Does a 50/50 split on potential profits REALLY make sense?

Yeah for me I think that it's more about hours put in than any one job being inherently easy. None of these jobs are easy. Personally I think everyone should get paid more.

I think for me just my experience with people who wanted me to draw their comic for them always wanted to split profits 50/50, and always were complete strangers who refused to show me any writing samples or tell me anything about the project they wanted drawn. Occasionally they'd say the story was fantasy and 200+ pages or whatever but no specifics. If I could be sure that 50% would be enough to cover my labor it would be one thing but in cases like that it's way more likely to be half of nothing.
And I'm just not interested in taking that kind of gamble.

I am both writer and artist. I think the debated topic is how much of a workload a writer is exactly doing, and some seemingly think artist has the same workload as writer because writing is also mentally exhausting therefore they should get 50%. But from my experience and many others do, the workload of an artist is more often than not, bigger, if the writer only do the script. The negotiation for profit split can go easy if we can establish even this mere fact, so we can split the workload as well. I just need to drop this but i think the discussion doesn't get heated and completely civil until recently, so there. Okay. I need to shut up now. Thank you :"

Just remember this:
As an artist, you have more to lose than to gain when collaborating with a writer. Make sure you think to yourself that the story will "work." Or it's a story you will write yourself.

Writing and coming up with plots are hard too but not as hard as doing art. It is never equal in terms of work load.

As a writer, I offered my services free to two artist looking for someone to write their stories.
It's something I'd never done before and I wanted to try not only challenge myself but learn a new skill.
It has been a huge learning curve for me. I didn't realise I would be required to draw the storyboards because the reason I write is because I can't draw to save my life, let alone create the layout for the comic.
Never the less I taught myself script writing and page and panel layouts. I'm still learning and both artists are extremely patient with me. Both artist are very different and one is easier to work with than the other but both have different styles they like to work with and I'm patient (and they are patient) enough to make it work.
I'm grateful for these opportunities and don't seek any financial reward for this and at this point neither do the artists. Both are new to publishing comics and I'm happy to help.

Personal note: I am in a financially stable position to not seek payment for this type of service and the two artist are also full time workers making comics in their spare time. I felt I needed to mention this as it impacts the fact we are currently not seeking any profits.

As for the question regarding 50/50 - I feel both the writer and the artist must come to an agreement that suits them both, and should include a breakdown of what the expectations are for each other and the time involved. Ensure everything is in writing at the start so there is no misunderstanding when profits begin to flow in.

Ok so, I disagree with so much of this. Im an amateur writer who has been searching for an artist for several months now. I have no means to pay upfront and am relying on the 50/50 split of potential profits. I see, understand, and can appreciate where many of you are coming from. I also have contradicting opinions about a good chunk of it too.

The thing is, no matter how you look at it, if I pay an artist upfront and we agree to 50/50 for p.p. (potential profit) then in the end, the artist makes more money off my story than I do. Yes I know several here have said, "it's the writers story so they feel like they deserve more of the profit," but isn't that kinda true? Yes, without the artist it would just be words on paper, but at the same time, without the writer, it would just be pictures with no real purpose or meaning on paper.

I would never intentionally belittle a single artist, what you guys do is amazing and takes energy, time, practice, and effort. However, writing is no easy task. I doubt J.K Rowling popped out all 7 Harry Potters in a few months time. That stuff took years and was horribly taxing, I'm sure. The thing is, to simplify this as much as possible, look at it as a coloring book. The writer is the one that provides the pictures that you color. As an artist, you look at those pictures and decide what colors you want to use to fill them in. Without an writer, you just have a blank page of paper to color with your crayons.

Again, I am not trying to be insulting with that description, it is just the most simple way I can think to explain it. Even without the person coloring the pictures, there is still a book that can looked at and enjoyed. Some of you have said that even without an artist, a writer could make a novel, they just choose not to. That's true. So realistically, the artist isn't necessary for the writer to make anything worthwhile.

Furthermore, back to my original point, let's break down some math. Let's say I write a 20 page comic, beginning to total end. I pay an artist $100 a page for it. That is $2000 out of my pocket to the artist. So even before being picked up and making profit my account is at -$2000 while yours is +$2000. Now, let's say we do get picked up, webtoons gives us $1000 a month and we release the whole comic over a 10 month period, that is $10,000. Now, we have an agreement for a 50/50 split. So now you gey $5k and I get $5k. Well now my account is at $3000 and yours is at $7000. So you've made over twice as much as me on my comic. No matter how you look at it. That isn't right. Sure the comic wouldn't exist without art, but it wouldn't exist without a script either.

Some of you presumed that certain tasks should be the writers job anyways, so if I write the script, build the world, the characters, the dialogue, the plot, I do storyboards for you with my crappy level of art so you have a general idea of what I expect each panel to look like. I give you freedom to change things that look better or sound better because, I am not an artist so hoe it looks compared to sounds is not my specialty. I personally am all for changing things around to make sure it works for the artist as easily as possible. This may be "my passion project" but if it isn't easy for the artist then it might not happen at all.

I have an artist who is just struggling with finding time to work on my comic. That's ok. Life happens, I get it. I have no deadline set for this at all. If it gets made in the next five years, that is ok, it got made, I'm happy. If it gets made in a few months, I'm thrilled! I know how hard art is, I wanted to be a comic book artist and I spent a week with 2 professionals from DC and Marvel working on making comics. I learned I should not be the artist but my writing was appreciated by the pros there. My artist comes to me and says, "I think this character should look like this instead, it's more original and intriguing." I respond, "oh crap, your right. That looks way better." She has told me some parts of the scripts don't make sense to her, she edited it and I read it. She made it better. I am more than happy to take input, make changes, get advice and so on. This is my first comic, maybe when I've made thirty I won't because I'll have more experience, but this is our first comic. Period. I want it as easy for both of us as possible.

Paying upfront I don't think is fair for a 50/50 split because in the end, the artist makes money off 'my passion project' and, until there is profit, I'm in the hole. If I pay upfront, I'd make it 60/40 or 70/30 in my favor. Just to balance it back out. Some here have said, it is situational, sometimes it would be fair and other times it wouldn't. It really does depend on who you team up with. The odd thing though is I have seen several artists here looking for writers but not willing to pay them. Why do I have to pay you but I can't expect the same in return?

All in all, I think if a artist sees a story they want to work on being advertised at a 50/50 for p.p. and they don't like the 50/50, just ask if the writer would do maybe 45/55 or would be willing to pay a small amount to get the ball rolling. Just saying, "you're stupid for asking for free art and a fair share." Isn't very cool. Anywho, that's my opinion.

If you're a writer, just write a damn light novel and be done with it.

But if you're adamant about making it into a comic, invest in your own work and pay the artist upfront.

Look at it this way, not paying the artist for their time and energy with the hopes of future profit IS NOT A GOOD THING. It's practically slave labor. You are getting the most out of it because your story is being illustrated. As for the artist, they are slaving away hours of their time with the hopes of earning "future profits."

People have different goals, I fully understand that. If you're lucky enough to find an artist who can do art in their free time and gonna work for you for free, then good on you.

I don't want to say this but...the chances of you profiting from your comics are really low. The market is saturated and the competition is cut throat. You have the asian creators continuously making content with top-tier quality art and story. Sadly, most are scanlated and can be read for free. Anyway, that's another topic.

Anyway, as for my last words regarding this topic:

Writers, you are hiring and paying the artist whether you like it or not if you want your story to be drawn. PAY UP! Art will catch the interest of your prospective customer! Learn to draw if you don't like it!

Artists, never ever EVER sell yourself short. Know your worth. Ideas and concepts are a dime a dozen. Art is what makes the comic marketable. Honestly, you are better off coming up with your own stories. That way, you own 100% of the intellectual property.

If you're paying up front you don't have to do a 50/50 split. By in large this is about authors offering a split instead of paying.

You can expect the same in return? It's just that there's a demand for artist willing to work for free, so writers are more likely to take advantage of that.

I've done both art and writing, and I do have to agree that writing is generally less time consuming than art. Though it also kind of depends on if it's a simplistic art style or detailed art style.

I do think if it's a writer looking for an artist, cut out the split 50/50 crap and just pay the artist upfront (same goes for the reverse). If it's a true collab where writer and artist are on equal footing I think there is some warrant to the 50/50 split though at the same time I feel like it should at least have the writer contributing some extra work to the project.

Clearly you missed my entire point.