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Magic: The Gathering Announces New Rates and Contracts!

By Jim Pavelec | 08/07/2014
THE NEWS YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!

Last week Wizards of the Coast set new payment and contract terms for their Magic: The Gathering freelance artists.

Below is the official statement drafted by Wizards of the Coast and PACT, along with a personal note from art director Jeremy Jarvis.

Official Statement

Last week, Magic: The Gathering Art Director Jeremy Jarvis confirmed that the game would be raising its pay rates for card art across the board, and would be amending its contract to dramatically loosen restrictions on using art created for Wizards of the Coast in personal art books! Magic will also be sending their artists additional, premium artist proofs of the cards that their art appears on, which they can sell online and at conventions.

Magic is the most successful tabletop game in the world which affords them a huge pool of the world's top talent to pull from. This increase is not something that they HAD to do. We find it refreshingly forward looking that Wizards has chosen to further invest in the freelance illustration community. PACT would sincerely like to thank Jeremy, Magic leadership and Wizards of the Coast for their hard work in getting these new terms instated.

This is a tremendous example of how artists, as a community, communicating openly and cordially with the companies they work for can improve their short term and long term financial situation. This is a great sign of things to come for the artists in this industry.

A note from Jeremy Jarvis

"A huge part of Magic: the Gathering, both as part of the game and as a hallmark of the brand as a whole, is the incredible quality of the artwork. We realize what an enormous contribution the artwork makes. We also realize that we are dependent on a healthy, happy group of professional illustrators to create this amazing work. I literally can not do my job with out the strong drawing arms of men and women more talented than myself bracing me up. Magic strives to be a great client for these artists, and it is very exciting to be able to add a dollar value to that sentiment. JJ"

Author

Jim Pavelec

Jim is the driving force behind PACT. As a freelance veteran of fifteen years, Jim heard countless tales of woe from his colleagues. Because of this he decided to create a website that would be a one stop informational resource for freelance illustrators, and provide them with a place that they could rate the companies that they have worked for. Along with his co-founders, the idea of the website was presented at the Illuxcon convention in 2012. The response was overwhelmingly positive, so they worked together to lay the groundwork for the website, and run the Indiegogo campaign that raised the seed money for the website. This website is the result of all of their hard work. With the support of the freelance community, it will help to lead freelance illustration out of the current rut it is stuck in.

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