Hello, I collect Wicked + Divine commissions from comic book artists I like. This is just for my personal collection because I like the book and characters. I reached out to one artist for a commission, but he said he fears lawsuits from doing commissions of comic creators owned by indie creators. Do comic artists risk lawsuits if they accept a personal commission to illustrate one of your characters for someone's personal collection? I just want to make sure I am doing things right. Thank you.
Anonymous
Strictly speaking, anyone doing commissions of IP they don’t own is risking being sued. In practise, everyone does it and it’s an accepted part of comics culture. I can’t see any time we’d sue someone for just doing a commission of our work. I take it as a compliment, and love seeing other folks’ take.
To be honest: if I were this artist I’d be more afraid of non-indie creators. Sure, the big companies have shown a blind eye to it, but corporate positions change, and if they did, they have lawyers.