Hiring Artists for Open Source Projects? 73
MikeFM asks: "What is the best way for an Open Source developer to hire artists to provide graphics, music, and other artwork for Open Source projects? I need to hire such people and I'm not sure where to go or how best to spell out the terms of the contract so that it's okay to release the works for hire as Open Source. I'm willing to pay but can't afford to pay a lot. It seems to me that providing artwork for an Open Source project sounds like great exposure to art students and artists still early in their career but how do I find these people? I've posted ads in the local schools and art stores.. what else can I do?"
i love art (Score:2, Informative)
Though all I have taken was the first CG class, and the rest after was self taught. Since it was just a hobby, and not somthing I wanted a career in.
If your work isn't too intricate beyond my skills, I will be glad to help out.
email: codedemon @ gmail . com
Re:i love art (Score:2)
Been tooling around in PS for about 5 years now, and I would love be involved in helping create software, especially since I've seen far too many good programs that look like refried crap.
Aside from the exposure (minute as it may be), the challenge of doing something new would be fantastic. Let me know if there's any way I could help.
Re:i love art (Score:3, Informative)
I have tried it before (I'm working on a game called OpenMortal)... got zero response. Maybe others have been luckier.
Well.. (Score:4, Funny)
hey, how about slashdot [stalshdot.org]?
Re:Well.. (Score:2)
Exposure isn't yet what I'm really working on though. My one program I most need artists for was actually in the July issue of Linux Journal Magazine. Sadly I had no advance warning and my own website has been down due to dns problems I'm trying to get worked out. Darn, talk about bad timing! I hope when I get a 1.x version they'll give me another print up.
Maybe my friend can help you. (Score:2)
Student artists... (Score:5, Informative)
As for artistic freedom, that is a whole different kettle of fish... Try to let them do what they do best and stay out of their way only offering direction. Try to arrange work previews during the buildup and don't hit them with 'buts' use 'ands' to direct their work. You will find that you get much better end results that way
Best of luck.
Open Source Artworks (Score:5, Informative)
I think you'll find that most open source artists, as with most open source developers are not seeking to be financially compensated directly, though are open for donations.
I myself am an "open source" musician and have contributed music to a few open source projects: SonarBuoyix [opart.org] and Tong [nongnu.org].
Go To A Restaurant (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Go To A Restaurant (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Go To A Restaurant (Score:2)
Some tips (Score:4, Informative)
CGTalk [cgtalk.com]
Polycount [gamespy.com]
And there are many others out there. Many have help-wanted boards.
Just use a standard work-for-hire type contract. That is, you will own the copyright. Then you can do whatever you want with it (like release under an open-source license). This is just standard practice for contract work of any type. There are lots of contract templates on the web and just about all of them assign copyright of created works to the person/company paying for it.
Hiring involves Money (Score:3, Insightful)
There are plenty of people here offering suggestions on where to find free labor, but if you actually hire someone, then you can do whatever the hell you want with the work they've done--opensource it, burn it, throw it to the dogs--it's no different from source code.
Re:Hiring involves Money (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Hiring involves Money (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Hiring involves Money (Score:2)
Re:Hiring involves Money (Score:1)
Artists are special people... (Score:2)
Of course, you could pay for their art, agree to royalties, and then just change it 20 percent (by putting a filter or bilinear mask of sorts on it) and skrew them outta the royalties like an evil company that shall remain nameless that i know of does (or did in the past).
20% rule for images (Score:3, Informative)
Re:20% rule for images (Score:2)
Of course, that's wandering a bit off topic, so for some on topic...
I have a lot of respect for artists, and wish game development management shared that feeling. I really hate how most places treat them as expendible. Dozens of artists have come and gone from my shop and only one programmer has ever been fired (after he failed to turn a profit for the full y
Re:Art Schools (Score:1)
"art students liked to price the cheeziest bit of crap at several thousands of dollars and many went off to sell similarly cheezy crap to corporations for even more inflated prices."
If they were able to sell it, I guess it's not that cheezy then, is it.. Art, unlike most of science, is SUBJECTIVE. You like what you like, adn hate what you hate
Hey, over here! (Score:3, Informative)
Interested? Shoot me an email: sabretooth@gmail.com
Send me an e-mail (Score:2)
Do what the indie game houses do... (Score:1)
Post a project on rentacoder [rentacoder.com] or guru [guru.com] and the 'low end' artists from those countries will come to you to bid on your project in droves. Pennies on the dollar, my friend.
Music (Score:3, Informative)
littlerubberfeet (at) yahoo (d0t) com
Otherwise, read the above post about getting students and student artists to pitch in.
In any case, good luck!
It's been said before (Score:2)
e-mail me at the address above.
_g
Works made for hire and assignments (Score:2)
17 USC 101 defines a work made for hire, and it is very strict. As a rule of thumb, you should not assume works are works made for hire unless the person making them is your employee, not a contractor, and the works are being made in the scope of the employment. Typically, someone is your employee if they're working for you permanently, you withhold their taxes, and so forth. C
You need to publicise your project. (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm part designer, part 3D artist by day, and at night (when I have any energy left) I "just draw" on the old Wacom tablet, usually.
What grabs me? Well, money is nice but frankly, I don't need it. What I'd like to contribute to is a project I see value in. Something that will let me learn the ropes of what it's like to work with other people through the OSS model, because I never have before; I've only ever been a corporate monkey where the dynamics are presumably quite different.
That said, there aren't many projects that have grabbed me by the collar and said, "WE NEED YOU TO HELP US MAKE IT LOOK GOOD." The only apps that I've ever considered helping out with were Inkscape [sourceforge.net] which shows a lot of promise for a vector graphics drawing package -- but isn't looking for designers as their road map is mostly replete with "stuff needs to be reprogrammed"; and Freevo [sourceforge.net], which blatently advertises that they're looking for (skin) designers. I think I'll be helping design a few skins for Freevo, because they look like they really want it, and I love the package and want to give something back to that community.
Since your project isn't done yet, selling on the basis of "giving back" because people like your project is pretty unlikely. That doesn't mean you might not gain a little interest by publicising what it's all about, though. Worst-case scenario, it's really dull and the requests are few -- at least the people that do volunteer will be in for the long haul, whereas signing up sight-unseen might result in a few people abandoning ship early on.
Re:You need to publicise your project. (Score:2)
I'm perfectly okay with paying artists for their work. If anyone wants t
Re:You need to publicise your project. (Score:2)
Easy (Score:2, Funny)
2. Make him do it.
Trade for it. (Score:1)
The shortcut: (Score:2, Flamebait)
Your request is similar to what I see over and over on FTJ. For some reason people think that students or unemployed artists and designers feel like giving away their labor for nothing. For example, someone found a job offer up on Craig's List seeking a candidate w
Re:The shortcut: (Score:2)
Besides I didn't say I wasn't going to pay the going rate. I've always been fair when hiring contractors for projects in the past. If that means I pay $20/hr instead of $200/hr and that isn't good enough for you then simply don't apply. I would have been very happy to be making $20/hr to practice my skills when I was in school.
Re:The shortcut: (Score:4, Insightful)
What you are failing to realize is that anyone who can do your art and design work does not need to practice, they already have the skills. Your offer is known in the business press as "the race to the bottom" or "walmartization," you're trying to convince people that their work is worth less because there's always some guy who will do it cheaper. So go find them. Hint: try free clip art.
Re:The shortcut: (Score:2, Troll)
Re:The shortcut: (Score:4, Interesting)
After working in graphics production for many years in LA, I went back to my old university to finish my art degree. I was disgusted at my old employer because they were charging $80/hour for my work but paying me about $10 (this was in the late 1980s), I figured I'd earn more if I finished my BFA.
So one day in the Art building I notice a flyer on the bulletin board. Some guy in the Theater department is doing a multimedia MFA thesis on CDROM, he wants someone to do the interface design and graphics to wrap around his videos and text. It was a groundbreaking project, nobody had ever done a thesis on CDROM before. So I decided, what the fuck, I need to keep up my skills, I'll help the guy out for free. Total time about 10 hours, it would have cost him a thou if he'd contracted with my old studio, but he got it for nothing, all I got was a credit.
So about a year later, I'm reading the newspaper about how a local theater student won a national award for his innovative interface design on his multimedia MFA thesis. Bastard didn't even acknowledge that I did the work, he took all the credit for himself.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to pitch my real artwork to the local galleries. I work in an antique photo process, I'm one of only about 3 people in the world who work in this particular process, it can take me a week to make a color print, it's very labor intensive, and the materials cost hundreds of bucks. I showed them one of my best prints, it cost me about $150 in materials alone to make. The gallery loves the work and wants to sell it, but they want to sell it for $200 and take a 55% cut, which would mean I'd lose money selling the prints. I inform them that prints of this type usually sell for about $2000 and tell them to take a hike.
It is obvious you really do not understand how artists work. They're always getting offers to do work for nothing. They're always doing hugely expensive projects of their own, they'd rather be doing their personal artwork at their own expense than doing someone else's drudgework at their own expense.
Re:The shortcut: (Score:2)
Ever considered getting a new job? Of course a customer doesn't care how much something costs to make - it's the value to them that's important, not what it cost you. If somebody is prepared to pay $200 for something, then it's worth $200. The amount it costs to make is irrelev
Re:The shortcut: (Score:3, Interesting)
You missed the point of the story of the gallery offering to sell the $2000 photo
Re:The shortcut: (Score:1)
Check out: DISGRACED PHYSICIST STRIPPED OF PH.D. DEGREE [acs.org]
Re:The shortcut: (Score:2)
Re:The shortcut: (Score:2)
I disagree (Score:4, Insightful)
Personally (as artist and programmer!) I prefer to work on my own projects, but if the project were cool enough, I wouldn't feel cheated to work on it for no pay.
For musicians ... (Score:1)
There are thousands, and thousands of artists/musicians out on the 'net who would love to work on an Open Source-style project that can be used to promote their works. You don't need to hire them, necessarily, though you can of course. But most would love to do it just for the 'excercising of chops' such a project would provi
The same way as you hire programmers (Score:2, Interesting)
These could apply to artists too...
Work Auction Sites (Score:1)
Deviant Artist (Score:1)
OLA - Open License Art (Score:2, Insightful)
*sigh* (Score:1)
Don't you think that one step towards getting some people that would want to participate in whatever you're working on would be to tell them WHAT it is?
show them what happens when they don't volunteer (Score:2)
The new site will definitetly have links to the artist's site, so there's some no-cost promotion involved.
So...
1) get out the crayons and the scanner
2) slap something up
3) sit back and wait, countering frequent expressions of ridicule with offers to volunteer
4) art!
deviant art (Score:1)
Cheap! (Score:1)
Would you please develop some art work for me? Of course, i can't pay you very much. But! It would really help me out and my project is so cool that it will give you exposure to people that may just be willing to pay you more than me. Oh yea, I'll be sure to be dilligent about promoting you at least as much as I'm promoting my own spiffy project (for which I need your help). So, will you spend some of your time to help me?
Craigslist (Score:1)
There's more serious stuff there too.
If You Pay Them (Score:1)
Placement offices? (Score:2)
Work for hire (Score:1)
Artists looking for Exposure (Score:2)
Check out worth1000.com [worth1000.com]
This type of thing has been done there before, for other types of projects that can't pay, can't pay much, or can pay oodles.