Did some napkin math on this to give applying artists an idea of what their rates could (or should) be. I'm taking rates from https://fairpagerates.com/. This doesn't take into account royalties from the continuing publication of the project, just looking for a bare minimum of what should be expected (And I do really mean bare minimum).
The expectations of this position is 20+ episodes of ~30 panels each done in 3-6 months. Let's floor all those numbers:
20 episodes
30 panels each
13 weeks minimum
=
600 panels in 13 weeks
To put that into graphic novel terms
Average graphic novel page has 5-6 panels (5.5)
~109 fullcolor graphic novel pages in 13 weeks. (13-26 if we're allowing the max of 6 months)
The creator applying for this project won't just be the artist. They'll be the scripter, inker, colorist, and letterer. Fair page rate has these jobs combined at a minimum of $155 per page. Let's even it out to $150/page.
$16,350 before taxes for a 3-6 month project. Minimum. ($15.72-$31.44 hourly assuming 40hr/week, again pre-tax.)
Income taxes for that will be about $1,830 filing singly in California, so the applicant is looking at a minimum take-home pay of $14,520 for this 3-6 month project.
I am almost certain that this job will be sans benefits--no health insurance, independently-filed taxes, no retirement contributions, etc, and that's understandable. If I were hiring for this position, I would list it as an independent contractor--it just makes sense for a position with a limited timeframe like this. Independent contractor = no employer benefits offered. Department of Labor lists benefits as being worth about 30% of compensation so....
$16,350 x 1.3 = $21,255.
To be fair, I don't know if the "fair page rate" takes the need to buy insurance/taxes/etc into consideration so the $16,350 might be a fair minimum anyway.
Let's also go into cost of living in the Bay area. @michaelson has stated that the applicant doesn't need to relocate into the Bay area (which is good considering relo assistance hasn't been offered), but if the applicant chooses to...
As of July 2017, average rent for an apartment in San Francisco, CA is $3828 which is a 2.06% decrease from last year when the average rent was $3907 , and a 0.65% increase from last month when the average rent was $3803.
One bedroom apartments in San Francisco rent for $3491 a month on average (a 1.23% increase from last year) and two bedroom apartment rents average $4669 (a 1.86% decrease from last year).
Source: https://www.rentjungle.com/average-rent-in-san-francisco-rent-trends/
The cost of rent alone will be $10,473-$20,946. In other words...don't move to the Bay area for this. (Emphasis on the fact that it's been stated relocating isn't necessary--that bit's been miscommunicated on Twitter plenty.)
Edit: @60Six added this since they actually live in the area :
[...] this is an average for apartment complexes. Mostly high end places. I've lived in the bay area for 5 years now and I've never paid more than $1500 for a place. There are more options out there than just apartment complexes and the only time I've touched those are when I was going in with room mates, bringing my rent down to only $800. Room mates are options, sublets are options, in-law suites are options [...].
I'm assuming Tapas thought these numbers through and will be able to offer a fair rate.