I paid an artist for a drawing of my character. Do I own the copyright on that picture?

"Not necessarily. It's a gray area because the artist owns the copyright on the picture while, if you've done your character-creation work right and have a longer work that the character is part of, you own the copyright on your character. But the artist may own the copyright on the visual representation of that character. It's really, truly, for the best to talk about this and get it in writing before money changes hands. If you don't want the artist to have the ability to sell prints of that picture, you need to talk to the artist when you're commissioning them. Most artists are happy to assign the copyright to you, often for an additional fee to compensate for income they will not get from selling prints of the image."

Please take the time to know your rights. Read what is written in that link I provided

So, I want to go ahead and show you the contract here. This is the basic contract for both your records and mine. Print it out if you would like to...just to have something tangible.

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Date of Contract:_____________
Date to be finnished is ____________ . If the commissioner does not recieve it within this time, he is also entitled to a free sketch.

This is a contract between the commissioner John Smith and the artist Alexis Underwood.

Here is a detailed description of the artwork to be created;
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________

Is this for commercial use? yes/no

May the artist use this work for selling? yes/no

If not, then what is the compensation price? _____

Amount to be paid: ____________


Commissioner:__________________________ Artists:__________________________


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