Something I've been doing

[andrewharrington]

With the football season right around the corner, I've been laboriously creating a series of fine art posters that I am going to try and sell at Browns' games while tailgating before games. As of right now they are available as press-quality laser prints. As I sell more and aquire more capital, I will begin offering them as four-color CMYK press prints. If I ever get the time, money, and equipment, I will make limited edition silkscreens. Here is one example of the work. One is an 11:17 tabloid ratio (tall) and the other is a classic 1:SquareRoot2 ratio (short), and each player is available in both sizes. Let me know what you think.

[andrewharrington]

[AndrewPF]

those are REALLY cool. i would buy one if i could, and i'm not even a Browns fan

[udubs03]

I hope you sell a lot of those because they look fantastic.

[Shumway]

NICE! I'm in the process of making something vaguely similar(although not sports-related) in my own spare time. I love the simplicity of the design, especially in the colors. I'm not sure which I like between the two, as far as the name's placement...I like both, actually. If only you made a Notre Dame edition, I'd have yet another poster for my wall.

You planning on making anyone else like Jamal Lewis(I seriously typed Anderson the first time), Romeo, Braylon, or the Soldier?

[andrewharrington]

I have this one done, and I have Winslow, Thomas and Wimbley penciled out and scanned in, and I plan on doing Edwards, Lewis, and some historical figures like Graham, Brown, Kelly, Newsome, Minnifield & Dixon, Kosar, Byner and maybe like Clay Matthews or some others. I do like the idea of doing Romeo, too. That would be kind of funny.

[slapshot]

By "acquiring more capital", you mean obtaining the rights from the NFL and NFLPA, right?

I can't see the team turning a blind eye to you selling these unlicensed posters in the parking lot before games.

They do look good, by the way. Very bold and iconic.

[pcgd]

I'd like to see a more athletic looking font (as in a block font). Perhaps the helmet striping on the bottom could be a touch thicker...

Dispite that, these look outstanding. They are going to look amazing screen printed.

I share the same fears that JP does with the licensing rights and I have no clue how hard it is to get those or if you even could. Good Luck on that, I know how difficult the NFL/NFLPA can be. I say if you do get hassled, simply take the player name off. You might have a vague enough image that it could just be "Joe Quarterback" or "Joe Tightend" but with the number and colors fans would know who they are and still recognize the image. I think helping that is the fact that the browns have no logo on the helmet. If you had to go even further, slightly changing the striping could further yourself from the Browns trademarks.

I do know in chicago, there is a ton of illegal headwear, shirts, and other merchandise sold in the parking lots on game days. If they see security or cops they usually get away pretty quick, but I've never seen anyone hassled for it, so you may be alright with these.

[officeglenn]

For the most part, these look great. But there is something about the hands that is throwing me off. Don't take this the wrong way, but it looks like he's merely gently caressing the ball rather than gripping it as he prepares to throw it. I have to agree on the font on the first one as well. It doesn't feel quite thick enough and is obstructed a bit too much by the player's helmet.

[andrewharrington]

I see what you mean, but I'm not all that worried about infringement issues since there isn't any copyrighted material on these, which I planned out before I even started the process. In addition, I feel pretty safe knowing that teams turn a blind eye to the people who sell unlicensed shirts and hats outside the venue. To top it off, you see all kinds of fine art depicting sports heroes for sale without license. The player name is the only thing that may be an issue, but I'll take my chances. If it becomes a problem, I'll do my selling a little more on the DL.

but it looks like he's merely gently caressing the ball rather than gripping it as he prepares to throw it.

The photo was taken during warmup. That may be the reason for it looking so lax. Game time closeups are tough to come by.

[slapshot]

Most of the unlicensed merchandise I've seen doesn't specifically mention teams, only cities. You can say "Cleveland", but can't say "Browns" or "Cleveland Browns". I don't even think they can list players' names without permission from the NFLPA.

Even though it's your drawing and your design, you're still trying to profit off a specific athlete's likeness and trademarked properties of his team. You can try to do this on the DL, but it doesn't make it right.

[lets_go_red]

I really like them, i think the first one is better just the big quinn seems more iconic than the small brady quinn

[Blackjack76]

I see what you mean, but I'm not all that worried about infringement issues since there isn't any copyrighted material on these, which I planned out before I even started the process. In addition, I feel pretty safe knowing that teams turn a blind eye to the people who sell unlicensed shirts and hats outside the venue. To top it off, you see all kinds of fine art depicting sports heroes for sale without license. The player name is the only thing that may be an issue, but I'll take my chances. If it becomes a problem, I'll do my selling a little more on the DL.

but it looks like he's merely gently caressing the ball rather than gripping it as he prepares to throw it.

The photo was taken during warmup. That may be the reason for it looking so lax. Game time closeups are tough to come by.

Holy hell, and take no offense, but you are COMPLETELY misguided here. Your image says "Quinn" and that is the Cleveland Browns' jersey design and helmet. So that is a clear-cut infringement case for both NFL Players Inc. and NFL Properties.

These companies (and others, like the Collegiate Licensing Company) actually do police parking lots before/during/after games nabbing counterfeit or unlicensed products. (The CLC is here, and my friend does this at Big XII games and bowl games.) They are undercover, and bring police along with them.

They will not only take all of your materials, you will be fined PER ITEM and issued a ticket by the police officer.

IMHO, if you want to do these as a series, you should work with the NFL and Players Inc. Doing this on the DL or blatantly selling them in the parking lot is a recipe for disaster, my friend.

[patsox]

Legal issues aside, I think these look great.

[Davidson]

nice, check out these wood carvings for ideas.

http://www.alcorngallery.com/MMM/

[VC//]

Nice, i like how it looks...very classic like. btw...it reminds me of some of the lino-cut stuff i did in elementary school and early highschool. I did a lot of sports ones with football and hockey, and a few basketball ones. This reminds me of it, in a good way of course, looks classy.

[andrewharrington]

Your image says "Quinn" and that is the Cleveland Browns' jersey design and helmet.

I see where the player name can cause a legal issue, but the fact is, without it, this could be any uniform, any team, any player because it is completely devoid of any logos or other copyrighted mterial. I think what I'm going to do is create them in the smaller sized rectangle without any player name on them at all to avoid infringement problems

Even though it's your drawing and your design, you're still trying to profit off a specific athlete's likeness and trademarked properties of his team.

Without the player name and any copyrighted images, there's nothing specific about the likeness of the player, of the team or of anything else. Without a name, the player, legally, has no identity. There is no depiction of any trademarked material here, which is where it fits through the loophole. A team's colors or uniform can be unique to the team, but not proprietary. Look at all the MLB teams that use identical colors or uniform designs. Look at the high schools that use a uniform identical to the Browns' set. Obviously, I'm banking on the fact that fans know who they're looking at when they see these drawings, which cheats that system in a way, but I don't see it as being that much of a bad thing. Legally, I haven't taken any intellectual property and I'm selling them at cost (paper, printing, toner/ink), so I'm not actually turning a profit. That was assumed. I'd like to get these in some memorabilia sections at restaurants and sports bars, ultimately, but that will take a whole lot of local advertising. It would be optimum to get a license to create and sell these for profit, maybe even branching out to other teams and even colleges, but I just don't know how realistic that is. It might have to be a nonprofit venture, which blows, but hey.

[andrewharrington]

nice, check out these wood carvings for ideas.

http://www.alcorngallery.com/MMM/

Those are really nice.

[SG30]

Just out of curiosity, I don't know much about copyrighting and stuff like that, but how would you go about getting these 100% legal? I mean would it hurt? You might be able to get them in like the team store and stuff.

BTW They're amazing.

[VitaminD]

They look really good, but my first thought was this: what distinguished this player as Brady Quinn? Ultimately, it is a very bold, very stylized... generic player who happens to be wearing #10 in what appears to be a Browns uniform. That could be pretty much any white guy, and that's easily changeable if you wanted the generic player to be black.

It's beautiful, but it seems like you're tempting the wrath of the Browns, the NFL and the NFLPA by intimating that this otherwise-generic player IS a certain player. The only way you're distinguishing it as Brady Quinn is through the uniform and placing his name on it; his likeness isn't anywhere to be found.