Protecting Myself In Hiring A Sculptor For A Action Figure.

How do I source a vendor for design and manufacturing of a toy in China?

Thanks for A2A. I am a manufacturing consultant for lots of customers. I have helped lots of companies outsourcing manufacturing to China and manufacturing in China. I do consider myself having sort of authority over this topic.The most difficult part is to identify the supplier. You may refer to the following two articles on how to find a supplier in China for my product and how to manufacture a product in China. Most of these suppliers are private label manufactures who provide OEM services, which means they will produce product according to your request and printing your own logo on them. There are in general three ways of approaching them. Online sourcing, trade show and working with a broker.Online sourcing like on platforms Alibaba or Global source can give you good general information. However it’s bad now due to scams and frauds. Lots of reseller and traders spend lots of money in marketing themselves to you. Be aware of this issue so always arrange a factory audit before you start.Trade show used to be a good approach but now it has a problem with lack of variety. Pretty much every year you see the sample products and suppliers. You may also hire a Chinese interpreter when going to trade show because most vendors don’t speak English.Working with a broker or a sourcing company is recommended for those who don’t have a supply chain support team in China and not feeling comfortable dealing with factories. A good sourcing company can be your supply chain manager. They can for sure also make sure all the standards and rules are met when importing from China. If you are from the U.S., to import from China to US needs to comply with lots of rules so that the customs clearance can go through.Once you have found the supplier, you can arrange a prototype manufacturing. The factory will make the sample until you approved. And later you will go through mass production with them.I hope this is helpful to you.Regards,KaiCEOChina sourcing—China sourcelink

Is it legal to recreate a famous painting?

Your question brings up two important copyright issues: duration and fair use. It is unlikely that any copy you make that is not licensed would conform with copyright laws.Cornell has a highly instructive table of copyright duration here. Son of Man was painted in Belgium in 1964 and Magritte died in 1967. It would appear as though it will maintain copyright protection until at least 2053 (95 years after the date of publication). But I’m assuming some facts that I haven’t researched and this isn’t a cut and dry question.Secondly, you may use works under copyright protection if your use falls within the fair use exception to copyright infringement. Keep in mind that exceptions work like affirmative defenses. It won’t prevent you from being sued, but you may win the suit if your use is, in fact, fair. One way to fall under fair use is when your use transforms the nature and character of the original work. You spoke about modifying the work in various ways. Simply recreating the work in a new medium (a photo of yourself as Son of Man) is not, in and of itself, transformative. Your take on Son of Man must be new and novel and say something different than Son of Man does. If that sounds highly subjective and uncertain, don’t worry, no one is gas lighting you, it is. It’s also a highly fact dependent inquiry, so you shouldn’t expect anyone to give you a solid answer here, you would have to hire an attorney to review your specific use and how it compares with the original. I wrote a little bit more about transformative uses here: Joseph Yurgil's answer to If you take an image from the web, modify it using tools like Photoshop, then use it, would it still count as copyright infringement? How do photo owners protect their photos on the web and keep track of who uses their images without permission?Lastly, if Marc Clamage is right about Magritte’s estate being active in protecting its properties, you might find it more cost effective and more peace-of-mind producing, if you just licence the work from the get go rather than facing the uncertain and costly prospect of litigation.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how great an artist would you consider yourself?

7. I like to think I have natural talent, but the harder I work, the better I get. I still have a lot to learn.I rate myself that high because I am a pretty versatile artist. I’m good with crafts (felt, sewing, cake decorating, etc.) and can paint, draw, sculpt, and do makeup. Photography is a hobby of mine when I have time for it. I was also a pretty decent graphic designer during my three years of study in that field.I’ve done a lot of work with ceramics, learned to use a pottery wheel, and have dabbled in random other sculptural stuff: welding, woodwork, glass, that kind of thing. I prefer pen but can draw in a lot of different media. I consider myself an oil painter, but also like acrylic and gouache. Watercolor is okay, but not a favorite, though I just displayed two watercolors in a juried exhibition.But enough rambling: here are the pictures. I’ve shared them on Quora before, so they might be familiar to some users.This post will be VERY image heavy but we’re art people here so it’s okay. I’ve also learned that you never know who will see your posts on Quora. I am graduating next May with a Creative Arts degree and no immediate plans, so, uh, if you like what you see and want to hire me for something… I’m right here!Charcoal drawings from my fine art training:Quick pose from a live model. This was maybe 10, 15 minutes.This drawing is 3.5 feet by 4.5 feet.This drawing is also 3.5 feet by 4.5 feet.Photography:Graphic Design:I drew this with a mouse because I was too lazy to learn how to use a drawing tablet.This logo won an ADDY award!Painting:This is The Calm. It was in a juried show this spring, along with…Iris Picking.Random:Collages left-right from top row are Mail Order, Clinically Proven, Little Miss Model, Forbidden City, Trans-Atlantic. Bottom row are American Dream, The Lorax, Culture Clash, Ladies' Daydream, and The Artist At Work.Makeup design/art from a campus show this spring.I’m a part-time cake decorator and can’t believe I don’t have any pictures of my cakes! I’ll update as I take some pictures.Edit:Here are some of my cakes!