cranberry
Hero
Illustrators don't get paid every time their artwork is used?
D&D General D&D: Literally Don't Understand This
- Thread starter GothmogIV
- Start date
That'd depend on the agreement between creator and company, but it'd be quite unusual. Commissioning a piece of art isn't like syndication on television- you pay the artist, the art is now yours to do with as you please (for the most part).
Cergorach
The Laughing One
Does the lineworker that made assembled your phone get paid every time you make a call? For a corporation like Hasbro it's way saver and cheaper to just pay the artist for their work without royalties. Cheaper because if they have to pay royalties they need to keep a whole administration to keep paying the artist/writer...
Scribe
Legend
Almost certainly not.
cranberry
Hero
I don't think that's a good analogy. When I asked that question, I was thinking of actors and singers who often get royalties for their work. I think an illustrator is closer to those than an assembly line worker.
Remathilis
Legend
Depends. Some older artwork does have a syndication stipulation (a lot of old Magic cards did this, which is why they stopped using old art on new cards) but I'm sure since the 2000s all D&D and MTG art is bought with full rights to reproduce eternally (with the artist retaining limited rights to sell prints and to request the art not me used in a way that could hurt the artists reputation, such as in racist or sexist ways). So WotC owns that art and can put it in every book forever if they want, the artist got paid a flat fee for the commission and rights.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
They're using art from an adventure in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel -- possessed people in a carnivale-style parade -- to make a Taylor Swift joke, referencing her new Showgirl album.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
You would be wrong. Swifties are all over Twitter.
Her primary demographic is Millennials, who are in their 30s and 40s.
Also, pre-Musk, D&D Twitter was an extremely big deal. Even after a lot of those folks split for Bluesky, there's still plenty of D&D chatter there.
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Cergorach
The Laughing One
Quite a few actors get a flat fee, regardless of how well the movie/tv series does. Singers are a special case due to how music is distributed these days. But back in the day of records, tapes, and CDs, many music makers only got paid a flat fee. And even if they got a royalty, record companies would generally add so many small text that in the end they owed the record company money...
I think you're mistaken, an illustrator is an assembly line worker in the graphics field. Only a select few actually get famous enough to get different deals, but often only later in their career, generally when they leave the pnp RPG industry. Very few can function like a Larry Elmore or Jeff Easley.
I seriously doubt that Tony DiTerlizzi got royalties for his work on Planescape, otherwise WotC is doing a TON of administration every time a PS PDF is sold on DMsguild...
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him) 🇺🇦🇵🇸🏳️⚧️
Back in the days of records, tapes, and CD - most artists got more of a royalty than they get off of streaming these days - particularly if they had the song-writing credits on a track that plays often and gets covered by other artists on their own albums.
What kept a lot of artists screwed for money was the way they'd be paid an advance for making their records - take too much time in the studio birthing that record and that advance could be gone - other payments would kick in after the album made back that advance in sales. Plus, any expenses incurred on tour was generally paid by the artists out of the amount they were making to tour - roadies, trashed hotel rooms, etc. So that's how the Van Halen brothers were still living with their parents until a couple of albums were under their belts.
