Help:Artists

The Coppermind takes great care in fostering a respectful relationship with all of the artists whose work is used on the site. At the heart of this relationship is the effort we put in making sure we represent all artists exactly the way they wish be represented - we ask for permission to use their art, we credit them the way they want to be credited, and we respect their wishes even if they lead to us removing some art from the site.

To keep track of the dozens of artists and hundreds of pieces of art on file, we give each artist a dedicated page under Coppermind:Artists. We use this page to keep track of the kind of usage agreement or license we have with the artist, their art we use, and how to get in touch with them.

This help page will help you understand the relationship between the artists of the community and the Coppermind, as well as show you how to contact them and create their pages.

Artist Pages

Each artist page covers the any number of the following, with only the License section being mandatory.

Bio

We give artists a chance to introduce themselves to the community, and this is the section for it. Not every artist will be interested in this, and that's fine.

If the artist you are communicating with provides a bio, bold their name(s) or alias(es) the first time they they appear. If the bio is written in first person, use the {{Quote}} template to give it a more authentic feeling. For example:

Dandos Heraldin, also known as Dandos the Oilsworn, was a master artist with pencils on Roshar.

or

Artistic prodigy and a master with the pencil, I am among the best on Roshar

—Dandos Heraldin

Links

Put the artist's website(s) and social media account(s) in a bulleted list here. Avoid including websites the artist hasn't told you about - often times they consider those websites outdated or of insufficient quality.

License

Describe the kind of license or usage permission the Coppermind has when it comes the artist's works.

For consistency, simply copy one of the lines below if possible.

  • The Coppermind has permission to use all of the artist's art, but they would like to be notified whenever a new art piece is featured on the wiki.
    • Delete the part about the notification if they don't want one.
  • The Coppermind has permission to use all of the artist's art uploaded prior to March 29, 2024. Any art pieces uploaded later than that date require their explicit permission.
    • The date in this updates automatically.
  • The Coppermind has permission to use only art pieces the artist has given explicit permission for.
  • The Coppermind does not have permission to use the artist's art.

If you are denied permission, either for specific art pieces or altogether, note the date and exactly which art pieces we can't use. Sometimes artists prefer not to share sketches, WIPs, or old work, but are okay with newer or better pieces. There isn't much precedent for this, so use your own discretion.

Gallery

Include a gallery with all of the artist's works uploaded to the Coppermind. Ideally this should be always up to date.

For consistency, make the gallery packed and give all images in it a height of 150px.

If the artist has a lot of art on the Coppermind you may want to create multiple galleries on the page and give them a caption to differentiate between them.

Auto-updating Galleries

You can use a MediaWiki gadget to make galleries on artist pages pull any new art from the artist whenever you edit the page. Enable the Automatically fill in the details on new Coppermind: Artists subpages gadget under Preferences > Gadgets

Contact

It is important to have an up-to-date way of reaching out to artists, especially ones who require explicit permission for each of their art pieces. Make sure you don't accidentally reveal a personal email or another private account of the artist! If you are given anything that's not obviously public (e.g. email address or Discord ID), make sure the artist is comfortable sharing that with the world. Sometimes artists will offer a more direct contact method to the person who reached out to them, but would choose not to reveal that on their page; if this happens, check if the artist agrees to sharing this with the Coppermind Staff, and if they do - contact a Keeper so a record can be made.

For consistency, here are some contact form templates:

  • The artist can be contacted via email at '''<email>'''.
  • The artist can be contacted on their Twitter/Tumblr/ArtStation/DeviantArt/Facebook/Instagram account.
    • If you use this, make sure the account listed is linked either in the Links section or here.
  • The artist can be contacted via email but has not disclosed it publicly. Contact a Keeper on the [https://discord.gg/KEv3fhN Coppermind Discord] server and discuss with them how to get in touch with the artist.
  • The artist has not disclosed public contact information. Contact a Keeper on the [https://discord.gg/KEv3fhN Coppermind Discord] server and discuss with them how to get in touch with the artist.

For reference, here are the permanent invite links to the #coppermind channel of the 17th Shard Discord server, and the Coppermind Editors server:

  • [https://discord.gg/zn4rU5Q 17th Shard Discord]
  • [https://discord.gg/KEv3fhN Coppermind Discord]

Contacting New Artists

The best way to get all the information we need is by simply expressing interest in uploading the artist's work to the Coppermind and sending them the Google Form below as a way of both gathering their response and answering most questions they might have. There's a simple message template below as well, though it's best if you customize it a little bit for each artist you send it to.

Google Form

This Form should guide the artist you are contacting through all the information we need, as well as explain why we need it and how we'll use it.

http://bit.ly/CoppermindArtistPage

or the non-Bitly version:

https://forms.gle/YbfvndaYdkHMsr479

Currently, form submission go to User: Argent, so get in touch with him.

Message Template

Hello!

I am an editor for the Coppermind (a Brandon Sanderson fan-wiki, you can find it here: https://coppermind.net/ ), reaching out to you because I would like to feature some of your art on the website - and I want to get your permission first.

If this is something you are interested in, I've set up a Google Form (here: http://bit.ly/CoppermindArtistPage ) you can use to specify things like how you wish to be credited and which of your artworks we can use. You can also find out some details about how we are and aren't going to use your art.

Thanks!


Page Template

When creating a new artist page you can just copy and paste the text below to get started:

{{artist
|image=
|alias=
|as=
|behance=
|da=
|fb=
|ig=
|reddit=
|tumblr=
|twitter=
|site=
|license=all|some|tentative|none|official
|contact=
|type=fan|interior|cover|multimedia
}}

<!--This is where the bio goes. If the artist is not interested in providing a bio, delete this. -->

<br style="clear:right;"/>
== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed" heights=200px>
</gallery>

{{meta/done}}

For details on the infobox template, see {{artist}}.