I’ve noticed that TNB has been poking around asking people to be in a joint artistic effort of some kind, and after the DS tribute thing a lot of people showed that they got some excellent artistic skills. So, I propose that we here at SRK put together an artbook showcasing our skills.
Here’s how it would work;
We hold a contest where everyone submits 1-2 (or more) pieces of Capcom related artwork. It can be Resident Evil, it can be SF, it can even be Onimusha, as long as it relates to Capcom in some way or form, its eligible. We then hold a vote, and the top 24 entries get into the book.
We then take the artwork and send it to a print on demand service. I personally recommend Kablam. They produce my comic and their quality is excellent, and its pretty inexpensive overall. I already ran a check on the cost of printing a 24-page glossy color book, and its 3.99 per copy. So if you want a copy of this book, you’ll have to pay for it. However, the book will be professionally done, and your name will be in the credits in the front of the book. If you want more copies to sell or show off to your friends or family, you’re more than welcome to.
What do you guys think? Is this something you’d like to do? I personally think it’d be a great community project.
No. We’d only get sued if we mass produce these books in the hundreds of thousands. If we produce 100 or less, we’re fine.
If we want to make it even less likely, we can include characters from other companies like SNK, Konami, or Sega. That way there’s an even slimmer chance of any company getting ticked off. Sega for example isn’t going to sue someone because of one picture in a small press book. Heck, some companies even like fanart, its free advertisement for their characters. That’s why PoDs like Kablam allow you to print these type of books in the first place.
great idea. i have been itching ot get my drawings in but missed the deadline for all those crazy contests. SRK is actually one of the most active message boards in general. thisll be like showing ppl how cool SRK really is, not just a place to talk strategy.
i think you should make sure this is totally safe first. there’s a member here named Ultradavid who knows law. not sure if he’s a lawyer or something but he should know something about it. if it’s totally safe to do i’ll definitely contribute to the book.
As far as US copyright law goes: I think that we cannot do this with this specific licensed IP (Street Fighter Darkstalkers) unless we get express permission from Capcom, unless we wish to risk the possibility of legal action against such apublication.
Also, I need to point out to that it doesn’t matter haw many or how few you print. One or one hundred or one thousand or one million. There is no such thing as a “minimum” number for IP infringement allowance, unfortunately. ^_^;
I know that many companies in Japan turn a blind eye to such fan made publications, and I believe that they truly do help stimulate interest and fulfill a deficit left by said companies for whatever, and that such fan made things are sometimes even better than official offerings…
My suggestion is to try and keep it non Capcom if you’re planing on printing this thing for sale to avoid any question of legality. I’ll bet you dimes to dollars that Udon probably had to obtain a license or something similar to be able to print their collections.
I’m fine with non capcom too. That would be the best way to do it. But I’m guessing If we just print our own personal copies, Capcom won’t really bother. As long as we’re not making any money off of it, it should be fine.
Actually I print off many Capcom-based materials and sell them throughout the United States. Many people do. Ever been to an Anime/Manga show? People sell videogame based stuff all the time and never get the licenses for anything. Ever go to Comicartcommissions.com? You think anyone is getting sued for drawing a picture of Wolverine and trying to sell it? It just doesn’t happen.
Here’s the reality, Capcom is too big a company to worry about sueing someone for printing off 20-30 copies of a fan-made book. They just aren’t going to care. The ONLY way we’d get in trouble is if we attempted to, once again, mass produce this book, claim that all the material in this book belongs to us, and sell the IPs as if they were our own without giving proper due to the holder of the licenses. Udon HAS to get a license because he’s a publisher, and once again he’s mass producing these books, getting ISBNs, and putting these books through distribution channels. We’re doing none of that, so there’s no need to worry.
Here’s what a Kablam agent told me when I asked here about this very issue several months ago;
If you guys are really worried about this, I’ll put my name on it and accept all legal responsibility. You guys just provide the art, and I’ll give you guys credit in the book. However, we seriously don’t have anything to worry about.
If you do this, you take a risk. That’s alll I’m saying.
Professionally, this is not a good idea. Especially the way you’re brazenly going about this on a public message board seems like you’re almost tempting to get into trouble.
You’re probably right and you probably won’t get sued, but this definitely raises red flags all around if you ask me, and I’ve been doing this for a looooooong time.
I’m really concerned because you also have absolutely no legal authority, or ability to protect anybody else (contributor-wise) from any legal action, should the unlikely event that something should happen.
I’ve only been around here a while, and already I’m starting to not dig the vibe here… -_-
Once again, check out the Kablam response above. If it was such a huge deal, I doubt Kablam would risk their company by doing something so trivial. I’ve also been around the industry for years, and I see people with “sketchbooks” and “artbooks” at conventions and websites all the time. None of them are sanctioned by any company, yet they’re still sold. I haven’t seen Adam Hughes go down in flames for the sketchbooks he sells at every convention he attends.
Also we’re not printing off hundreds of these things or selling them on Amazon. I doubt we’ll be selling these at all. We’ll probably just print off enough for ourselves to keep, and make a thread for it with pics when its done.
So relax man, its really not that serious. :wgrin: