CARTOON PERMISSIONS REQUEST FOR LICENSING CARTOONS

Cartoon Permissions

Cartoon permissions are basically a request to license cartoons by an editor at a publishing company. These editors usually come with a title such as picture editor, photo editor or photo researcher. If for instance a cartoonist has a cartoon that appears in a magazine, it could very well be found or seen by one of these editors who are usually assigned to research content for a book project or text book that is being planned.

Cartoon permissions and licensing fees vary based on usage

It is then the responsibility of that editor to find the creator of the cartoon and request permission to publish that cartoon in the publishing project that is being planned.

Licensing cartoons involves various rights

Freelance cartoonists need to be aware of cartoon copyrights and copyright law since the usage applied to their cartoons when used in such projects can vary. These variables include “all rights“, “electronic publishing rights“, “world publishing rights“, “one time publishing rights” and others. Most of these larger and even smaller publishing companies have contracts they will present, along with the initial permissions request.

Cartoonists should be aware of all rights applied to using cartoons

It is to the benefit of the artist to consider all of the clauses and the cartoonist can usually negotiate specific aspects to the rights since most editors I have found, can be flexible and very considerate if the modifications to certain rights are requested in a clear and concise way.

Communication is key, so it’s a given that most editors and cartoonists working together in this way, will come to an amicable agreement in an expeditious manner. Negotiating copyrights can be easy, and they’ll only become difficult if the lines of communication aren’t open. If you need to verbally speak to an editor, call them on the phone to discuss things further. But overall, I’ve followed a simple discipline when negotiating cartoon permissions for my work that has always been easy and simple.

This type of licensing is unique, and unlike character licensing or requesting permission from a large operation such as Universal Press Syndicate, the inquiry involves the actual creator or freelance cartoonist whose work appears in some digital or hard copy form of print.