The paper toy network

PREVIEWS AND COLLABORATIONS...

I've noticed a lot of people putting up custom toys based on other designs (Speakerdog, Nanibird, Calling All Cars, etc...), and I wondered how the people who created the toys orginally feel about this? Should we 'sit tight' on a design until it's officially released? Can we hold in our pride on 'a job well done'?

Many of us are lucky to be invited to collaborate with other designers, which is what makes a scene truly great. It's a wonderful feeling when you see others inspired by your art and ideas, and an even more wonderful feeling when you're invited by your peers to join in.

I think this may be a big can of worms to open up, but it would be great to see what our community thinks and feels about it...

Cheers!

Tags: artwork, collaborations, previews, sharing

Attachments:

speakerdog close up.jpg, 158 KB
old man car 3.jpg, 111 KB

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Scott Schaller on July 1, 2009 at 1:57pm: I usually ask the person first if it is okay to post on the blog. So far, everyone has been cool about it. All artists want their work to be seen, even if the canvas is a blank toy template. I don't think too many of us do this ONLY for ourselves. We are part of this to share our love for paper toys - from building them to customizing them to designing our own. I have not released my own templates yet, but when I do (and it is coming) I will not have a problem with other artists sharing their interpretations. I hope other feel like I will, it is the ultimate complement when someone gives up their valuable time to make something out of my design. I only ask that everyone respect the template designer and let them know what you have done with their idea. In the end, if you don't want to see your template with another person's art on it, then you shouldn't hand out the blank to begin with.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Marshall Alexander on July 2, 2009 at 3:40am: I agree with Scott.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by papermate on July 2, 2009 at 4:23am: Ha-ha! It's cool!!! Let's wait for 31of July and we'll see more fine Speakerdog customs, and your custom is very good. Is it a TV-set?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Harlancore on July 3, 2009 at 3:33pm: "If you don't want to see your template with another person's art on it, then you shouldn't hand out the blank to begin with."

- Scott's words, but my thoughts as well.

I think it is usually obvious how this should be handled. I said "usually", of course there will be the odd exception. If you are invited or offer to take part in a series, then you should not post the model until the series is posted, unless it's like Calling all Cars or Paper Totem for example, which both have been declared "Ongoing". Speakerdog, for example, is clearly a "set released at once", so you should hold on to it.

Myself, I don't care. I have no plans to ever do an artist series for Boxpunx. I made that model to give myself something to draw on, without any of these rules, restrictions, or constraints. If you want to draw on the template, you can, and post whenever and wherever. I don't even care if you send it to me or not, but I certainly HOPE you do, so I can see it! ^^

Whenever in doubt, just ask the creator. There is no hard fast rule. Just a bunch of people, each with their own ideas about how this should all work.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ben the illustrator on July 7, 2009 at 1:26am: Sweet topic. Personally I'm fine with people showing their designs or putting them on their own blogs before we release them included in a series (I'm talking about Speakerdogs by the way!). Anything that spreads the word of paper toys is fine by me.

With Speakerdogs we're pretty much always only releasing them in collections (except for one-off collabs like mine with Horrorwood recently), but of course, if these collections are a long time apart, some artists might not be able to wait to show their good design stuff, so I'm happy if they want to burst out already and go public, I'm an impatient chap too, I fully understand! Especially since we're about to launch Series 6, which includes designs that some people did last year! It's been too long since Series 5.

My one gripe though, the one thing I don't like, is when people do a design on a Speakerdog (or anyone else's template), put the template up for download on their site and DON'T credit the original paper toy designer, whoever it is, it doesn't harm you to slap a credit and a link online, so have some respect and throw it up there! And people who are included in a Series, which we've given our time and efforts to create, who again don't give credit or link to the proper Speakerdog paper toys site, or mention that there's a whole other load of designs by other artists, but instead just put the template onto their own site for download, losers!

Hmmm, that's all from me on this one, generally, if you want to go public with a design, then jump up and show your stuff!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Marshall Alexander on July 7, 2009 at 1:49am: At the customs page on my website the image of the custom Speakerdog I did links to the PDF on your site. Is that a right way to do it or should I link to the page with whole series and let people find the model by scrolling down?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ben the illustrator on July 8, 2009 at 5:11am: Hey Marshall, I don't mind, it's probably annoying for people to have to search through all the designs, knowing they're just wanting to get yours, so it's cool to link direct to the PDF for people's ease, much better. It's also good to mention that people can find other designs from the same series, and also link to the series page, but that's up to each person if they want to add more links!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Marshall Alexander on July 8, 2009 at 5:39am: Maybe it is also possible to have a URL that automatically jumps to the right position on the series page. A bit like you use the #-sign on a HTML page to jump to another spot on the same page. But that would mean you would have to tag each model entry on the series page with a tag the URL can reference.

Does anyone know if this is even possible in URL's?

Anyway, in the specific case of my customs page I will add links to the different custom series I've worked on in the bar on the right, so people can go straight to the series if they want.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Morgan Gleave on July 7, 2009 at 2:03am: WOW... I knew I'd open up a can of worms with this one!

We all want to share our art, and I wondered how other people felt about it... I agree whole-heartedly with Scott. You MUST acknowledge the original designer when creating custom pieces. In our internet world, it's so easy to drop a link in on a blog entry, or your site, so there's no excuse there...

I personally LOVE seeing what other people come up with on customs and collaborations, it's what makes our scene so exciting. Sharing work with friends and designers all over the world is incredible.

Thanks everyone for your comments and views, so far... Let's see what comes next!

PM - it's not a TeeVee... keep your eyes peeled for more sneaks soon!; ▶ Reply to This