One problem which needs to be solved though, provided SB decides to go along with your proposal, is how to disburse the compensation when more than one artist is credited. Would it still be 50/50, I e 50% to SB, and the remainder split 25/25, that is $7.50 per artist, and what would happen if one artist in a colab effort but not the other (-s) would ask for a higher compensation. Would then this agreement be extended to the remaining artists for the same artwork?
Remember Rule #1
If there's more than one artist, then the two of them agree between them how much each should get. And the amount of money may not be the same next time. Larger ships are more work for the artist than smaller ones. As a point of comparison, our staff artist is paid by the hour - I don't know how much it is, but he's very good.
Now I have to ask a question.
Let's remember that according to the fair-use agreement, Larry can use the drawing as long as it's credited properly and remains in the template. In the staff forum, Hood nailed it when he said that any publication is going to "make money", and again, it's not like the ship is the entire focus of the war game. I didn't understand the rationale for its use until it was explained in depth. Since it's one drawing on one page of a 180-page manual, don't think it's that big of a deal. As long as it's credited and remains in the original template (within reason).
If Larry wants to reimburse Novice for the image, that's where we run into the problems.
Colesseum referred to "Fair Use." As I understand it here in the US, Fair Use is a description posted by an individual or group defining (within guidelines) when work can be used without payment. For example, Google Earth images can can be used freely (and I have used them) as long as the logo in the lower right corner is displayed. It can't be cropped out.
If there is a set of Fair Use standards for Shipbucket, are they posted anywhere? And I thought that because Clash of Arms is a business, sellng its products, Fair Use didn't apply.
Only fear I have for the whole issue is that by someway agreeing to publish our drawings in some book will transfer the copyright of our work to the publisher that would in someways prevent us rest use those drawings as the fair use agreement allows.
That is definitely NOT the case. Rights are not transferred from one person to another unless they are expressly stated. Only those rights agreed to by both parties are transferred. For example, our agreement with Novice could say, "grants permission to use drawing xxx in Bywater's War." I can't do another thing with the image without going back to Novice and asking again.
Second question: Several members have referred to the "template." Is this another word for the standard format used by all the drawings - the scale across the top, the name in the upper right, etc? To be honest, the scale bar on the dummy page has been shrunk so that it cannot be read. I wouldn't mind cropping it out of the image. On the other hand, there's room for me to make the aircraft bigger so they can be seen better. Would that be a problem, even though it makes the image clearer (in this case)?
Regarding the issue of receiving payment: From my point of view, this is something I do all the time, requesting permissions, and sometimes paying for images. Some rights holders just want to make sure that they are properly credited. Some want so much money that they are too expensive for us to use.
There are many people whose hobby has value to another person. I like to build scale models, and I'm pretty good at it. One of my friends can't build models very well, so he asked me to build some kits for him. My compensation was to get one of his other unbuilt kits for every one I built for him. All mutually agreed to.
Compensation is simply a way of acknowledging the value of an artist's work. It can be publicity, merchandise, money, or anything else that both sides agree to. I doubt that anyone in SB will get rich selling their art. It's not about turning SB into a business, but about getting SB drawings out to a wider audience, while respecting the value of the artist's work.
By the way, it's customary to send the artist a free copy of whatever publication his work appears in.