Selling Creativity in Exchange for Security
Yesterday the news of Dave Cockrum’s death made minor headlines. I’m new to the field of comic book illustrators and writers and his name wasn’t familiar. I’m sure I’ve flipped through the pages of old X-Men comics and admired his work. And just recently I had the chance to watch X-Men: The Last Stand, a fun, entertaining film, and better than I expected. However, what captivated me most about Dave’s story concerned the sad news that his creativity and imagination, while bringing millions of dollars to a Marvel, basically left him with little to retire on, no medical benefits and little recognition for his contribution to one of the longest running comic franchises. Because he worked for hire, he relinquished any rights to royalties, or control of the copyright of his work.
Work for hire in the field of graphic design, illustration and photography, is a tough topic. I’ll say straight away — I’m not a lawyer and I’m not seeking to discuss the legality of Dave Cockrum’s or any other artist’s legal situation. I’m speaking from the perspective of an artist and designer who’s read the various guides on pricing and best practices, and I still find myself in situations that make me question what I’m doing, and at what risk.
Designers, artists, photographers — even engineers, scientists, and others — all of us who use our imagination, creativity, ideas to provide a living — we run the risk that when working for hire, one of our great ideas, those rare quarks that come only so often, will come appear at a time when we are employed by someone who legally owns what we do.
The argument can always be made that Cockrum never would have created his characters without Marvel’s X-Men. And Carolyn Davidson, the graphic design student, who for around $30, designed the Nike swoosh, with her stroke of imagination, would have any part in making Nike a billion dollar company. But you also have to question - what if there wasn’t a swoosh, or Nightcrawler? Would Nike still be Blue Ribbon Sports? Or X-Men have died out like so many other comics? Would Nike have seen the value of her design and paid $1500? $15,000? Or would Marvel have forseen the value of Cockrum’s characters and suggested a royalty agreement in addition to his paycheck? These questions are irrelevant in hindsight, but I’m willing to guess they would have been willing to pay the extra money, or work out the addtional agreement. Corporations are successful because they see opportunities and take them. And they are good at spotting that something that might grow into a billion dollar monster. They are also very good at seeing a steal when it offers itself to them.
My personal approach to situations like this is multi-faceted. And I’m the first to admit — I’ve not discovered anything that my employers would be raking in bank on — not yet anyway. But I’ve read enough, and educated myself enough to understand when I might be entering into a situation that might require a separate negotiation for my design or illustration. And at other times, I understand that in exchange for the security provided by the corporation, I’m willing to transfer the risk of my creation to them. I know I wouldn’t be doing what I was doing if they’d never hired me.
The individuals that get hurt by work for hire, are those that accept too low of pay for the job, place too little value on what they provide creatively, and overall, justify their work-exchange on the premise that they are gaining experience, building a porfolio, or they just like to do the work. But then they find themselves struggling to retire, pay medical bills, and realizing that their decision took advantage of them.
In the end, I hope that Cockrum’s story provides a lesson for any new, struggling designer, artist, illustrator — in fact all creatives — that creativity has value. And to make sure the exchange is at a good rate. Don’t see your design for the next iPod on the neck of everyone other person on the street and realize that was you designed that while interning at some fancy design studio. Or worse, posted it to your blog because you wanted fast feedback.
