They are designed to acquaint the artist with the basic business considerations and legal concepts underlying such agreements, but they are no substitute for competent legal advice. The publisher is responsible for publishing the print, i.e., making the arrangements for the artist to work with a given printer. The printer prints the artist's image. An artist may also be a publisher, as may a printer. The publisher is also likely to be the distributor of the edition.
Many dealers are also publishers.
Initiation of a Print Project A project for a print edition is frequently initiated through discussions between an artist and a publisher, generally concerning the nature of the image and the medium. The publisher may arrange for the artist to work with a printer. Generally these costs are initially paid by the publisher. The agreement should also deal with the possible cancellation of the project and how the printer's costs are to be paid if the project does not mature into an edition. For example, the agreement may provide an artist with the right to cancel a project for any reason, subject to being responsible for all or a substantial part of the costs if the artist exercises that right.