Illustrators Australia
T&Cs and Code of Conduct:
As an Incorporated Association we are made up of members.
To become a member of Illustrators Australia Inc. please read and agree to the following terms and conditions and Code of Conduct. For the purposes of this document, "The Illustrator", "Member", or "You" refers to the individual whose name is on the membership application.
"We", "Us", and "The Organisation" refers to Illustrators Australia.
Membership Eligibility & Requirements
To become and remain a member, you agree to the following:
Residency & Connection: You confirm you are a current resident or citizen of Australia (including its territories), Aotearoa/New Zealand or the neighbouring region of Australasia (including but not limited to Papua New Guinea, Polynesia and Melanesia) and/or that you have ongoing connection to Australia. Please inquire if you are unsure.
You support: by becoming part of the organisation you agree to our values, goals and purpose “The purposes of the association are to advocate, educate and help build business for illustrators.”
Rules of the Organisation/Constitution: Please familiarise yourself with our Constitution/The Model Rules [link] which govern our organisation processes and outline your rights.
Accuracy: You agree to provide accurate personal information, including your legal name and correct contact details. You must update us as soon as possible if these details change.
Registry & Communication: Your contact information will be added to our Member Register database (required) and mailing list (optional). If you wish for your contact information not to be visible on our Membership register please let us know (access to this list is only available to our members by request).
Prizes & Opportunities: We may use your contact details to enter you into prize draws or notify you of opportunities. If you win a prize offered by a third party, you consent to your contact details being passed to that business for prize fulfilment.
Public Profile: You agree to have your uploaded professional contact information (email, phone, and/or website/socials) displayed on your public profile/portfolio on our website. If you wish for specific inclusion/exclusion of info please let us know.
Student Members: You must upload a valid photo of your student card upon application to qualify for student rates. Annual confirmation of continuation of studies is required.
Affiliate or Organisational Members: You must confirm and prove you are a current member of an affiliate organisation or an organisational board member or official representative.
Membership Fees, Refunds & Renewals
Term: Membership is granted for a fixed period of 12 months from the date of payment, upon approval of membership.
Timeframe Approval: All applications need to go through an approval process, we will endeavour to inform as soon as possible. Usually this will be within 1-2 weeks, if possible. It may take longer at times (during holiday periods for example).No Refunds: In accordance with Australian Consumer Law (ACL), fees are non-refundable except where required by law (e.g., a major failure of service). Refunds will be provided if membership application is unsuccessful but not if cancelled.Renewal: It is your responsibility to renew your subscription to maintain your online portfolio, unless automatically renewed.
Digital Portfolios & Content Standards
As a member of Illustrators Australia you agree to pursue and maintain the highest standard in professional conduct, communication, standards and quality of your work, to the best of your ability. To make artwork ethically, honestly and honourably.
Member Rights and Responsibilities
Image Quality: You are responsible for keeping your bio and folio up-to-date by providing us the images/text you wish to display. We will create your Profile/Portfolio page with the content as provided by you. We will not edit or resize your work. Although the platforms we use may resize or crop the images. You must supply us with quality images. We recommend you select only your best, most finished ‘portfolio ready’ artwork. If we deem an artwork is not of high quality enough we reserve the right not to include it, (we will contact you in this case).
Content Restrictions: We reserve the right to remove or exclude content that is defamatory, promotes hate or violence, is discriminatory, pornographic etc. We reserve the right not to publish images which are deemed inappropriate, inconsistent with the professional standards, ethics and reputation of the organisation at our discretion. We reserve the right to take down or not to publish work which we believe or suspect may breach copyright or Intellectual property rights. We reserve the right to take down or not to publish work which we believe, or suspect may breach any Federal and State laws at our discretion.
Freedom: We defend the right for illustrators to have the freedom to create work that is political, historical, personal, challenging and satirical. Artistic freedom of expression is an important value and one we uphold as an organisation. We do not endorse any artwork that is published on our website and we will not accept liability for publishing such artwork.
Intellectual Property & Promotional License
Ownership: You warrant that you are the author of, or control all necessary rights including under (including under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)) in your work or have obtained all necessary licences, consents and permissions to use any third-party or underlying materials incorporated in the work (including, for example, reference images or photographs), such that our use of the work as contemplated by this agreement will not infringe the intellectual property or moral rights of any third party. You indemnify us against any loss, damage, liability, cost or expense (including reasonable legal costs) arising directly out of any infringement of the intellectual property rights of a third party, except to the extent caused by our use of the work outside the scope of this agreement.
Promotional License: While you are a member, you grant the Organisation a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to feature your work on our official social media channels, email newsletters etc, and other platforms – primarily for your promotion and our archival purposes only. We will seek your permission for other (non-profit) purposes, or for any other use.
Opting Out: If you prefer us not to use your images for extra promotion of your work, you must select the "Opt-Out" option provided on the membership form or notify us in writing.
Attribution: We commit to providing clear attribution for all usage of your work (e.g., tagging your social media handle or crediting you by name) in accordance with your Moral Rights. Using the handles, tags and links provided to us, where reasonable.
Changes: By granting us the license to use your artwork for extra promotion you accept that we may have to make minor changes for purposes of uploading to social media, newsletter etc. (such as cropping, file type changes eg. CYMK to RGB etc.) We will always seek to retain the integrity of your images.
Authenticity & Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy
We support human creativity. By submitting work, you confirm:
Originality: All artwork is original and created by The Illustrator.
Human-Made Work Only: Your portfolio must consist exclusively and strictly of original work created by you.
No Generative AI: Images submitted must not be created by Artificial Intelligence (AI) or "Text-to-Image" generative AI tools (e.g., Midjourney, DALL-E, ChatGPT etc). If we are in doubt of the work's origins, we reserve the right to exclude work or refuse or cancel membership. Authorship must be exclusively your own.
Code of Conduct
By joining Illustrators Australia, you agree to uphold the following professional and ethical standards:
Professionalism & Business Practice
Communication: Stay connected, foster relationships, keep details current, and be polite and responsive to clients.
Community: We value kind, ethical, clear communication. Non-violent, non-discriminatory behavior is expected by all the members and volunteers in our community at all times. Any behaviour, online or in-person, deemed unacceptable or unethical may result in warnings or cancelation of membership.
Dispute Resolution: Any dispute or complaint must be made in writing to us and will be reviewed by our committee and/or third party if necessary. All disputes will be handled in accordance with our Model Rules of the Association.
Expertise: Our members work hard to maintain high standards and support each other to research, understand and to maintain their technical knowledge and best professional illustration and business practices (printing, web specs, etc.).
Written Agreements: We recommend written agreements to define project scope, deadlines, and fees before starting work.
Resources: We encourage you to use our professional resources and example contracts, as well as seek legal advice of your own. Always communicate clearly in writing with clients including detailed quotes, agreements/contracts and rates.
Fair Pay: Base your fees on the highest industry standards, for both your time and the intended usage (licensing) as informed by our recommended rates. We do not support requests for unpaid work, work for free in hopes of work or “exposure".
Rights & Integrity
Rights Awareness: You are not required to supply clients with your originals. Only license the rights the client actually needs. You have the right to be credited (Moral Rights) and to have physical/digital files returned or deleted after a licence expires.
AI and Alterations: You can request that a publisher does not use AI or any other artist to change or alter your artwork.
Integrity: Never claim another artist’s work as your own. Do not use or imitate another artist's specific style or copy their work. We encourage artists drawing on a reference, to always use Creative Commons, open license, purchased references, or your own photos and references ideally. If using someone else's image as a source always ask permission and credit the original reference if requested, possible and substantial use has occurred. Otherwise your artwork may be a breach of copyright.
Sub-contracting: Never outsource a commission to another artist or designer without your client's express permission.
Ethical Conduct
Confidentiality: Respect client privacy and do not share work publicly until officially released or approved, or as agreed.’
Respect Peers: Do not tarnish the reputation of fellow illustrators or undercut industry standard rates. Treat our volunteers and other community members with respect.
Liability & Privacy
Not an Agency: Illustrators Australia is not an agency. We do not facilitate transactions, take commissions, vet clients, or negotiate contracts for members. The Illustrator is solely responsible for their own interactions and disputes with third parties.
Volunteer Liability: Illustrators Australia is run by volunteers. We provide support only as far as our volunteer capacity allows.
Illustrators Australia expects the highest standards but is not to be held accountable for conduct of our volunteers or members.
Platform Security: We make every attempt to prevent it, but Illustrators Australia is not liable for unauthorised "scraping" or downloading of images by third parties. We recommend using a small watermark, labelling your files with your name and title of artwork and low-resolution files (72dpi) for web display.
Termination: Breach of these terms (including the AI policy or Code of Conduct or Copyright law) may lead to warnings, restrictions, removal of artwork or termination of membership without a refund.
Privacy: We handle personal data in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Private payment and address details are never shared with third parties without your consent.
Changes: Should we change these Terms and Conditions and Code of Conduct we will notify our current members via email.If you have any questions or comments about our Terms & Conditions, please contact us [email protected].
If you have any questions or comments about our Terms & Conditions, please contact us [email protected].