The Gaming Den

Here's the deal. I have this dream. I've had it for several years as an adult and I KNOW that I want to make it happen. The problem is I don't know how.

I'm trying to write a superheroish sci-fi/fantasy story. It heavily mimics elements of Teen Titans (five-seven young adults going on WACKY adventures) and Exalted (a group of people intended to dispose of evil government themselves become corrupt and redeemed members and successors of the formerly evil government must set things right). I can produce more details on request, but I doubt anyone cares.

I've written stuff but what I really want to do is make it into a comic with pictures and everything. Only thing is that after years of practice my pictures are still mediocre. Not what I had in mind.

Can anyone suggest the ins and outs of getting an artist to help me? Or should I just struggle with trying to learn to draw some more?

You could just publish it with shitty drawings. It works for 99% of all webcomics.

A) Practice makes perfect. Keep working with those shitty drawings, but experiment. Eventually you will get better. There's no quick fix to your skills, but by making mistakes you will come to understand what the mistakes you're doing are, and you will be able to correct them.

B) Alternatively, find drawings that are similar to what you have in mind and copy them. Eventually you'll be able to create variances and then make your own stuff. Learn by mimicking, then improvise. Again, practice makes perfect.

Disclaimer: I am not an artist. I am an observer.

Lago_AM3P at [unixtime wrote:1178038397[/unixtime]]
Can anyone suggest the ins and outs of getting an artist to help me? Or should I just struggle with trying to learn to draw some more?

1. Go to art school. Seriously. You don't even have to take classes (although that may help you develop your own talents), just hang out in the cafeteria or whatever, it's brimming with potential artists, most of whom are going broke paying tuition and have absolutely no business sense, so you're sure to find some willing to work for vague promises instead of actual wages. Be sure to visit any restaurants near the art school, something like 75% of their staff will be graduates who are too busy paying their rent to pursue marketing their talent. If you're in PGH I can recommend specific restaurants for you to scout.

2. Put up a note for "Artist Wanted" on the bulletin board of your FLCS - this is less reliable, but I have known it to work.

3.Email This guy with project description and rates. He's a buddy of mine with some professional illustration experience who's willing to work fairly cheap (seeing as his day job is in a restaurant), but you may have to wait, as he's kinda booked on projects currently (in fact finalizing the illustrations for a for a project with the former Exalted line developer.)

4. In a similar vein, if you see an artist who's style you like published somewhere, look them up online, you would be surprised how many of them have websites with portfolios and contact info. Although artists who have it that together will probably ask for commissions up front or compensation beyond what I expect you have budgeted for your project - it still never hurts to ask.

.Email This guy with project description and rates. He's a buddy of mine with some professional illustration experience who's willing to work fairly cheap (seeing as his day job is in a restaurant), but you may have to wait, as he's kinda booked on projects currently (in fact finalizing the illustrations for a for a project with the former Exalted line developer.)

I would pay out the nose for illustrations for someone who worked on the slick and sexy artstyle of Exalted. I would in fact re-enlist in the USN to make that happen were it necessary.

I wouldn't mind waiting, as I have not even finished the climax of the first chapter.

Please, Josh, tell me more. 8)

4. In a similar vein, if you see an artist who's style you like published somewhere, look them up online, you would be surprised how many of them have websites with portfolios and contact info. Although artists who have it that together will probably ask for commissions up front or compensation beyond what I expect you have budgeted for your project - it still never hurts to ask.

I am saving money from my job explicitly for this purpose. I have around 15,000 that are not related to my goals of having an apartment or a money cushion when I get out that I am willing to spend to make my dream come true. Tell me, in your experience, how far would this get me?

Two more options I thought of today:

1. Go to a comic con. They are absolutely chock-full of wannabe comics artists trying to catch a big break. (And also of established artists trying to relate to their fans without getting swamped by wannabes)

2. Ask around at large gatherings. My younger brother actually got a commission to design an album cover because of a conversation with some folks at a friend's wedding (and that album cover led to further work drawing X-rated greeting cards).

As to my buddy Bleys, you misunderstood me, he unfortunately never did any art for Exalted - instead he's currently working on a project with Geoff Grabowski, who is the guy who used to be the line developer for Exalted. While he has done a fair amount of professional RPG work (7th Sea, Spycraft, etc) he's willing to work cheap when he doesn't have other projects

I am saving money from my job explicitly for this purpose. I have around 15,000 that are not related to my goals of having an apartment or a money cushion when I get out that I am willing to spend to make my dream come true. Tell me, in your experience, how far would this get me?

Okay, you have real money. That's actually a surprise.

My experience is all on the much smaller, broker scale, but I think if you managed costs carefully and were willing to make concessions to the realities of publishing you could make it happen for that. As a benchmark, respectable RPG publishers (that's an oxymoron) generally pay around $50 for a full page, black and white illustration. Smaller illustrations are less, color is more.

That's enough to get you into Options Trading, but not really enough to pay very far as your only income.