Selling (Pet) Portraits

*Mitch-el Jul 19, 2012

Good day to you all,

Recently, I've considered giving people the opportunity to commission me to do portraits of their pets. Photographs of the pet, provided by the owner, would be used for reference. However, I do have a question in regards to this....

Should I chose to make prints of the finished piece to sell, would I have to strike up a(n) contract/agreement with the buyer of the original commission to do so?

I would assume that this is the case. A little research revealed to me that it is the artist who has the copyright to the drawing itself, but that a contract (a simple one, most likely) with the buyer must be created stating that I (the artist) has all the rights to reproduce the work and sell it if I so chose. From what I've gathered, the buyer does not own copyright to the actual drawing unless that copyright is assigned/passed on to them. How correct is this information?

I would ask permission of the buyer to reproduce the original piece of work as prints anyway, but I was just wondering if there are any laws in regards to selling prints of commissions portraits (specifically pet portraits, in this case).

Thanks, in advance, for any information that you may have to give! Have a wonderful day.

-- Mitch-el

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Devious Comments

~kafine Aug 1, 2012 General Artist

Why would you be selling prints of someone else's cat? That seems like a weird thing to do, tbh. I think a lot of clients will say no to this or even find it to be in poor taste. About 80% of the pets I have painted have been memorial paintings for deceased animals. It wouldn't even occur to me to try and sell prints of those.

Anyway, anything involving the later sale of prints is something you must discuss with your client and get them to agree to. They need to fully understand that copies of the image they provide you with will be sold to third parties with no royalties to them.

Without discussing it with the client you do not get any right to reproduce the painting. They gave you limited permission to reproduce their original photograph. Think about it; why can't we sell fanart prints on DA? Because even though you own the copyright to your painting, part of the intellectual property of the content still belongs to someone else.

You can always make a copy for your portfolio if you want to, because that's not to be sold.

*Mitch-el Aug 1, 2012

Yes, the copyright infringement is what I was worried about in regards to selling duplicates of a portrait, although it wouldn't exactly be "copyright" so much as possibly finding it difficult to make and sell copies if the owner wouldn't agree to it, which... I assume a fair percentage of them wouldn't.

This is why I ask beforehand so as to gain a greater knowledge of how this process works, because I've never done it before. Thanks for your input! It's appreciated.

-- Mitch

~kwhite72412 Jul 31, 2012

you can sell your painting posting in a live chat room ,, like Chatwing is a free chatbox hosting service. Anyone can register for their own remotely hosted chatbox and be part of the community. This service is free and all you have to do is participate to keep it free.

*Mitch-el Aug 1, 2012

Actually selling the drawing isn't the issue, but rather understanding whether or not it would be legal/in good taste to do so. Heh. Thanks for your suggestion, though!

-- Mitch

=Cnids Jul 31, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

Just make sure to include something in your commission contract that states you have the right to sell prints of the art. If the commissioner doesn't want this allowed, they'll be able to speak up when you go over the contract together and you can work out a compromise (or, I guess, send them elsewhere in the worst case).

If you're worried about the usage of the photo, you have to make sure you talk to the person who owns the camera with which it was taken because IIRC that's who actually owns the copyright to a photo.

*Mitch-el Aug 1, 2012

I see. Yes, that's what I'd gathered in regards to contractual agreements. As for the issue of talking to the person who owns the camera with which the picture was taken, thanks for bringing that up! I'll definitely keep it in mind.

Thanks for your input! It's most appreciated.

-- Mitch

~DolphinMoana Jul 27, 2012 Student Filmographer

Ehhhh, well, as far as law goes, I don't know much about that. Seems to me like if you get written consent of the photographer and owner of the pet to sell a drawing you did of their pet, that's all you would really need. Although what I would do in that case is scan the work before giving the original piece to the one who paid for the commission in the first place. Then if I had their permission to do so, I would sell digital copies of the print to whoever wanted them afterwords.

I dunno.

But do keep me up to date on this, and what kind of price range you have.

I might be interested in a portrait of my late dog, Copper.

*Mitch-el Jul 31, 2012

Hey there,

Hmm. Yeah, that seems to be what I'd have to do, and I would, of course, scan in the finished piece to keep for myself, just in case I ever did receive permission to sell copies of it.

Sure thing! If it ever happens, you'll see an update about it on my journal.

Thanks for your opinion/advice! I appreciate it.

-- Mitch

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