Comic Group! (writers and artists)

[Rattlecake]

I’m very interested! I would say I’m both an amateur writer and amateur artist, but a while ago I damaged the tendons in my wrist. It’s painful and difficult to move, so as a result I mostly keep to sketches (just some lying around on my computer.) Art aside, I love writing and coming up with stories.

[kip]

Sorry to hear about your wrist! Do you have a discord we can talk on? (:

[375]

I'm interested! It sounds like something fun I can certainly join in on!

[kip]

Awesome! Do you have somewhere I can see your art/writing examples? (sadly we can’t accept everyone since we got too many people interested)
My discord is kip#5488 if you perfer to send them directly !

[375]

Yes I do! Just my normal tapas page I suppose and if there's more, I'll send them through discord at ya! https://tapas.io/375

[Rattlecake]

Yep, and I sent you a friend request! My discord user is Gytrash#1283

[bradathonnu]

If you're still interested I am script writer. I've been writing for about three or four years now and while I don't think I'm the best I certainly think I have potential to create some good works. Maybe if you're still looking for writers and artists I could work on a new script specifically to show off my style to you? If not then that's fine too, and good luck on your endeavors!

[kip]

We’re still looking! There’s no need to write a new script at all, but if you can send me something small you’ve already finished I’ll forward that onwards and we’ll get in contact with you soon?

[bradathonnu]

Sure, where would you like me to send it to you?

[kip]

PM me here or add me on discord (just identify yourself so i know who you are if you do!) at kip#5488

[SpectreFirst]

Recently I've stumbled upon several groups like that where it was also stated "for fun" and "no specific projects" and every time it turned out that it's not an actual working group but a simple bunch of people where everyone is working on its own stuff and the only kind of interaction between members is a minor feedback and that's about it. I don't see any real difference between such groups and regular forums so is it possible to see what you have done as a team so far?

It would also be interesting to know about your actual distribution of labor and your working pipeline, in other words, how many projects are in active development, how many people are actually working, who is doing what and what kind of participation you need the most (no, I'm not talking about fifty writers and one artist kind of a situation which is ever-present, I'm talking about particular problems that needs to be resolved).

[kip]

We’re not an established group yet, this is our first time recruiting, but that’s not our aims at all!

The group will have specific comics created inside the group, both writing and drawing.
The process will essentially be:

A member comes up with an idea
We talk it through and develop it
Writers interested in it will be grouped to do worldbuilding and script
Artists interested in it will be does to do differently parts of the visual process (one artist does sketching, another lines, another colors- for example)
Everyone will also be signing contracts regarding the ownership of the IP being seperated equally between all working members.

Me and the other founder will both take major roles in early comics to ensure “drive by” members (people who join and then decide midway they’re not interested) won’t have too much of an affect on the release of the comics.

Of course it’s not perfect until we get a trustworthy group of creators that get along, but we’re hopeful and believe we can get there with hard work. It’s also why we’re only looking for a limited amount of people (currently 5 artists, 3 writers) so we can easily keep track of everything and everyone.

[SpectreFirst]

It looks like your general approach is similar to mine when I was trying to establish my own open collab so it will most likely go the same route:

• While you aren't paying, everyone is a drive-by because no money means no obligations and considering that most people these days have a very short attention span, don't expect anyone to stick around for too long, especially artists.
• I don't know about the others, but for me “for fun” and “contracts” are on the opposite sides of the spectrum, in fact, that's exactly why I'm here – I'm tired of bureaucracy, deadlines and responsibilities as I have more than enough of that at work, I just want to work on something that I like whenever I want and leave if I'm too tired to continue. Contracts and rights may sound important and exciting for high school or college kids but for the rest of us it's just another boring and ugly part of life that we have to deal with. Fortunately, collabs like ours never reach the point where it would require to officially declare any rights (and joint artworks are always hell to document) so my advice is not to bother.
• Since you will be curating the project, from my experience I can tell that it will most likely be your project with miscellaneous people coming and going in and out of the team. “We'll develop our project together” sounds good in theory but in practice it's a lot easier to have one lead writer who aggregates ideas and other input from the rest of the team because in the end it will end up with one writer and several idea guys anyway. My guess this is what you are aiming for right now.

Since you are in the process of gathering people, what kind of projects people are proposing to you and what kind of project do you actually expect? What I mean is – if you and your partner prefer to work on, let's say, a slice-of-life kind of stuff where you could get away with just a couple of characters and simple or no backgrounds, I doubt that you will take a complex fantasy or sci-fi with lots of complex scenery, different creatures and dynamic action sceens. Any kind of complexity will require dedication and most people will vanish the moment when they will be required to put any actual effort so don't expect to handle much more than you can pull-off by yourself.

And the last but not least – do you have an established working platform (most people seems to be using dedicated Discord servers for that) and what file formats you will use for exchanging data? Since different people may use different software for working, it's important to coordinate common formats for exchanging, especially when it comes to 3D and vector formats. It may sound like a minuscule problem but we have bumped into that very hard when it turned out that we can't use the same working format and most of the layers, effects and other things cannot be properly translated between applications.

[faeriesandents]

@SpectreFirst to answer some of your concerns (and also remind people that we're in XD) we're a artist+writer duo, we have applied to this group.

Here's the thing: we are really hyped for this. So yeah, it might not be our primary focus since we're trying to get our name out there and have too many WIPs already, but we're also workaholics and love sharing ideas, feedback, and simply creating as a team. So here you would have already got 2 persons that WILL be dedicated to this project as much as humanly possible while still paying the bills

I think the "contracts" part will be a reassuring thing for some people who would be afraid of ideas-stealing or art-theft. It also simplifies interactions: we're all equal on this, so there's no jealousy or fight for dominance. I think some of us will be dealing with the legal stuff, and the others will just need to give their go (I'm a trained legal assistant, if it helps, feel free to use my knowledge) so it wouldn't be a boring, tedious thing for the majority of the team.

Hope to have answered some of everybody's questions

Have a great day, y'all

[kip]

First of all thank you, @faeriesandents for your reply!
I'll do my best to answer to all of your concerns as well.

First of all, I'm sorry to hear you weren't able to curate your own project group! It's definitly a time-killing task and we can't do much but hope it'll go well.

• You're right, we're not paying, since it's supposed to be a group collaboration, top to bottom. It's no one's IP and everyone's IP. We're very much aware most people won't be in it for the long run and we plan to act accordingly, accepting joining applications in phases to slowly filter through and reach an established group of writers-artists who are willing to stick with it for the long run.
  This is the first recruitment post of many, I'm sure, but it's better to start somewhere than give up before trying.
• I'm not actually a high school or college student, haha.. But anyway, I can understand your worries! The contract will be one standard contract we'll revise together (likely the founders) and it's purpose has nothing to do with responsilbilities, deadlines or bureaucracy- rather, it's sole purpose is to protect our artists and writers IPs! The contract will state there's an equal division of ownership of the IP, and it's purpose is to prevent one person taking the finished product and selling it for self profit.
  If you feel like it's not worth the bother that's okay, I'm not asking you to do this on your pesonal projets, but since we'll be working as an extablished group it's importnat to me to make sure our artists and writers are protected beyond just assuming people will act decent.
• It won't be my project, actually. I'm not even a writer. The comic group is aimed at short, multi-writer & artist comics (5-22 pages per project), each seperate project will likely have a lead writer and lead artist which will switch depending on who came up with the initial concept and who takes lead. The group is a full collaboration since everyone will have a chance to take lead on one or more of the different projects we'll be doing.

We're looking to have a wide range of genres in the group since our focus is on multiple short stories, as such we'll aim to have artists and writers with different styles and approaches.
If you feel you're unable to commit to a more complex story, that's more than alright. I'm sure a lot of people feel similarly, hence we're allowing people to decide what amount of work each wants to do on every project proposed, that way we hope to minimize people quitting midway. I personally have experience doing comics, I have several complete projects under my belt, and would love to provide guideship on timelines and structure.
Not enough people want to do work on a project proposed? No problem, we'll just not move forward with that project into the creation phase.

As for the working platform; we have a discord group for chatting and planning. We'll be using google docs and google drive to work the script, and we'll be using .psd formats since almost every program is capable of working and exporting them. Of course, since the work will likely be seperated to penciling -> inks -> coloring, it's completely possible to just use high res .png files and draw ontop of them (or beneath them, in case of coloring).
I've personally done several ... dozen... collaborations before and never issues with formatting, so I'm hopeful we'll be able to work as seamlessly as my previous efforts.

Hope that answered all your questions, thank you for your input and interest!

[SpectreFirst]

Hm, most of your stuff seems legit since it coincides with how my own project was established (well, except “never had issues with formats” part - .fbx between different applications, issues with different renderers, numerous .cdr to .ai to .svg problems, .psd format with fancy effects just to name a few) and while I'm still strongly against any legal activities, let's say that I'll decide to join your group – what do you need and what do you want me to do?
I don't consider myself neither a writer nor an artist but when I'm hard-pressed I can do both (I consider myself a hack of all trades – I can do anything equally bad!):

• I cannot draw a stick figure but I can model and draft in 3D and vector, I can also do reference hunting and assembling moodboards.
• I can work on logic and other story-related stuff but English is not my native language so I cannot proofread beyond basics.
• I'm absolutely terrible at generating ideas and that's why I prefer working in teams. Since I usually have a lot of workload at my day job I prefer the role of an auxiliary but I have a lot of experience in managing teams so I can coordinate efforts as well.
• My turf is mainly fantasy but I can technically work on sci-fi as well (although I prefer not to giving the sheer amount of scenery it usually requires).
• I work in Libre, Blender, Inkscape and Krita so I can handle most common formats.
• I prefer Discord and e-mail as primary methods of communication plus Google Docs and Drive for sharing common assets.

Here's the thing: we are really hyped for this.

Believe it or not but I've heard exactly the same thing when I was starting my own project and I have a very clearly documented proposal so people knew exactly what they were signing for. Want to take a guess what happened when the initial excitement wore off? The harder it burns the faster it burns out. And no, I wasn't slacking my own project – I did the bulk of hard work myself so I'm not one of those “writers” who just want to dump a brick of text on your lap and call it a day.

If you feel you're unable to commit to a more complex story

sigh For me complexity is not much of an issue because I treat all my projects the same way I treat my regular job so I'm not afraid of complex tasks, what I'm afraid of though is that I'll commit my time and efforts to something only to be left alone doing all the hard work while bunch of people will provide minor feedback once in a while and then vanish completely. Since you've done dozens of successful collaborations I'm sure you know how to prevent that from happening.

[kip]

I understnad. We don't plan on working in atypical or 3D formats so I don't think that would be a problem. but we'll probably work with that individual artist on finding a solution if a problem in formatting arises.
Again though, I'm just talking from my own experince, all the artists I worked with before (if I had to put a number on it, 10? 15?) worked in .psd compatible software or at least software that allows use of .png as base files, so I still doubt it'll be an issue.

I'm sorry to say that if you're not an artist or a writer we probably don't have a place for you in the group, it's a group made specifically for writers and artists and simply isn't compatible to host people who.... aren't. We won't have anything for you to do.
We're currently focused on 2d art exclusively. Our writers will be tasked with doing story logic and proofreading eachother, any sort of "beta" work per se.

It's really not my place to defend or convince you to join the group, if you feel like it's unrealistic that's fair, I really can't argue with you on that. I laid out my war plans on how to combat people coming and going and there's not much else I can do. Comic circles are a far cry from uncommon, though usually they aren't over the internet, I can't see why we wouldn't be able to eventually create a group here as well.

I have done dozens of collaborations, for me they were almost always half-and-half and paid so the slacking off wasn't a prominent part. I'm sure curating this effort will teach me a lot and I'm excited to learn.
Right now, I have faith in the group, I already know some of the people joining and trust them fully, and I know I'll be putting my time into it as well.
I can't make any promises, but that's the thing with hypotheticals - can't win or lose without trying it in the real world.

[kip]

I'm not sure how to close a topic so I just wanted to say we're all filled up on applications, acceptance letters were send and I'm now informing everyone we couldn't accept.
Thank you to everyone who showed interest; here, in pms, and on other sites.
We look forward to seeing where this project goes!

[Manga_Mouse0216]

I'm interested, I'm a writer and trying to learn art since I can't find an artist.

[kip]

Thanks for your interest! Sadly, we’re currently all filled up on positions in the group. We’ll probably be opening more places for new members sometime in the future, though, so don’t hesitate to apply then.