Sample Contract for Illustrators and Graphic Designers
Yesterday I posted an article called How to Protect Yourself with a Solid Contract, where I outlined the essential elements that should be included in your contract in order to protect your business and your art. (Update: Check back tomorrow for a look at How to Scare Off a Client With Your Contract).
In order to give an example of how all those elements might look in the actual document, I thought I’d open the doors to my own Illustration business and share a copy of the contract that I use for every project. While I may make certain adjustments to customize the contract for particular clients, the basic content and layout is pretty much the same every time.
Below are links for you to download the front and back of my contract, so that you can look it over and apply what you like to your own letter of agreement. I created my contract with the guidance of my favorite book about the business of Illustration, Pricing and Ethical Guidelines by the Graphic Artists Guild, which has sample contracts and other legal documents in the back of the book. If you haven’t picked up a copy of this great resource yet, I highly recommend it.
Download a sample contract page below:
I hope you find this sample contract to be useful when writing your own. You will notice that there aren’t any bells and whistles. I like to keep things as simple and straightforward as possible whenever I can.
Is there anything missing from this sample that you include in your contract? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section of this post.
Related posts:
- How to Protect Yourself with a Solid Contract
- Things to Consider When Pricing Your Work
- What to Do About a Problem Client
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regarding the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook, I notice that the 12th (latest) edition is dated 2007. How often do these come out, and is it crucial to have the latest, greatest version, as far as business practices and pricing are concerned?
Hello Noah,
I don’t know how often the new editions come out, but I know that the Graphic Artists Guild tries to keep the information as current and relevant as possible, so they update the book when it’s necessary. I am using the latest version all the time in my business, and it is working perfectly for today’s market. Of course, you always need to customize the info in the book to apply it to every situation, but the book offers a stable starting point.
Thomas
Extremely helpful, Thomas– thanks for being so generous in sharing your approach on such an important issue. That whole area– rights, usage, what’s actually being sold, etc– is one of the murkiest an illustrator has to deal with. Thanks for shining a little light in that area.
You’re very welcome, Mark. I’ll be going into greater detail on some of the topics you mentioned in the future. Thanks for posting!
Thomas
Thanks a lot for sharing this!
In fact I found all your site very interesting, the amount of information is amazing and very very helpful. I’ll add your link in my blog.
Wow! Thank you so much for this! You have no idea how long I’ve been looking for such information. That goes for the whole site!
Thanks, and welcome to EFII. Lots more where this came from!
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for sharing this sample contract, I’m new to all this so I really appreciate the advice and help you’ve provided on this! A question about yours: You don’t have a project price on there, but instead a ‘fee of rights granted’ : is that the same thing for you? Do you call it that because in essence you’re doing the job for the price of these rights? (that is, in a way, what an illustrator is selling in a job, in the best case scenario, since they get to keep the original artwork).
Thanks,
Mia
The 13th Edition of the GAG Pricing and Ethical Guidelines Handbook is out! The information is pretty much the same, with a few adjustments for prices since 2007, as well as the addition of several new pricing categories for new(er) media and publication methods!
I’m building my very first illustration contract for a client around the GAG one as well, very helpful!
Just quick heads up there is a typo in the back page of your contract of the word ‘agreement’ in 5. Payment. Not trying to nitpick but just letting you know. Your contract has been really helpful as i write up my own. Thanks Thomas!
Thank you for providing your contract as a reference for those of us just getting started.
Could you give an example of what exactly you might list as the Rights Transferred? The rights to use your work in their children’s book?
Also, I see duration of usage is listed. Is is normal to have an end date for usage of your illustrations?
And also one more time, do you recommend keeping the ownership to your illustrations? What do you charge if you sell those rights?
Thank you again,
Kim