Hello guys!
Because there are so many collaboration threads every week, today I'd like to share my personal experience working for a writer as sort of a cautionary tale concluding with tips and practices that I believe are key for a successful collab.
I'd like to preface this by saying I've mentioned parts of this before in various threads for a long time now but here I'll relate the whole story and finally air out this laundry.
Rewind to my senior year of college in 2013. I was eager to work and start making a name for myself as that's what you're supposed to do once you graduate right? Anyway, my friend came to me and asked if I'd be interested drawing comics for a writer that he networked with and was planning to draw a series for (looking back, I never learned how he got in contact with this writer). Drawing comics professionally? Sounded like a good opportunity for experience and possible growth, and who knew? It could have lead to something great! I agreed and he gave the writer my contact information.
The writer, we'll call him Sam, contacted me and after general introductions were made he proposed some story ideas he was interested in turning into comics. Sam is half of a two-man team, his partner is also a writer but Sam was my main point guy. The two have dreams of their own comic house like Marvel, DC, Dark Horse etc. so they had a wide variety of story ideas. Anyway, after hearing a few of them, I settled on a superhero story aimed at children ages 7 to 12 or so. I liked the idea and thought it had potential. I drew up some character designs based on his loose descriptions and he loved them.
Sam sent over a contract which I signed. The contract would be valid for 3 years and after that it would be renewed should I choose to. As far as payment would go, I would get 30% of any profit made from the pages I produced. In retrospect, this was what led to my biggest gripe with this experience as that was all I got. I thought, hey, that's not too bad. I didn't have any other job prospects at the time so this was the best thing on my plate. The exposure and experience would be good right?
So I drew the first part of the story, thumbnailed, sketched, inked, and colored it all. This whole time after the initial e-mail, Sam and I have been communicating through facebook messenger with the very rare skype call on occasion. The first book was produced and Sam and his partner took it to a convention. These guys are fairly old-school, using conventions as their main means of distributing their material. While the books are also available on Amazon and Comixology (I think), there is no way to read a sample online. In later years I suggested Sam start posting on Tap to try and promote the series more and he did for a while but stopped after some months. Anyway, the comic was a hit among the families attending the con in his area. After that first run I believe I received $60.
Once the kids series proved successful, I sort of became the main go-to artist for Sam. I worked on the subsequent books of the kids series, and I became the artist for another series, this time a young adult fantasy (again doing all the thumbs, sketches, inks, and toning (I talked Sam out of full color for this one)). That book was released and was met with moderate enthusiasm. With the second book of the kids series and now this fantasy one, I received $120 if I recall correctly. But aside from these two series, Sam also had me produce concepts for other projects he had. One was a tween-based story that he intended to pitch as a cartoon show. I did concepts and a storyboard for an introduction animatic. I was not paid for this. He did find an agent to get it in front of the eyes of TV people but nothing ever came of it. While this was all happening, I was also helping edit one of his novel ideas. I was also not paid for this. This was when I started to get jaded as by this point I had my own online presence and found some success doing my own comics and freelance commissions. I made more through Tap's ad revenue than what I was making working for Sam and my earnings pale in comparison to the big hitters here on Tap.
Then in 2016 or so, he had ideas for a sci-fi graphic novel. He envisioned this as a collab between me, doing the sketches and character designs, and two other people doing the inking and coloring. I produced character concepts and Sam took these to pitch to an actual company. Now this company actually had some sway as its owner has a very successful TV show that is still airing. The company really liked my concepts and I felt somewhat validated. But as Sam was in discussions with them I became ever more jaded. Sam eventually moved the sci-fi series to a crowd-funding campaign of which to this day still hasn't met its goal. He placed one of the intended collab artists in charge of drawing and inking the whole thing. Sam did get a deal with the big company, but it was for another of their ideas. He asked me to sketch the two main characters as a sort of bid to become the main artist for the new professionally produced series and I did. But in the end, they went with a true professional artist, and I'm glad.
I became more and more silent on facebook messenger. I mean, if he really wanted to talk to me he could send me an e-mail which I think is the more professional approach anyway. The last exchange we had was him asking me for a cover of the next book in the kids series. But he never followed up, not even asking "Hello, I was wondering how the cover was coming along?" and to this day it isn't.
I don't harbor any hard feelings for Sam, I just wish I had some better compensation for all those hours of work, hours that I could have spent on my own art that could have given more profit than I ever saw from Sam. I did bring up my misgivings and Sam took it very well, however not much changed after it. I should have known to withdraw sooner when I found out that barely two years after my initial introduction to Sam, my friend who originally connected us left the collective. Which leads to another point, I wish Sam would send out like a company e-mail, letting everyone know who's who, what projects are in production, schedules, etc. He does it loosely in facebook posts but that is not organized at all. I'm not sure what the contracts are like for the other artists under Sam's studio, but boy I hope they're better than mine. In my naivety, hungry for that exposure and experience, I never considered asking for a pay-per-page rate, or any money up front. Now I definitely know better. But I hope by relating my experience I can help some people.
tl:dr version: I was hired by a writer but would only get 30% of the profit made from works I drew. It was too much work for what little pay I got. I also did additional work for his other projects which I was not compensated for. I got jaded and regret not asking for more money earlier.
SO now on to tips and practices I think will lead to successful collabs:
- Be professional: Communicate important things through e-mail. You can instant message for quick questions and convos working out certain aspects of the story, but messages get buried very quickly. Use e-mails for schedules, contracts, important documents like story drafts/scripts, and important announcements. And draft contracts!
- PAY people: People can't work for free. IF YOU CAN'T PAY immediately, you better have a really good plan to get the project in the green and profitable and share every aspect of this plan with people considering producing work for the project so they can judge for themselves if they think it will be successful or not. OR give whoever you're asking work from (artist or writer) more investment in the story and partial ownership. Have them develop it with you as a true joint-project; that way each party has a stake in it and is more willing to work hard even if money is far off in the distance.
- Be open: Have an open conversation with your artist or writer. If you have any doubts or misgivings, address them immediately. Make sure you're on the same page!
- Respect each other and yourself: Not just by being polite and civil, value what the other has to offer for the project. Don't take advantage of the other person by expecting them to do more than what is outside their contract. Don't undervalue yourself or your work.
That's all I have to say for now. If I come up with anything else I will amend this post. I hope this helps!