Artist wanted for cool 240 page graphic novel w/ publishing deal $5,000+

[douglasmcgowan]

This was also posted at deviantart, where one user recommended I post here as the crowd here is more "professional"? Don't know. Please read the -whole ad- before replying if you think you might be the person for this job. Prefer PMs to posts in this thread. Thank you very much.

Hello... I'm looking for a world-class penciler/inker for a 240 page black and white graphic novel to be published in America by a legit established publisher responsible for several titles you may have heard of. My co-writer is an acclaimed novelist and I run a small record label. We've been working on this project, first as a screenplay and then as a graphic novel, for the past nine years. It is, if we do say so ourselves, awesome. I won't go into details here, but to simply list off a couple of influences and what we are and are not looking for. Thematically and tonally, the story resembles Starship Troopers or Robocop -- science fiction social satire in the form of sometimes extreme action and dark comedy. At the same time, there's a somewhat more earnest tone exemplified by the Star Wars movies (even the prequels). But to be clear, this is an R-rated story and not for the squeamish. The story involves a large and well-articulated cast of humans, lions, tigers, bears, gorillas, alligators, as well as various aliens friendly and not so friendly.

We attached a killer artist who we can no longer work with because he has a family to feed and our advance of $5,000 is not enough to keep him on the project. For the right artist we're more than willing to hand over the entire advance plus a contractual guarantee of additional royalties to be determined. Our goal is to see the project published and land a movie deal and we are ok with not making any money on this project as a graphic novel; we just want it to be the best it can be. We're willing to work with anyone anywhere in the world.

In terms of style, my preference is for a clean look ala Brian Boland in The Killing Joke or Dave Gibbons in Watchmen. I'm also a huge fan of early Matt Wagner and Daniel Clowes. (Am I dating myself yet?) Our artist's work resembled that of Geoff Darrow in terms of psychedelic detail and three dimensionality. I do not expect to meet another like him, but that would be amazing. What we are -not- looking for is an anime influence. Our book needs to look grown up and not cartoonish. That does not mean we need something overly serious, but please no giant eyes, exaggerated musculature etc. The ability to tell a story in pictures is essential as there are no thought balloons or text boxes explaining what's happening. If you have never drawn a comic book story before please do not waste your time sending art samples. Looking over 100s of portfolios it's become very obvious that for every ten great illustrators maybe one can tell a story in pictures, and that is the single most important thing we need, and that is why any almost type of style may work for this project. We want to see what you can do so don't be shy. I would appreciate it if you would PM links to me as I will not be checking this page very much. Thanks for reading this and good luck to everyone in all your endeavors.

[magnut]

This graphic novel project breaks down to be paid as approximately just under $20.90 per finished page.

This project can be illustrated at a determined pace of about 5 pages a week for both pencils & inks.

That's forty-eight weeks of work. That's twelve solid months (including needed corrections and adjustments) of very hard work.

But please know exactly what you're getting into. Don't fool yourself into thinking that the job's going to be a breeze. It's going to be quite the challenge.

If you're not aware of the huge workload involved, and the pay that's nowhere near a livable wage, then don't commit to a job that will discourage you part way through it.

It wouldn't be fair to douglasmcgowan and his project.

So when you commit to this job, follow through with it! Make this the best portfolio piece that will make the bigger companies want to embrace you with mainstream work. It can be done!

douglasmcgowan, good luck on your project. I mean that. I hope you find an artist who will be devoted to your graphic novel.

Good luck!

[rpace]

48 weeks is effectively 12 months -- yeah, a year is 52 weeks, but drawing 240 pages at a tight, Bolland-esque manner it will be difficult to put 5 pages out consistently.

Right now, most working pros do 160-200 pages of pencils a year, so be aware of how heavy the workload will be if this is your first big assignment.

I'd suggest, to the person accepting the gig, busting their ass as hard as possible the first two months doing very tight layouts for the whole thing. The reason for this, is as the advance is gone and you have to start picking up other work to eat, a complete overview of what needs to be done will allow you to return to the project easier as well as allow you to get some lighter-load pages done out of sequence.

Good luck!

~R

[magnut]

I previously said the 48 week job would take 4 months to complete. Obviously I had an aneurism while figuring out the math on this.

I corrected my above post.

A full year of completing a graphic novel - let alone ANY job you do - wherein you make a total of $5,000.00?!?

THIS is why you must break down the job, to see what is really required of you.

Make your decision accordingly.

[douglasmcgowan]

Hi guys... thanks for your responses. As the ad indicates, the pay is all of the advance we were offered, $5,000, plus negotiated backend. Obviously this much work with this advance falls well below a living wage in many places. For some artists it's impossible, for a lucky few it's a non-issue, and for some it's a great opportunity. Certainly you need to know what you're committing to when you take any job. We're working writers with busy lives, and our pay on this project over the past nine years has been $0.00, but we think it's been worth it because when this book does happen, even if we don't make a penny off of it, it will put most GNs to shame.

As for anyone griping about not being able to contact me, two things: google, and you're not the artist we're looking for. Thanks!

[douglasmcgowan]

Yeah guys, honestly, complaining about a legitimate offer that doesn't meet your personal standards isn't a good look and it isn't professional. The situation is fully acknowledged in the original post. I really wish we could offer more, but this offer is actually viable for some artists as the dozens of responses I received prove. The global marketplace is not going to go away and you must deal. Best thing to do is stay focused on your own work and not worry too much about all the economic injustice all around you everywhere you look. Good luck.

[Eric Lofgren]

I gotta agree with the OP. Seriously everyone, ConceptArt's Employment forum doesn't represent the industry as a whole. It's a microcosm. Policy isn't set here by the goings on that occur. It's a courtesy provided by the site owners. Those that are using it as their primary means of getting work just aren't trying hard enough. And if someone comes into CA posting a job that doesn't pay to your satisfaction, just leave it alone. Ignore it. Most likely it will go away. But in the mean time, someone might actually click with whatever's being offered and take the work on. They're either going to do the job, get paid their meagre wage and realize what they need to do next time to make it better. Or they're going to do the job and be satisfied. That's their business. If they eventually get hungry they are going to realize what they need to do to change that.

If you want the work that pays the money you really want, you're going to have to get out there and look for it the old fashioned way. Becasue, despite how much you try, it won't just land on you lap while you're waiting here. And all the moaning about how much the wage sucks isn't going to make anything any different.

That's just my two cents. But it's two cents hard fought and won :)

[Qitsune]

Healthy discussion is fine and dandy but in this case, it's detracting from the purpose of the thread, the posts have been moved here
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=134826
feel free to keep the discussion going.

PS: I left the posts that do the math on the job.

[mickeymao]

$5000 is a tiny advance for a book that size. I reiterate this not to complain about your offer, as you did state it clearly up front, but rather to raise the question of whether you can negotiate something larger. Seriously, if this is a large publisher, they can pay more than that.

(I recently spent 14 months doing a 250-pager for $15k -- which is still harsh, and still means I'm hoping for the royalties to make it worthwhile. And keep in mind, any royalties won't start coming in until at least a year after you deliver the book, in the best-case scenario.)

[PsiBug]

This job offer was posted in 2008. There is probably no need to dredge it up in 2010. Maybe a nice moderator will lock the thread to prevent further necroposting.

[mickeymao]

Good point, I missed that.