The Sneaky Contract: About a year ago we got a call from a large beer company in the U.S. They asked if Drew would paint a surfboard that they were going to give away for charity at one of the major surf contests. We agreed to $2,500. They would supply the board and cover shipping back & forth. All was good until…….they e-mailed me a contract…… (more…)
This is one biz card you won't throw away!
The Business Card…..
This is so basic, but I’m amazed at how many artists will walk into my office, ask me to refer them for this and that, and when I ask for their business card they say, “oh, I don’t have one.” And I promptly smack them on the head for being absurd…..and give them the following lecture: (more…)
Have you ever priced out a project for a client, only to find out later that they expected you to give more than you agreed to, and then you realize too late that you greatly UNDERPRICED the project? We’ve done this once or twice, but last years was the most disappointing, because we lost the deal entirely.
Drew was approached by Sesame Workshop to do a co-branding clothing line, which means that their characters and Drew’s logo and art would be on the designs, and we would share in the royalties. It was an exciting project, and we had two separate meetings in New York with them to plan it out. I priced out the initial advance, and we were good to go UNTIL – the contract phase, and that’s when the problems began: (more…)
Years ago we got a call from a start up company – they were desperate to get artwork for their new product, they had 3 days to get an ad for a full page that they had already paid for. Same old story – the artist they first hired dropped the ball and now they had no time to figure it out.
One thing that Drew is known for is getting things done! So, he agreed, at an elevated price, to pull a few all nighters to get it done in time for their ad. The client agreed to purchase the original art as well. They paid for the artwork for the ad, but when I went to collect for the original painting, this is where things went wrong…. (more…)
Licensing is a clever way to get paid for the same piece of art over and over again. This means, you paint it once and it continues to make money for you, even after you’re dead!
PERSONAL EXAMPLE: About 80% of our income comes from licensing Drew’s art. (See Sigg Bottle to your left). The image on the bottle titled “PURE JOY” was painted in 1998 and the original was sold to a collector from LA at an exhibit at The Surf Gallery in 98′. I think we sold that painting for about $500, but we’ve licensed the image for so many different products over the years, it’s earned us approximately $450,000 to date, and continues to be a popular, iconic image.
So, what do you need to do license your art? Click on the “more” link for our 6 tips: (more…)