Beware Contracts & Agreements

Just another reminder to ALWAYS read any contracts you're asked to sign. Last week I had a client, one I have worked with for over a year now, tell me, "We need you to sign a NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT." Meaning, basically, that I do not discuss the project with anyone. Because of the nature of the project I had no problem with agreeing to this.___But once I got home and looked at the contract I first realized it was five pages long, which in my experience is awfully long for a NON-DISCLOSURE. This sent up a warning flag. I read through the contract and had my suspicions justified when in the VERY LAST section I discovered the lovely old WORK FOR HIRE buried deep within all the legal mumbo-jumbo. I contacted the client and told them, politely but in no uncertain terms, first, what they had given me was not a NON-DISCLOSURE as they had made clear that it was and if signing a WORK FOR HIRE was the only way we could work together, then I would not be able to work with them. Surprisingly, the client did not deny the WORK FOR HIRE but said, "Yeah, I thought that was excessive, too."___ They sent me a NON-DISCLOSURE form that afternoon.___I am glad I will still be working for this client but it is obvious to me that if I had not caught that WORK FOR HIRE buried in that first contract, they would not have shared that on their own.___ So just be careful what you sign

Sunshine Week Cartoons

Members of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists participate every year in National Sunshine Week, celebrating the public's right to know. Given the increasing secrecy of government (both national and local) it is more important than ever to have an informed, involved citizenry.

I have posted the Sunshine Week web site so that you can take a look at some of the cartoons that have been sent in. More will be coming in the next few days

http://www.sunshineweek.org/sunshineweek/cartoons08

Minnesota Division Judging

Just a reminder that the second and last stage of our chapter divisional judging will take place tomorrow, Saturday the 8th, at my place at 4:00 pm. Come earlier or later if it suits your schedule. We have 17 total applicants and most have only one book, so it's not going to be a massive, time consuming process. I do want to know who will be here and when so please email me at tom@tomrichmond.com and let me know you are coming. For those who need it I will give you directions to get here.

Division Award Judging Underway

Kansas City chapter members had first whack at the book illustration division entries this year. Those of us who could gathered at the glamorous Harvey House Diner in Union Station to review the entries and cast our votes.














Eric Scott, Oliver Christianson, Bill Brewer, Kevin Ahern, Bill Whitehead, and Ted Goff shared an afternoon repast before debating the merits of the many entries.

















We gave serious consideration to every entry. Even Bucky's. (Actually, I think Bucky's entry deserves an award and division all it's own.)

The votes were recorded, and the entries were boxed up to be shipped to Tom Richmond for another group of chapter members to review and judge in Minnesota. Some very fine work!

Geez, I knew this would happen...

For Tom and Paul. Enjoy guys. (And no, Tom, the pipe-smoking Mystery Writer isn't your mom.)

MN Judging Meeting Date Change

Due to scheduling conflicts, the date for the MN meeting to judge our Reuben divisional awards is changing from Saturday, March 3rd to Saturday, March 8th at 4:00 pm. I hope this will allo a few more area members to make it to the judging.

The Kansas City meeting may take place first as a result. Please check back here or look for an announcement via e-mail soon.

At 221B Baker Street

I see that Sherlock Holmes is appearing on the Chapter blog with a degree of frequency these days. That said, I thought, as a member of the Nebraska/Iowa chapter of the Baker Street Irregulars, I would throw my hat into this "Red Circle". The game is afoot. - Edholm

Book Division Judging

The NCS North Central Chapter will conduct it's 2008 divisional Reuben judging for the "Book Illustration" category in two separate get-togethers in the next few weeks. We have received a fair number of entries already with two days to go before the deadline. No doubt there will be a flood of last minute entries, as we all know how prompt and ahead of schedule cartoonists are...

Judging meeting 1: Held at my house, Saturday March 1st starting at 1:00 pm. Refreshments will be served. All current members of the NCC are welcome to attend and participate in the judging. Please e-mail me for more details and for directions.

Judging meeting 2: Held in Kansas City area, date, time and location TBA.

The details and procedures of the judging will be explained at the individual meetings. The KC results will be sent to me and combined with the earlier meeting's results to give us the final verdict of the chapter. Then the top four finalists and their books will be sent to the NCS national rep for ratification and it will all be official.

Please contact me ASAP if you will be attending here in Burnsville for the first meeting. If you can find way to attend please do... this is one of the most important functions a chapter has with respect to the NCS and our profession as a whole. I hope to see a good turn out.... Anna is baking cookies.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to all in The North Central Chapter!!

Something Fun...

I posted about this on my blog today, but I thought I'd share it here as it's kind of unusual. I did this piece of art for an audiobook company for their collection of Sherlock Holmes audiobooks:


and a loosely associated company asked permission to produce a sculpted resin pen based on the art:


It's interesting to see a sculptor's 3-d interpretation of a strictly 2-d piece of art. I thought it turned out pretty good.