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This is where I'm thrown. As a writer with an original script, no one is paying me to come up with the idea and write it. I'm taking the same risk as the artist. We both give our time and talent and hope it pays off with a sale. Why must the writer pay the artist? I do understand there are materials that cost the artist some money, whereas the writer has virtually no expense except time. But other than that . . .
I think a lot of artists (most of whom are writers themselves) would liken doing the art on someone else's project to being hired to write an article freelance, or some such. In other words, they have their own projects that they're going to work on for free...not unlike you with your novel. But to take time out of their own work, for a project (that they are hopefully interested in and passionate about to a degree) but that is likely not their ideal and perfect project, they expect to be paid, the same way you would expect to be paid if you were hired to write an article about something that was not your ideal and perfect project (like your novel or graphic novel/comic). Does that make sense?
It is also true that materials can be very expensive - you'd be shocked how expensive - especially paper - if they are not drawing digitally. Additionally, having been on both sides as writer and artist, I can say pretty much unequivocally that though writing can be very difficult, take a long time, and present its own challenges, art definitely takes longer. Every time. It's incredibly time consuming...especially if it's not just pencils but fully inked and/or colored worked. That's like "drawing" the same book four times. Once to lay it out and thumbnail it, once to pencil it, once to ink it, and a third to color it. And that's if you're NOT having the artist do the actual text...if they're also doing that then add ANOTHER time consuming pass.
Since it is all your original material that you are talking about, I'm assuming you feel like you will own the rights to that material? And just pay the artist some fee once you get paid for it? Or are you planning to share rights? If you're planning to share rights then you may be able to get an artist on board for free if they believe enough in the project (a huge success story on this tip would be Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead...which was his original script, but he shares rights fully with the original artist Tony Moore, who only penciled the first handful of issues). So Tony Moore continues to get paid for TWD, even though he left long ago...which to some people doesn't make sense, but the harsh reality is that without Tony Moore's phenomenal art work...the project never would have been picked up and Robert Kirkman would be splitting exactly nothing. Which would be a shame since it's now going to be a tv show on AMC.
If you're not planning to share rights, then I tend to think it's only fair of an artist to ask to be paid for their work. Comics is a tough tough business. Maybe not tougher than prose...but as a writer without an artist or without the art ability themselves...I think it can feel that way. It can leave you stranded with a great idea/story and the feeling of no way to get it out there.
I would encourage, as I always do in these threads, that writers with a project and in need of an artist go to comic-cons and build relationships with artists. Especially the smaller press cons like APE - Alternative Press Expo (San Francisco), MoCCA Fest (NYC), Wonder Con (San Francisco), Stumptown Comics Fest (Portland), SPX (Maryland - Bethesda), SPACE (Columbus, Ohio), STAPLE (Austin, Texas), TCAF - Toronto Comics Arts Festival (Toronto) just to name a few. Take business cards (or whatever) and sample pages of your script and meet some people. Tons of young up and comers go here to meet artists and sell their mini-comics or print versions of their web comics, and a lot of them are very talented and trying to "break in", not unlike you, so they might be interested in a team up.
Mark Young:
I must be confused as to the definition of "comic" here. What I'm reading in this thread seems contrary to what I thought of one. I assumed we're all talking about comic books likened to graphic novels, but everything I've read (albeit somewhat limited I will admit) seem to be done by one person (story, panels, and art).
I'm guessing we're not talking about "Sunday funnies" or "web comics". Sorry if that sounds dumb, but I have people pushing me to try and publish a comic strip my cousin and I developed but I just can't draw it [well]. So the thread intrigued me.
Mark - I think the original op is talking about the fact that he/she has written a comic (or a graphic novel) like a Batman comic (or any variation thereof) and that they need an artist. A lot of comics - especially of the more indie variety are written/drawn by the same person...Charles Burns' Black Hole as a good example, Gabrielle Bell's Lucky, Ross Campbell's Wet Moon...the list is huge. But most of the mainstream monthly comic and graphic novel market is written by one person and drawn by another and in fact a sole creator/writer/artist is rather rare in the overall scope of comics as a whole. For writer/artist pairings look at anything from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's Watchmen to Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber's Whiteout to I'd say 95% (maybe more?) of the monthly comic book floppy output.
I think JH Williams III (a phenomenal artist) is planning to do both writing and art chores on his first arc of the new forthcoming Batwoman comic, but even there he's brought a co-writer on board to assist him, and he's set up a fill-in artist already to come in for the second arc...because he knows it's going to be a stretch for him to do what he wants to do and also be on time and not fall behind. Admirable that he's thinking so far ahead.
So yes, in short, it can be done both ways. As a single creator creating a single vision, or as a collaboration between artist and writer.
As for a comic strip. I hope you do it. I can be hugely rewarding, though also quite time consuming. The good news for a comic strip, unlike a comic book or graphic novel is that there is a great built in web audience for web comics and if you can get their attention you can really get a following at a minimum of cost to you. Good Luck!