I can’t improve much on how Phil Reed tells it, so I’ll just repost his email:
Christopher Shy, the artist for such beautiful products as D20 Call of Cthulhu, Urban Arcana, and Forgotten Realms: City of the Spider Queen has released World of Ronin Arts: Character Portfolio One, a collection of 12 color paintings that may be used royalty-free in print or electronic publications.
Though mainly an offering for publishers, it’s interesting to see new sales approaches being tried out.