That is true they might not want to. I really like a cute style mainly cause my whole company aesthetic is "cute" I really wanna use Fools Paradise but if something similar to it has already been done successfully I am up for doing a different story. It's just hard to come up with stuff especially since they seem to be accepting more featured comic creators lately o.o
Hey Delphonse, you seem to be a very dedicated artist, would you like to join my Discord chat channel?
https://discordapp.com/invite/Z2vPMTZ7
We can talk about comic ideals and share art there 
Hello, delphonse, it's been a while o A o) Woah that's pretty bold move,quitting your job to dedicated on your passion.. that's admirable.
I'd like to hear more about it if you haven't found any artist yet, I've been interested on challenging my self with pastel colors so maybe it would suit the comic :")
Here's my portfolio in case you haven't seen it https://linktr.ee/a_shirouto23
Let me know if you are interested on my offer :") I am going to looking forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
a-shirouto.
Hey man, I know you probably have the best of intentions, but this is straight up a bad deal.
If you have the financial security to drop your job and only rely on Kickstarters for your income, great (though boy howdy I would lower your expectations). You might even be able to find an artist that is lax enough to take that payment cycle and do it on the side. If they're okay with that, cool.
However, you are asking way too much from someone who is going to get paid like, twice a year, and it's a BIG IF because it's a Kickstarter.
25 panels a week? That's insane. That's the equivalent of 3-4 normal pages a week. which is what a normal, able bodied full time comic artist might do. Because you're not paying them right away, this person is going to have to keep their full time job, or they're going to be at school, or have other more important life obligations. Most webcomic artists do 1 page a week, which is maybe 6-8 panels. Even stretching that expectation to every two weeks is too much for the average hobbyist, and frankly since they're not getting paid during it, you're going to have to deal with them prioritizing other life dealings over you.
You literally admit that you have had issues keeping artists on retainer in the past due to this exact issue. Promising Kickstarter funds isn't going to solve this problem. You're still going to get the same types of people who can't commit because you're not giving them enough in return for their time.
What you should do is keep your job, put away the money in a savings, pay the artist as you go, then do a Kickstarter to recoup that money. That way if it fails, the failure is on your shoulders and not the poor artist you hired.
Or hell, pay the artist for Kickstarter samples, do the Kickstarter, then use the earnings if it succeeds to pay them while they produce the rest.
If you're set on your current model, lower your expectations significantly and be prepared to pick up the slack. Maybe ask for 6-8 panels and flat color while you do the scripting, thumbnailing, lettering, and effects. This is a give and take here.
There are plenty of other ethical ways to go about this. Please consider any of the above options. You can have all the confidence in the world, all the technical skill, all the connections, and still flop. It's fine to fail, but it's not fine to risk dragging someone down with you. As a creative manager, if you've got to hire someone, it is your duty to make sure they are taken care of before you are.
Whether you find an artist to work with or not, please don't quit your day job. If it pays decently and leaves you enough free time to work on the comic, keep it. Most comic creators do. My friend and I do.
If you're the writer and promoter for this project, the bulk of the actual work is going to fall on the artist. You're putting your livelihood in the hands and on the shoulders of someone else. If you're not making bank on your writing already (and I assume your potential artist isn't either, otherwise they wouldn't accept an offer like this), you're taking a huge gamble and betting the livelihoods of two people on it. That's a lot of pressure to put on someone.
I'm also curious what you mean by "the kickstarter group." Comic friends of yours? Promoters? Do you have a link to the Kickstarter in question?
Why not keep your day job, work and get paid then pay the artist to dedicated to the project? it makes sense that way dont you think? this way you will even have funds to pour into the project instead of being idle.
not to mention the Ad's you will use to promote, the artist will have to make that too as well. pretty much almost all the work will be pushed to the artist.
be realistic with your self. the concept of pouring your time into a project is great but quitting your job because of that is a no no and then dragging an artist who you aren't going to pay to dedicate time to a project won't work. but if you keep your job, and be able to pay the artist you will see how dedicated they will be. good luck!
If you don't pay people for their time, then you can't complain when they back out to pursue other interests.
Pay your artists. They bust their ass 10x harder than writing. That's the EASY work. And if you wanna argue that, try drawing it yourself and find out.
Please don't take this as people shitting on you.
A few do have professional experience in these types of pursuits like @revisionstudios and they're just giving good advice that some other folks have to discover by themselves the hard way.
In the past 7 years of working on comics I've paid out over 30 grand to artists I spend every free dollar I have on art. I know you probably don't know me on this forum but I frequent it quite often and I ask for both paid and free assistance and neither have panned out well all usually due to time constraints on their end. I never over work a person or make them do more work then they originally agreed to and even then if the work gets to be too much I am usually okay with slowing it down. I have never had a bad interaction with an artist in the past and I also practice art on a regular basis to try and improve so I can assist artists. I am finally at a stage where I feel comfortable doing thumbnails/ storyboards.
I never complained that they bailed on me I merely stated that it was a consistent problem in the past.
I know they all mean well I am having a serious depression episode. My close friend is doing what I want to attempt to do and he is struggling but he is loving what he is doing. I just feel that my job is holding me back. The security of having a job is keeping me from attempting to really force myself to make this work. every time I get close to hitting that goal of not needing to work I fall back on my job.
it's really tough to explain the problem without really delving into a lot of stuff. My close friend also had a ton of people tell him not to quit his day job its a horrible mistake and that he will regret it and hes now on his I believe 2nd year. He is still struggling but he is doing what he loves and is starting to see profit from the forced situation he put himself in. A profit he would of never seen had he stayed at his day job.
Could you perhaps find a job that provides more flexible hours?
I've known a couple of people attempt to freelance for around a year, and they all have had to go back to regular employment, either because they couldn't make enough to make ends meet or couldn't handle the workload needed to sustain themselves and the 'living-paycheck-to-paycheck' unease.
And sometimes a thorough examination of a person's situation is needed to figure out what is and what's not working for them and most importantly why.
Is he doing it himself, or is he working with a partner? If he is struggling to feed one person, keep in mind that as an author/artist combo you'll be struggling twice as hard to feed two.
If you're determined to take the chance, at least be very smart about it. Figure out how much money you spent in the last year (rent, food, clothes, car, internet, spending cash, ALL of it). Keep your day job until you have that much in your savings. THEN quit the day job and go forward.
"Starving artists produce the best art" is a myth. You'll do your best work with a net underneath you. If you don't have a decent savings already, make that your goal to be your motivation.
And in the meantime, you can always "practice" at the life you want. Take a day or two off from work, give yourself a 3 or 4 day weekend, and spend 8-10 hours a day for all 4 consecutive days just writing/networking. People think it's gonna be great to work all day from home until they do it. I worked freelance for about 5 years and it is much more emotionally taxing than a lot of people think (as I'm sure your friend can vouch for). If you already feel that you need an outside "push" to get you there, you're going to need that push again and again and again.
It's not unattainable and we want you to succeed, just in a smart way.
Honestly, as someone who works at home rn it can be pretty hard. Though it’s not always the work load but it gets complicating separating work from personal life when your work is in your house. It’s almost like the worker mindset doesn’t turn off.
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Yes, this is so true! When you work a structured job, it's much easier to say "I'm going to go see a movie Saturday" because you weren't working then anyway. When you're your own boss, you could potentially work any time, all the time. Any time you're not working is time you COULD be working, which then feels like money you're wasting. It's not easy to shake that mindset.
I did freelance (not writing but translation) for five years, setting my own hours, working from my apartment. I got into a good grove with it, but it's incredibly isolating and takes a great deal of discipline, even when it's something you enjoy.
The job I have is honestly perfect for what I am trying to do. I really should not quit it I just felt in the moment that I needed to add risk to my hobby to force myself to do better but in actuality I need to practice something else. I need to focus on Discipline more than anything because that is what I am still lacking. I have gotten better but I am not where I need to be. I work a job in security where I spend 6 hours a day working on comics and 2 hours of work actually working. My job is perfect for me and it has a pension and PTO and all the bells and whistles I could ask for not to mention 20/h with 3 raises a year for the next 7 years and then a basic yearly raise every year. Seriousy I should not quit my job. I just had a moment of depressive/bipolar convoluted planning that I normally do when I am off my meds lol. I just got back on them so hopefully in a few days my mindset will go back to stable and I can get back on track with doing what I need to do without quitting my job or making serious lfe changing plans.
I appriciate your help in this and I am sorry for over reacting everyone I am normally a pretty relaxed and calm headed person but yesterday was just the climax of 2 weeks off my meds and a rollercoaster of emotions.
I definitly am still looking for an artist for fools paradise I will even look into paying them once I figure out my finacial situation. I just hate that I've spent 30 grand in 7 years and I have not really acomplished much. Due to one thing or another. I have done well in those 7 years but I keep quitting projects once they start getting serious and I start seeing success. I actually have a serious fear of success and I have a problem with following through. I am thinking of returning to my therapist to see if I can work out those problems because once I stop those bad habits I will be unstoppable o.o
He is doing it while his wife supports him finacially. they are doing fine living wise just not as well off as they could be if he were also working a full time desk job.
I've decided to stick with my job now that ive thought about it more and talked to more people. Unlike him I dont need to quit my job I need to change my bad habits. He was in a position way ahead of me when he decided to quit his job and right now if I do so I would just crash and burn. I usually think things through with serious thought but this was kind of a delusional depressive/bipolar plan.
I am going to continue to write more and really flesh out my story and also start doing character designs and try doing the creative process on my own in a crappy version so when I meet the right artist I can at least have something for them aside from written descriptions of what i want.
I wish I were better at art and I know it takes time Ive been on and off for 3 years now drawing. I've improved quite a bit but at the same time I feel I am standing still.
