You can read my bio, contact me, and view my illustration work at: www.coyleart.com
my other blog, for Atlanta jazz music and singing is at: www.lauracoylemusic.com
All images and content © Laura Coyle 2007
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As I type this, the copyright office is beta-testing a new online system for registering copyrights. You can read all about it here. This should really help artists get their work registered much faster than before. And less expensively too – online registrations will cost $35. (And the old-fashioned way will still be available for a $45 fee.)
Last Sunday I got a rare treat at the Waverly hotel. The great Freddy Cole dropped in for the jazz brunch and I spent a dreamy time leaning on the piano and soaking in the beauty of his singing and playing. Let me back up a bit, this blog so far has really been about illustration and what inspires me and freelance business-y things. Once I get a music site up and running, I’ll post things like this there, (note: it's now up!) but this one just can’t wait for me to get around to the music site. And it really does fall under the category of inspiration, because most artists I know are literally drawing upon the things we listen to - music fuels our creative work and over the years I’ve met quite a few artists who are also musicians.
I fall into that category too, I sing jazz. And that’s a story for another time, but my first (and only) steady gig since starting this side career has been at the Waverly Renaissance Jazz brunch in Atlanta with the Bernard Linnette quartet every Sunday morning. In the 10 months I’ve been a part of the group, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Freddy Cole drop by a few times, but this was the first time he felt inspired to sit at the piano after the gig was over, as the tables were being cleared and the brunchers had gone on their way, and wander from tune to tune. He knows a million songs and he has the most intimate, beautiful way of singing them as if the truths of life are being delivered to you from a soul who has lived them all. I could go on, but it’s better if you listen for yourself. If you aren’t already familiar with his music, check him out and buy his CDs and go see him in concert if you get a chance. The photo above is of me and Louis Heriveaux (amazing pianist) and Freddy.
And there’s another photo of Louis because he’s so photogenic. Once I get my other site up, I’ll have more pictures with the other members of the quartet, Craig Shaw, bass and the renowned Bernard Linnette, drummer and leader. I have to pinch myself when I think of how lucky I am to be in such good company.
this is the final part of a multi-entry post on streamlining your copyright registration process. See part 1 or part 2, or click on the copyrights category at the right to see all the entries together.
Here are some things I try to do to keep things rolling along:
Keep a copyright binder. (You could do this with folders in a file cabinet too) My 3 ring binder holds copies of each registration group I submit, with copies of the forms and b&w copies of the art (I put my check stub and FedEx airbill copy in there too). When the certificate finally arrives from the copyright office, I put it with it’s group (see part 1 on registering groups of art). I keep a log page at the front of the binder for quick reference. Tabs separate the groups and the whole binder can contain a year or two’s worth of art.
Make a step by step list. I’ve made a pages file (or word doc) of my procedure, so I have the instructions handy when I’m ready to work on copyrights. It's too easy to forget the details of anything systematic like this. Now I have it all written down and don’t have to waste any time thinking, I just move through the steps. I keep this procedure list in the folder with my copyright forms.
Folder system. On my hard drive, I have a “copyrights” folder that contains 3 subfolders:
“forms/procedures” (see above and part 1)
“to be registered” - in this folder I drop art as I finish it, so it can accumulate for a future group registration.
“current registrations” - I drop my finished group of art files here, but only after I have mailed it off to the copyright office. Eventually I will delete these folders, once I have my registration certificate arrives, because this is just a redundant set of art files, but it’s good to have them in case the copyright office calls or mails me with a question and I need to look something up.
The trick to keeping things from piling up: When I have 10 minutes to spare during the week, I just visit the "to be registered" folder and start labeling the artwork with titles, or print out deposit copies. I like to keep a fed ex envelope somewhere near my desk, so I can drop the hard copies there.
It’s amazing how much copyright filing work you can get done with a little 10 minute burst here and there. I just pay a visit to my binder, my copyrights folder, or my fedex envelope every once in a while. And it adds up!
I hope this helps to make registering the copyright to your artwork a little easier!
By the way,I’d love to hear from anyone who has a comment or a suggestion from their own copyrighting experience.
Add another blog to your bookmarks, this one is a lot of fun, and full of information on digital scrapbooking and working with Photoshop! Meet my friend, and fellow Atlantan Renee Pearson.
Her design work is beautiful and she is a star author and instructor in the world of digital scrapbooking.
One post I've bookmarked and plan to use myself is Renee's entry on favicons. She tells you step by step how to create and use them. A new trick! Have fun.
I popped in Saturday for a look around this Atlanta institution. Not my first time here, a couple of years ago I helped a client who manufactures adorable doggie kits man her booth here, but it’s my first time since making my foray into art licensing. So it was fun to see some of the exciting products making their way out into the world and get a sense of this aspect of the business. There were many beautiful and clever things to see – and just one day for me to take it all in. The Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market is held every January and July.
My husband is an architect, so we spent as much time there talking about the building as anything else. This is a product of the famous Atlanta developer/architect John Portman. Growing up here, you get to know him as a household name. In downtown Atlanta you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting one of his buildings. I’m going to go out on a limb and say I’d actually like to throw rocks at his buildings.
The design of the Atlanta Mart buildings originated in the 60’s, but I don’t know when this atrium was built. It has that special 60's brutalist concrete thing going on. If I could make one quick little change in it right away, it would be to remove the blinking lightbulb trim. (oh I know this sounds picky, you thought I was about to throw rocks, but have you seen it?)
There is a decorative strip of bare light bulbs that runs down the center of the ceiling above every escalator in this space. So if it’s not enough that you are a little visually overwhelmed by all the displays you’ve been looking at all day, you can ride the escalator from floor to floor and have your memory erased by the flashing lights pulsing above you. It seems like something that, in it’s day, was a “playful” detail (I think I’ve seen this over at the Peachtree Plaza too) but now it’s kinda weird, and not in a good way.
As for 60's weird in a good way... I tivo'd designer Todd Oldham as guest programmer on TCM (my favorite channel in the universe) with host Robert Osborne (my secret crush) as they screened "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" And finally got to watch it this weekend. I agree with Todd Oldham that the costumes are fabulous, and I can see what a huge influence this movie has had on everybody, most of all Quentin Tarantino. And the campy dialog! "What a hunk a stuff!" very fun watching. Robert Osborne was not convinced though, I could tell.
This is part of a multi-entry post on my copyright registration process. See part 1 here, or click the copyright category to your right, to see all posts in this series.
As I finish a new piece of art, I drop a copy of the file in my “to be registered” folder. Once I’ve accumulated a group of works (before publication) I assign the group a title, usually something like: “Laura Coyle Unpublished Illustrations, July 2007”
As I get ready to register the group, I add a label to each Illustrator file, somewhere below the artwork, that includes the title of the group and the number and title of each individual piece. The label might read something like this:
Laura Coyle Unpublished Illustrations, June 2007
1. Ducks In a Row
©Laura Coyle 2007 www.coyleart.com
(for each subsequent label, I just change the number and title of the piece)
After my files are labeled, I make a color ink jet copy of each piece to send to the copyright office, as well as a b&w copy that I will keep as a record in my copyright binder.
Now I’m ready to fill out the forms (Form VA and Form CON) You can type directly on the pdf form and print copies to save them, or print the forms and fill them out by hand.
Form VA: In space 1 I put the group title (for example: “Laura Coyle Unpublished Illustrations, June 2007”) and "illustrations" in the blank marked "nature of the work." This is unpublished work, so I move to space 2a and fill in my name and other information, checking the box for 2-dimensional artwork. Next I fill in space 3a (skipping 3b for unpublished work), and then I fill in space 4. I skip down to 7b, enter my contact info and then in space 8, I check the author box, fill out the rest of spaces 8 and 9, sign, and I’m done! (almost done, on to Form CON)
Form CON: This is a "continuation form," so it gives you extra room to add to a space you filled out in form VA. In this case, I need to add information to Form VA’s space 1, the title of the work, so now I can include the numbers and titles of all the individual pieces within my group. First, I fill out space A with my title from Form VA (“Laura Coyle Unpublished Illustrations, July 2007”) and my name and address. Then I skip to space C - the big blank area - and check the box marked “space 1.” Next I add my long title, which is the group title followed by the numbers and titles of the individual pieces in the group. Like this:
“Laura Coyle Unpublished Illustrations, July 2007 1. Ducks In a Row 2. Golf, 3. Yodelling, 4. Flip Flops”
Finally I fill in my address at the bottom and done! (almost) I print out 2 sets of the forms. One for me, one for the gov’ment. They like you to clip the VA form to the CON form and fold them together before submitting them.
Then everything goes in a FedEx envelope, my forms, my artwork copies and my check for $45.00. Arrivederci!
That wasn't too bad. I give myself a pat on the back. Months from now, I'll receive a copyright certificate in the mail, but these pieces are considered registered when the copyright office receives them.
To be continued.
Yes, It’s a dirty job, but you just got to do it! I used to dread registering copyrights as it is yet another arduous task that forces me to deal with confusing government forms. Meanwhile my unregistered art kept piling up like the laundry. But I found a way to clean up and streamline the process enough to ensure that I actually get this bit of important work done as painlessly as possible. This will be a multi-entry post that takes you through my registration process and I hope it will be helpful to those who haven’t already established the habit of registering your artwork.
For some background information, if you are new to copyright registration, or if you are wondering, “why bother?” check out this pdf on the Illustrators Partnership website. I learned a lot of my process from them, and this group is on top of things of concern to artists like the (scary) proposed orphan works legislation. (note: I've updated this post with a link to current status of the legislation on the ASMP site)
These are the steps I use to make sure I stay on top of my copyrights:
First, I keep a folder on my computer, labeled “copyright©” (option g on the mac = ©)
it contains 3 subfolders: 01forms/procedures, 02current registrations, 03to be registered (the numbers just make the folders fall in the order I want them in). For this post, I’ll start with the forms/procedures folder.
You’ll need 3 pdfs from the a copyright office. Go to this page and get a copy of Form VA, Form CON, Form GR/CP
The key to simplifying the process is registering your work in groups as much as possible. For more information on this, read this circular from the copyright office (page 4, "Registration for 2 or More Works With One Application and Fee")
I register groups of artwork in 2 ways:
1. Throughout the year I register most pieces of art in groups as “unpublished” before they are actually printed by clients. For this I use Form VA (visual arts) plus Form CON (continuation form)
2. Once a year, I register all illustrations I did for magazines and newspapers the previous year in one big group using Form VA plus Form GR/CP (group registration/contribution to periodicals)
Anything that has slipped through my system and has already been published by the time I’m ready to register (and doesn’t qualify as a contribution to periodicals), will need to be registered as an individual work. Since each registration costs $45, I try to avoid this as much as possible. Ouch! That could really add up.
So gather your copyright forms and make some folders on your hard drive! More to come.
Jay Montgomery is a fellow Atlanta illustrator with amazing photoshop skills. He created this video of a work in progress and it's fascinating to see his illustration unfold from concept sketches to final art at high speed.
It's a little hot here in ATL. Why not watch Esther Williams splash around?
I love this one! Here's a 
