Thread by @isobel_starling

🧵#artbook #fanart #fannibals #art #artists
1. The #artistsontwitter community is amazingly talented. I've supported many fan-run Kickstarters for artbooks. Now publishers are now getting in on it. Sadly fan artists who are not contract-savvy are open to exploitation...

2. I've seen a lot of tweets about an upcoming themed fan art book to be printed by an indie publisher. They set up a Kickstarter & raised over $160,000. Some artists were invited to create art for the book & subs were opened for everyone else.

3. To submit, artists were required to send in a completed work of art & wait to see if they were selected.
If selected they would not be paid a cash fee.
They would get a (insert drumroll...)
Free book, and of course, Kudos. (Whoop)🙌🙌🙌

4. I chatted to a few artists who submitted to this artbook. The series the book is based on is the subject of a MASSIVE fandom & was guaranteed to sell from the get-go. Artists want to be included whether they're paid or not- inclusion is the goal -which makes depressing reading

5. Loving a show is great but leaves inexperienced artists open to being used for that love. One told me they were sure the publisher 'wasn't pulling a fast one' & their art was a 'love letter to the series'.
Well, the reality is Love is blind & this publisher is taking the piss

6. #artistsontwitter Protect Yourselves.
Your art has value and if you don't value yourself and your work from the start of your career others will exploit you for profit.
For instance, with this particular project artists are made to send a completed work BEFORE selection.

7. If selected, the #artist is sent a retroactive Work For Hire contract. This is an illegal practice. You need to have read & signed a WFH contract BEFOREHAND. You need to agree to payment terms before lifting your finger to work on a project.
slater.legal/works-for-hire…

8. I get it. I've worked in the arts for 30 yrs. At the start, I was desperate to work with X, be associated with X director or a publisher in the belief that having them on my resume would boost my career. After working for a lot of shitheads I discovered I was wrong and naive.

9. The 'ExPoSure' myth had been shot to death & I'd spent too much time chasing employers for payments.
Agreeing to give your art to a publisher in return for a copy of the book while the #publisher profits & gives artists retroactive WFH contracts makes the project exploitative

10. The fact that u create such amazing art for the LOVE of a show should be an incentive to those creating artbooks for profit to #paytheartist fairly.
I love the show in question but I won't support this project. I will seek out artists if/when they sell prints so they profit.

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