Patreon, Good Idea or Not?

Old GW may not have understood that you are bringing POSITIVE attention to their IP, but new GW seems to be a bit more woke about listening to their customers. Hell... if I were the executive at Games-Workshop, I'd hire you and provide you a team of animators to bring a feature length film to the box office. Your overall vision and attention to detail is unmatched.

EpickBeardMan

Love your work please keep it up. You could show this in a movie theater and beat some of what Hollywood has put out.

I spy a bit of Redshift Rendering in there as well!

Joseph Cirino

I'd be on board with that :D

Astartes

I mentioned the same thing to a GW store that the company should sponsor and encourage this type of fandom, maybe even invest in it.

Contact the GW team and ask how can you figure this out. You want to make great movies that are inspired by their IP. People love your work so far and GW should see it as an opportunity to increase their brand's reach. You are doing an amazing job, got my support!

Honestly, GW should pay money to YOU, becouse your work is just amazing. Only a few medias in the past managed to capture the warhammer feel as you did. I bet your work could even recruit some new ppl for warhammer 40k community, becouse the quality is just something else.

Sash13

Personally, I joine patreon to back you for your astartes series

Yuven

My friend linked me your vid and its amazing, so proud to be a backer mate. Please don’t disappoint in content updates. My first backing on patreon and I want to keep it, especially with a talented artist like yourself. :) Keep up the good work and looking forward to more!

BatSithCrazy

Seems like kind of a dumb thing to ask, considering everyone here became a patron so they could see more 40K videos. If that goes away, why would we support you?

I wouldn't worry about GW, Brother - this is a fan project and a quality one. As long as you don't copy their minis (or anything which directly interferes with their sales) they won't bother you - if your work is good enough, they might even give you some spotlight. (And even before anything legal would happen, first you get a cease and desist letter.) Anyway, keep up the good work, monthly support drop en route - Laudate Imperatorum Deum!

One more question do you have a discord or one in the works if you don't I can help

while it may eat into my budget i want to support this at least until if we ever get that 40k anime. this project and the Horus Heresy one. is doing amazing things. best case scenario GW hires you to create CG 40k content, shorts

Brayden Aitkenhead

Hey Dansley. Main programs I use are 3dsmax, Photoshop, Substance Painter & Fusion.

Astartes

What program do you use to make the short fillms?

So I talked to a few other content creators and they haven't had any issues, and there's enough of them that you'd think GW would have done something if they weren't okay with it. I might change some of the naming around but I'll keep the Patreon going. Thank you all for your advice, reassurance and support! Now time to work on some storyboards...

Astartes

From what I've seen GW is generally pretty chill about fan made products. I'm in no way an expert on these things, but technically we are donating our money to you. It's not a direct exchange for a product or service.

I saw the videos on youtube. I find it good. There are people who advertise in the French community to support you. You have nothing to lose when talking to GW.

Giveme Astartes T-shirt. NAOW.

Profe MacKnight

So no Astartes t-shirts? Kidding :) I have a feeling that'll be the case with the other content creators too. Whether that's because GW is cool with it or just unaware...

Astartes

<a href="https://www.patreon.com/RichardBoylan/overview">https://www.patreon.com/RichardBoylan/overview</a> said in his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7kR-PH-Ixk" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7kR-PH-Ixk</a> that he is not hearing Anything from GW. So, i think not making too much noise/ cross the line like selling goods, it will be OK.

loksunl

You're creating something original with their setting and characters, I think so long as the patreon money is used to fund that I don't see it being different to taking painting comissions. Probably a bad comparison but people profit from their IP in that regard.

Rob Chilton

Hm perhaps I should rename the Patreon account at least.

Astartes

Much appreciated Chris! And yeah, I'll get in touch with these other creators and go from there.

Astartes

I was reminded of some past cease &amp; desist instances with GW. I wasn't aware of all these other Patreon accounts so that's reassuring, thanks for pointing them out Grimmon.

Astartes

I don't know much about IP law and stuff like that but if there's any one thing I would look into is to see if the word Astartes is trade marked by GW. Even if not, I personally would probably just use a different name name not tied to any IP. But that's just my personal take on it.

I think it will be alright, but I agree with the chat. Speak to Alfabusa and see what he says.

It is absolutely a bit of a grey area, but the aforementioned ideas of getting in touch with other content creators to hear their experiences is a good idea. In addition, if necessary being up front with Games Workshop to ensure clarity will definitely avoid less than ideal litigation in the future. In concept at least, the idea behind Patreon is that we are not paying you directly for GW licensed assets, but we are patrons to your creative process (which is SUPER COOL!) I/We are all behind you in support for you and this!

Really, there's no precedent for you to worry, especially given the continued existence of Patreons for things like Emperor TTS which frequently use actual GW art by GW artists. What made you "not so sure" all of a sudden? It's also a point in your favour that the actual content is being given away for free and all you're doing is asking for tips.

Doodarino

Yo, if Arch Warhammer can get away with having a Patreon to make mediocre lore videos that directly leech content from GW books (often straight-up using GW assets in the form of art), against which some tenuous argument can be made that he's hurting sales by providing free access to the information that is technically a GW product, you can get away with having a Patreon for high-quality content that effectively serves as free advertising and doesn't hurt GW's income in the slightest.

Doodarino

I think I'll try contact anyone else in similar situations and see what they have to say. If I'm still unsure about it I might contact GW.

Astartes

Good idea Sky. Do you know of any other WH content creators like Alfabusa who have been around awhile?

Astartes

FORWARD INTO THE BREACH, GOOD SOLDIER OF THE EMPEROR!

Sam Null

Best to be upfront and speak to them I guess, the Facebook idea is a good one to get the community behind you. At the very least if you could prove that all the money is being spent on the content and your not making a profit off their IP - Is there really a problem? Tricky one.

No worries, that's a good idea. I think you can be intertwined with "the community" and make profit off it in ancillary ways as well. For example, Tabletop Tactics and others make money off of their videos and also gain early access to the Codices.

Alfabusa's case is interesting. He has quite a Patreon following and has been around awhile. I'll try contact him.

Astartes

Thanks Omar I'll give that IP page a close read.

Astartes

It seems like they're big on not profiting off of it :(. Perhaps you can partner with them or even get hired or contract to be official?

I don’t know what to advise maybe contact Alfabusa of the TTS series and ask his advice? He has been making warhammar stuff for a long time now.

Sky Leviathan

Here's a link to their IP stuff: <a href="https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Intellectual-Property-Policy" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Intellectual-Property-Policy</a>

Err, that's tricky. I know they're friendlier but they've always been very protective of their IP. I would research on what your rights are to make the content and the limits of profiting off of the IP. Perhaps contact others that do similar things? I'm not so sure about contacting GW, as they tend to be as protective as possible. If they do end up bringing the legal hammer, you can post to their official facebook page and have others chime in on your behalf. But that would be a last ditch tool.