Artwork For Embroidery
Often you see terms like limited artwork or exclusive artwork on designer's websites. Other times you see the same artwork digitized on many different websites. Have you ever wondered what all this means?
In this article we will define the different types of artwork as it relates to digitizing.
Copyrights and Artwork
Let's start with copyrights and artwork. All artwork is copyrighted by the artist. When searching the internet for artwork, designers must be careful to follow the artist's terms of use. Some artwork is provided free or for a low cost. Purchasing artwork for digitizing embroidery designs may require special permission even in the case of purchased artwork. Some artists sell their work exclusively for scrap booking or other non embroidery related ventures. Care must be taken by the designer to get full permission from the artist to digitize artwork to sell as embroidery designs.
There are three basic types of artwork, general, limited edition, and exclusive.
General Artwork
General artwork is available for any digitizer to use. This is the artwork you find on many different web sites. Each designer digitizes the artwork in their own manner and style, but it is the same artwork. This artwork can be free, but often there is a small fee to use it.
Limited Edition Artwork
Limited edition artwork is available to a small number of designers. A digitizer pays a fee which allows them and a small group of others to use the artwork for embroidery designs. This fee is mid-range because the artwork is available to limited number of designers.
Exclusive artwork
Exclusive artwork is purchased by one designer to digitize as embroidery designs. The fee for this type of artwork is comparatively high. But the designs will be original to one designer and can not be digitized by any other.
Royalty Fees
Another thing designers have to consider about artwork is royalty fees. Some artists require a fee for every set of designs sold that is created from their artwork. This is in addition to the fee to purchase the artwork. It is much like the music industry. Every time a radio station plays a song a royalty fee is paid to the artist.
Artwork is just one small part of the formula of pricing embroidery designs. However you can expect to pay more for designs from limited edition and exclusive artwork because the designer has to pay more to the artist.
Designers that purchase limited and exclusive artwork to digitize are buying with their customers in mind. They want to provide something unique to embroiderers and hope that the investment in artwork is rewarded by many customers.
Lyn Christian - A Design By Lyn
Bonnie Domeny - Threadlove Embroidery