CD, there would be no maintenance issues on the web, and subsequent volumes of the series could be completed if the first batch sells. Maybe the contributors could get a copy at cost, Letterville residents could get one at a discount, and the rest of Letterville at regular price. It might leak out eventually, but the initial debut would hopefully keep it among the ever-scrupulous members of Letterville.
Posted by Dave Draper (Member # 102) on :
I like the Idea too.
I would rather download the files. The should be in volumes. Volume 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on.
We have tons. We keep a morgue also. Some are not our original creations, but have been reworked so that the work is different.
Put a disclaimer in, and if anyone challenges the clip, delete it from the volume. That's about all you can do.
Posted by Ryan E Young (Member # 2325) on :
Im in. Sounds like a great idea as long as no one tries to cram it down our throats.
[ August 26, 2003, 08:45 PM: Message edited by: Ryan E Young ]
Posted by George Perkins (Member # 156) on :
The last time somebody tried to cram something down my through, it went right throat it.
Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
hahahah George
Posted by Stevo Chartrand (Member # 2094) on :
Like the idea Joe! I'd be glad to contribute some pieces.
Stevo
Posted by Ryan E Young (Member # 2325) on :
What are you talking about George? I think its time for your bed time old man. Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
Happy to help too!
Posted by Joe Rees (Member # 211) on :
Good response. This can happen if we want it to. I have to go out of town till next Wednesday. When I get back I'll be in a position to start accepting emailed submissions if that looks like a good way to proceed. I'll check back on this thread then to see what's happened.
Posted by Harris Kohen (Member # 2139) on :
I dont have ALOT to contribute but im definitely surely interested in getting involved somehow, and I agree it should be on a CD made readily available to paid up residents at a deep discount compared to the general public so to speak, I think if nothing elses the fees will cover the expense of making the CD's and maybe can be used to enhance the letterhead movement
Posted by Steve Shortreed (Member # 436) on :
I apoligize for taking so long to answer this post. The last few days have been very busy. It seems like everytime I start a post, we get called away on another "emergency."
This idea has been kicked around for ages. From our point of view, a couple concerns always put the brakes on proceeding.
The first is the risk of copyright violation. We would never knowingly violate any laws, but how do you really know? Letterville exists on a shoe string budget. There is no way I am ever going to risk the possibility of a foolish lawsuit destroying what so many have worked so hard to create. That's the first challenge.
Our other concern is financing and administrating this new venture. Letterville has grown into a monster website requiring over 2 gig just in storage space. With the increase in meet coverage, and photo hosting for Residents, Letterville is gobbling up server space like it was free. It isn't.
Bandwidth is another issue. The more you use, the more you pay. Letterville requires a huge use of bandwidth. We've held off announcing some features like the Letterville DriveIn, out of our fears of bandwidth costs. There are lots of exciting new technologies out there, but they all come at a cost.
Something else you have to consider. Letterville is not your usual 9-5 job. It's a 24/7 occupation that never stops. There's email to answer, tons of phone calls, a nonstop parade of photos to be formatted and put online. Did I mention monitoring this BB and trying to make a regular appearance on chat? If there is spare time left, it's spent looking for new Residents or Merchants.
We're not complaining, but the prospect of taking on additional work is not exciting. Hiring employees to ease the workload is just not an option financially.
Our greatest failure has been attracting Residents. We don't know the answer, but here are the cold hard facts. There are 3900 shops that have registered to post on this BB. Thousands use the website on regular basis, but less than 300 feel it is valuable enough to invest in financially by becoming a Resident.
We can debate the reasons for this situation until the cows come home, but in the end it's our own lack of understanding our users needs and/or poor marketing skills. Our research indicates that even the smallest sign mags have a paid subscriber base of 3,000. Compare that to our 300 Residents and there is no denying we have some serious work to do.
Posted by Jack Davis (Member # 1408) on :
Steve, As far as Letterville's liabilities are concerned,,,,this is the reason I lobbied the private vault idea. It would pretty much be up to us on an individual level to supply to the "public" whatever we wanted to do. Much like visiting our personal webpages.......
I wished that it could become a valuable asset to your efforts, but maybe its not worth it. It might at least attract more people to stay in the area and participate. Whatever offerings I make to friends in the future will be on a personal level, as well as advice given or taken. It will not hold letterville, its own owners, or its participants, liable for anything.
Joe, Maybe this is the way it has to be...Perhaps we can create these private libraries, from which we could publish a list once in a while. A lot of people could participate that way. See ya all after Labor Day. Jack..
[ September 01, 2003, 01:49 PM: Message edited by: Jack Davis ]
Posted by DONALD THOMPSON (Member # 3726) on :
Steve, I don't understand why more people don't become residents. I get $50 worth of advice, laughter, and the monthly draws are nice too to make it worthwhile. I will continue to support regardless. Thanks for everything. Posted by Fred Weiss (Member # 3662) on :
Just my 2¢ worth and I'm not trying to get anyone upset with me. Just want to present a different perspective.
I make signs and I make vinyl-ready clipart. I also occasionally sell fonts.
I'm not a merchant here. I have often considered it and then I see yet another post looking for this image or that font followed by another post in two minutes saying "check your email". I never see anyone being told that isn't very nice and is an insult to all artist's rights and to the paying merchants who offer their work to Letterville residents and visitors.
The simple fact is that some of you ..... enough of you ..... have little or no respect for intellectual property rights except when they're your own.
The 5% / 10% change rule is a myth. If you rework a published work that is protected by copyright, you have only created a derivative work and all rights remain with the original artist.
A guy walked in my shop the other day and asked if I was interested in buying some clipart. I said show me what you've got. He proceeded to show me a compilation of Vector Art™, my Plotter Art™ Originals and OCA's various work. He bought it from a guy in Daytona Beach who has since disappeared. I can buy my own work from ten different sources on e-Bay and they multiply so fast that there's never any getting to the original thief.
Your goals might be much better served by:
1. Collectively bargain for a better price on published work from developers who insure all releases are original.
2. Open a discussion to have your own submissions reviewed and published by a legitimate publisher. Holmes and Cottrell (Vector Art™) has done very well by a number of sign artists over the years.
That way you can do what you do best and not have to learn a whole new business.
Posted by Kyle Crawford (Member # 4124) on :
I don't know if this is of interest to you or not, but after reading Steve's post about limited server space, maint. time, and cost, it might be an option to consider. We would be open to discussing the possibilities of publishing this collection for you. Of course everyone that contributed art to the collection would not be charged. We could actually market the CD if there is an interest, with a percentage going to Letterville. This would definitely help offset the costs of the board operations, membership fees and meets. We deal with copyright and trademark issues all the time so we would be able to deal with those issues in a legal manner. Anyway just something for you to kick around.
Posted by dave simpson (Member # 1627) on :
to the original postee or anyone else...
are those clip(jpegs) items originally yours, did you create them from scratch? and all these do-dads that will be donated , are they original works?
dave simpson
Posted by Andrew Holmes (Member # 2064) on :
The last time this idea came up I offered to publish the stuff for the Letterheads, and I repeat that offer here, as long as the material is all "original" so that the artists can claim copyright.
Appoint someone to represent the Letterhead's interest and get in touch. We will bundle it into Mega Collection II which is due for publication early in 2004. We have sold about 12,000 of the first Mega Collection so far, and have every reason to expect Mega II to do even better.
Posted by John Weber (Member # 226) on :
I’ve got some really nice designs from a Sign DNA CD that I could donate.
Just kidding with ya Dave. Don’t blow a gasket. LOL – You really surprised me with your phone call Monday. Was good hearing from you.
At first glance a Letterville image CD sounds great. Just imagine. All those great designs by all the great letterhead artist on a CD or at location for you to down load. Anyone could submit any image and get the CD or down load for FREE or at a discount. Now I’m an upbeat and positive person but I would not touch this project with a ten-foot pole. Many artists spent a many hours designing designs and many more hours of labor getting them into .eps, .ai, ect. format. A lot of time went into getting each node or point just right.
Don’t only think of what this project might bring to you, think of what some people will submit. - And some people will submit other people’s designs/files.
Some people will make slight changes or no changes at all and will submit it in seconds that took the original artist hours to create. It is invariable that some of the designs will be missed by whoever takes on a project of this magnitude.
I personally have many CD’s by Mike Jackson, Dave Butler, Mr. “J’s” Xcaliber, Dave Simpson, SIGNWarehouse, Art Schilling, OCA, and Vector Art Mega Collection just to name a few. If your work is that good, put together your own CD and market it yourself. Otherwise, Leave it to the professionals who know what they are doing.
All of the really nice stuff (finished works) that I have done over the years uses some image(s) or parts of images from the CD’s mentioned above. Being so, I would not have anything to submit. However, I sincerely thank the above for their great work and their labor of love.
Just my thoughts, John Weber
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
John, I have a few nice ORIGINAL sign shapes, doodads, and squigglies. Not enough to publish a CD though. I use the collections you mentioned, but I can easily discern which is mine and would not submit someone else's work.
I think this collection could be phenomenal and obviously OCA and VectorArt agree. Thanks for jumping in and offering to publish it.
Posted by Henry Barker (Member # 174) on :
Fred,
I think you must be thinking about another site!
I think that after visiting this site on a regular basis since back in 96, where Mike Jackson took part alot more, and had a banner on the old BB advertising his cd's, the clipart question and sharing thereof has been flogged to death. So compared to many other sites, this one tries really hard to respect copyright, and artistic merit. You actually see very little "check your mail" its mainly pointers to vendors or websites where help can be asked for or bought.
Those that do share do it out of a misguided opinion that they are helping, with what is not theres to help with, however good the intention.
Compared to Kazaa.com or e-bay where anything seems to go, unchecked, we are talking about a few signmakers sharing afew bits of their own artwork, the responsibility should be on what you supply rather than those compiling?
I think what people were after, was a way for us to share our creations amongst each other, in an easy and uncomplicated fashion. I think a vault that is continually updated, or just somewhere where people can easily ftp files, would be great, nice to see the offers of help in creating CD's by OCA, Vector etc, but maybe that loses the spontaneity of I just drew this and upload it to a common link, as and when it occurs.
If sufficient amounts were available a CD then being sold with percentages going to Letterville would also help out.
Posted by Fred Weiss (Member # 3662) on :
Henry, I understand your point of view and largely agree with it. Particularly the part about good intentions.
The simple reality though is that most individuals involved in the various graphic arts are not involved enough in intellectual property issues to understand when a line has been crossed. And, to be sure, the majority never even become involved at all. A sizeable minority do however with the occasional sharing of a file ..... after all what's the harm?
Lot's of things become acceptable when one has to get a job completed.
We recently published a second volume of clipart where we licensed portfolios from some artists and developers we had come in contact with. One person, sent 750 images. The majority of them were outrageously good and had excellent commercial appeal as well. They weren't vinyl-ready, however, and our job was to clean them up so that they were.
Then we noticed a familiar image, then another. We even found some that were derivitive works from another licensor's portfolio. So we questioned him about it.
He responded that any of them that were derivitives had been changed at least 5% so that they were now his to use or license as he saw fit.
We asked him to review his portfolio and make a list of the derivitive work. About 25% had to be dropped.
I've spoken with and corresponded with this person enough to feel that he is not a dishonest individual. He simply did not have a clear understanding of where the boundries are in these matters.
The image pirates selling collections on ebay are another matter. To those here reading this post, and who have purchased one or more of these collections, take this as a notice that, in the name of saving money, you are trampling on the rights and livlihoods of the artists who did the work.
To those who come to Letterville asking for an image or a font ..... often because you don't have enough money in the job to cover the cost of art or font acquisition ..... you should reexamine how you got yourself in that position.
To those who respond with "check your email" .... you need to reexamine your ethics.
To those who say nothing everytime it happens .... you're the problem.
Sorry for the rambling and pontificating. It's just a sore point with me.
More on topic, the problem with such a collection, however good intentioned it may be, is that some derivitive work will find its way into it. That creates a potential liability which it's doubtful any of the participants will be likely to accept. By bringing in a third party to publish and market the images, you shift that burden to them. That is why I suggested it.
Creating a private vault for file sharing, again, no matter how good the intentions, is just a way of flying beneath the radar so that no one ever has to deal with what work ends up there which should not have.
Posted by Mark Rogan (Member # 3678) on :
I'd be willing to contribute some illos and some ramndom doodads if this moves forward.
Mark
Posted by Jack Davis (Member # 1408) on :
I, myself am not interested in doing this in any way other than a personal venture, or the way that Joe has outlined. I somehow believe that the professionals in this corner of the business, ARE the artists. I somehow don't feel compensated by someone giving me a free CD for the rights to publish them. This is my gift to my friends, and I don't have interest in taking it "public". I already have enough proprietary artwork in the public's hands at my expense. I have spent my life in the art business, and have a good background in legal knowledge of such. Most fonts are open to the public free of charge, from many websites. Legal or not, they are there, and available under a host of different names. I would like for someone to explain how 90% of the fonts even deserve a copyright or protection, as they are usually only slight variations of the original alphabet and many with just a namechange. The business has pretty much been "done in" the last few years and not a lot of ethics left out there. For those artist professionals who know the difference, I commend you. The world of clipart has pretty much doomed the artist's world .....I hope nobody takes my little rant personally, but instead uses it for evaluating the overall art market's ethics, and directions.
[ September 03, 2003, 02:52 AM: Message edited by: Jack Davis ]
Posted by Glenn S. Harris (Member # 2190) on :
I think both ideas are very good ones:
Sharing original clipart within the Letterville community through a download type solution
or
A professionally produced clipart CD with original Letterhead works.
I don't see how it couldn't be done... somehow.
Regarding Mr. Shortreed's post: I definitely need to look into becoming a member.
Posted by Golden (Member # 164) on :
Hi Letterville, I saw my name mentioned a few times in this thread. I think the idea of gathering a bunch of original artwork sounds good on the surface, but it has tons of overhead and quite a few pitfalls to work out.
To me, I see two major issues here. First, the compilation of the CD including adjusting and quality controlling all the images, followed by a booklet or PDF document, web page(s), converting file format and so forth. That is a huge project and could take hundreds of hours! Same if done for a web site. I don't know who would actually handle the orders, but that takes an hour to two every day, plus all the paperwork, Visa Card receipts and so forth. Along with that, the person would need to keep up with all the sales information and royalties. I have always said that the digitizing is less work (and more fun) than the follow up effort to get it market ready.
Others have touched on it here, but I will expand a little on the second issue. Dave Simpson sent me a few pages of designs someone else had sent him as "original" to be included on one of his new CDs. A large portion of the ones he sent for me to review came from one of my collections. The "artist" had simply stretched some, slanted some, or welded two images together and were then claiming them as their own. Luckily, Dave rejected them, along with all the rest of the images from that person. Quite a few of the images in my CDs come from public domain sources, however, the actual digitizing data is my property. Others can find, digitize, and clean up public domain images, but I don't think it is fair to use my outlines to create others.
If someone does take on the project, I would certainly be willing to donate a few of mine to it, but I would likewise hope the project would not include derivitive images from my CDs. I've spent the better part of the past year digitizing a new CD (still not ready yet). We're talking about close to 800 hours of digitizing. Needless to say, I am quite proud of the effort, but also very possessive of the data.
Personally, I would rather see the project tackled as a "Letterville" endorsed site. The images, web storage, and bandwidth would be someone elses problem (not Steve's). If a few images appear that were derivitives or not original, they could be quickly removed. Copyrighted images that make it to a CD would not be able to removed until it was too late. Of course, there would be no money in it for the person nor to Letterville, so I don't see how the initial machanics would work.
I applaud this board (and Mayor) in its efforts to control the spread of copyrighted clip art and fonts. I used to spend quite a bit of time trying to explain my side of the fence. Helping one person by giving away art hurts others. When you are basically a one man operation, the hurt comes quick and goes deep.
Sincerely, Mike Jackson
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
Mike, Thanks for jumping in on this thread - your comments are always appreciated. Regarding public domain, how is it determined: a copyright time limit? For example, I scanned and digitized a font from the Atkinson book for my own use. How would I be sure it's in the public domain, and would I be able to make this available for use in a possible Letterville collection? Seems I once heard that something can be copyrighted twice for a period of 27 years each, and then becomes public domain. Can you enlighten us?
Posted by Jack Davis (Member # 1408) on :
Sonny, Copyright protection on art design, lasts for 25 years past the death of the maker. It is only granted once, and even if transferred by license ends on that date.
Posted by Golden (Member # 164) on :
Sonny and Jack, The copyright law is complex, and there are quite a few variables. Many parts have changed that now take effect on newer work that were not in covered on the older pieces. I asked Todd at Signs of the Times (now at the museum) and he had his staff lawyer give him the opinion that I generally use. They told me I would be absolutely safe with designs and elements that are 75 years old or older. ST also gave me permission to use work in the Sam Kamin Electrical Sign Sketchbook. It didn't have a copyright date in it, so I got permission just to be sure. Many of those pieces are in the popular Main Street Collection.
Some of the old books published by Signs of the Times were republished in the '80s by ST, but after the original 75 year span of registering, extending and following up on the copyrights, I don't think the old book images are protected anymore. If you look over the copyright in the Dover books, they don't claim copyrights on the images, but as a book as a whole.
You can read the information below that Danny Baronian found on the US Copyright site. Even if some of the artwork was created, let's say 60 years ago, the copyright holder had to follow a bunch of strict guidelines and renew the copyright at the appropriate times for them to still be protected. Consult your own lawyer!
Here goes: U.S. Copyright site:
Works Originally Created and Published or Registered before January 1, 1978.
Under the law in effect before 1978, copyright was secured either on the date a work was published with a copyright notice or on the date of registration if the work was registered in unpublished form. In either case, the copyright endured for a first term of 28 years from the date it was secured. During the last (28th) year of the first term, the copyright was eligible for renewal. The Copyright Act of 1976 extended the renewal term from 28 to 47 years for copyrights that were subsisting on January 1, 1978, or for pre-1978 copyrights restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), making these works eligible for a total term of protection of 75 years. Public Law 105-298, enacted on October 27, 1998, further extended the renewal term of copyrights still subsisting on that date by an additional 20 years, providing for a renewal term of 67 years and a total term of protection of 95 years.
So.....a lot depends on whether the work was originated prior to 1978 and whether the copyright holder did his/her homework. Clear as mud? Jack Davis made the blanket statement that the copyright expires 25 years after the death of the originator...but that probably only applies in recent work and under a smaller scope of circumstances. Consult a lawyer!
As stated before, I don't own the old art, but I do own the computerized data that is on my CDs. Of course, there is a lot of MY own artwork included on the CDs, too. Many of the original images I worked from were no larger than a quarter, some as small as a dime. Most were not square, symmetrical, or very clean. I spend hours on each ornament getting it right. Thirty different people can digitize the same element and none of them would be the same. They might look the same or similar, but the points and handles would all be different.
A critic might suggest that I am making money from work done by an artist that will never see a dime, other than the money they made from the original book. I look at it differently, of course. I spent a fortune on a bunch of old books that contain wonderful images created by talented artists. By finding, cleaning them up and digitizing the art, I am making them available to a lot of people who will never have a chance to see or access them otherwise. That effort takes a lot of time and expense, and I hope to make that up through the sale of the CDs. Each time I digitize one of the ornaments, it strikes me that I am extending their heritage, plus the effort I am making should outlive me.
Hope this information helps! Mike Jackson
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
Yea Mike, and just think - you are helping me make a living by selling those CD's for $5 each.
Only kidding - don't email me.
Posted by Joe Rees (Member # 211) on :
Hi, I'm back. Wow, it looks like the appropriate big whigs are now assembled - this topic has some teeth!
First of all, to Dave Simpson's question from page 1 - Absolutely yes, all works must be created 'from scratch' to be considered, with the creator stipulating such in a certificate of authorship, From the concerns posted, I believe it would be better to exclude anything that was 'altered' or derived from any other source.
I didn't envision this as some ultimate LETTERHEAD mind-blowing collection, but more everyday, common elements that we tend to need over and over, like the lag screw, S-hook and plywood clip examples I showed. They were things I needed that I couldn't readily find in other collections so it was more efficient to make them myself. When it comes to real, representational artwork, that is usually done as part of someone's logo and not available to share. Mainly what I have are things like generic vehicle outlines, structural elements like concrete footer diagrams and posts, hardware and brackets, and some ribbons and swishes. I also have rope border and chain border 'fonts' I've shared here before, that can be pretty handy. But thats about it...nothing I spent hundreds of hours on. Nothing earth shaking, just clean, functional and definitely original. If there was an ongoing project though, I would be encouraged to develop some more ambitious pieces.
Whatever the eventual outcome, one thing I can do now is assemble the pieces I have and provide a link to them for download and review. I may be able to accept other submissions too, but I'll start with just my own stuff and take it from there. Give me a couple days since I just got off the road. I'll post a link shortly. -Joe-
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
I am still in As I know were my work (Vector Files) came from! MMMEEE!!!
Snowmen TallShips Snowmobiles Animals of all sorts. Celtic designs Etc.
I will send you a Tall Ship I just finished. Posted by Andrew Holmes (Member # 2064) on :
Hi Folks,
I recently received a FedEx package containing artwork that some moron wanted to consider publishing with us. About half of the 1000+ images he had burned to a CD were Vector Art images from my own Mega Collection. Go figure.
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