Help:Artists

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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 maintain a list of people we've contact on Coppermind:Artists. Each artist we've contacted gets a page dedicated to them and their art (regardless of whether they've given us permission to use their art or not; if they haven't, future editors will still want to know about it and not contact the artist repeatedly), and 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 aid you in reaching out to new artists whose work you want to upload to the Coppermind, and also help out in creating their page.

Artist Pages

Before we go over how to reach out to artists it is best to explain what the end goal is. Understanding the kind of information you would need to be putting on this page will help you understand why and how we ask for it.

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 you with 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 Avoid including websites the artist hasn't told you about - often times they consider those websites outdated or of insufficient quality.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 permission the Coppermind has when it comes to current and future works of the artist. For consistency, simply copy one of the lines below if possible.

  • The Coppermind has permission to use all of the artist's art.
  • 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.
  • The Coppermind has permission to use all of the artist's art uploaded prior to '''<date>'''. Any art pieces uploaded later than that date require their explicit permission.
  • 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 we use throughout 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, like so: 

<gallery mode="packed" heights=150px>
</gallery>

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 hook to make galleries on artist pages pull any new art from the artist whenever you edit the page. Contact User:Fbstj or User:Argent about it.

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

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

OBSOLETE?

Reaching out to new artists usually works best if done organically, as a dialogue. Since their permission is the most important piece if information we need, it helps to open with just that - if they don't agree, then all the other information we usually gather is useless. If they agree to share their art with the Coppermind, explain that you would be creating a page for them, and ask for the rest of the information we need. This is best done over email due to the combined length of all the questions, but you can use whatever works.

Contact Form Templates

If you are unsure about what and how to say when reaching out to an artist, the following templates can be a useful starting point. You don't need to use them, but you can. These work best in an email, so if your first point of contact is something like a comment on a social media account you may need to improvise a little.

Note that there are links and formatting in these templates. If you are using a contact method that supports formatting (e.g. email), you may want to manually format the respective bits.

Short Form / Opener

If you are using this verbatim make sure you replace the placeholder text! Obviously proofread your text and make sure the sentences work.

Hello!

I am an editor for the Coppermind (a Brandon Sanderson fan-wiki, you can find it here: https://coppermind.net/ ). I am reaching out to you because PLACEHOLDER, and I would like to feature it there with your permission. You will, of course, be credited.

Is this something you would be interested in?

Thanks!

When replacing the PLACEHOLDER, you can say something about how a specific piece of theirs would look great on a particular wiki page, or about how their art in general will improve the wiki overall.

Follow-up / Questions

This is, more or less, the questions you should be asking. Explain that you would be creating a page dedicated to the artist and their art, and that you'd like them to answer these questions so you can do that. You can also direct them to Coppermind:Artists#Fan_artists for reference, if they want to look at some example pages.

  • Do we have your permission to use (with credit and non-commercially) all of your current and future art pieces related to Brandon Sanderson? We can notify you about each new art piece we use.
    • If you prefer a less general usage agreement, some artists are okay with us using everything current but require us to ask them about future pieces; others want us to ask for each individual piece, but the choice is ultimately yours.
  • How would you like to be credited throughout the wiki? Real name(s), username, nickname, company name? This will be the name of your page and it will appear under all of your art everywhere on the site.
  • Which website(s) and social media account(s) would you like included on your page? These will appear as a list on your page.
  • Whenever we upload a new image we prefer to link it to an external site, to show where we got it from. Do you have a preference about which one of your sites we use? This is mostly useful if you upload different versions of your art in different places (e.g. ArtStation allows higher resolution images, but sites like Tumblr or Instagram are more social).
  • Would you like to write a custom bio / description for your page? This is optional and is usually just a few sentences.
  • We like to have public contact information on each artist’s page, usually a preferred social media account or an email. How should we contact you in the future? If you prefer, you can share a more private contact form, like email, with the wiki Staff only, and leave a more public one, like a social media link or a website, on the page.


Page Template

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

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

__TOC__

== Links ==
* 

== License ==

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed" heights=150px>
</gallery>

== Contact ==

{{meta/done}}
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