A guide to copyright, licensing and illustration fees.
Photo: Iryna Tysiak
If you’ve not commissioned an illustrator before you may be wondering why creative services have different terms or methods of pricing. Why are some jobs charged at a day rate and others based on commercial use of the work? Who owns the copyright? What terms are fair? Hopefully this article will give you better insight to make sure commissions run smoothly.
What is copyright?
Copyright is who owns the reproduction rights to the work. Copyright automatically belongs to the creator unless it is transferred and stated in writing.
What is licensing?
Licensing is essentially an agreement that allows clients to use work for their required commercial purposes without paying for a copyright transfer. A license may be included in an artists’ commission fee or added on additionally.
Below are some frequently asked questions to help understand how licensing works and what level of commercial use you need for a project.
Can I just pay a day rate?
There may be instances where illustrators will work for a flat day rate – typically this would be where an artist is commissioned for work that is not going to be used commercially, such as a painting, mural artwork or storyboard drawings. Most of the time day rates are straight forward when it is in exchange for a service or skill, but a license is usually required when an original piece of work is used for commercial purposes. The level of originality of a piece of work would affect the cost – for example, a bespoke illustration has higher value than a stock image that may have been used ten times over by other companies. Bear in mind also that day rates can sometimes lead to false expectations – though someone’s day rate is low, it may take them twice as long to complete a job. Every illustrator is different and therefore costs may vary from one to the next. The Association of Illustrators can advise you if you need impartial advice about fair fees.
Do I own the rights to an artist’s work if I commission it?
When a piece of artwork is created it remains the copyright of the creator unless ownership is transferred. In most cases, requesting copyright won't be necessary and can lead to higher fees. Copyright grants extensive rights, including reproduction, editing, and global sales, but limits the artist's ability to use or promote their work. Since your project likely doesn't require such broad usage, it's crucial to specify your needs when commissioning. Licensing allows you to define the commercial use of the work, particularly relevant for illustration and photography. Graphic design commissions typically have clearer terms due to their specific purposes (it’s unlikely a web page design will be reproduced on a t-shirt, for example). Designers may charge extra for raw files or unique fonts to retain control over their work. Essentially, licensing is using a value-based method of pricing work but with clearer specifications.
What if the artist has already produced the work?
If you were to commission an artist to create a painting for your home, most artists would create that work for you for the cost of their time plus materials. However, if you decided to start a business and wanted to use a reproduction of that painting as part of your branding, you would need to seek permission to do this. Commercial use of work is no longer a personal use, it is to promote your business – this has a higher value. If you have ever advertised in newspapers or on websites you will know that the price depends on two things: how prominent the advert is and how long it’s in use for, regardless of whether it’s the same design used for each month. The same is true of use of illustration for commercial purposes because each use has an impact. In the 2018 Design Economy survey, results showed that over three quarters of respondents increased their competitiveness and business turnover through design. The fact is that visual communication produces better results, if that weren’t the case no one would commission illustrators for anything other than a nice print for their wall.
But I don’t have budget to pay for a subscription to work!
Don’t panic, if you only plan to have limited commercial use of a piece of work then this should be reflected in the cost. If you are a small company and only have one use in mind for an image, this is taken into consideration. If you are worried about budget, be upfront with illustrators about how much money you want to invest and be clear what the work will be used on – honesty always enables much better outcomes and most illustrators are often happy to negotiate.
What things affect the cost?
So, let’s have a look at what can affect the cost of a license. Here are some factors:
1/ How big are you?
No, that’s not an inappropriate question. It’s a case of asking how big your business is. If you’re commissioning on behalf of a multimillion pound business then it’s unlikely you will be reading a blog post like this one because you will already work with art-directors who are accustomed to dealing with licensing terms. If you’re a small business, then fees will be nowhere near what an artist would charge an international company because the exposure will be much less. The value increases for how much influence an image has. Creative work helps you to sell more effectively.
2/ How wide is the use?
It probably goes without saying that the wider the use, the higher the cost. An illustration that’s used across a series of designs for a marketing campaign has far higher value than if it were to be used on one poster design. In the case of using artwork for merchandising or picture books this is where royalties may come into play because it may be unclear how widely products will be sold. Royalties are where an artist gets a percentage of sales (usually 5-8% of retail price on top of an advance fee for the creation of the work). Alternatively a flat fee could be agreed upfront for a limited edition run of products. Without the artwork, such products would not sell so the illustrations are essentially the main selling tool and there is value here.
3/ Time in use
If you plan to use the illustration for decades then the value is much higher than a piece of work that’s only in use for a year. It is of course very unlikely that you will need to use the work for such a long time period and for this reason a lot of illustrators would include licenses for a limited time period or a limited edition. In some cases it makes sense to quote for longterm use, such as for logos which are part of a company’s brand identity. Aside from the benefits companies get from longevity of imagery, such as helping to increase product sales or engagement, this also has an effect on the illustrator’s business. Illustration styles are often recognisable so long term use can mean a long term public association with a company. If an illustrator wants to change direction or they no longer want to associate with a particular company (if news comes to light that they have been unethical, for example), having work continually in use could make it difficult for the artist to evolve their business and keep a good reputation. An illustrator’s work is essentially their brand so anything that makes their work inconsistent or damages their reputation can damage their business or professionalism.
4/ Exclusivity
Most illustrators would guarantee that any work commissioned is original to the client and would grant exclusivity of work for the duration it’s in use for (eg. If an illustration appeared in a magazine it would be exclusive to the magazine for the duration of the month it’s on sale). However, once the terms come to an end, an artist is then free to re-use the work (for example, to produce prints of the work). Exclusivity is where you have sole rights to use work, stopping the artist from using the work for other purposes or producing similar ideas for other companies. This stops other revenue streams for the artist’s work so this has to be accounted for. An illustrator is a business like any other and licensing work for other uses is part of how illustration businesses run – if you prevent illustrators from being able to do this they lose out on part of their income and therefore fees are higher to account for this.
Photo: Austen Distel
So, you may be clearer about different pricing criteria, but there may be other questions you have about what is negotiable. Here are some frequently asked questions.
What if I decide I want to re-use work later on?
You may find that an image has been so successful that you want to re-use it or use it for another commercial purpose. Each artist will have different fees for this but usually the same use will be around 50% of the original fee. If you want different uses this may be different – for example, if you commissioned an illustration for a web page but now you need to use it on national advertising, the fees would be higher.
What if I really do need wide use from the onset?
If you think you will be using work across multiple platforms, then you still don’t need to pay for copyright of the work. You can agree to a license that lets you use the work indefinitely but is limited to a few uses. This is called a ‘perpetuity’ license for a specified use (such as a company home page). If you wanted lots of uses you could negotiate to use the work across lots of things for the specified company but within a limited time frame. If you want very wide use you could negotiate a license that allows you to have free rein to use the work on multiple commercial uses forever – this is essentially like owning copyright but the artist still gets credited for the work. This would be a considerably larger fee, so it’s being realistic with the budget you have for the work and whether you really do need so many commercial uses. It’s usually a better option to limit use and review so that you’re only paying for additional commercial use once you’ve seen the impact of the work. Some artists may be happy to agree a set day rate and include wide use but the day rate may be much higher to account for this. Most illustrators would tend to quote upfront.
Why might some illustrators be more expensive than others?
You may find that some illustrators have very different fees for similar types of work. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, one illustrator may be less experienced than another and it’s down to you to decide if you feel the quality of work is good enough for the project in hand. An experienced illustrator will probably have worked with a variety of clients and be able to offer more expertise and efficiency – their reputation may also help your project or business to gain traction if they are particularly popular. There may be other reasons an artist is more expensive, such as how detailed or labour intensive their style of work is, their location (some artists have a higher cost of living), their expenses (some illustrators have processes that involve expensive printing equipment or require hiring studios) or how busy they are. Don’t try to compare costs, but compare value when you approach an illustrator and think about the outcome you will get. If you literally just need anybody with artistic talent to illustrate an idea then you are likely to be happy with a low cost artist as opposed to someone who has taken years to develop a bespoke style of work. Look at illustrators’ past projects and processes to get an idea of how they would tackle your brief. If your budget is low, check on stock websites to see what’s available, but don’t expect bespoke or exclusive work for the same fees.
Photo: Charles Deluvio
“Everybody wants good working relationships and successful outcomes to build reputations on both sides.”
Very few Illustrators have a God-complex
The majority of illustrators have chosen a career that is fulfilling over one that ensures luxury holidays and designer clothes, so it’s rarely the case that an artist will try to rip a client off. Most illustrators and designers want to come to an agreement with fees and terms that are fair and many are happy to negotiate. Bear in mind that a career as an illustrator involves a lot of expenses as well as hours spent on marketing, admin and communication, all of which need to be accounted for, as well as accounting for no holiday or sick pay. What you think is a fair fee for a days’ work may not be to a working illustrator. Projects may also take a lot longer than you predicted, so being upfront about expectations and fees is helpful so that you don’t suddenly find you’re landed with a large bill if you thought a picture book would only take a few weeks to complete. There may be occasions where an artist is open to negotiation so it’s always worth being open about fees and expected terms.
Be honest
Remember that all illustrators are people in business like any other so be honest – if they can’t help you they may still be able to refer you on to other creative professionals who may be more appropriate for your project. There may be projects, for example, that would take one illustrator a long time to complete because they don’t usually work in the style you require, but they may be happy to refer you on to someone else who regularly takes on this sort of work. Illustrators are also open to feedback and appreciate it when commissioners explain why a job can’t go ahead. Everybody wants good working relationships and successful outcomes to build reputations on both sides.
You may find the Association of Illustrators information on licensing helpful too. In particular, their additional download on how licensing works.