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Post by lifedoesntimitate on Jun 16, 2005 18:37:47 GMT -5
Hi, everyone.
I have a few questions.
I recently had an opportunity to find out whether or not I am able at present to do live caricatures. At present, I am not. But, that's another story for another time if anyone is interested in hearing it. It basically boils down to that fact that I need the luxury of messing up before I come to something that's decent.
Anyway, it did get me thinking that I would like to try to make some money with some of my drawings. My original thought was starting my own website, and selling T-shirts and whatnot. Then I remembered that I'm really, really bad with computers and wouldn't even know where to start in designing a site.
Then, my girlfriend mentioned a site where you can design pieces of art, and through this business on-line, people can buy your designs printed (by the company) on T-shirts, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, etc. They have a base price for everything they sell, so you just hike up the price to what you want to sell it for, and you make the difference. I thought this was perfect, and there was actually one option to sign up with them for free, so I began to build an account.
It was then that I saw the discalaimer that said you can not use images of an outside third party, i.e. photos, portraits, caricatures, etc.
d**n, I thought.
Double d**n, in fact.
But then I thought that I might ask you all if you know of similar sites where I would be able to do what I wanted to do with this one. Or, if not, if perhaps you had some suggestions of what I might be able to do instead. Any help would be tremendously appreciated.
By the by, the website is called cafepress.com It's pretty cool. I encourage all of you to check it out, and since a lot of you do art that is not neccessarily images of people, you could maybe start a little cafepress store and make some extra money. Just a thought. Check it out and tell me what you think.
-- Eric
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Post by donpinsent on Jun 17, 2005 11:08:31 GMT -5
um... oops. ;D i've been on cafe press for several months now, with nothing but caricatures. i guess i didn't se that fine print. anyway, no one's said anything to me about it. incidentally, i don't mean to try and discourage your efforts or anything, but i still have yet to sell one single thing on there.
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Post by lifedoesntimitate on Jun 17, 2005 14:25:07 GMT -5
Hey, Don -
Thanks for the response. I actually have a few questions. First off, do you have one of the free packages, or a "monthly fee" package? I know it's them just trying to sound enticing, but they did say that the chances of selling increase dramatically with one of the "monthly fee" packages.
Also, I went to your site, and didn't find a link to your cafepress store. Did I just miss it, or is it not there? I'm thinking if you have a link to it, you may get more traffic there. I also went to cafepress, and couldn't find your store. I just didn't know where to start looking for it. Could you maybe post a link so I could check out your store?
Also, if anyone has any further suggestions on how I might be able to do what I asked about in my original post, I'd still be greatly appreciative.
Thanks.
-- Eric
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Post by toonMom on Jun 18, 2005 6:05:36 GMT -5
There are several caricature stores at cafepress. It doesn't seem to be a big deal to have them on there. I also have a store set up, but I never took the time to add the images it seems. I should think about doing that some time!
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Post by stang on Jun 18, 2005 7:38:40 GMT -5
this is a good idea if you want to make you own stuff for family and friends . . . . . that way you can have your work displayed on a mouse pad, clock, etc. . . . . to me that's how they make their money . . . . . . (most people buy there own stuff) don't get me wrong, they do have some neat stuff . . . . . my son started a new business so I had a clock made for him . . . . . and it came out pretty nice . . . .
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Post by donpinsent on Jun 18, 2005 8:14:22 GMT -5
yeah, i honestly haven't put much effort into promoting my cafe press store. i even keep fogetting to put a link to it on my own site! i haven't even looked in on it in quite some time. the only reson i'm fairly sure it still exists is that i still keep getting the e-mails from them telling me different ways i could be promoting my store (all of which, of course, involve giving them money). and to answer your other question, i just have the basic free store service. i'm just not in the financial situation where i can afford to go paying them monthly fees without a guarantee i'll be making it back.i'll have to go searching now i guess, and make sure my store still exists.
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Post by lifedoesntimitate on Jun 18, 2005 14:26:56 GMT -5
Don and T.M. -
Would it be possible for you to post a link or at least the url to your stores, so I could maybe look around? I know I can look at other people's stores, but it would be kinda cool to me to see the store of someone I kinda know.
Also, you mentioned that it doesn't seem to be a problem having caricatures in the stores. Do you think it's problematic if the caricatures are celebrities, or are most of the stores caricatures of random people that the store owners knows?
Also (sorry this is going on so long), could anyone give me some information on maybe some other sites that are similar to cafepress, or possibly some alternatives to making merchandise to sell in another venue on line? I know this all seems like a lot to ask, but I'm just really interested in this and am very computer illiterate.
Thanks a lot.
-- Eric
P.S. Ooops! I almost forgot! Stang, that's very cool.
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Post by toonMom on Jun 18, 2005 15:12:12 GMT -5
Cool clock Stang!
Eric - Go to cafepress and type caricature in the search box. The ones I looked at had famous people on it, mostly political figures.
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Post by stang on Jun 18, 2005 17:12:43 GMT -5
thanks toonmom . . . . . .
Eric: here's the info - take it for what it's worth . . . .
Examples of Prohibited Content
In accordance with intellectual property laws, C--------.com has certain rules regarding the types of merchandise that you can make and sell through its service. For example:
NO UNOFFICIAL MERCHANDISE
NO use of names, logos, pictures or other intellectual property of musical groups or musical artists. For example, you cannot make Britney Spears merchandise simply because you run a fan-based Britney Spears website or just because you downloaded her image from an internet website. You also cannot modify the name or other intellectual property of a musical group and avoid infringement, (e.g., using Metalika instead of Metallica).
NO use of names, logos, pictures, or other intellectual property of sports teams, colleges/universities, clubs, or organizations such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Harvard University, or The Boy Scouts. Again, modifications may not avoid infringement.
NO photos, logos, caricatures, or other artwork depicting celebrities, such as Michael Jackson or Madonna, or other third parties. Just because you take a photograph of a celebrity does not give you the right to use that photograph on merchandise, even if you digitally manipulate the photograph.
NO use of trademarks, names, or logos of companies. For example, you cannot use the name of a company such as Nike, a company logo such as the Nike "swoosh" trademark, or brand name such as Coca Cola, or a modified version of a trademark, (e.g., "Just Did It").
NO pictures or photographs of products (such as toys). Even if you own a product, trademark laws may still prohibit you from selling merchandise that features pictures of it. For example, you cannot take a picture of your Barbie and sell merchandise with that picture.
that's why I said family and friends . . . . the above should be some what universal I would think . . . . . and you'd have to know the computer/size limits, etc, etc.
good luck if you decide to do it . . . . read all of the small print!
STANG
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Post by lifedoesntimitate on Jun 22, 2005 13:46:32 GMT -5
Thank you very much, Stang. I really appreciate all that. So, I guess cafepress is out.
Does anyone else know ehere I can have done something similar to what cafepress does, but where it would be okay to have images of third parties?
Thanks a lot.
-- Eric
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Post by Frank Zieglar on Jun 22, 2005 17:08:52 GMT -5
I have not really reseasched it and I'm not a lawyer, but my basic understanding from other artists is this.
Original work of celebs can be sold - it's better if it's a group setting. Like say the cast of a show vs just only the star. A group shot can be more easily considered a parody - like Mad magizine.
Reprints (in any variation - like you would do at CafePress) of celebs are illegal because their image is their moneymaker.
Political figures are open targets.
So you can sell prints of Arnold the gov but not Arnold the actor.
I have no idea where sport figures would fall.
Basically, anything that has more parody instead of just a drawing of the face straight from a photo (which is somebody eles copyrighted work) is the best way to go. The more 'orginal' your work is - the better off you are.
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Post by donpinsent on Jun 23, 2005 6:31:41 GMT -5
i'm confused. when i type in my url (http://www.cafepress.com/caricaturebydon), all it brings up is the homepage, or whatever they call it, of my shop, which is nothing but a brief description and a link back to my site. i can't seem to find any of my merchandise. and a search fior "caricature" brings up lots of stuff, but none of mine. i don't know, maybe they removed all my stuff because it didn't fit into their rules, but if that's the case, an e-mail to that effect would have been nice.
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