Terms of Service & the Course’s “Guideposts”

Made on April 20th 2018 / in effect on April 20th 2018

© Pencils & Stories

1 Definitions

1.1 Pencils & Stories: Henrike Dijkstra

1.2 Student: you

1.3 The course: the “Your Comic Journey” course

2 Information about Pencils & Stories

2.1. Address:

Pencils & Stories; Henrike Dijkstra

Europaplein 555

3526 WK Utrecht

The Netherlands

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 00316 2466 7982

2.2 Legal information:

Pencils & Stories has been registered in the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel) under number: 30245029

Pencils & Stories is VAT registered and operates under VAT number: NL147009443B01

3 Access to the course “Your Comic Journey”

3.1 Access to the “Your Comic Journey” course is granted through paying the full admission price for the course, or the first term of your payment plan.

3.2 A Thinkific account is necessary for access to the platform I am using. This makes it possible for your to comment in the forum and to access the lessons, any materials and the replay videos.

3.3 After payment you will have access to the course in the Thinkific platform. The course is accessible through this link: http://pencilsandstories.thinkific.com/courses/yourcomicjourney

3.4 If the full amount to the course is paid, the student will have unlimited access to the course. The videos of the lessons will be uploaded to the course website on the Thinkific platform and as long as the student has an account there, the course and the videos will be available to them. In the case of a movement to another platform or a self hosted website, Pencils & Stories will make sure the student has the possibility to keep their access to the course afterwards on the new platform.

4 Payment

4.1 Payment will happen on the “Thinkific” platform through an integration with Quaderno and Stripe. Through this, you can pay with credit card and iDeal for European customers. You can read about the data Pencils & Stories and these third parties collect in my Privacy Policy.

4.2 The prices are inclusive of VAT. If you are a company in the EU you have the possibility to have the VAT reverse changed to you. In that case you don’t pay the VAT on the invoice. You then are responsible for remitting the VAT at your own tax office/administration for the VAT rate that is current in your country.

4.3 If you use a payment plan, you authorize Stripe to process three separate payments.

4.4 An invoice will be provided to you separately, through email.

5 Access to the course and cancelling the service

5.1 Cancelling by the student

The student may cancel their account with Thinkific, and terminate their participation in the course, at any time. However, they will lose access to the course. Loose downloads of course content will not be made available.

When a student purchases the course they will have 14 days time from the moment of purchase to change their mind and ask for a refund without giving any reason.

If a student cancels while the course is already in progress, the student will pay one 10th of the price for every lesson followed and they can get a refund for the rest of the remaining lessons.

Please note that these cancellation terms only apply to Your Comic Journey generation 1 students.

5.2 Cancelling by Pencils & Stories

Pencils & Stories reserves the right to deny the student access to the Your Comic Journey course on the following terms:

• If the student is using a payment plan and payment is terminated before the full amount is paid, the student will be offered another way to pay the admission price. If the student can’t or won’t comply within 10 days, they lose access to the course until the full price is paid.
  • A side note: Thinkific will probably terminate the student’s access to the course immediately after a payment has failed. Contact me immediately through [email protected] so we can discuss a solution and getting access back a.s.a.p. In any case: make sure your credit card information is up to date.
• If the student shows any conduct or behaviour which is described in paragraph 6“Conduct” of these Terms of Service, Pencils & Stories reserves the right to deny the student any further access to the “Your Comic Journey” course or any other service by Pencils & Stories. In this case, the student will only receive the money back that is paid for the remaining lessons which the student hasn’t yet followed. (In the case of 10 lessons that is (x)/10th of the full price. (Where (x) is the amount of lessons remaining)

6 Conduct

6.1 There are a few things that Pencils & Stories will absolutely not tolerate and I will apply these rules to my own discretion. Engaging in this behaviour will result in immediate termination of your access to the course.

You may not:

• ...abuse, harass, threaten, flame or intimidate anyone in the course. Not me, not the other students.
• ...use language that is derogatory and discriminating.
• ...spam. (Forum, email etc.) Also make sure you don’t accidently spread worms, viruses etc. Also do not hack any systems.
• ...disclose anyone’s personal or proprietary information. (this includes me) When in doubt: ask.

6.2 In general I will try to keep the course and everything Pencils & Stories related around a PG-13 rating. If all members of the class and me agree, we can talk about going above that. Keep in mind, however, that different people and different cultures have various ways of dealing with certain sensitive topics, graphic images, violence and nudity. Let’s keep being respectful and let’s keep the discussion about these things open.

7 (Intellectual) Copyright

7.1 (Intellectual) copyright is important! Always make sure that, when you claim to have made something, that it is indeed your own content and that you own the copyright to those materials.*

*Sharing inspiration is allowed and encouraged. When you share examples, inspirations and other copyrighted materials that do not belong to you for your project or for educational purposes: try and provide us with a name or credit to the original artist so we can keep clear on who owns what.

7.2 Respect the copyright of me and your fellow students. Do not repost anyone’s ideas, writing and art outside of the course without their permission.*

*As a side note: I might ask some of you if I can put some of your results on my Pencils & Stories or Your Comic Journey website or social media for promotional purposes. I will, however, always ask you if I can do that and will provide a credit to your website or social media.

7.3 Keep the course content safe. Do not distribute the content, materials, logos, images and videos of the course outside of the course platform.

8 Disclaimer

8.1 You can not hold Pencils & Stories liable to any damage, loss or any injury or affliction. You use the content and information in the course at your own discretion.

8.2 By agreeing to these terms of service you agree that, even though I will do everything in my power to get you the results you want, you are in great part responsible for your own success. The results of the course will depend on your willingness and ability to do the work required to get these results. I will do my absolute best, but can not promise you that your comic will be finished by the end of the course, as that depends on you too. You can not hold Pencils & Stories liable if you do not get to the desired end result.

SUPPLEMENT TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE:

“Guideposts” for the course

For “Your Comic Journey” I have written a “Code of Honour.” These points are not legally binding, but I would like you to mentally agree with these in order to have an environment where everyone feels at home and where you can set yourself up to get the best results. When you agree with these Terms of Service you give me permission to give you feedback on these points. I will also keep myself to these points.

• This is a safe place. Everything personal you see and hear in the course stays there. Do not share other’s work outside the course without their permission.
• Be positive towards your own work and the work of others.
• Give this course your best effort so that you can get the most out of it. Play at (YOUR) 100%. Finish what you start.
• Do your homework. Everyone will have a different timespan to work, but one of the main focus points of this course is to get work done in the time you give it. Even if you have 1 hour a week to do the homework, make sure to find a creative way you can still do it. I can’t give you feedback when you don’t do your homework and most importantly: you will fall behind. Ask for help and talk about this if it is hard for you or if there are any circumstances that prevent you from working on your comic. We will all try to help you accomplish your goal.
• When you give critique, weather it’s on art, story or someone’s way of working, always come from a place of wanting to help another person improve and bring the critique with kindness.
• Be open to critique yourself. Listen, accept it, be thankful for it and see what you can do with it. You don’t have to agree with everything.
• If anything is unclear: ask for clarification.
• If there is a point where you feel blocked, for whatever reason, bring it out in the open. Talk about it. You can come to me first if you want to.
• Take responsibility. No blaming others, no justification, no avoiding.
• Celebrate your wins!