how easy is it too find an comic book artist?

I too, and interested in hearing about this. Graphic Novels are indeed great and picking up in popularity. My sister is an artist but I'm thinking about taking mine outside of my family. I have zippo in the way of artistry skills. I always figured it was a matter of talking about it until you happened to cross paths with someone interested in the project. But if there's a pool we can scoop an artist out of, well, colour me excited. ^_^

-An

Well, in the past I have found artists online at sites like Digital Webbing: http://www.digitalwebbing.com/talent/writers.html. You can either post an ad seeking a writer, or check out the ads from people looking for writers.

If you like manga-style art, you can also check out people's artwork in the share your manga section of the Tokyopop forum: http://messageboard.tokyopop.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=23, and PM anyone who's style you like.

Course, there's ways to find artists in real life as well. If your city has an art college, you can post a notice on campus. I'm still in university myself, and this year I'm working with a classmate to produce a monthly zombie comic. She did some cartoons for the school paper, and that's how I learned she could draw. Our first issue should be out real soon, and I can't wait!

I just attended a panel about comic writing at Dragon*Con featuring Peter David.

He had a lot to say about how writing for an artist is very different -you have to be very specific with your writing or have a close understanding of how each other communicates: otherwise a lot of mistakes can happen.

for example:

In one panel he wrote: A helicopter shot of blah blah blah.

The comic book was set in space. The artist drew the panel with a helicopter shooting something.

Finding an artist is easy.

Seriously.

Finding a GREAT artist however, is as easy as finding rocking-horse poop!

The reason is that great artists are usually working and don't have time, or need to be earning from their work.

If you can offer money, you will find one. If you can offer some degree of assurance that the book will get published, that ups your chances and can negate a lack of money.

As was suggested, digital webbing has a place you can advertise for an art team, and you will get replies and submissions. PencilJack and Figma can do the same. Look at the Deviant Art site and send an artist a nice email, offering them a gig.

I would warn anyone looking for a decent artist though, have you ducks in a row. I have found artists through Deviant (and I have found some AWESOME talent there) but with each one I've worked with in some capacity, they all say that they get a few emails every month from an aspiring writer looking to work with them and they almost all turn out to be amateurs who don't know what they're doing.

Remember, that when you ask someone to pencil a page of your script, it takes them around one whole day to do a page of script. When I'm rolling and have no interruptions, I can turn out a 22 page script in 3 days. It will take a penciler AT LEAST 22 days to do their part. (Pros who do it as their fulltime job can work faster, but these guys usually need to cover their mortgage from the pencils.) The more you know about what they do and the more you show that, the more chance you have of finding someone who will really set off your work.

wordmonkey said:

I would warn anyone looking for a decent artist though, have you ducks in a row. I have found artists through Deviant (and I have found some AWESOME talent there) but with each one I've worked with in some capacity, they all say that they get a few emails every month from an aspiring writer looking to work with them and they almost all turn out to be amateurs who don't know what they're doing.

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Agreed. Nothing worse than having writers who can't write, or don't seem to have a basic grasp of how to script.

wordmonkey said:

Remember, that when you ask someone to pencil a page of your script, it takes them around one whole day to do a page of script. When I'm rolling and have no interruptions, I can turn out a 22 page script in 3 days. It will take a penciler AT LEAST 22 days to do their part. (Pros who do it as their fulltime job can work faster, but these guys usually need to cover their mortgage from the pencils.) The more you know about what they do and the more you show that, the more chance you have of finding someone who will really set off your work.

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Or if you do both writing and art like I do, it takes longer. >.< My first graphic novel took me the better part of a full year.

InfinityGoddess said:

Or if you do both writing and art like I do, it takes longer. >.< My first graphic novel took me the better part of a full year.

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God, yes, tell me about it! >_< I'm planning to draw my graphic novel myself, and even though I'm itching to start the drawing phase, I've decided I'd better script it all out first, because it takes me forever to draw a page and I don't want to have to redraw anything. Editing a page of text is easy these days, but changing something in a drawing can mean redoing the whole picture. And drawing is slow compared to writing.

It's a huge time committment for an artist to do a comic, so to get a good artist, unless you really hit it off with them (like, your best friend happens to be an awesome artist), you usually need to be able to offer them compensation of some sort.

Check out Deviantart.com. You'll have plenty of artists there and you can even contact them.

Oh, Deviantart is definately a great resource for finding artists--I'm an artist on Deviantart. ^_~ Finding an artist you like is easy, the trick though is finding an artist who will work with you--not so easy.

If someone were to ask me to draw a comic for them, unless they offered money up front, or unless they were already successful or had writing that I truly loved (Neil Gaiman will most certainly never ask me to draw anything for him, but if he did, I'd totally go for it), I would say no. I have my own projects to work on, and I'm not going to invest my time in someone elses work unless I get something out of it or I know it's going somewhere. I'm a graduate student--time is incredibly precious. The majority of artists on Deviantart will also say no, and a certain percentage of those who say yes will be too young and inexperienced, and will become unreliable once they realize they've taken on more than they can handle.

That said, there are people out there who do have the time and are willing to go out on a limb and throw themselves behind a fun project. But, like I said, finding them is the tricky part. ^_^

Would any artists be interested in looking at a few pages of my script and giving me advice on how to write better scripts? No I'm not fishing for someone to draw my stuff, I've given up on that, but I am interested in studying what makes a script better for an artist to work from.

Tallymark said:

God, yes, tell me about it! >_< I'm planning to draw my graphic novel myself, and even though I'm itching to start the drawing phase, I've decided I'd better script it all out first, because it takes me forever to draw a page and I don't want to have to redraw anything. Editing a page of text is easy these days, but changing something in a drawing can mean redoing the whole picture. And drawing is slow compared to writing.

It's a huge time committment for an artist to do a comic, so to get a good artist, unless you really hit it off with them (like, your best friend happens to be an awesome artist), you usually need to be able to offer them compensation of some sort.

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It's even better when you're still in school and your schedule is FUBARed like mine is...I still have to get my ass on drawing my webcomic buffers.

sunandshadow said:

Would any artists be interested in looking at a few pages of my script and giving me advice on how to write better scripts? No I'm not fishing for someone to draw my stuff, I've given up on that, but I am interested in studying what makes a script better for an artist to work from.

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Only if they can double as writers. Some artists just don't do that part.

Tips from my year as a comic insider (I lettered one book and edited another, heh). First of all, don't be too impressed with pin-ups. Almost any decent artist can do pin-ups, but telling a story with pictures is beyond the skills of a lot of otherwise-talented artists. Always look at pages. Look for good story-telling, consistent characterization, and eye-pleasing design. DA and digitalwebbing are great places to start. Beyond that, make sure you can get along with your chosen artist. The partnership will work best if you and the artist are on the same page (so to speak). Also try to get an idea of how long the artist will take to do a page. In a comics, art takes the longest time, and you don't want an artist who will hold your book up for months. Also, are you looking for someone to do just pencils? Or someone who also inks? How about color? And lettering? Some artists can ink and color, but many just do pencils. If you're lucky, you can find someone who can do it all, but most people specialize. Trust me: inking and coloring are arts unto themselves, and bad inking and coloring can ruin the pencils. Lettering is fairly easy for anyone who knows a bit about computer graphics and is familiar with comics. There are also a lot of good tutorials online for lettering; it's not too hard.

Go to comic conventions; they have artists and publishers you can talk/pitch to. In comics, like the rest of the world, it's all who you know. I got my start because I hit off with a small publisher at a small convention. We became friends, and since I was a graphic artist, he used me for a couple of his books. This guy was friends with everyone, and through him, I got to know many of the movers-and-shakers in the comic world. Alas, my life got very busy, and I had to stop doing work for him. About 6 months after I stopped working with him, he became an editor at Marvel... d'oh! Anyway, my point is, start moving in the comic circles. The more people you meet, the more you'll learn, and the better luck you'll have finding the resources you need.

Good luck!

sunandshadow said:

Would any artists be interested in looking at a few pages of my script and giving me advice on how to write better scripts? No I'm not fishing for someone to draw my stuff, I've given up on that, but I am interested in studying what makes a script better for an artist to work from.

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You can always post something in the comics sub-section in the ""Share Your Work" part of the forum.

deviantart.com has a buttload of anime and comic artists, most of which are very talented and willing to do commisions and the like. I'm sure that if you could work something out with them and still find a style that you like.

Or, find someone local who's a good artist and try them out. I don't know about finding professional artists, but just because they're professional doesn't mean that you'll like their style or their price.

rooroo said:

Go to comic conventions; they have artists and publishers you can talk/pitch to.

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cons are a great way to meet people, & it's true that if you get to know a person socially you'll have a better idea of how they'll be to work with, & what their ideas are like.

a caveat, though, as an indie writer/artist who does a lot of cons: please don't pitch to a small press exhibitor while she's standing behind her table trying to sell things. i paid a lot to be there, & i'm hoping to make it back in sales. i'm not there to be a captive audience.

the worst is when someone flips through a book, finds out i'm the artist, asks me to sign on to illustrate her brilliant idea for a graphic novel, & then keeps on walking when i demur. she loves my work so much that she wants to stake her magnum opus on it, but not enough to buy a copy?

if you do meet an artist selling at a con, & you realize he's the absolute perfect fit for you, i'd advise bonding with him first over his stuff before ever mentioning yours. people will schmooze a lot from behind tables if they're interested in what you're saying, & especially if they think it's heading toward a sale or a new fan. so that's the second step: buy something. the artist will probably remember you fondly (again, this is starting out, not pro artists) if you two talked for a long time & capped off the pleasure by making a transaction. you should probably hold off on your own story ideas until after working hours: either at an after-party or by email after the con has ended.

...not that i can say from personal experience, exactly. like the other writer/artists who've spoken up, i am vveeerrrryyy slllooowww & meticulous as an artist, & i can't finish my own comics at a rate i'm happy with, let alone take on someone else's.

Sai said:

You can always post something in the comics sub-section in the ""Share Your Work" part of the forum.

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Thanks, I did that.

miriam beetle, excellent points. Pitch to a willing (not captive) audience. Most of the time, even the smaller publishers will be willing to give a moment (a moment! not an hour) to a pitch if you ask nicely, if you wait until the table is clear, and they aren't on their way to a panel/lunch/bathroom. Publishers expect to get pitches at cons; whether they are looking for new talent is another story. If they are looking, they will hear the pitch; if not, you may get the brush-off. Don't ever be rude or pouty if you get the brush-off, even if the person you're dealing with is an ass. The comic world is small, word gets around, and that small-time editor of the tiny press who gave you the finger when you asked if he'd look at your work might be a DC editor in 2 months.

And just to add to my story--when I got to know my friend, I had no interest in getting into comics. At the time, I loved anime/manga, and he, my husband, and I just hit it off at a slow anime con. It was only after we became friends that he brought me in to do work for him. Don't try to butter up editors by being pal-y with them--everyone does that. Just start moving in the comic circles. Like any other area of writing, there is a system, and you need to know it.

BTW, my husband got a comic proposal accepted by Image, only to have it sunk by the art. Even with our connections, it was hard to find an artist. Good artists already have work, up-and-comers are doing their own independent books, and the newbies usually have a lot to learn or lack commitment. The artist my husband got for his book was decent--but not good enough (he wasn't really ready to go pro). The book ended up being dropped.

maybe try

http://www.drawingboard.org/index.php

there is a section in there strictly for commisions and there are some great artists looking for work regularly.
My advice is, be fair, either offer the going rate or have something set up that guarantees a pay off, a contract at least. From my experience the eternal 'there is no money now but if it sells we can all buy a speed boat' will invite derision from the pros and you will end up with some 14 year old wannabe without a clue.

I write and draw my own stuff, much easier to do. If your going to write for an artist you need to be able to almost break it down by page and or by panel if you want it exact to your vision.

If you're looking to pay an artist I would recommend Ifreelance.com

Finding an artist

In addition to looking online you ought to try to hit a local convention. Most of them have an "Artist's Alley" where you can see work on display.

Finding a good artist is a lot of work - their style needs to talk to you, and your work needs to talk to them. It's a lot like getting married or collaborating with another writer.

Try hitting DigitalWebbing or Zebramag.com (a buddy of mine owns the latter).

Good luck!

I've managed to find several good artists at www.conceptart.org Just post a message in one of their job threads, you can even find one that will work for free. The only thing to watch out for is that you don't find a great artist that is really lazy, or just doesn't have the time to do what you need in the time that you need it. Good luck.

Finding an Artist

I have a good friend who illustrated the entire creature section of my RPG, as well as the NPC sections of my RPG supplements. He's pretty awesome, and can do comic book or manga style. He's very good at telling a story with his writing, and willing to work on the cheap.

If you want to see some of his work or have questions or whatever, you can e-mail me. I can send you some scans of his stuff, and tell him about your project.

I mention this because art is his dream, not his day job, and he doesn't have a computer.

I'm all about helping him achieve his dream.