Orphan Works: Back Again
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
6.17.09
In Orphan Works Land, no news has been good news, but that’s about to change:
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/06/11/copyright-holders-acknowledge-losing-battle-for-public-consciousness-at-world-copyright-summit/
US Copyright Register Marybeth Peters told Intellectual Property Watch that orphan works legislation is expected to be introduced within the next 10 days. It is her understanding there may still be some issues in the House version to be resolved, and there are some stakeholders - such as illustrators and other artists - “who are probably going to lobby pretty hard against it.”
Peters said this issue is important to her, and the fact it came so close to passing last year is almost bittersweet. “What I hope it isn’t … is it’s one magic moment you get” to finally get it passed, then it doesn’t happen, she said.
We don’t mean to disparage the Register’s comments. She’s had a long and distinguished career at the Copyright Office. But her statement deserves a reality check. Illustrators are not opposed to an orphan works bill. We’re opposed to this bill.
We’re opposed because its scope far exceeds the needs of responsible orphan works legislation.
Moreover, illustrators and artists are not the only stakeholders who oppose it. At last count, more than 83 creators organizations are on record against it, representing artists, photographers, writers, songwriters, musicians and countless small businesses.
Last year, we proposed amendments to the Orphan Works Act that would have made it a true orphan works bill. The amendments were drafted by the attorney who was chief legal counsel to the House Judiciary Committee in drafting the 1976 Copyright Act. The amendments were co-sponsored by the Artists Rights Society and the Advertising Photographers of America. They can be found here: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/07/hr-5889-amendments.html
On July 11, 2008, we submitted those amendments to both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. In our preamble we wrote this:
As rights holders, we can summarize our hopes for the Orphan Works Act simply: to see that it becomes a true orphan works bill, with no unnecessary spillover effect to damage the everyday commercial activities of working artists. We’d be happy to work with Congress to accomplish this. No legislation regarding the use of private property should be considered without the active participation of those whose property is at stake.
Last year more than 180,000 letters were sent to lawmakers from our Capwiz site. These letters did not come from obstructionists. They came from citizens whose property is at stake. They may lack the resources of big Internet companies and the access of high powered lobbyists, but last year they spoke. They asked only one thing: that Congress respect their personal property rights and amend this bill to make it nothing more than what its sponsors say they want it to be - a bill that would affect only true orphaned work.
We urge this Congress to listen.
- Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner for the Board of the Illustrators’ Partnership
Posted by Todd in Art!, Blog Home, Orphaned Works at 7:56 PM MDT
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I’ve recently become acquainted with the poetry of a Persian mystic named Rumi.
I’ve always admired the mystics of every religious persuasion; the people who’ve managed to strip the dogma and baloney from their tenets and see with a clearer eye.
I came across this poem today and found a section that perfectly describes what artists are and what they do:
From One-Handed Basket Weaving:
I’ve said before that every craftsman
searches for what’s not there
to practice his craft.
A builder looks for the rotten hole
where the roof caved in. A water-carrier
picks the empty pot. A carpenter
stops at the house with no door.
Workers rush toward some hint
of emptiness, which they then
start to fill. Their hope, though,
is for emptiness, so don’t think
you must avoid it. It contains
what you need!
Dear soul, if you were not friends
with the vast nothing inside,
why would you always be casting you net
into it, and waiting so patiently?
Posted by Todd in Uncategorized at 8:15 PM MDT
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(Apologies in advance, but I’ve sort of had it …)
Background; repeat ad nauseam:
Snow, snow, snow, snow
Snow, snow, snow, snow
What do you get when it snows?
SNOW!
What do you see when it snows?
SNOW!
What do you shovel for hours and hours?
What kills your tenderest bushes and flowers?
What do you wish would just stay in the mountains
Instead of cascading for days beyond countin’
Like ashes or dander or other foul stuff,
‘Til you scream at the top of your lungs THAT’S ENOUGH!
Will we ever be done with this muh-fu¢kin’ fluff?
This SNOW?
Oh man, I hope so.
Posted by Todd in Blog Home, Uncategorized at 5:30 PM MDT
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Again?!!?
Saw this at Carrie Fischer’s blog, by way of Dooty and Honor.
Carrie says, “I told people this might happen, but did anyone listen to me?! NO!”
The comments at her blog are a hoot, too …
Posted by Todd in Uncategorized at 12:47 AM MST
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In my mailbox today was a message from Gini at GinisMagic.com. Gini does very nice photo restoration and enhancement, including Custom Fantasy Portraits. She also maintains a blog. She has featured my website along with 9 other artists in a post she has called Top Ten Fantasy Art Sites. There is some really spectacular stuff, including Rebecca Guay, Philip Straub, Jonathon Earl Bowser, and some new artists for me like Julie Dillon and Yuehui Tang. I spent a couple of hours I didn’t have there today, and regretted not one moment of it. Check it out! Thanks, Gini!
Posted by Todd in Uncategorized at 12:47 PM MST
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A good friend of mine (and damn talented man, too), Anthony Waters, is participating in a concept art workshop in just a couple of weekends. He writes:
There’s going to be a concept art workshop hosted by the Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna, California the first full weekend in February, and we want you!
http://fyreant.deviantart.com/art/LC…r-02-110970255
I’ve linked to my DA page for the flyer; in case it doesn’t work, I’m including my URLs and the school contact information too. The event will take place on Saturday, February 7 and Sunday, February, 8 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm in studio 9, at the LCAD campus. Lunch will be provided.
The workshop will feature presentations by Anthony Waters (that would be me), Dean Deakyne, Farzad Varahrayan and Joe Peterson.
The cost of the event is $235. A non-refundable deposit of $100 is required by Friday, January 30. The remaining balance is due Friday, February 6 at noon. Please contact Kerri Redeker at 949-376-6000 ext. 240 or kredeker@lagunacollege.edu to provide your payment. She accepts Visa, Mastercard, check, and cash.
There you go. Come on down, it’s gonna rock!
Ant
Anthony Scott Waters
http://www.thinktankstudios.com
http://fyreant.deviantart.com/
http://bloated-nose.blogspot.com/
Anthony is one of the most creative concept guys I know. He was a staff artist doing concept work for Magic: the Gathering when I first moved to Washington to join the Wizards of the Coast staff. We’ve been great friends since.
If he says this house is gonna rock, then it’s gonna.
Also, be sure to check out Anthony’s website. Look for the “Canyon of Guts.”
He’s a sick man.
That’s why I like him …
Posted by Todd in Art!, Shows at 12:41 PM MST
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Here is a Quicktime progression of Drizzt in development, from the cover for The Pirate King (click on the image below):
Posted by Todd in Art!, Blog Home at 3:12 AM MST
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Once the layout is approved, I’m ready to finish the drawing. Here you can see the perspective grid I placed on a separate layer to guide my castle’s construction. I didn’t have it this prominent as I was drawing, but ghosted back as a guide — it’s intensified here so you can see it. There are no straight lines in the horizontal plane of this grid except for one major axis along the front of the parapet wall; they’re all subtly curved. That’s because I wanted to feel as if we were floating just above Drizzt — that required a close vantage. In order to sell that, the rest of the view had to be ever-so-slightly fish-eyed (that’s the way things look in the real world, by the way; you can see it from where you sit if you turn your head and study the parallel lines where the wall meets the floor and ceiling. Or stand in the middle of a straight road and look in both directions: how can those two perfectly straight lines meet on either horizon?)
With all the elements in place, I first convert the grayscale drawing to colored “underpainting” in Photoshop, using a combination of brushes set in the “color” mode, Color Balance, and other tools. Then I take it back into Painter for most of the rest of its transition, beginning with transparent Digital Water “glazes” in Corel. The Digital Water brushes are intuitive and very useful for blocking in big areas of color. My first task was to distinguish the warm and cool areas from each other. This “underpainting” would show through everything that followed to one degree or another. When painting traditionally, in oils, this would be an acrylic layer, perhaps in brighter colors than I used here:
Then I’m ready to start detailing, beginning, usually, with the most distant parts of the environment:
The process for me is to continue to build up color with glazes, then pop the highlights with opaque color when everything else is resolved. I worked the same way in oils: transparent darks, rich opaque highlights:
Since publication, I decided that I should go back and brighten the picture, even though it was too late to salvage some horrendous printing on the actual book (Wizards contracted a new printer, I am told … see what you get when you go cheap?)
Image © Wizards of the Coast. Text © Todd Lockwood
Next up: Details of Drizzt
Posted by Todd in Art!, Blog Home at 3:59 PM MST
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Just out is the second volume of Transitions, RA Salvatore’s latest Drizzt series. Here is a quick walk-through of the creative process, just in time for Christmas. Happy holidays, everyone!
Every project begins with a series of sketches. The theme for this series began with The Orc King, which featured a dramatic viewpoint looking up at Drizzt and Guen. In each cover, I wanted just Drizzt and his friend and the environment they were in, but loaded with story. With the Pirate King, I knew that I wanted to continue the theme by looking down at Drizzt from above:
The thumbnails evolved as I decided which story elements and architectural features would best enhance the concept, in the end finding what I hoped would be a vertigo-inducing vantage out over the lip of the parapet:
The last sketch was enough for me to gather reference and start the final drawing.
My son Tyler, currently enrolled in Evergreen college, has been Drizzt on every cover except The Thousand Orcs:
Reference for a black panther from the top was a little harder to come by. Google images is a godsend, but in this case it wasn’t up to the task. I tried many things, including photographing toy felines and following my cat, Pai, around the yard with a camera!
But I was able to construct the bones of the drawing:
The art director placed this into his layout to test the fit. Once that was approved, I was ready to start painting:
Image © Wizards of the Coast. Text © Todd Lockwood
Next up: The Painting
Posted by Todd in Art! at 3:24 PM MST
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I have owed you some art for a while now, plus a tutorial. So let’s start with a new piece of art. This made its debut as the cover of the Program Guide for World Fantasy in Calgary, Edmonton. It was first a cover for a Bloodlines product from White Wolf, but I was so taken by the main figure that I kept working the image until I had something I liked:
Posted by Todd in Art!, Blog Home at 2:04 PM MST
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