Client Delivery·Guide
Commercial contracts in the portal
Studios lose rights in the gaps between PDFs. A model release answers who can appear. A usage agreement answers how the image may be used. A service contract answers what you were hired to do. Those are three different documents. The win is chaining them into one clear signing moment on the same spine as delivery, not attaching three files to an email and hoping someone remembers which was final.
What delivery-adjacent contracts need
Four criteria before you compare e-sign tools
Name the job
Release, license/usage, and service terms solve different risks. One mega-PDF usually confuses all three.
Signing moment
Request, open, sign, store, and track status should be first-class, not a manual chase.
Same studio spine
Templates and signed PDFs should live next to media and portal delivery, not in a forgotten Drive folder.
Not a full CRM
Proposals, questionnaires, and booking pipelines are a different product. Do not score a release tool as HoneyBook.
Three documents, three jobs
A model release (or property / minor / parent variant) records permission to use a person’s likeness. It is about the subject, not the invoice.
A usage agreement or license records how an image may be published, resold, or restricted. It is about the work’s rights, not the shoot day.
A service contract records the engagement: scope, timing, deliverables, and fees. It is about the business relationship. Mixing all three into one unread attachment is how studios discover the wrong clause six months later.
| Document | Answers | Typical portal shape |
|---|---|---|
| Model / property release | Who may appear / what property | E-sign release request from templates |
| Usage / license | How the image may be used | License-style template or resource document |
| Service contract | What you were hired to do | Contract-type template when you author it |
What ArtInStack ships today
Templates live in Media → Documents (Document Center). From Portal Manager → Releases you send a release request: pick a template, choose a signer type (model, parent, property owner), optionally require email verification, and email a signing link.
The signer opens a public signing page, completes the release, and the signed PDF is stored with audit fields (signed time, IP, user agent). Requests expire after a fixed window if nobody signs. Status stays visible in Releases so you are not hunting inboxes.
Resource documents can also be typed as release, license, contract, or other for portal Resources and Downloads. That is for sharing finished PDFs, not the same as a live e-sign request. License templates can map into commerce license keys when you sell usage that way.
What this is not
ArtInStack is not HoneyBook, Dubsado, or a full studio CRM. Proposal builders, questionnaires, booking pipelines, and late-fee ledgers belong in those tools if that is the center of your business.
E-sign here is built for delivery-adjacent releases and template-driven agreements next to the media spine. It is not a claim of DocuSign-class enterprise compliance theater. Read the audit fields you get; decide if your counsel needs more.
Projects also track model-release buckets for production workflows. Portal Releases is the send-and-sign path clients actually complete. Use both deliberately; do not assume every portal invite auto-attaches a contract.
Where each option actually fits
Choose ArtInStack when releases and related templates should live beside Client Portal delivery: one place to send, sign, and store next to the galleries those rights protect.
Choose a studio CRM when proposals and booking paperwork are the product, and attach ArtInStack for galleries and media after the job is won.
Choose a general e-sign vendor when legal requires a specific compliance stack. Expect another silo unless you discipline where the final PDF is archived.
Sign on the same spine as delivery
Author the template once. Send the request from Portal Manager. Keep the signed PDF next to the work it protects.
Also in Guides: Client galleries that convert · Client experience architecture · Automated invoicing & checkout