Business and Legal Forms for Illustrators [Paperback]

Tad Crawford (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1581153643 | ISBN-13: 978-1581153644 | Publication Date: August 1, 2004

Containing 25 of the most essential business and legal forms to meet the everyday needs of today's successful illustrator, this updated edition includes new forms for trademark application, commercial lease, sublease, and lease assignment agreements. Unique negotiation checklists will guide illustrators to make the best deal.



• "Belongs within easy reach of every working artist."--Graphic Artists Guild News

• Includes a CD-ROM with electronic versions of the forms in Word and WordPerfect

• Advertising in Communication Arts and Graphic Artist Guild News

• This replaces 1-58115-008-3

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Tad Crawford's Business and Legal Forms for Illustrators is such an extremely useful book that it belongs within easy reach of every working artist. . ." -- Graphic Artists Guild --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Tad Crawford, Publisher for Allworth Press in New York City, graduated from Columbia Law School, clerked on New York State’s highest court, and served as general counsel for the Graphic Artists Guild when he practiced as an attorney. He originated the course titled “Law and the Visual Artist” at the School of Visual Arts and wrote Legal Guide for the Visual Artist (now in its fifth edition) to serve as the text. He is the author or coauthor of more than a dozen books, including Starting Your Career as a Freelance Photographer, The Graphic Design Business Book, Business and Legal Forms for Fine Artists, and Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers. He lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Allworth Press (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581153643
• ISBN-13: 978-1581153644
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #219,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Law > Law Practice > Legal Services
  • #76 in Books > Arts & Photography > Business of Art

More About the Author

Allworth Press publisher and founder Tad Crawford is an author, attorney, and artists' rights advocate.

Born in New York City, Crawford grew up in the artists colony of Woodstock, New York. Interested in writing both fiction and nonfiction, he majored in economics at Tufts College and graduated from Columbia Law School in February 1971. ("That explains the unusual amalgam of my activities," Crawford says. "A lot of legal skills are crucial for helping the artist and for running a publishing company. Of course, writing is an excellent background for publishing. So it's come together very well.")

Crawford clerked for a judge of the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, then went to work for a small general law firm in New York City while writing and teaching writing and literature at the School of Visual Arts. Until he took the teaching assignment at the School of Visual Arts and learned of the need for materials to help artists understand their rights, he had not envisioned being an advocate of artists' rights.

"I found nothing in print to help artists deal with such legal matters as copyrights, contracts, income taxes, the 'hobby loss' problem, estate planning, or even how to get grants," recalls Crawford. And so, responding to what he saw as "an extreme need," he wrote a book dealing with those and other relevant issues, titling it Legal Guide for the Visual Artist and using it as a text for the "Law and the Visual Artist" course that he taught at the School of Visual Arts. Published in 1977, Legal Guide for the Visual Artist is now in its fourth edition and has one hundred thousand copies in print.

He followed this with The Writer's Legal Guide in 1978 (which has been updated and reissued with The Authors Guild as co-publisher and Kay Murray, the General Counsel for the Authors Guild, as co-author). With Arie Kopelman he wrote Selling Your Photography in 1980 and Selling Your Graphic Design and Illustration in 1981. At the same time Crawford served as Chairman of the Board for the Foundation for the Community of Artists, legislative counsel for the Copyright Justice Coalition (which had many arts groups as members), and general counsel for the Graphic Artists Guild. In 1982 Crawford was asked to help publish books for some of the organizations that he had represented as an attorney. In response, he became publisher of Madison Square Press, which issued annuals for such artists'organizations as the Society of Illustrators, the Society of Publication Designers, the Art Directors Club of New York, and the Art Directors Club of Los Angeles.

In 1988 he decided to strike out in a new direction, "to create a press that would offer the kind of information that was more like what I had taught, written about, and lobbied for." Crawford saw the need for a publishing company that would provide practical information to creative professionals, such as artists, photographers, designers, and authors. He knew first hand the issues faced every day by such creative people and could envision a spectrum of books to help them survive and prosper professionally.

In the Fall of 1989, Crawford published Allworth Press's first book, a revised edition of his classic Legal Guide for the Visual Artist. Ten more titles followed in 1990, offering information about marketing, promotion, pricing, copyright, contracts, health and safety, and much more. The first edition of Business and Legal Forms for Photographers was published in 1991. "The information in these books,"Crawford says, "can make all the difference in terms of success and prosperity." Today Allworth Press has a backlist of more than 250 books, publishes 12-15 books annually, and employs a staff of six very talented people.

Crawford's last involvement as an active lobbyist was in 1986, and he's given up active practice of the law to devote his energies to his publishing and his writing. The full list of books that he has authored follows:

AIGA Professional Practices in Graphic Design (editor)
The Artist-Gallery Partnership (with Susan Mellon)
Business and Legal Forms for Crafts
Business and Legal Forms for Fine Artists
Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers (with Eva Doman Bruck)
Business and Legal Forms for Illustrators
Business and Legal Forms for Interior Designers (with Eva Doman Bruck)
Business and Legal Forms for Industrial Designers (with Eva Doman Bruck and Carl W. Battle)
Business and Legal Forms for Photographers
Legal Guide for the Visual Artist
The Money Mentor
The Secret Life of Money
Selling Your Photography (with Arie Kopelman)
Selling Your Graphic Design and Illustration (with Arie Kopelman)
Starting Your Career as a Freelance Photographer
The Writer's Legal Guide (with Kay Murray)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great value!, April 15, 2000

By 

Barbara Burnett "kheitl" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Business and Legal Forms for Illustrators (Paperback)

Not only does this book present a wealth of practical information on the business end of illustration, but the included CD-ROM works for Macintosh users as well as Windows. The electronic versions really *work* and are easily customizable. A very well done and helpful publication.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential book for commercial artists!, December 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Business and Legal Forms for Illustrators (Paperback)

I found this book to be very helpful and well- thought-out. The author has provided an extremely powerful tool. He has thoroughly covered practically every situation a commercial artist is likely to face. This book contains 21 complete tear-out forms appropriately prepared for specific business matters such as estimates, collaboration, illustrator-agent agreement, consignment and sale of artwork just to name a few. This new revised edition conveniently includes forms on a CD-ROM. It also includes a detailed explanation on how to use each form. The legal advice found in this book will surely save you a great deal of time and money which is invaluable to any working artist. Unless you are a ''starving artist'' who works for food only, this informative legal guide will no doubt prove itself very useful and effifcient. This is truly an essential book for commercial artists!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential, June 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Business and Legal Forms for Illustrators (Paperback)

A superb book! When you consider that I downloaded a single "shareware" contract for artists that the author wanted $50 for, you realize the value of this book. And this book comes with a CD-rom with all the forms in electronic format, so you don't even have to go to the trouble to type or scan them in! This is the essential book for all graphic artists.