Pricing guidelines & practices:

To begin a commission piece: 

All payments are thru PayPal unless otherwise arranged (local purchases may be done in cash or in some case check). All customers will receive a bill and receipt, either online or as a paper copy.

Commission payment practices:

In the decades of creating signs, logos, illustrations and other custom art work, we have found that paying for art commissions is unlike most business transactions that most people undertake. Our method is set up to help protect both the client (buyer) and the artist. We do not want to complete a piece and have a client find it completely different from what they had in mind. Also, we know that we would soon be out of business if we started work on full commissions or even submitted endless numbers of sketches and revisions without some means of an agreement between the client and the artist.

Below, you will find a method that we have found to be very successful. This payment method allows the client to back out of a commission without committing a large sum of money, but also protects the artist from "window shoppers" who do not intend to commit to a project, or the buyer who has not really made up their mind on what they really want.

Any variance from this practice must be agreed upon by both parties before any work commences.

Minimum 20% (of total quoted price) retainer fee for three sketches. Fee is non-refundable.

If the buyer wishes to see minor changes to a sketch, this may be done at no additional fee, but Bear Bum Studio reserves the right to charge for additional work. We do care about your satisfaction and will do all we can to keep our clients happy. 

If buyer rejects all three sketches, the 20% fee is kept as a service charge for the artists time and effort.

Buyer selects one sketch and pays remaining 80% of total quoted price. Bear Bum Studio will work in earnest to have the art done in a reasonable time frame. Usually, this is less than one week for a commission piece but may take longer. The due date will be agreed upon by both parties before beginning work.

If buyer rejects final art work, Bear Bum Studios will refund 50% of the price and Bear Bum Studios will keep the art work. 

If buyer accepts the final art work, Bear Bum Studio will send the desired piece to the buyer.

Buyer pays shipping, handling and insurance fees.

Bear Bum Studio is not responsible for mishandling of product by shipper or buyer. Bear Bum Studio will use sturdy shipping tubes to help ensure the security of your product. 

Bear Bum Studios offers art work three price levels:

1. Prints - buy a print from the offered selection

2. Line art 

3. Color art

Print costs will be dependent upon size and personalization (adding a caption). Standard print size is 8.5x11 but larger prints may be special ordered.

Line art cost will be based on three criteria: Size, level of detail and digital versus Copic markers. 

Color art cost will depend on three criteria: Size, level of detail and finish type. Color is finished in digital color with traditional line art, digital color with digital line art, water color and acrylic paint. Water color and acrylic paint refers to the color method - mixed media such as colored pencil or Copic markers may be used to enhance richness or detail.

Prices listed are the norm and can generally be depended upon when budgeting for the art work. However, due to the complex variables of commission art work, Bear Bum Studios reserves the right to charge more or less than the average prices viewed on the website. 

A price will be quoted before work will be started. This price will be honored unless the buyer wishes to make changes to the work.

COPYRIGHT POLICIES:

Bear Bum Studios retains full copyright ownership on all works to include sketches, line art, pencil, water color, acrylic, original artwork, digital art (color or otherwise), including any thumbnails or samples posted on the website, in brochures, or any correspondence or reproductions of work by Brian Thomas Knowlton or Bear Bum Studios or bearbumstudio.com. 

Copyright ownership may be leased, partially sold or completely transferred only by correspondence using US postal service certified mail. Copyright leasing or transfers will be paid for in full before buyer has any rights to use copyright benefits. No copyright benefits will be allowed to a user other than the creator except the user pays the creator for that benefit.

All copyright sales or leases will be negotiated individually and privately.

Bear Bum Studios reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason. Generally, this is only done in extreme cases of abuse (attempting to con artist or studio into doing "work-for-hire" art when actually purchasing very limited amounts of commission work is a good example of an abuse. Work-for-hire is available only thru a contract to retain the artists services as an employee with employee benefits or as a subcontractor where the studio or artist will be performing a great deal of art for a guaranteed payment for the services provided. In this event, the buyer may have full copyright ownership as long as the studio and or artist may display the work as an example of work performed in the studios and or artists portfolio. Portfolio includes displaying work in public at trade shows, online, in brochures, emailing or any other manner in which a reproduction of the art may be viewed by potential clients. 

Work-for-hire art will not be resold or reproduced for sale of that art but only for the purpose of showing the artist's or studio's abilities. 

A good example of an acceptable work-for-hire arrangement would be a client hiring the artist to do several thousand US dollars worth of work over a short period of time, such as $4000 worth of work in a two month time frame.

Asking the artist or studio to perform a few hundred dollars worth of work over a long period of time (12 months) is not an example of work-for-hire but a good example of COMMISSION work.

The artist and or studio retain ALL copyright benefits for commission work unless the buyer wishes to negotiate and pay for limited or full purchase of those benefits. In the event of a full buy out of copyright benefits, the artist will still retain the right to display that work in the artist's and or studio's portfolio as defined above.

Commission sales are only available in the USA.

Bear Bum Studios has no affiliation with any auto manufacturer or any brands that may be depicted in BBS art. ANY trademark, emblem, logo or such on any automobile drawn is the property of that manufacturer or company.

Bear Bum Studio and it's artists do not include vehicle emblems for any reason other than to help the viewer understand which brand of vehicle the cartoon is depicting.