I don't think so. The artist hand draws every commission, which each run about $150-$400, and says that every one is exclusive to the buyer (or that's how I read their many admonitions to people that every drawing is only for the buyer and no one else ever has permission to use it). The additional fee of $40 was to get the copyright of the image if you wanted to use it for profit.
Which, judging from the comments below yours, sounds like it would be a good idea. Rachel Udin makes some great comments about the licensing aspect as opposed to copyright, though I am not clear on the difference. I think you're right that it's worth it to read up on the contracts. Got a good link suggestion for that?
Thanks you three! (Polenth, Rachel, Gale) Great response.
Polenth went over it a bit.
Copyright, is the right to copy, sell/make profit from, distribute, reprint, and make derivatives with attribution. (See creative commons for a quick guide to what rights copyright contains)
If someone is selling you their copyrights, that means they are giving you forever control over all of those aspects, in which case it should cost you a few thousand. (minimum of 5,000, I would think though a pro told me he was paid 50,000 for it...)
License means there is usually only certain rights you are given out of that list and usually specified for a certain time period and/or region under which you either pay the artist again for the rights, or you forfeit them. This would be what is called the "reversion clause" which works the exact same way it does in the industry. You give up renewing your license and you can't use their art anymore. (Like you aren't supposed to drive a car when you license expires.) That means you can't use their art for the original purposes after that time period. (And you have to renegotiate the contract)
A bit sketchy, but I believe for books it's usually a few years (My memory is saying 10 is the average, but I can't remember if that's the correct number or where I got it exactly) and for magazines it's usually a year or so... under which time you can reprint (though you have to admit you gave up first printing rights)
I hope that's a bit more clear. But you should know this, even if you're self-publishing, to protect yourself because often the same rules apply to books.