Hey there,

I am merging some projects, one I mentioned here a while back and some others... and I need the input of poser artists. You can reply privately if you would like, this is a business discussion and as such it's not all appropriately discussed in  public forum.

I would like to hear the interest level of artists in several outlets for their work:

• Traditional printed "coffee table" book form
• Poster/lithograph
• Gallery shows

In other words, would you be interested in the opportunity to have your work seen in those forms, perhaps distributed or sold in those forms and making some $$$ for yourself in the process? We would be doing the selection from submitted works and all the rest of it... treating high end art of this type as just what it is ... high end art.

Anyway... feel free to get in touch. We are interested in hearing what licensing terms you find attractive and opening a dialog.

ken@dotpublishing.com

Some more information on where and how it is going.... thanks so much for all the replies! I figured I could post some more of this here, so if you sent me a private note, then this is part of your reply :)

We are speaking of a mechanism/service to make high end rendered artwork available to clients in physical form as art. That will mean lithographs, books and so on. At this point we are not talking about poster type print quality and t-shirts etc.

Generally an interested artist will contact us about a specific piece and we will review the work. We will be making editorial decisions on what we accept - this isn't to offend anyone or insult... but we have a very specific editorial vision in mind and we will be building a brand around that. Those artists/images who we do not accept we may be able to provide information or services to help them publish themselves.

If we go ahead, we will work with the artist to format the image for publication, helping them render at the proper resolutions or helping them with any additional post work if they need our help. We will also work with the artist to get the surrounding elements to work for the image and for our format (copyright notices and other information).

When that's all done, we will work out a commission/rate with the artist and offer it for sale through a few mechanisms we have in mind (we have working relationships with several publishers so widespread bookstore distribution is an option). We handle all that, the artist get's their commission and all is well.

An issue... We would need to be able to be exclusive for physical distribution for a time period. We will be happy to work on the terms with an artist but if we are selling an exclusive series of numbered prints it simply won't be of any value to the customer if 5 other outlets are also selling them.

We are working out details with the printers we work with to get an idea on the formats and rate for reproduction costs. Then we will be moving ahead to hopefully offer our first set sometime before December. if you want, send us a note) letting us know you are interested and we will review your gallery. We will be picking about 5 pieces to start with.

I do understand that this could be a problem for many. Whenever you make editorial decisions you run the risk of insulting someone you haven't chosen - or making enemies or causing community strife. That is not our intention. You must realize that the type of reproductions we are talking about have a fairly large up-front cost to set up the printing process and we simply will not be able to afford to do it unless we believe an image is going to work in this way for the client base we are going for.

Some notes:

Also, you might be interested to note that this is not specifically limited to poser art. While we prefer fully rendered works we will also be considering enhanced photography.

The print size we are talking about is thousands of pixels on a side to begin to have the quality we need. Some pieces will scale up from what you already have (if you have a large version on your machine) and some might need to be re-rendered. We can help you with the re-rendering if your machine can't handle it. This does mean that if you spent a lot of time doing post work on an image that is 640x480 - no matter how pretty it is we might not be able to use it simply because it can't "scale" to the right size.  We are working on format's that accommodate the reality that digital artwork may need to be physically smaller to retain resolution ( 36 inches across is too big for small renders).

Anyway - that's more info for now. Feel free to ask questions here if you want or in email.

what is the client base you are trying or intending to target? It might save you some time if you tell us that. If someone does mostly fantasy scenes of knights/warriors/dragons and you are not looking for that, maybe we could know that here? Or, is that something you don't want to tell us, or can't tell us or you just can't narrow it down for us...you understand what I mean? Thanks!

As a poser artist yourself, can you give us an idea of what a typical image would need to be rendered at to get the quality you're looking for?

An issue... We would need to be able to be exclusive for physical distribution for a time period. We will be happy to work on the terms with an artist but if we are selling an exclusive series of numbered prints it simply won't be of any value to the customer if 5 other outlets are also selling them. Well, I entered into a similar agreement, with another private party, earlier this year. It bound me from April to August. Then, September rolled around, I was free, again...and WTC happened. Given it all to do over...I wish I had not signed that agreement. It took so much to rebound. Also, I feel bad, that my stuff is "out there"...and, some of my rights of creation have been let go of. (Hey, now..look at what some of our vendors here demand, from those who purchase their creations.) Best of luck in your venture, though. I am sure many will find your offer attractive. Poppi, Poppi's Productions

OK... some more info...

Since the good folks at Renderosity have a poll up discussing their possible plans to offer prints of the works here, I think it is probably no big deal to go into a little more detail about what we are planning.

Basically, we are looking to start with a small number of carefully chosen images, arrange for the absolute best reproduction and framing (if desired by the client) and present those reproductions for sale in a number of venues.

• Online
• Galleries in NYC and LA
• Printed coffee table form

The important thing for us is quality. We will be choosing pieces that we consider to be art and we will be treating them as are - our client target will also see it as art. We know a number of people and some gallery owners here in NYC so we are fairly confident that we can arrange for the acceptance of these images as artistic in their own right.

• The reproductions will be on gallery quality paper with archival inks - they will not fade with time.
• The will be sized for matting or framing and the will be composed within the printed area so that the framing and other elements don;t interfere.
• We intend to offer signed, numbered sets including authenticity assurances for those sets
• We will offer non-signed reproductions in a variety of formats

The prices will be fairly high - these are not posters, this is farmable artwork. We expect the pieces to be in line with high quality reproductions under 100$ without framing but significantly more than 19.95.

We may chose to offer an expanded catalog in more accessible formats if we can do it without compromising the quality brand we are working towards. We will certainly be looking at extremely high quality silk screened reproductions on black t-shirts for example if we think that is appropriate for a piece. If the Smithsonian can put DaVinci on a t-shirt, I think we can pull it off with style. Similarly, we may chose to make posters versions available in some fashion in the future.

We regret that we cannot simply broker for everyone who might like to offer their work this way - it simply isn't possible for us in to do so and keep the path we have set for ourselves. However we will be happy to help anyone get through the technical hurdles of high quality reproductions... we have a number of years of print/media experience behind us and we are fairly competent int hsi area.

So, that's it in a nutshell...

• A small, high quality and carefully chosen catalog for high end reproduction
• A more expansive catalog in more commodity formats

You're an artist - let us treat you like one. Hell, let's see if we can force the art snobs to treat us as artists. It should be interesting  :)

To everyone who wrote me, I'll reply later today. We should have a page up in place this weekend where you will be able to submit URL's of images for us to consider.

I know that in the coming month(s) someone is going to put up a system like the Marketplace here for posters and prints - they will allow you to offer larger format prints with a checkbox. That will be a fine outlet. But frankly, large format printing is very demanding of the source artwork - and a customer is only going to buy so many 640x400 renders blown up to 10K pixels across before the get REALLY annoyed.

Just a thought :)

BTW Poppi, sorry to hear about your problem :( We certainly don;t want to lock away anyones work - but obviously if there will only be 25 signed copies of something we need some agreement with the artist that they wont sign anouther hundred for someone else :)

We certainly don;t want to lock away anyones work - but obviously if there will only be 25 signed copies of something we need some agreement with the artist that they wont sign anouther hundred for someone else :) LOL... Actually, you have hit on a very good idea with this one.

I am very interested in this, however I will not agree to any unsigned works (I don't think). I would love to see some of my images in a larger format and do some with that specifically in mind in the future. I hope you continue looking into it and contact me! Good luck with the project. :)

By "signed" I believe the intent is for the artist to personally sign the artwork -- a limited edition print -- which generally means more value to collectors. "Unsigned" would still have your moniker but incorporated in the printing process. I look forward to seeing this project unfold.

PabloS has it right - "unsigned" would mean that you (the artist) did not personally take a pen to it. A signed work would in fact wind up being shipped tot he artist after printing, they would then sign and number the work and then it would be shipped back to us or direct to the end purchaser. It should be interesting :) My next step is to have a print or two made to check the inks we have been looking at...

oh ok :/ sorry!