Greg Elmore wrote: "Isn't the whole idea of doing commissions of copyrighted characters in that strange "gray area" of legality? So one guy steals from another guy who's kinda on the "gray" side."

It's not a gray area at all, Greg. Under trademark law, you can use trademarked material provided it is properly referenced to the trademark holder and used in a manner that respects the trademark. The legal issue concerns more the volume and type of use.

If the artist started to make lithographs of one drawing of Superman, or produced an entire comic book featuring Superman and started to sell multiple copies, then there would definitely be an issue of trademark infringement and he could expect a letter from the Time Warner attorneys in short order. Similarly, if the artist was producing work that might hurt the value of the trademarked property -- say, nude pictures of Superman -- he should expect to be shut down rather quickly.

If the commission industry got to be profitable enough, I would expect that the major trademark holders would develop a license system so that license holders could exclusively produce works featuring the trademarked characters. But without a significant profit potential, the administration and enforcement of such an effort would be a challenge.

It is Castrillo.

Disappointing.

Q for JB: Have you ever done a commission and the customer requested that it not be made public?