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somekh
Oct '19
1

How to Ask for an Artist to Draw Your Story

Hello and welcome! Are you a writer with no artistic skill, dying to make a comic? Doesn't matter if you have funds, or no funds! I'm here to help give you some tips on how to be a promising collaboration partner, and how to get that story you want to write so desperately out into the world!

STEP 1: THE TITLE

You're going to have to title your post something when seeking a collaboration, and in a forum format like Tapas, you're going to need to draw them in with the title alone, otherwise your thread is going to get no views, no likes, no responses or inquiries, and more importantly, no success.
So what do you need to include in the title? Try using this handy dandy title template!

[ROLE] Seeking Collaboration: [PAID/UNPAID]/[GENRE]/[FORMAT]

That's going to tell interested parties exactly what they're in for.

Ex:
Writer seeking collab: Paid / Fantasy / Illustrated Novel
Artist seeking collab: Unpaid / Autobiography / Comic

STEP 2: THE CREDENTIALS

Okay... Now you've had people click on your thread... now what? People know what they're in for, so now what more do they need to know?

Establish your credentials!

Why does the hypothetical collaboration partner have ANY reason to trust you? Why would they waste their time on your story, instead of writing their own? What's in it for them? People are motivated by reward, so what's going to happen when they collaborate with you? Some details to add in may be:

  • Blogs, follower counts, and connections to advertise through
  • Previous experience with writing like prior published stories or google documents with samples
  • No, really, ALWAYS GIVE A SAMPLE
  • Marketing and advertisement budgets
  • Your background or history with writing and art
  • Your Patreon

STEP 3: THE FORMAT AND SCHEDULE

An artist or writer that wants to collaborate with you is always going to want to know how often you want updates, and what kind of updates you want. Do you want three full comic pages a week? Do you want one single illustration a month? Make this sort of thing clear immediately!

Make sure to clarify, if you're after a comic artist, how many panels you estimate to be on each page and update, and break it down to a weekly or monthly schedule. Don't think in long-term. An artist wants to know exactly how much time they're going to need to sink into your project. As does a writer!

STEP 4: THE HARSH TRUTH

Note: Skip to Step 6 if you have a budget.

"But Somekh, I don't have any professional writing experience, and I don't have a budget! I just have a REALLY good idea!"

Well, chances are, you're going to be ignored. Don't expect anyone to give you any handouts or to illustrate your work.

"But my idea is SO GOOD! It might get FEATURED someday!"

No, it won't. Tell me, honestly, why anyone is going to feature a story written by someone starting from a 0 follower count? How is anyone even going to find your story on Tapas or Webtoon, when both platforms are constantly drowning in an endless overflowing deluge of content that isn't filtered for quality or follower count? Updates from even amazingly skilled artists go completely overshadowed, just because of popularity and sorting algorithms. Not everyone who hears about your story is going to click. Not every click will subscribe. Not every sub will stay. The "recents" section of both websites cycles out completely almost every hour. It's very hard to be visible.

Don't believe me? I have 16,000 followers. My comic has 6 subscribers. Only 1 of those subscribers actually follows my other platforms. I've been hired by ArenaNet before and barely gained any traction from projects that were advertised by a massive company to millions of followers.

The promise of doing unpaid work for hours on end for a writer with no experience, no following, and no credentials, just for the promise of maybe possibly hypothetically by slim chance getting featured -- not even paid, but just featured, is hardly promising. With that kind of incentive, tell me why anyone would illustrate your story? Why wouldn't they just write their own?

STEP 5: WHAT TO DO

What do you do, then, if you don't have a platform, don't have any prospects, and don't have a budget?

Well, you can always do it yourself!

Try publishing to Wattpad, or try writing your novel and self-publishing on Amazon (like I did4)! Try paying $25 for a month on FurAffinity to run an advertisement (you'll get a few hundred thousand views)! Or, better yet, try illustrating your idea on your own!

It sounds rough, but really, just download an art program like Medibang2, grab a cheap tablet1, and get at it! If you're no good at art, that's okay! YOU WILL IMPROVE WITH TIME AND PRACTICE. Don't believe me? Just look at popular comics like Countdown to Countdown17, or Chakra12! See how much they improved from page 1 to the most recent update! You'd be surprised at how quickly comic-making forces you to accelerate at improving at artwork.

STEP 6: I HAVE A BUDGET. WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT?

Industry standard rates for comics are below:

  • Writers: $10-50 per page
  • Sketch and ink artists: $75-$200 per page
  • Colorists and shaders: $35-$150 per page

Which... wow! That's a lot of money! And while it is, you're probably not looking for a professional. If you're willing to take a dip in quality, you can find an artist on deviantart who would likely do the entire process for $20-$100 per page. If they take any less, or you offer any less, the artist is being shorted, and it's not really very fair to them at all.

Also, consider an hourly rate!

If you're looking for a single illustration or cover, you're going to be looking at a range of $700-$1000. I paid 1K for my novel's cover! Cover illustrations are generally more expensive than other forms of collaboration, because you're going to be paying the artist not only for the work, but also a commercial license fee and a license to print fee.

GOOD LUCK

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    Oct '19

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    Oct '20
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colinmooredraws
Oct '19

I just want to say...you're my hero. I made a similar post about a week ago, but it was much shorter and less comprehensive and I am in awe of your dedication.

Another reason you're my hero. Not only did you include colorists but you got an accurate range! (I color professionally and we frequently get left off such lists).

This is just an elaborate way to say thank you, honestly.

60SixAn Actual Shark
Oct '19

Great post! I just have one note that I think would be worth including:

This is good information, but I might also look into asking some professional Webtoon artists what their rates are per episode rather than page! (By Webtoon, I mean vertical scroll comics, vs. traditional page-by-page comics)

So many of these "writers seeking artists" are set on being featured Webtoons, which don't really follow page-by-page rates.

Most people I know charge per-panel or per-episode (Which is usually 40-60 panels).

rajillustration
Oct '19

And one more thing to add--make your stories shorter if you want to get an artist on board. The shorter, the more likely you will find someone. I see a lot of collabs that are like 10 year long pilgrimages and it's like...no one is going to embark on that adventure with a stranger (especially for free)

somekh
Oct '19
60Six

Yep! This is why I also suggested paying by the hour. Hardly anyone on Tapas/Webtoon is going to pay actual industry standard, but they should pay something.

DualDragonsMaster of Yeet
Oct '19

Really agree with the fifth point you've made there.

About a year and a half ago, my drawing skills were really, really bad. So bad that I quit my first digital series at the time. When I started the one I have now, it was a little bit better but still pretty shaky. But I can see how I improved in one year an i'm pretty sure in another one my skills will improve even more, as long as I keep practicing.

What i'm saying is, these nobodies look for an artist because they can't draw. Well that's obvious you say. But my guess is that a good portion isn't willing to put time in improving their drawing aka being lazy. That's why they look for someone to do the dirty work for them. Though i'd recommend them all to just practice

kip
Oct '19

It’s also very much about just seeing your style and writing quality!
the same way artists are expected to show that they can draw coherently and not like, stick figures, when they apply for a collaboration
writing has its own levels of quality & style artists can judge without seeing

nostalgicroxas
Oct '19

Not to sound like I'm beating a dead horse here, but the "solution" to "I have no budget" is "draw it yourself!!!" is not a "solution". As you pointed out with your listing of costs for the industry, people fall into categories : writers, inkers, colorists. There's a reason playwrites and screenplay writers are not actors. You're telling any hopeful writer that, essentially tough shit, no one will draw free stuff for you ever cause you have no presence. The reality is that 99% of writers have no presence online because it's not a visual medium like artwork is on The Internet. [I have tons of hearts and views on some of my writing! Artists should be jumping to work for me! In fine print: it's all pwp smut fanfic.]
Not to say your "do it yourself" isn't bad advice, but it is not the entire truth. As @rajillustration pointed out, making your story shorter is half the battle for the writer. A shorter story means less commitment for the artist, translating to a higher chance of being picked up.

Kura
Oct '19
1

I duno, the 'draw it yourself route' worked for me. I know it can really come off as passive aggressive or dismissive but it really IS good advice.

Even if you don't plan on drawing the whole thing and are just starting it out for one or two chapters just to see how it looks, it gives you an idea of just how much the other tasks to making a comic require and make the pricing and time requirements artists need make a lot more sense. You also get a sense of just how long your project will end up on paper and can shorten it accordingly.

It's also makes it a little easier to get people to work with you when you have more to show that you're willing to do that extra step for that story because you like it / want it to succeed that much. Additionally, if you keep at it, you'll get better at art and comic creation yourself, you may even learn to really enjoy seeing the stuff you were able to create despite how frustrating the creation process was.

(also the prices aren't so much whole professions but the prices of STEPS when it comes to drawing. Most people, especially in indi development, do all of them. So it's not really comparable to something like an actor. Other jobs for comics would more be, lettering, editing, translations, print/typesetting, marketing. Which... indi creators still all have to do)

fuyudust
Oct '19
somekh

Previous experience with writing like prior published stories or google documents with samples
No, really, ALWAYS GIVE A SAMPLE

THIS When I was looking for a collab writer thru the posted thread, I really wished they included one or two chapters of the story they want to work on, or at least an example of their previous work, and have a consider amount of chapters writen down, ready to show.

When I tried to PM randomly, almost all of them only have a "general idea" of the story, really, just grab a random person on the street, anyone, they all have one or two "general idea" in their head. Lots of people think writing an actual script from a general idea is easy and they will be able to if they try, they can be a writer as long as they have ideas, but no, having an idea is the easy part, what make a writer valuable is the hardship of converting ideas in to stories.

colinmooredraws
Oct '19

This is the part that frustrates me beyond reason. General ideas for stories are so easy to come up with. Not only is the writing of the script a lot harder than they imagine it to be, but they don't seem to realize there's a mountain of development between the "general idea" and script writing phase.

The last time I tried doing a genuine collab that I wasn't paid for (just with a friend), I had at least 10 questions a day about stuff as I was doing character and environment designs and they got annoyed with me because they didn't have that stuff worked out and weren't willing to work on it when I asked.

A lot of the time it feels like they want credit for the idea but expect the artist to do all of the actual work.

11 months later
9 days later
Tanako
Oct '20

That hit a spot lol :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: