Hub Comics Screws Independent Local Artists

I met James Welborn a few times - at a zinefair, a convention, and at Hub when I was in the process of self-publishing and promoting Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy.  He was very nice to me (always) and agreed to not only take my graphic novel on consignment, but to give me a 75-25 consignment deal (since I was paying $18 a book to print them through comixpress.com, 50-50 consignment was really designed for comics, not graphic novels, and no one would likely buy an unknown artist's graphic novel at $36 or more.)  James and I wrote up a contract for him to take 5 copies, sell them at $25 and pay me $18.71.  (This is the same agreement I set up with Million Year Picnic, New England Comics, and Pandemonium Books.)  He sold those on consignment, and another 5 on the same arrangement, and then took another 5 on consignment on the same arrangement.  I dealt with him and the manager for a couple years under this arrangement, visited their store as a customer, and recommended them to friends as one of the two best stores in the area for an independent creator to deal with (MYP being the other, in my experience).

Then James committed suicide.  I knew him only through these handful of interactions, so I didn't attend any memorials.  I was saddened, sent my condolences to the manager and the staff, and didn't even email to check in on the consignment books for over a year out of some vague sense of tact? good will? embarrassment?, I don't know.  When I touched base several months ago about the books, I got no response.  I followed up a couple weeks later and again a month later, and got no response.  Then I stopped in and the same manager was there and assured me that he had forwarded my emails on to the new owner, who was trying to locate the books.  They didn't know where they were and they were still going through James' stuff trying to locate them.  Two months passed without a word.  I emailed them again and followed up with a call the next day.  He said that he'd see the owner later that day and he'd follow up on it.  Here’s our email interaction (w/out greetings/signatures):

Dan: I'm still waiting on word about the five graphic novels I had at your store on consignment - Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy. Please call or email me in regards to this. It has been several months since I started inquiring.

Hub: Well, we can't find them. We'd prefer to give you store credit for them, but we'll give you cash if you'd like. I'm out tomorrow, but back on Friday and Saturday, so I can settle up with you then.

Dan: Well, I appreciate your efforts to track them down and your willingness to honor the contract. I honestly don't know if I'd make that much in store purchases, but considering your best efforts to make good, I'd be happy to take half in cash and half in store credit. The amount due is $18.71 per book, at 5 books is $93.55. We can call it $45 in cash and $48.55 in credit if that works for you. Sound good?

Hub: I'm afraid we can't go that high. For consignment books we pay half cover price. We were selling your book for $15. We can offer you $37.50, the price of five books at $7.50 each, which I can offer you in cash.

Dan: Actually, the contract we negotiated had you paying me 75% of the $25 at which you were selling my book. You sold two sets of five at that price and paid out that $18.71 per book, and this was the third set of five that you were selling under the same arrangement. You were definitely not supposed to be selling them at $15, or at least not supposed to be paying me less than the $18.71 per book (which I assume means you wouldn't have been selling them for less than that).  The book is a 190 page full color graphic novel that cost $18 per book to print through comixpress. We had discussed how it would never sell at $36 - the standard consignment model was set up for smaller cheaper comic books and the 75-25 arrangement for this covered my cost, made it affordable for consumers, and left you with a $6.29 profit per book - higher than you'd likely get from most consignment comics. I can bring in the contract to show you. But, I'm also not trying to be contentious here; just trying to set the record straight on the pricing. I can also appreciate that you likely did not sell all five books and so you are likely taking a loss here.  I can accept the 37.50 in cash and take the rest (56.05) on store credit. Or if that's really putting you in a difficult spot, I'd be willing to take the whole 93.55 on credit - I'm sure I can get some stuff i've been wanting and some birthday presents and bring this whole thing to a resolution.

Hub: I'm sorry, I ran it by the owner. Hub is under new ownership and can't fulfill your contract with James. All I can offer is the $37.50, which we'll have on hand for you. I apologize for the inconvenience.

End correspondence. So. They arbitrarily, illegally, and insultingly changed the terms of our contract (illegally changing the sale price AND the commission percentage) and then claimed that the contract itself was invalid because it was with prior ownership (James) and didn't apply to current ownership.  But when he took over ownership, he took on debts as well as assets, or he should have returned the merchandise under consignment contract or taken responsibility for inventory lost  They lost $93.55 of my inventory (which had a razor thin profit margin) and offered me a take-it-or-leave-it settlement of $37.50, which had no basis in reality.  It is absolutely a breach of contract, but more importantly, it's a callous slap in the face to an independent artist who was attempting to work with them on a good faith basis.  At no point did the owner correspond directly with me.  I know this sounds like spiteful sour grapes, and maybe it is partly.  But. This is no way to treat local independent artists or any honest business person.

I rejected their illegitimate offer.  They can keep their dirty money.

Boston ARTchives - Ready to roll (for real this time)

Sorry about the confusion a few months ago, when I said that we were ready to roll, but in fact, we were not ready to roll. Now, we really are ready to roll! At present, we have 9 artists lending 10 pieces each, so our collection is at a robust and diverse 90. Check it out. We are now accepting subscribers for 2011. Read more about us here and how to join us here. Here's a few samples of the art you can borrow and hang on your very own walls:


Dan Nolan's art






Bea Modisett's art






Ellen Crenshaw's art






David Sturtevant's art






Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda's art






Karl Stevens' art






Anthony Apeso's art






Sean Flood's art






And our first non-2-D artist, Jeremy Ogusky's art





Experience the thrill of being a collector without the prohibitive expense and storage concerns. Experience the satisfaction of being a supporter of local arts in a new and exciting way. Become a member today!

Like Father Like Daughter

It's a proud moment for the Cash family. Years ago, the father became a subject of Dan Nolan art. This week, the daughter joined him, when artist Dan Nolan did a portrait commission for The Progressive magazine.

Johnny Cash painting:



Rosanne Cash painting:



(and thank you, dear VTKountry, for indulging my web-search, word-placement, shameless self-promotion, marketing post)

Boston ARTchives - Ready to roll!

Experience the thrill of being a collector without the prohibitive expense and storage concerns. Experience the satisfaction of being a supporter of local arts in a new and exciting way. Become a member of Boston ARTchives today



Here's how to join:

Boston ARTchives subscribers select art from our diverse 100 piece collection and hang it on their very own walls. Every four months, there is an art exchange where subscribers return the art to the collection and take home fresh art. At each exchange, subscribers have the opportunity to meet ARTchive's artists (ARTchivists) and discuss the work, the community, the future, etc.


Base Pricing

Boston ARTchives offers two membership levels - single and double, for borrowing one or two pieces of art each four month lending period:

* SINGLE MEMBERSHIP - Borrow 1 piece of art per lending period - $250 a year (3 lending periods - 3 pieces a year)

* DOUBLE MEMBERSHIP - Borrow 2 pieces of art per lending period - $400 a year (3 lending periods - 6 pieces a year)


Insurance

One of the innovative components of the CSA model is the idea of shared risk. The fate of the crops is shouldered by both farmers and CSA members alike. Damage to art is obviously a concern for artists and subscribers. In order to keep the subscription price low, we've set up the base ARTchives memberships as a you-break-it-you-buy-it model. As long as you don't damage the art, there's no cost beyond the membership price. If the art is damaged while in your possession then you're charged. Some subscribers favor this model.

However, we realize that some people may be uncomfortable with this and would prefer to have insurance coverage. With this in mind, ARTchives offers an optional insurance buy-in for each yearly membership. Subscribers can insure the art they borrow on the single piece membership for $75; double piece members can buy insurance for $150. If none of the borrowed art comes back damaged, the insurance would continue coverage into future years. If art is damaged, an additional insurance payment would be required for membership renewal. We recognize that this sounds like a cumbersome system, but we think it's a fair compromise for members who don't feel the need for insurance, for those that would prefer it, and for artists who are risking their work.


Art purchases

Boston ARTchives is operated by artists, for artists. It's not like gallery representation. Our artists can continue to market and sell their art outside of ARTchives, in addition to selling through ARTchives. However, since subscribers are helping us make a living, we feel you should be rewarded for this patronage. While you are borrowing a piece, you have the right to match the purchase price offered to the artist by any buyer. This way, you can feel free to get comfortable with your borrowed art and take your time deciding if you'd like to make it a permanent part of your collection. Let it breathe on your wall without anyone breathing down your neck.

ARTchives!!

You may remember a few posts ago, I laid out a fairly rough idea about a CSA-style Local Art Library. Well, I've been working feverishly to shape, shave, and shove the idea into a form that will work for both artists and subscribers. And believe you me, it WILL work. And not just because I'm a belligerent dreamer. This idea works. People just need to see it in action. Ah, yes, the action. So, the action. After a feverish search, I've pulled together 10 local Boston artists who are going to participate, making 10 pieces available for lending to subscribers, giving us a massive, diverse, and beautiful 100 piece collection. The website is under construction, as are the legal details of it all. We're now in the process of rolling out the idea to potential subscribers. Please consider doing us the solid of checking out the succinct version of the idea and of taking the succinct survey (5 quick questions) to help us gauge what potential subscribers think of our crazy, crazy-like-a-fox, so-crazy-it-just-might-work, scrappy-yet-exceedingly-professional idea. Thanks VTKountry!

Free Comic Book Day on WOWIO

Oh don't mind him. He's harmless. It's Free Comic Book Day on WOWIO

Posted using ShareThis

Help yourself to a free download of Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy to celebrate Free Comic Book Day.

RIP David Levine

In Steve Brodner's words, political cartoonist David Levine was "a hard working artist who understood the truth of our lives: that nothing matters but the relationship between you and the piece of paper. Any analysis is, at its worst, bullshit, and at best, a benign distraction because it never really catches the plasticity and dynamism of a living artist’s process. He knew what was important. The discoveries you make as an artist. The connections between the pictures and people. This was in him and in his work."

CSART - A Local Art Library

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The Problem

Artists contribute much to their communities yet struggle to survive in those same communities. Making a living as a visual artist is nearly impossible. I’ve been self-employed as a full time artist for three and a half years and despite a steady stream of commissions, I could not have survived this long without spending all my savings. The commissions I receive don’t pay what the time of an adult professional is worth. Now, maybe that’s just my art, but I rarely meet an artist who is not either struggling to make a living or too busy working some other job to work on their art as much as they’d like. People value having art and artists in their communities, but the current model of selling/sharing art has failed all parties involved. The artists can’t survive. The people don’t have enough access to the art that the artists produce.


The CSA Model

Over the last 20 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs have created mutually beneficial relationships between consumers and local farmers. The farmers sell “shares” or “subscriptions” to the consumers at the beginning of the season. This allows the farmers to earn money early in the season, pay for seeds, etc., while also allowing them to grow different types of crops, as opposed to whatever the market dictates. The buyers then receive a box of fresh local vegetables every week for the duration of the season. Farmers and consumers meet each other, develop relationships, and foster a sense of community. The sense of community is further developed through the consumers’ shared risk in the endeavor – the fate of the farmer’s crops becomes the fate of the community’s produce. Tens of thousands of families have joined CSA’s in the last couple decades and the model’s popularity continues to rise. The model has been so successful that it’s been adopted by fishermen, who provide fresh fish weekly to their members in a version of the model that protects the fishermen from treacherous weather and protects fish and ocean ecology from over-fishing of any given species. There have also been Community Supported Bakeries developed recently. Clearly, the movement is growing.


Product sharing models

In addition to the popular CSA model, there has been tremendous growth in non-consumable product sharing models over the last decade. The most successful of these is probably Netflix, where members rent a movie online, receive the dvd in the mail, and return it with the outgoing mail at their leisure. Netflix was the natural offspring of its prototype sharing model – the video rental store – and the internet. The rental store, of course, was the child of the library, the oldest of old school sharing institutions. Another highly creative and successful product sharing company is Zipcar. Members of Zipcar share rental cars parked conveniently around the cities in which they live. They too can manage their rentals online. Communities have also worked together to establish tool banks, from which members can borrow tools for home improvement and other projects. There is even a company that rents high fashion dresses online using a model similar to Netflix. Product sharing models make expensive items affordable and accessible. If you can’t buy, borrow. If you can’t own, share.

The CSA & product sharing Models Applied to Art

Could these popular and effective models be applied to floundering local art industries?

As far as the CSA model goes, art isn’t seasonal like agriculture or fishing, so it’s not a direct fit to a traditional CSA model. Secondly, art requires more time to produce and is not a consumable like food. A model in which subscribers got a piece of art each week for a season would be too demanding on the artists and too expensive for the subscribers – not to mention more art than they’d want. So that doesn’t quite fit either. But what if we kept the spirit of the CSA model (support local industry, foster sense of community) and altered the structure a bit. Could it provide the same benefits to both the buyers and sellers of local art that a CSA does? What if we incorporated product sharing ideas?

One model that might accomplish this is a CSA style local art library. It’s not uncommon for artists to accumulate pieces that end up hanging all over their own walls or stacked in the corner of their apartment or studio, when they’re not displayed in shows. If artists pooled these paintings together and lent them out, this might create a new stream of revenue for them.

Let’s say we start with 10 artists, each of whom puts 10 pieces of art into the library’s collection. Then we sign up 20 subscribers who pay $200 a year for a subscription to the library. Each subscriber chooses 2 pieces of art to bring home with them for 3 months. Every 3 months, they’ll return the pieces to the collection and select 2 more rental pieces to take home. If multiple subscribers want the same piece in the same 3 month period, it could be settled by a coin flip or something similar (rock-paper-scissors tournament, drawing of names, ping pong ball lottery, etc.). Then, those who don’t get the desired piece would pick another one and would be in the queue for the desired piece at the next 3 month period. If it were a ping pong ball lottery drawing, each time someone didn’t win, they would get an extra ping pong ball in the next drawing. Or subscribers could set up a queue similar to Netflix to rank their preferences. It could be a raffle scene at the quarterly art exchange which might create excitement and even a competitive desire for the art.

Competition to what end? Part two of the library system would be the subscribers‘ opportunity to buy the paintings in the collection. If there were some competitive desire for certain pieces, that would encourage sales. To stick with the community concept, the proceeds from the sales could be distributed amongst the artists, with the biggest share going to the artist of the sold piece. For example, the artist could get 50% of any of their art sold and the other artists would split the other 50%. Artists routinely give up 30% of sales of their art at galleries, so this wouldn’t be too much of a stretch beyond that, especially considering they’d earn money on other artists‘ sales too. This model would create three revenue streams for the artists: their share of the subscription fees, sales of their own work, and sales of the other artists‘ work - all real money for art that otherwise would have been sitting around the house or studio. When an artist’s piece sells out of the collection, the artist would be responsible for adding another piece to keep up the size of the collection. We’d want a decent sized collection to account for differences in taste and turnover of borrowed pieces.

There wouldn’t be a physical library per se for the art but the collection could be viewed online and there could be a rotating show at a local coffee shop, restaurant, or bar, that would feature one piece from each artist, rotating every three months along with the rest of the borrowed paintings. The establishment that hangs the art on its walls wouldn’t get a percentage of the profits but they would get free advertising, free local art on their walls, and business from hosting the tri-monthly exchange of art. All the subscribers would come in with their old piece, pick up their new piece, and would be encouraged to meet the artists. Each exchange could feature one or two of the artists talking about their artwork, their history, influences, plans, etc and/or doing some sort of live demonstration of their work. Alternatively, all this could take place at a gallery or some other arts institution.

The numbers are completely variable depending on a few factors, but here’s a general idea of how it might work. If we started with 10 artists and 20 subscribers at $200 per subscription per year, that’d be $4000 in subscription revenue, which would come to $400 per artist per year. Then, if each subscriber ended up buying one piece at let’s say $200 on average, and we used the 50-50 split, the least an artist would earn that year would be about $620 (if none of their pieces sold); the most an artist would make would be $2400 (if all 20 sales were their pieces). If three of twenty sales were an artist’s pieces, that artist would make $900. If ten of twenty sales were an artist’s pieces, that artist would make $1510. And so on. The numbers would change based on how many pieces sold and for how much they sold. But the minimum income with these numbers – if nothing sold - would be $400 a year for an artist. That’s not exactly a huge revenue stream, but it’s something for art that would be making nothing sitting around the house. Now imagine if the idea caught on and we got 100 subscribers and they paid $300 a year. That’s $30,000 in subscription revenue plus whatever is made on sales. We could be talking about $4000 or $5000 a year per artist - for artwork that wasn’t previously earning any money. If you got 200 subscribers, double that. If the average price of the paintings sold was $400 instead of $200, double the sales revenue. Double one win and you get two. Subscribers get a rotation of local art in their home and artists get previously unaccessed revenue = win win.


Possible concerns

• What about damage to art? – It’d probably have to be a you break it, you buy it contract. This might deter some subscribers, but it would also bring in the shared risk aspect of the CSA model. We could give everyone instructions on care, places to avoid hanging (kitchen, bathroom, direct sunlight), and packaging for transportation of the art. Or maybe we could work some variation of you break it, you buy it. The subscriber could buy it at 75% cost, with the 25% swallowed by the CSART, or return it and pay a 50% of cost penalty, with the 50% swallowed by the CSART. This might diffuse any disputes between artists and subscribers over what constitutes damage. Or we could build some sort of damage insurance into the membership fee.

• What if some artists sell, and some don’t. Isn’t this unfair to the sellers? – As compared to what people would make at a gallery that took 30% of profits, artists will still come out ahead if 50% of all sales were their pieces. We could easily incorporate an adjustable percentage beyond that. For example, if your art accounted for over 50% of the total art sold, your share of your sales could go up to 66%. Using the above numbers, this would ensure that you’d come out ahead of the gallery scenario even if 100% of the total art sold was yours.

• If subscription numbers rise, more artists would need to be added, and then the profits would be split more ways. – This is a good problem to have. If subscription numbers balloon, media outlets will be interested in the story and this will mean more advertising/marketing for the artists. That’s beyond the regular free advertising/marketing that you’d already be enjoying by having your art hanging in the houses of art appreciators around town.

• Isn’t exclusivity in picking artists counter to the CSA collective spirit? – The CSART Local Art Library model is completely open source – If you like the idea and aren’t included in a particular library, then start your own. Quality is an integral part of any CSA. People want fresh vegetables, fresh fish, etc. And people will want to hang quality art on their walls, so it’s natural for library organizers to want to pick what they consider to be a diverse collection of good artists. Also, diversity of art style in the collection will make the CSART more attractive to subscribers.

• Aren't you worried that "CSART" will be read as "Seize Art" or "Cease Art"? – Yes. Yes I am. While it's a clever tie in to the CSA name and it could be read as "Sees Art", it's probably not the best name. This is probably not the final name.


Feedback

I'm workshopping/brainstorming/testing the whole CSART Local Art Library idea right now and would love any feedback anyone has to give - artist feedback, potential subscriber feedback, business/marketing feedback, community organizer feedback, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

Art Returned, Case Closed.

The painting arrived in the mail yesterday in good condition, so that's the end of that. The return address was that of the Lower Depths, the bar from which the painting was stolen - clever. But the postmark was from Brooklyn - shocker. Looks like our art thief moved on to hipper pastures. In any case, it's a relief. Now I don't have to give up one of the other paintings that will be hanging in Ula Cafe in Jamaica Plain for the next month, which is both the last month of the baseball season and a month that includes next weekend's JP Open Studios. If you're in the area, stop by and check it out. I'll be manning a small table out front. This will allow me to market the paintings and keep an eye on sketchy potential thieves like the shifty characters pictured below.


Any one of them could be a thief.

Art Stolen From The Lower Depths Tap Room

If you're an artist and you don't want your art to be stolen, then don't hang it at the Lower Depths Tap Room on Commonwealth Ave near Fenway Park in Boston.

I hate to hit my dear readers over the head with such a vengeful and self-serving statement, but I want to ensure that I include as many searchable terms here as possible, such as: "art theft", "painting stolen", "not safe for an art show", "manager of the Lower Depths is an oily troll scumbag". And in case you're better with pictures than words, this is the place:



Faithful VTKids may remember that I had a showing of my baseball paintings at Bukowski Tavern in Inman Square earlier this summer. That show went quite well - I sold four paintings, the manager couldn't have been better to deal with, and the owner had a message conveyed to me to contact her other bar, The Lower Depths Tap Room, about having a show of the baseball paintings there. It sounded like an ideal situation, since it's a couple blocks from Fenway in Kenmore Square. Earlier this year, I'd been frustrated to find out that that neighborhood is off-limits to street vendors - a fact that derailed my plans to walk around and sell the very same baseball paintings to the roving Fenway Faithful. As for the bar, I was concerned about possible drunk college kid theft, but it seemed like a decent gamble considering the potential sales to suburban, spendy, day-in-the-city, drunk, impulse buyers. If one got stolen, it would hopefully only be after a few sales and then I'd simply take the show down and cut my losses, as they say.

Now, if I were to come up with a comic book caricature of the worst person for an artist to deal with, I could not have done better than the oily incompetent troll that bears the title of manager of the Lower Depths. And I couldn't have conjured a better wanker of a sidekick than his smarmy bartender. Maybe they resented the show being pushed on them by ownership and responded by doing the bare minimum in working with me. Maybe they don't like artists and wish they were a more standard sports bar. Dunno. What I du no is that it was clear that they were not going to do one percent more than necessary in the arrangement or management of this show. Despite the show being solicited by the owner, I had to call repeatedly, week after week, and bike out of my way to the place twice to meet with them, before even getting a time frame and confirmation of the show. This is a pain in the ass under normal circumstances, but becomes a real pain in the ass when you have to postpone other shows in order to wait on the coveted baseball season Fenway show. I inquired about the theft issue and Oily Troll and Wank McWankerstein both told me that the place was patronized by more grad students than undergrads and they'd never had a painting stolen. They made it sound like the atmosphere found in both Bukowski Taverns, which are inhabited by a mostly non-thieving crowd.

On the day of the show, I dropped the paintings off in a rush since I was illegally parked and needed to get the zipcar back. When I told this to the bartender, whom I'd met twice before, and said I'd be right back, he motioned for me to hold up while he finished his phone call. He talked for two minutes and then waved me on, without hanging up, talking to me, or moving from behind the bar. When I returned on bike to hang the paintings and put up the price/info tags, he told me that I couldn't hang the tags, that the owner "didn't want it to seem like a gallery". This almost certainly allowed the thief to think they were stealing from the bar, rather than stealing from the artist. He told me he'd keep a price list behind the bar.

When the painting (pictured here) did get stolen, the Oily Troll couldn't have cared less. Really. I'm trying to envision a scenario in which it could be said that they cared less. I can't. They didn't even contact me to let me know. I happened to drop by because I found out that they were not telling people the prices and instead telling them to email me (not great if you're going for that day-at-the-game, drunk, impulse sales). When I asked him about the missing painting, the oily troll acted aggressive/defensive, like I was being a primadonna, and like it was just one of those things. He said he was going to contact me at some point. He seemed to be trying to manage my reaction and to convey that I had no right to be upset about it. When I asked him if there was somewhere we could store them until I got back later, he asked why. Because my art was stolen, dickhead, and I'm not hanging them here anymore. He refused to store them and said I would have to leave them on the wall until I got back.

Oddly, the real salt in the wound is the fact that I acted like a consummate professional throughout the whole experience. I mean, you want to be an unprofessional, obnoxious dickhead? I can do that. I'm really fucking good at that. But I held back. This anger management stuff is bullshit. *Walking away from bar, fuming, thinking about how I'm going to update my facebook status*

OK Go Animation Video

I'm in the process of handing out my resume in an effort to find some supplemental employment, and it occurred to me that I hadn't posted this animation on which I did some graphic design work. Some work. Robin's the real genius behind this stuff. (and yes, I'm starting my job search the same week that US Unemployment hit a 25 year high.)

update: the embedded video is not working, so here's a link.

Bacon Paper Pig

So, you see, it's a pig made out of paper. And that paper has bacon printed on it.

Dan Nolan Art @ Bukowsi Tavern (Inman)

Should you find yourself in the Inman Square neighborhood of Cambridge and were interested in seeing the new baseball paintings, feel free to stop by Bukowski Tavern, centrally located on Cambridge Street.


If you're a buyer, get there quick. The one at the top of this post sold in less than a day and a half. They're cheap. Here's what they look like hanging:


You can also visit old friends, Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy, Den and Maggie:

VTK Hits Local Cable Access

Many VTK readers may have already seen these videos on my microblogging endeavors, facebook and twitter. But for those of you who haven't, please enjoy parts one and two of this odd interview of me by a local art show host on CCTV, Cambridge Cable Television:

Can you DIG it?

Dig my painting on the cover of the new edition of Boston's weekly entertainment magazine, the Weekly Dig.


UPDATE: If anyone's interested in a Dig framed print of the cover, you can get them through the site for $20 (Artist gets half). If you're interested in a limited edition print of the actual painting (sans cover text etc), contact me and I can get you sizes/pricing on that. (artist gets 75%).

Happy Saint Paddy's Day.

What is copyright infringement?

[UPDATED WITH NEW LINKS] In the newest edition of Obe Lincoln, I take on the hot topic of copyright infringement as it pertains to the Shepard Fairey Obama HOPE poster.


I drew the above picture freehand, obviously copying the Shepard Fairey Obama HOPE poster, which copied Mannie Garcia's (or the AP's) photo. I changed the image to add Baxter Orr's SARS mask. I used ink pens that weren't the same color as the Fairey poster, so I put it on Photoshop to adjust the colors to be closer to Fairey's colors (and to deal with the shortcomings of my crappy scanner). Any difference between this image and Fairey's image is a result of my failure to draw it perfectly freehand, not a result of a conscious attempt to make a significant transformation.

So, am I guilty of copyright infringement?

If you haven't been following the AP/Garcia v Fairey copyright lawsuit(s?), then you're missing out. I'm not a lawyer, but it's pretty fascinating stuff in terms of the questions that arise about art, photography, copyright, ownership, access, appropriation, theft, hypocrisy, consistency, ethics, greed, and creation. Not a bad list, eh? Check it out:

AP threatens to sue Fairey.
Fairey sues the AP.
Fairey's Obey Giant website.
Fairey on Charlie Rose.
Hypocrisy? Fairey threatens to sue Orr.
Orr had appropriated and changed Obey Giant with a SARS mask.
A discussion on copyright and fair use law.
The law.
More discussion on the law.
A blogging copyright lawyer weighs in.
Another blogging copyright lawyer weighs in.
The debate is on,
And on,
And on,
And on,
And on.
And then there's parody. One of the landmark cases about parody is Leibovitz v Paramount Pictures, in which the Naked Gun 33&1/3 parody of the pregnant Demi Moore Vanity Fair cover was upheld as fair use.
Here are a few other interesting cases.
And if all that doesn't have you confused yet, check out this article that points out that parody is protected, but satire is not. I hope the writer of that article, Jesse Walker, won't mind if I quote this insightful analysis:

"In the press or the academy, it's considered normal for more than one interpretation of a piece of art to coexist. In a courtroom, only one interpretation will enjoy the blessing of the law, and there's no guarantee that a judge playing critic for a day will agree with [the defendant's] subtle analysis."

The Book. She Lives. BCSDDB. In Print.

I'm happy to finally announce that you can now order your real live, perfect bound, paperback, print version of Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy online at comiXpress. It's $17.99 plus shipping.

If you live in the Cambridge/Boston area, you can pick up a copy at Million Year Picnic in Harvard Square, Pandemonium Books in Central Square, or *update* in Hub Comics in Union Square (it's soon to be in New England Comics and Brookline Booksmith too). It's a few dollars more, but I would consider it a "solid" if you helped me get a foothold in the stores and I will buy you a reasonably priced "liquid" sometime. (Also, all 3 of those stores are owned by righteous dudes, so giving them money is righteous. QED.)

It was a medium-large sized hit at the Boston Zinefair this weekend. People are talking. I don't want to call it a "buzz" yet, but it's definitely a murmur. Well, a warble. It's at least a warble.



[UNINTENTIONAL COMEDY UPDATE - I was just checking out the wowio link for the free online preview of BCSDDB, and it turns out that Talbots is the sponsored link for the page. Talk about your business casual!]

[UPDATE TWO - And thanks to the unsolicited and favorable props and promotion on their sites from two people I met at the zinefair: yunchtime and alternating current. For the record, I did eventually finish that peanut butter sandwich.]

The Big Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy Update

The world of Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy is flooded with new developments these days. There's a new website, there's an online merchandise store, there are online presences on youtube, facebook, flickr, wowio, comicspace, and soon comiXpress. There are personalized BCSDDB portraits going on. What else. Oh, and there's the real live, printed, non-digital, hard-copy graphic novel.

The Hard Copy



I got the proof copy of the final book in the mail yesterday and was relieved and ecstatic to see that it looks great. It really takes on another character when it's laid out on paper, perfect bound in a 6.5 x 10 inch book. The coloring, alignment, and quality of printing were spot on. The first printing of the books will arrive here on September 19th, at which point I'll start sales and distribution. If you live in the Boston/Cambridge, Rochester NH, Chicago, Detroit, or Dallas areas you'll be able to pick up a copy at your local indy-friendly comic book store. If not, you can order the book online via print-on-demand through comiXpress or you can just contact me.

The Website


I registered the domain names bcsddb.com and businesscasualstagdevildeathboy.com and, for fairly obvious reasons, I decided to house the main website on the bcsddb page, pictured above. It's a thoroughly unmemorable url, but so is the title, so I already have that strike against me. I like the title Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy enough to roll with it. The blogspot page is still up and linked to through the website, but I thought it would be more professional to have a "real" site. I'll probably publish news and updates on the blog, but use the website as the main online presence.

The Store

Oh shit. Here he goes. First his big pitch to sell the book, and now he's pushing the merch on us? I know. Tacky. But first let it be said that I'm taking a loss on every book sold. I'm not making my first million on BCSDDB. The store's just for fun. I don't actually expect you to buy a Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy Skateboard. Anyways, I'll be putting up some more images for the shirts, mugs, ties, aprons, etc soon.

The Personalized Portrait

Since, I've already crossed the threshold into shameless self-promotion, let me ask you this: Have you ever wanted to try your own luck peering into the sunglasses of Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy? Longtime VTK reader lc did and, with her permission granted, here's what Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy reflected back to her. In addition to personalized oil painting cartoon portraits, paintings of individual pages or panels will be on sale on the website.

Alright, I just hit the promotion wall. It's new territory for me. I've always been comfortable with the creative side, but I had no idea how big the other side would be. For that matter, I had no idea I'd stumble into an industry less lucrative than portrait painting. I have to admit that I do relish the underground angle of it all. I'm sure I'd enjoy it less making a few bucks more, but cowtowing to a publisher's demands (and power to take my product out of print). Self-publish, kids. Fuck it. You made it this far and then you're going to give it all (all being practically nothing in profit) over to someone else? Fuck that. And maybe I'm just dedicated to my own poverty, but why would you make it this far, then resist giving it all over to a publisher, and then give it over to a distributor. Any way you slice it, that's an industry taking care of its own, paying the middle man and ostracizing the direct market creator. Write it, draw it, print it, sell it. And eat a lot of rice and beans.

BCSDDB Mailbag - Actual Reader eMail

The following is an email I got last night from someone I don't know:

Hey there,

I just discovered and finished reading your graphic novel, "Business
Casual Stag Devil Death Boy." I don't know whether or not it was your
intention, but I found it to be absolutely haunting and disturbing. I
don't really know what more to say of it. There are parts of it that,
actually, I'd rather "un-read" because now there are points in my
daily life that have been somewhat infected by it. Maybe I can
eventually work through this, to go back to seeing my daily routines
exactly the way I have for many years, rather than from this new
terrifying alternate vantage point.

The story is ostensibly about office life - though it *isn't* really, is it?

I started reading the story on Saturday. I was interrupted by a phone
call from a former co-worker. We had worked together in a small
corporate cafe several years ago. We met up for the first time since
2005 in a different small corporate cafe from the one we had worked
in. I told her I liked her new hair color. She told me I made her
feel as if her life wasn't so bad, after all. After two hours of this
sort of thing, I still didn't catch what she had been doing over that
time frame. We basically exchanged thinly-veiled insults and
unrealized unspoken fantasies. We promised to do this more often. We
were both lying, though. We'll probably never reconnect with each
other again - not unless one of us gets a negative prognosis or
something else "life-changing."

Anyway, I went back to reading the story yesterday (Sunday). Life
kicked me in the teeth, though (figuratively speaking, obviously), and
I wound up consoling myself by walking through the closest mall. I
didn't buy anything. No, actually, I did buy something - a fruit
smoothie (I wanted to know what all the fuss was about regarding those
things). It wasn't very good.

This evening, I finished reading the last half of the story.
Actually, before I finished reading it, I should tell you that I fired
an email off to my boss. My supervisor, my manager, my department
head (she goes by all three interchangable titles, plus a few others
that aren't coming to me right now)... Anyway, late this afternoon, I
emailed her my desire to leave my position at the office. I was vague
in my explanation - quite frankly because I had no real explanation.
I told her I felt as if I had a "different calling," not really
knowing what that calling is precisely (but of course I didn't share
this detail with her). Clicked on the SEND button, then clocked out
for the day. I made a beeline for my vehicle and drove home. I live
ten minutes away from work by car. I've been wondering whether or not
she received that email yet. I wish I had been brave enough to tell
her to her face that I can't tolerate working there anymore. It's not
such a bad place, but after five years of such work and finding that
I'm still treading the same waters that were there when I began...

I guess it's not all that important, really. I'll continue living.
Just because I have no idea of what tomorrow will bring doesn't
preclude some vast personal deterioration, right?

And then I came home, took a nap, and then finished reading your
story. I think it had a greater impact upon me because I suddenly
have this surreal feeling surrounding me, having quit my job in so
cowardly a fashion and all. But I also think that I did what was
right for me, at least what was right for me at that specific time.

Thank you for creating such a brilliant work. I should probably go
back and reread it in a few years. I really should. Right now,
though, I don't think I will. I'm going to have enough trouble
sleeping as it is, what with having taken that nap earlier and all...

- [name redacted]

FREE BUSINESS CASUAL STAG DEVIL DEATH BOY!!

Not free as in free him from captivity, but free as in no charge, no fee, no pennies, no nickels, no dimes. Free. I'm giving the milk away for free and hoping you'll buy the cow down the road. Not literally. I don't want you to buy the cow down the road, owned by my neighbor. I want you to buy my cow, down the proverbial time road. Except I don't have a cow. And you won't be getting any milk when you click on this link. You'll be getting a free copy of Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy in downloadable pdf format. Udderly free.

Here is the deal: BCSDDB is currently being published online for free on wowio.com. Wowio allows authors/publishers (me) to put their works online for free and allows readers (you) to download them for free. And every time the book is downloaded, the author/publisher gets paid 25 cents. How is this possible, you ask? Each book has a sponsor that puts two pages of ads at the beginning and end of the book. The sponsorship deal generates money for both wowio and the author/publishers. Not a bad deal. All you have to do is take a few minutes to register and you can download up to 3 books a day and 30 a month. Comics and graphic novels are just a small part of the pool of books available through wowio. In order to protect the content of the publishers, wowio authenticates the identity of their members, so you'll have to use a non-anonymous email (non gmail, hotmail, yahoo, etc.) to register. They don't spam or anything like that (nor do the sponsors), so you can use work or school emails. Or you can give them your credit card number (authentication only; it won't be charged).

If I haven't scared you off, and you fancy a milky treat, please enjoy a free copy of my first graphic novel:

Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy.

And if you like it, please consider buying the cow when the print version comes to a store near you in a couple months.