Sunday Mailbag: Artist Union?

Q: Now that you are an established comic artists with a good rep, how useful are societies and guilds and the like? Is it just for fun and networking or do they have your back when times get tough? I was shocked to hear that comic book artists don’t have a union. Should they have one?

A: There is no real “union” for comics artists, but there are a number of different professional industry organizations, trade unions, guilds, and societies, that pertain to comic book artists/cartoonists. They range from professional networks to social clubs to organized representation. Visual arts being such a varied field with so many different venues, I don’t see how there really can be a traditional union like the Writer’s Guild of America. With the WGA and similar organizations, a great majority of the work comes from a just handful of major TV/film studios, and the power to strike to get wages and benefit raises are feasible. Not really so with visual artists, who make a living working for clients ranging from Time Magazine to the local corner deli. There is no concentrated industry to disrupt with a strike, unless you narrow your focus to only mainstream comics.

The closest thing comic book artists, or visual artists in general, have to a “union” is the Graphic Artist’s Guild. It’s not a union (it used to be but is now officially a “trade association”) but an organization that advocates on behalf of professional artists for issues that affect the industry, and provides its members with resources like access to health insurance options, legal referrals, news and education pertaining to being a working visual artist. If you check out their website you’ll see they do a lot of advocating for copyright laws and other legislation as it pertains to artists. That’s probably their main activity when it comes to representing visual art professionals. They do keep an eye on legislation that might affect freelance artists and both keep their members informed of it and lend their voice to supporting or not supporting laws that would be helpful or detrimental to the profession. They are also a resource for working artists looking to learn about typical industry practices, ethical guidelines, etc. I have never been a member of the GAG (not the best of acronyms… but there it is) but I always recommend their book Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines. This is a must have resource for any working illustrator, designer, or visual artist. They update it regularly to reflect current issues and practices. It’s full of practical and invaluable information on copyrights, ethics, current pricing on all kinds of work, and has templates of contracts and agreements for many different kinds of jobs. You get a copy as a member but you can also buy a copy.

Another professional organization that I have been a member of is the National Cartoonists Society. This is more of a social/networking organization, but is serves many other functions that a lot of people might not be aware of. It does advocate on behalf of cartoonists with respect to copyright and other legislation, mainly by endorsing legislation that supports creators and their rights or speaking out against unfair practices in the industry. It also provides ethical guidelines for working cartoonists. Its charitable arm, The National Cartoonists Society Foundation, administers the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship, a grant for students of cartooning, and the Milt Gross Fund, which provides financial assistance to cartoonists experiencing hardship or financial disaster. It also has programs like “Cartooning for Kids” which works with organizations like St. Judes to bring cartoonists into children’s hospitals to draw for patients and families and provide art materials and books, and works with the USO to entertain deployed troops and wounded warriors.

I’ve been a member of the NCS since 1999, and thanks to that membership I have gotten many opportunities in my career I would have never had otherwise. Just by meeting and networking with other industry pros and associate members that were editors, publishers, and art directors, I got the chance to knock on doors that would have been hard to get in front of otherwise. I’m not saying the NCS is a ticket to success in the world of cartooning… you have to be a professional cartoonists to become a member in the first place. But for me it’s been a valuable resource, not to mention that I can now call many top professional cartoonists who I admire and respect good friends. The NCS has local chapters, and that is always the best place to start if you have an interest in the Society.

Another organization I have been a member of is the International Society of Caricature Artists (ISCA). I joined what was then called the National Caricaturists Network in 1998. Like the NCS, the ISCA is mainly a networking/social organization, in ISCA’s case of professional caricature artists, but ISCA is a bit more focused on the art form itself. The ISCA’s main event is their annual “Convention and Competition”, a gathering of several hundred caricaturists from all over the world who create caricature art right at the convention venue and hang the results on the walls of a huge ballroom. Then the attendees vote on the artwork in various categories. The end banquet bestows dozens of awards on competing artists for everything from “best black and white technique” up to “Caricature Artist of the Year” (AKA the “Golden Nosey”). The ISCA does some educating of its members on issues pertaining to their profession, like the heinous “AB5” law in California, but mostly it’s a place for caricature artists to network and share their work and experiences with one another through the convention and online events and groups.

Full disclosure: I was president of the ISCA from 1999-2000 and president of the NCS from 2011-2015.

There are other resources for professional comic book artists/illustrators like the Society of Illustrators and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, among others. Each has different mission statements and serve different purposes, so depending on what you are looking for any arts organization can offer you something of value, or not as your needs dictate.

Thanks to William Riding for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about  cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!