AACA on the Air with Scott

AACA on the Air with Scott, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

Every Monday night between 10pm and midnight, Scott's on Radio 2000 (South Africa) with a show dedicated to Twelve Step programs like AACA, Al Anon, AA, NA, and so on.

Which brings me to a joke. Regrettably, not my own joke. But hey...

There's a new Twelve Step group called 'Overtalkers Anonymous'. They go on anon anon anon...

Well. Dunno about you, but I'm laughing. Hehehehehe.

I'm fairly certain Scott isn't laughing at this attempt to capture his elusive good looks. He is a fine fellow in the flesh. I have tried at least seven sketches of him, and I simply cannot get a likeness. Sorry, Scott. At least you get to stay anon this way.

Now. Back to our scheduled programming. If you feel that you might have grown up in an abusive environment, you might want to look into the possibility of going to one of the relevant Twelve Step groups in your area. I can't speak for any of the other groups, so I'll stick to AACA -- it's been very helpful to me.

You can get info from the website -- Adult Children of Alcoholics

This painting originated as a black gel ink sketch in my Moleskine. I then scanned it on my HP Deskjet F380. And did all the colour painting in ArtRage 2.5. All on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc. Anon anon anon.

2007-07-30 Monday night at AACA

2007-07-30 Monday night at AACA, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

Every Monday night I attend an AACA meeting. The acronym stands for 'Al-Anon Adult Children of Alcoholics'.

I attend because my mom was a fulltime alcoholic, and my dad was a weekend drunk and a fulltime wife-beater (but only when the kids couldn't see).

So I grew up in some pretty tricky ways.

The group gives me a while lot of insight into how to 'normalise' things for myself.

I learn best when I have a pen on a piece of paper. And I often doodle. Generally, whenever I'm at an AACA meeting, I sketch caricatures of the people around me. Hopefully, the pics look nothing at all like their owners (it IS, after all, an anonymous group!).

One of the things I'm playing with here is a concept I came across fairly recently. Someone I met at a creativity workshop saw me doodling there and introduced me to the field of 'visual facilitation'. It's a rather broad field. But in essence, it's about using visual tools to capture some of the essence of a gathering.

In this case, I'm highlighting some of the topics that came up, using 'quotes' (they're modified and simplified, mostly) that resonated with me.

It's a highly personal take on the evening. But I'm going there for me, not for anyone else. So hopefully, to someone who has no interest in the whole AACA world, this is a decent looking pic.

Here's how I made this pic:

o Black gel pen in an unlined small Moleskine.
o Scanned at high res
o Colouring done in ArtRage 2.5 (it's a brand new update, and I'm massively chuffed with how awesomely it's working. I LOVE ArtRage!), on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc.

2007-07-27 Lu Tatt -- What's better -- Red-and-Black, or Black-only?

2007-07-27 Lu Tatt Finessed -- Duotone Cropped, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

A while back, I did a rough concept painting for a tattoo for a buddy of mine.

Last night, I got a bee in my bonnet, and decided it was time to do a version that Lu could take to his tattoo artist.

He's only going to see this tomorrow, but I'd love any responses nevertheless. Which do you prefer? The red-and-black one, or the black-only?



In order to make this pic, I searched through IMSI's 202 000 MASTER CLIPS. It's a set of CDs I bought on sale years ago. It's got some of my favourite TIFF images on it... stuff culled from the Dover clipart libraries. Old fashioned woodcuts and engravings. Beautiful stuff.

Searching through, I came across dozens of images that might fit the world Lu was trying to evoke for his arm.

My key criteria in deciding on the images were:

1. The images all need to 'fit' together. They need to feel as though they're part of the same image set.

2. By the end of the process, the tattoo design would need to be inkable by a tattoo artist. This also means that the design would need to be copyable by the tattoo artist. Most tattoo artists don't like to use transfer printers to lay the design down on the skin. They like to trace it by hand. This gives them loads of control, and the ability to make the artwork their own.

3. I had to feel comfortable with the images myself. They need to be appeal to my own aesthetic sense.

So I dragged all of my shortlisted images into CorelDraw 10, where I assembled various rough options, discarding several as they landed on the page.

I lucked on a delicious metal tower, which I squashed down and cleaned up a bit.

The orb mounted on top of the tower is an old earth globe. The coupling device is the same orb turned upside down, with the legs used as a jewel clip, and the earth portion cut away.

The arms are from a Japanese print of a samurai warrior. I had to do quite a lot of hard surgery to get the arms at the right angle, with the right amount of muscularity. The one on the right had the arm detached from the hand and tilted radically.

The rope extending from the arms comes from a decorative border that I modified slightly. The rope will go all the way around Lu's bicep. In my actual working drawing, it's really long both ways.

The hammer and axe are two separate images that I've modified to get the lighting right. The tassles on their handles come from a set of curtain tassles on one of the CDs.

The rays radiating from the earth come from a stylised representation of the sun. I sliced out the smiley face in the centre, and stuck it behind.

And that was just the first stage!

Next came a whole bunch of me turning the grouped bunch of disparate elements into a bitmap (I converted to RGB), in fairly high res, but not overly so. Once I'd done that, I used Corel Trace with a whole bunch of modifiers on to simplify the image from the very fussy engraving-style that it had. Then I converted that to a bitmap, messed with it more, and reconverted it to vector art.

Finally, after all sorts of vector modifications, I was ready to go into the long third phase... Photoshop.

I played and played and played. And then some more. The playing involved blurring and filtering and layering and blending and painting and erasing and sharpening and blurring and and and and and. The interesting parts for me were the painting and the erasing.

I sent Lu a prior version of this, which was just black ink on skin. But there was something missing. And I couldn't spot what.

So I played some more. And thanks to a happy accident with a blending layer, I found myself able to make a red and black duotone. Red and black are two very reliable and durable tattoo inks, so that's why I chose those. I basically wanted to make sure that Lu would have no hassles getting this tatt interpreted and onto his arm.

If I were in the market for a tattoo with a tower on it, this would be a version I would be happy to have on my arm.

Let's hope it works for Lu when he sees it tomorrow morning. And let's hope even more that his tattoo artist finds it inkable!

This design was made on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet PC using CorelDraw 10 and Photoshop CS2. Snow Patrol and Arcade Fire were playing all the way through.

2007-07-21 After (for Illustration Friday -- 'Poem' and Illustration Friday Night -- 'My Favourite Lyric')

2007-07-21 After (for Illustration Friday -- 'Poem'), originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

This one's for the Illustration Friday topic, 'Poem'. Which kinda ties into the Illustration Friday Night topic of 'My Favourite Song Lyric'.

It IS a poem. And I do sometimes sing my poems to myself in the shower. So it could be construed as a lyric, if I really push hard.

I've based this painting on a 3D animation model I made in the free and open source 3D suite, BLENDER. I've been following the tutorial for beginners, and this monkey in a mountainous landscape is the result.

I rendered a jpeg, and opened it as reference in ArtRage. And then I went to work on the paintwork. I made the mountain first. Then the sky. Then my monkey dude.

When the pic was nearly finished, I did the typography in CorelDraw 10, exported that as a jpeg, and brought it into ArtRage as a tracing image. I painted my lettering (about an hour's work). Then I exported the entire ArtRage file to Photoshop.

In Photoshop CS2, I manipulated my lettering, squashing it, stretching it, distorting it, then placed it on a layer behind the mountain range.

Finally, with that done, I opened it in ArtRage again, and did my final touch ups. If you look carefully, you'll notice that the white border is actually painted. I do that as the very last thing. When I print my pics out, this gives them a more painterly feel. I really don't like the rigid line that happens if I don't do this smudged border. For me, organic feels better.

This painting was made on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc using Blender 2.44, ArtRage 2.2, CorelDraw 10, and Photoshop CS2.

0014 Matinee Soup 'Fur Trade'

0014 Matinee Soup 'Fur Trade', originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

At last! A new Matinee Soup! Thanks to Wim for motivating me to get off my butt and do a new one.

This pic was made in ArtRage 2.2 on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc. I don't have a fur coat. Or anything else made of fur. But I think those little kitten key rings made of fur are quite cute. But they taste foul.

What to do if you're an adult child of abuse

I received a letter from someone in response to the video I made about being an adult child of abuse.


Characteristics of Adult Children of Abuse -- Roy's Story

The video is on YouTube, and the letter was sent via their mail system. When I tried sending my response, I got the message that the body of my mail was too long. So I've decided to blog it, and ask the person who emailed me to read it here.

Basically, the person is an adult who grew up in an abusive household. This person has asked if it's a good idea to stop seeing the abusers.

Here's my response...

Hiya L...

Thanks very much for your message. I really appreciate your getting in touch with me.

In the grand scheme of things, it nothing actually 'hurts' a person. IF we look at things from a specific point of view. I'm particularly fond of seeing EVERYTHING as a learning experience.

You mention that you're entering law school. What's the very worst that can happen if you don't complete your law degree? What's the worst consequence? Not a hell of a lot. Maybe you'll have spent some money. Some time. Maybe someone will be disappointed in you. Whatever. Regardless, YOU've learned stuff. Whether you think so or not.

So neutralise the fear by putting it into perspective.

That's the first step, I reckon.

---

The relationship one has with the abusers in one's life.

This is not a trivial subject, and it totally depends on the individuals involved.

Here's what I'd do in your shoes...

1. Get yourself into therapy. Doesn't really matter what kind of therapy. But it's probably a good call to go with a therapist who has dealt with abuse before. You're pretty much going to need the support of a professional when you start dealing with this stuff. You might think that you don't need such a thing. It's a resource. Use your resources.

2. Get yourself into an AACA group near you. While AACA is pretty much about the effects of having grown up with an alcoholic, those effects are almost identical to ANY form of abuse. One key reason to get into a regular AACA group is that you find yourself surrounded by real people with real issues just like yours. I find that it 'normalises' the crap.

3. Move slowly. Whatever your status quo is surrounding the two abusers you've mentioned, it's probably better for your sense of self to just keep things stable for now. UNLESS they're currently abusing you. If you're being abused by them now, get away from the abuse. But seriously, do this under guidance from a therapist. It's hardcore stuff.

4. Read stuff. I can't tell from your intro video whether or not you're a dude or a gal. Doesn't entirely matter. But one of the books I'll recommend to you is geared towards males. (But all of these things are actually gender-neutral, so it doesn't matter too much.) WOUNDED BOYS HEROIC MEN: A Man's Guide to Recovering from Child Abuse by Daniel Jay Sonkin is excellent. And THE COURAGE TO HEAL WORKBOOK: For Women and Men Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse by Laura Davis is a must-have, regardless of what type of abuse you've suffered.

---

I strongly urge you to get professional help. When you start scratching at the surface of abuse, the worms start wriggling. It can get hectic. Very strong feelings emerge. Rage. Despair. Suicidal feelings are possible.

Are you at all suicidal at the moment? Have you been in the past? If so, get help BEFORE you go anywhere near examining this material.

---

I can tell you my own response to my parents. But it's MY response. And there's no such thing as a typical response. And there's certainly no such thing as a 'right' response. It reallllllly is all totally individual.

In my case, I dutifully visited my parents for many years after I left the house. At first, I visited every week. Then it quickly tailed into every second week. Then every month. Then, those monthly visits started getting shorter. I used to have meals there. I stopped that. From two hours or so, my visits got down to a hellishly long ten minutes.

At that point, I still wasn't aware that I was an adult child of abuse. I was just incredibly uncomfortable being there. My mom and dad hated each other actively. And blamed me for their marriage, cos they got married 'because' of me.

At a certain point, I started questioning why I kept going there.

And my visits shrank to a hellishly long ten minutes every third or fourth month.

Then they left town, and retired to the coast. And I didn't see them for ages. And I felt unburdened somehow.

Finally, one day my mom pulled a terrible guilt trip on me on the phone, and I said something like this to her: 'I really don't need to be guilt-tripped by you. You keep complaining how I don't phone you. But you have my phone number. You have a phone. I can complain about how YOU don't phone ME. If you WANT to communicate with me, please do YOUR bit.'

And that was pretty much the end of active engagement with my parents. I saw my dad once before he died. And I saw my mom once before she died. And I'm glad they're gone. I now no longer have to deal with their crap.

And my brother and I have started getting along better too.

---

The one thing you mention in your story is that they aren't completely healed.

There's something very potent I've gotten from going to the AACA meetings. And that's that I can only control my OWN responses to things. And I can't cure the abuser. In fact, I have nothing to do with the abuser.

So I'm afraid I have to tell you that there's no control you have over your desire for them to be healed. Sure, you can introduce the issues to them in conversation or whatever. But they'll do with that information whatever they end up doing. Their reaction might be what you're after. It might not.

To my mind, it would be best for you to DO WHAT'S BEST FOR YOU. If that means staying away from them, do it. Sure, there'll be guilt feelings stirred up. Loads of them. Strong feelings, as I mentioned before. They're part of being an adult child of abuse. Once you're aware of the patterns, you can release their grip on you.

If it's best for you to continue seeing them, do that with awareness too. There'll be pain. Discomfort. But discomfort is NOT the enemy. It's an indicator. It's a resource. It TELLS you stuff. Listen to what it tells you. Learn from it.

---

Now get into therapy. Seriously. Just do it, regardless of any rationalisations about why you shouldn't or can't or won't. Do it. Do it NOW. Even if it's to go to a free emergency crisis counselling service.

---

I hope this has been a helpful response to you. It's a tough situation you're in. And I empathise with the stuff you're facing.

Take things one day at a time. Take control of the things YOU can control. Learn from things. Be aware of your patterns. Allows your feelings. Do what's best for you.

Blue skies
love
Roy

Tags: aaca, abuse, recovery

2007-07-15 Roller Coaster

2007-07-15 Roller Coaster, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

This roller coaster combines two challenges.... The Illustration Friday topic this week is 'Discovery'. And the Illustration Friday Night theme is 'Accident'.

Here we have a group of intrepid explorers discovering the extent of their fears and joy. With a little accident happening in the front row.

I based my painting on two reference pics. The roller coaster carriage is a reworking of 'Coaster' by Waffler (aka Adrian Sampson). He has released the pic under a Creative Commons 'Attribution' license.

And the pain, suffering and misery of the network of ups and downs is based on 'Medusa' by Yorkie (aka Stuart). This is released under the same license I use -- Creative Commons 'Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-Alike'.

Massive liberties have been taken by me in interpreting these pics.

I made this painting in two phases. First phase involved comping the two reference pics together in CorelDraw 10. I then worked on the result in ArtRage 2.2, using a very loose chalk pen to do linework, and a roller to do the colour. I then eliminated the linework. I was eating a breakfast of muesli and yoghurt when I completed the vomit plume.

2007-07-08 Illustration Friday -- 'Geeky' -- Lock

2007-07-08 Illustration Friday -- 'Geeky' -- Lock, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

This week's Illustration Friday topic -- 'Geeky' -- coincided with a need for me to exercise my inner geek.

Someone in my block of flats doesn't seem to understand how locks work. We've got this intense security gate leading from the parking lot, and it has a double action lock on it.

One of the dumbskucks in the complex seems to be unable to get a key to turn twice.

So I decided to make a sign to put on the gate explaining how and why to turn the key twice.

In the background of the pic I've layered in some plan drawings, just to make it look even more geeky.

For your info, the hand lettering took me about nine frigging hours to do. Yeeks. I've gotta find a better way to do that!

This painting was made in two parts. I did the mock-up in CorelDraw10, using Compacta Black Condensed for the headline, and Clarendon Black for the body copy. I went to the Yale lock site, and found a decent reference pic there. I comped them all together, sorted out the typography, and exported a jpeg. I used ArtRage 2.2 to import the scamp, which I then handlettered for hours and hours and hours.

2007-07-05 Dogkiller Wifebeater2

2007-07-05 Dogkiller Wifebeater2, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

The previous version of this picture wasn't working for me. So I zapped the ArtRage layers into Photoshop CS2.

I flipped the man and dog horizontally, even though I was fairly convinced in the earlier scamp that the composition was more powerful the other way round.

In the old version, the dog looking down on the man from top-left was a very powerful crushing force on him, squashing him into a tiny future.

Now, the dog is being lifted, as if it's some kind of angelic entity, hovering over his shoulder. Which is somewhat more oppressive.

In the real-life story of this man and this dog, the dog was actually the love of his life. And he allowed it to escape onto a main road. Where, according to him, it was hit by a car. The dog died a long, slow, gurgling death.

There is enough evidence, based on the extent of his sobbing, and some evasiveness on his part, to suggest that he actually drove over the dog himself. I can't go into details, but my suspicion is that it's more than likely that he killed his favourite dog.

This is an indictment against him regardless of WHO killed the dog. Cos in the final analysis, his actions and negligence caused the death. Either he let it out of the front gate, something he'd been instructed not to do by his wife, the one he used to beat. Or he drove over it. Both scenarios look pretty torrid to me. I'd HATE to be in his shoes right now.

Back to the redrafting process...

In Photoshop, I rearranged the lettering, leaving space for the extra stuff I intended to put in.

Then I popped it back into ArtRage, where I did all the rest.

I'm preferring the definition on their faces. And the flow of the speech bubbles. I'm liking the scared but defiant sarcasm of the dog, and the way it informs the title of the piece... 'Dogkiller Wifebeater'.

We KNOW that the guy is a wifebeater. The title tells us so. And the inappropriateness of the 'joke' tells us so. And because of this knowledge, we look at the dog and say to ourselves, 'Is THIS dog the victim of the "Dogkiller" in the title? If so, the man must be the perpetrator.'

We know also that the dog giving the man lip MUST have consequences. If he's a wifebeater, there's a good chance that his 'out-of-control' abuse extends out to other areas of his life. Such as his work. His relationship with his brothers and sisters and mother and father. His relationship with his pets.

What I know, and what the viewer of the pic wouldn't know, unless I tell them, is that this man has allowed at least one of his dogs in the past to be killed due to his laxity. And one of them was thrown head first into a door by him.

I also know about his fondness for road rage. His fondness for screaming at waiters. His propensity for verbally abusing people in shopping centres.

Most of all, I know what he did to his wife. And what he's threatened to do to her and her family with his gun if she left him.

Well... she left him.

He promised to go out in a blaze of glory. But I've heard his ranting and sobbing on the phone.

And all I see is a broken man. With plastic bags. Tied to his feet. Held there with perished elastic bands. Him standing in a filthy shower. Trying desperately to get himself clean. While other men glower at him. Threaten him. Want him.

I know what happens in prison, cos my best friend, Ed, has been there and done that. I know that ultra-violence and pain are the only way out of there. Ed survived because he's the meanest motherfucker on the block.

From what I know about THIS man, he's not going to enjoy the anal sex very much at all. Nor the lice. Nor the dirty towels with no safety pins or labels. Nor the dirty plates.

He's also not going to enjoy the fact that he doesn't have his precious gun with him in his cell. And nor does he have full use of his arm, thanks to some rank idiocy involving rock-throwing and fridge-smashing and wife-punching. Good work, mister. You crippled yourself to ensure that you CAN'T survive in jail.

Interesting how things catch up with a person, hmmm?

So it's a subtle piece of imagery. It informs the viewer of a whole story, without any need for explanation.

I've fleshed it out for you, so that you can understand why it's such a dark image.

And I've fleshed it out for him. Cos I know how stupid he gets when rage hits. And I'm waiting. With a big broad grin on my face.

In this version, I've also finessed the dog's eyes, and the man's eyes. The man looks slightly pitiful, but brutal. The dog looks down on him and at him. The dog knows what's happening. And knows what's coming.

I've come to the conclusion, in writing this, that I like this composition much more than the previous version. Here, this pitiful man is being crammed down into the bottom-left by a representation of his missing conscience. By the dog he killed. As a consequence of his inadequacy. His inadequacy as a man.

Bottom-left, in the Western reading schema, represents the past. Top-right represents the future. So the dog is soaring into a better existence. While the man is being shoved down. Into confronting the horrors of his own making.

This painting was initially made in ArtRage 2.2, then exported to Photoshop CS2, then finished in ArtRage 2.2 again. It was all done entirely on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc. With the man's wife snuggling up to me against the cold. Smiling.

Tags: abuse, recovery, artrage, photoshop, cs2, tabletpc, royblumenthal, blumenthal, IFN, illustration, art

2007-07-05 Dogkiller Wifebeater

2007-07-05 Dogkiller Wifebeater, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

I know someone whose husband beat her systematically for around 23 years.

She left him.

He phoned her the other day, sobbing like I've never heard anyone sob before.

It sounded like a woman on the other end. The woman whose ex-husband it was couldn't work out who was on the phone. She thought it sounded like the wifebeater's sister.

She was kinda thinking that it was news of the wifebeater's suicide.

Suicide was on the cards cos the wifebeater had threatened to kill his wife, her family, the dogs, and himself if she ever left him.

Sadly, he hadn't committed suicide. It was him on the phone. Instead of committing suicide, he had committed murder.

His story is that he mistakenly let the dog get out of the gate. And it ran into the road. And was hit by a car.

His hysteria suggests otherwise.

Whatever the case -- at best, his negligence allowed their dog to be killed; at worst, he drove over the sweet little angel himself.

Who knows the real story?

This painting was made in ArtRage 2.2, on my Toshiba Tecra M4. Unfortunately, the dog (that's the animal on the top left) was injured in the making of this pic. And died. Shame on the wifebeater. Bad boy!

2007-07-01 Illustration Friday -- Twist -- J taking Roy down

2007-07-01 Illustration Friday -- Twist -- J taking Roy down, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

With Illustration Friday's topic this week being 'Twist', I thought it would be a good time to pull out all the stops.

So I asked J to put a move on me that she learned from Benjy. It's the old 'disarm the assailant by taking control of his punch and turning his own power against him' move.

I'm a willing participant in her experiment, cos I've been through it enough times with white belts to not get injured myself. The good news is that she's got much more control than a white belt, so she's not going to injure me by mistake. She'll only do that if she actually wants to.

Here's the way the move works.

o Observe your opponent.

o When he or she throws a punch, be ready for it.

o Catch the fist, and turn it in towards the body, down, towards the groin. (This is a gentle twist. No force needed. The assailant is already doing all the work.)

o Because of the momentum, the assailant effectively disarms him or herself.

o But the best thing about it is that the human body's mechanics make it impossible for the assailant to retaliate. He or she is completely at the mercy of the person that got attacked in the first place.

Heeheee. J is a good student.

This painting was made in ArtRage 2.2 on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc, based on a reference pic taken by Benjy while J and I were sparring. No animals were harmed in the making of this picture. And Arnica Gel realllllly helps for sore elbows and wrists. Reallly reallllllly.

Roy interviewed on The Extraordinary Lives Show (and talks about, his 'Draft of Creative Commons-based contract for artist/client relationship')

I was interviewed by Dave 'The Lifekludger' Wallace and Mike Seyfang via Skype on Thursday for their podcast. Our episode is 'The Extraordinary Lives Show #29', and it's 55'40" long, and weighs in at a mere 19.2mb. (To download it, right-click on the link, and 'save target'. That should do it.)

In the show, towards the end, I mention an agreement I created for artists to use in defining their relationship with clients. It's based on a Creative Commons foundation. And it should be quite easy to modify for your own needs.

I've made the document available for you to remix at will on Google Documents. It's titled: 'Draft of Creative Commons-based contract for artist/client relationship'. Please feel free to pick holes in it, and to do whatever you like with it. I'm not a lawyer, but I did have a lawyer look at it for me. And my client was a labour lawyer. And I've sent it off to the Creative Commons bunch in South Africa to play with as they see fit. But that does NOT mean that it's infallible or bullet-proof.

Here it is:

AGREEMENT

Agreement made this _____________day of _______________ in the year _______, between [NAME OF CLIENT], hereinafter referred to as ‘THE CLIENT’, and Roy Blumenthal, hereinafter referred to as ‘THE ARTIST’.

SUMMARY

THE CLIENT is retaining THE ARTIST to produce four (4) cartoons, per month for a six-month period. Remuneration shall be as per clause 3 below. Each cartoon shall be referred to hereinafter as ‘THE ARTWORK’.

1 TERM:

The respective duties and obligations of the parties hereto shall commence on the date stipulated in the schedule as per clause 2 below.

2 SCHEDULE:

2.1 THE CLIENT will provide THE ARTIST with a relevant delivery schedule, with deadlines at least 14 days in advance.

2.2 THE CLIENT will advise THE ARTIST timeously of any changes to the schedule, which will be subject to THE ARTIST’S other contractual obligations.

2.3 The schedule shall be attached as an addendum to this agreement, and forms part of this agreement.

3 REMUNERATION:

3.1 THE CLIENT shall remunerate THE ARTIST a set fee of R2200 per month, in advance of delivery of work. This figure is made of four (4) ARTWORKs per month at R550 per ARTWORK.

3.2 If additional ARTWORKs are required in a particular month, they will be charged at an ad hoc price of R800 per additional ARTWORK.

3.3 This agreement will remain in force for a period of six (6) months from date of signature.

3.4 In the event of special circumstances, variations to the fee schedule of paragraphs 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 will be allowed as mutually agreed to in writing by the parties hereto.

3.5 Notification. THE ARTIST will be notified by THE CLIENT in writing of any additional ARTWORKs over and above the contracted four per month. Such notification will include a deadline date not less than seven (7) days in advance. Payment must be made before delivery of THE ARTWORK.

3.6 If any ARTWORKs of the four (4) contracted per month are not used for whatever reason in a particular month, they may be used at THE CLIENT’s discretion at another time, for the same purpose. However, this will not impact the stipulated per month payment. If THE CLIENT elects to use fewer than four of THE ARTWORKs, payment will not be adjusted down accordingly. This agreement represents a retainer.

4 METHOD OF PAYMENT:

4.1 Payment to THE ARTIST will be made into THE ARTIST’S BANK ACCOUNT. Details of THE ARTIST’s bank account will be given as an addendum to this agreement.

4.1.1 THE CLIENT will fax and/or email confirmation of payment to THE ARTIST before work will commence.

4.2 CANCELLATION BY THE CLIENT:

THE CLIENT is entitled to cancel the services of THE ARTIST at any time, in writing. Termination is effective immediately, with full payment to be made by THE CLIENT for artworks contracted for up to that date, whether these have been created or not. It is up to THE CLIENT to decide whether or not THE ARTIST must deliver the required artworks. THE CLIENT will inform THE ARTIST of this delivery obligation in the same written termination of service.

4.3 CANCELLATION BY THE ARTIST:

THE ARTIST is entitled to terminate this agreement at any time, in writing. Termination is effective immediately, with full payment to be made by THE CLIENT for artworks contracted for up to that date. THE ARTIST is obligated to deliver the required artworks as per the deadlines stipulated. Should THE ARTIST be unable to deliver those artworks for whatever reason, THE ARTIST will forfeit the full fee per artwork as per 3.1 and 3.2 above. The full fee in 3.1 refers to the pro rata fee of R550 per artwork.

5 COPYRIGHT AND REPRODUCTION:

5.1 The property rights on THE ARTWORK shall rest with THE ARTIST.

5.1.1 It is hereby stated that THE ARTIST is granting THE CLIENT rights to use THE ARTWORK as specified in clause 5.2 below, and that ownership remains with THE ARTIST.

5.1.2 THE ARTWORK remains the intellectual property of THE ARTIST, and is automatically copyright under traditional copyright law, with additional rights explicitly granted to the client under clause 5.2 below.

5.2 THE ARTIST grants THE CLIENT the rights to:

5.2.1 Freely reproduce THE ARTWORK for non-commercial use. This includes making copies of THE ARTWORK up to A4 in size for display in areas such as the boardroom, the company bar, employee’s homes and so on.

5.2.2 Use THE ARTWORK on THE CLIENT’s corporate website.

5.2.3 Use THE ARTWORK in THE CLIENT’s marketing newsletter.

5.2.4 Use THE ARTWORK for any internal training, marketing or motivational materials as THE CLIENT sees fit, unless said materials form part of a franchise kit being prepared by THE CLIENT, in which case, clause 5.3 below holds.

5.2.5 Use THE ARTWORK for publicity purposes such as press releases.

5.2.6 Reproduce the artwork as part of an article about THE CLIENT in an outside magazine, as long as THE ARTIST is clearly identified and attributed.

5.2.7 Utilise the artwork under the terms and conditions granted by the Creative Commons License: ‘Attribution—Non-Commercial—Share-Alike’. Please see the following website address for details: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/deed.en.

5.3 Any other use of THE ARTWORK outside of the uses outlined in 5.2 above are subject to a new agreement between THE ARTIST and THE CLIENT. Uses specifically prohibited under this current agreement include, but are not limited to the following:

5.3.1 Use of THE ARTWORK in any advertising, whether it be below-the-line, including pamphlets, vehicles and any targeted communications outside of the regular newsletter as mentioned in 5.2.3 above. or above-the-line, including television, print, billboards, and any other medium.

5.3.2 Use of THE ARTWORK as corporate or other gifts.

5.3.3 Use of THE ARTWORK in any commercial transaction.

5.3.4 Use of THE ARTWORK as part of a logo or insignia.

5.3.5 Enlargements or reproductions of THE ARTWORK as fine-art prints.

6 BREACH:

6.1 If THE ARTIST breaches any terms in this agreement or THE ARTIST misses any deadlines by reason other than illness or accident without written permission from THE CLIENT, THE CLIENT shall be entitled to terminate this agreement immediately without prejudice to any rights to damages which may result there from, subject to clause 4.2 above.

6.2 If THE CLIENT is in breach of the terms of this contract, the full fee as stipulated in clause 4.3 above shall be immediately payable to THE ARTIST on written notification by THE ARTIST of said breach.

7 GENERAL:

7.1 THE ARTIST acknowledges that all information pertaining to the THE CLIENT and THE CLIENT’S client/s is confidential.

8 TERMINATION OF THE AGREEMENT:

This Agreement may be terminated by either party upon giving written notice. Upon the giving of said notice, THE CLIENT shall cause to be paid to THE ARTIST any monies due THE ARTIST as herein provided.

9 DISPUTES:

9.1 Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to the compensation to be paid by THE CLIENT to THE ARTIST for services rendered by him/her pursuant to the terms of this Agreement shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the rules of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration of South Africa (CCMA), and judgement on the award rendered by the arbitrator or arbitrators may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Any party to this agreement may submit to arbitration and said controversy or claim.

9.2 Written notice of dispute must be delivered by either party within seven (7) days of payment date.

10 CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT:

10.1 This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement about understanding between the parties and supersedes any and all other agreements between the parties.

10.2 No remedy granted to THE CLIENT by virtue of the Agreement shall be exclusive of any other legal or equitable remedy available to THE CLIENT existing by laws of statute.

11 MISCELLANEOUS:

11.1 The parties agree and intend that all questions concerning this Agreement, including the validity, capacity of parties, effect interpretation and performance shall be governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa.

11.2 The rights, privileges, duties and obligations of both THE CLIENT and THE ARTIST to each other shall be limited to those specifically set forth herein.

11.3 This Agreement and the terms, conditions and obligations herein contained shall be binding upon the parties hereto, their assigns, transferees, heirs and legal representatives.

11.4 This Agreement shall not vest in THE ARTIST, his/her heirs, estate, or legal representatives, any right, title, or interest in any assets in THE CLIENT itself, its name, good will or other market business activities other than as set forth in the Agreement and only for so long as the Agreement has not been terminated, and not longer.

11.5 This Agreement constitutes the complete Agreement between THE ARTIST and THE CLIENT. No representation or promise, either oral or written, has been made except as specifically set forth herein. Should any part of this Agreement be declared invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the remainder of this Agreement. It is the intention of the parties that they would have executed the remaining portion of this Agreement without herein including any portion which may hereafter be declared invalid.

11.6 Any changes to the Agreement shall be reduced to writing and agreed to by signature by THE ARTIST and THE CLIENT. Said signatures will not be reasonably withheld.

11.7 The forbearance or neglect by either party to insist upon the performance of the Agreement, or any part thereof, shall not constitute a waiver of any rights or privileges.

Signed:………………………… Signed:………………………

(THE ARTIST) (THE CLIENT)

Name:…………………………. Name:……………………….

Date:…………………………... Designation:…………………….

Date:………………………..

Witness:……………………….. Witness:………………………..

Name:…………………………. Name:………………………….

Date:…………………………… Date:……………………………

At:……………………………… At:……………………………….

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