calling all lateral-g artists for a chat

[Hdesign]

I'm glad you bring this stuff up.

The legality, copyrighting, taxes, etc. are the things that I really need to become more serious about as well. Thanks to all the great people I've been able to help with their projects this year, it's looking like I will be able to go full-time sooner than I anticipated. It's simultaneously a dream come true and also incredibly intimidating as far as what I need to know and do to run a legit company rather than a moonlighting gig. What laws, licensing and documentation do I need? How can I copyright my work? I've seen my work floating around on the web that I never gave permission for or design concepts that have been thinly veiled as an "original idea" by someone else. What action can I take if I think it's necessary?

As far as deliverables, I try to keep it as informal as possible right now. I'm usually not going to make a big deal if someone wants me to send them a CD or a file to print out themselves. As long as my name stays on the work and I get credit for it I probably won't say anything. Now if someone were to mass produce the image for the sole purpose of turning a profit, yeah, I may speak up. I try to take a common sense approach to it. Could I make more money out if I were a stickler for copyrighting? Maybe. I at least reserve the right to use it in my portfolio, but I ask permission from the client.

I typically print out on my home printer 11x17. If they want a larger print, I charge them whatever it cost me to have it printed at a print shop.

[ZVT]

I'm starting out and never really charged anybody for anything I have done(more cool an oppurtunity to improve my skills).

I for one dont have any idea on how to charge for something I do.I can spend 2hrs on a rendering and sometimes up 40hrs its a passion so you never really think of it in terms of money.It would be interesting to find out about the legal side of things to give us an idea of what we are getting into.Also what others think a drawing/rendering is worth?

I found that posting lower res images keep people from using my drawings/ photoshop manipulations etc..


As far as prints I found it useful to use walmarts photo center for my larger prints.They go up to a 20x30 poster size @ a pretty reasonable price.

Zee

[Hdesign]

Pricing is very difficult because it depends on so many variables:

Customer need, medium used, level of detail, complexity of graphics, vintage of vehicle, level of mods, "design time" vs portrait, # of views, variations, revisions.

For comparison, the Product Design firm I work for charges the client $110/hr for my time on a project. There are far more Product Design services available than Custom Car designers. It's an incredibly small group of people that can do car design (not just illustration/portraits) professionally but the market is also relatively small compared to the market for consumer, industrial and medical products.

That said, I've done rough sketches and nice photoshop chops for under $200 because they're quick and easy. Fully finished (revisable or un-revisable) renderings take longer and require more skill so they cost more. I've also been at the other end of the scale where I'm deeply involved in all the decision making, color selection, wheel design, part design, meeting with vendors, traveling to clients, countless phone calls and emails. It all adds up....quickly. The best thing you can do is give them a price based on how many hours you think it'll take and make sure they understand what they are getting for their money and what additional work (revisions) will cost. Keep track of how long it takes you to get to a finished rendering. The more you do the more you will know what to charge.

[asaenz]

That guy Ben doesn't know anything don't listen to him

Ok here is good thread from my old hang out spot.
Page 2 lists some good books about art and business.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...59#post1922659

Listen to Ben, Lemorris, and Bonzilite

I can't offer to much first had experience help. I'm still new, plus I have just about decided to just keep it as a hobby mostly doing a job here and there.
I am almost sure that I'm just going to invest my energy in to my IT career.
That is just me. I'm not sure if I "love" car art enough to do it more often. I have some personal things going on that takes up my time.

Hey Ben I was joking...hee hee

[Hdesign]

No worries Al.

But seriously, I'm probably in close to the same boat you guys are in.

From early 04 to the beginning of 06 I did a bunch of freebies for friends and entered contests when I could. I probably had 3-4 real jobs in that time. I went to a couple shows and joined online forums but it really didn't start picking up until I joined Lat-g and Scott had the Artwork forum here. Word of mouth travels extremely fast around here and I am up to 93 projects in the book for 07. I've only gotten to about half of them it seems because I'm also working a full-time job and have a 2 year old and a house that needs work.

I flat out run out of day....everyday. I literally come home from work at 7PM, eat dinner with my wife, walk the dog, kiss my daughter goodnight and I'm upstairs in a spare bedroom working til 2, 3, 4 in the morning and up again at 6. On the weekends, I play with my daughter while my wife is at work, I cut the grass when she gets home and I spend most of the rest of the weekend working. My Nova hasn't been touched in over a year! I wouldn't do it if I wasn't absolutely rabid about doing this for the rest of my life. I'm paying my dues now and I love it, it's an obsession. However, it's not for everyone. If it wasn't for helping to paying the bills, my wife would disown me.

It's mostly my fault because I feel terrible if I make people wait for stuff. I'm an extremely impatient person and I suspect others are too. There's nothing I hate more than letting someone down. I have a problem saying no because I love helping people and I get just as excited about their project (even if it's "another 69 Camaro") as I do about my own car. It's like the maid who has a filthy house or the mechanic that drives a clunker.

Yet, I still haven't gotten all the boring documentation and legal BS resolved. I keep procrastinating. As I said, I really need to. And I will definitely be getting the books Al recommended because I had no idea where to begin looking for info on that stuff. I wonder if they come on CD so I can listen while I'm working. Probably won't make for good inspiration though!

[ZVT]

Originally Posted by Hdesign

my wife would disown me.
!

LOL what you just said and add a 71/2 month pregnant wife.

Everytime I look at a project car I might want to buy I get the you never gonna have time to run your business, draw and work on a car speech

I remember that post on the AF forums but back then I didnt bother as most of my stuff was done just to pass time.

[70 chevelle]

I've always wondered what the fee is for a rendering, whats averege?