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Hi everyone,

I am looking for the right people to help me create two comic books that will be Christmas gifts for a couple of high school students this year. Please forgive me for ignorance, incorrect terminology, etc. since I am not very close to the comic book community.

My end goal are two "normal" length comic books (how many pages is "normal"?). Each one will have a complete, illustrated story in color and a full-color cover page. I have lots of ideas and requests for elements that I'd like to have included, but will need someone to work with me to write each story.

Some random parameters in no particular order:

Each book should portray one of the two kids as a superhero, and I have ideas and name suggestions.
The books should contain lots of real places, events, their friends, etc. I can supply plenty of pictures and details.
Should feel familiar to, and maybe even set in, the DC universe.
Illustrations of the kids and the real people in their lives should be recognizable. I want the "I'm in a comic book!" effect.
I'd like to be able to make large posters of some of the art, such as the covers or individual characters. So any digital art will need to be vector (Illustrator) or very, very high resolution.
I want to own the copy and all artwork when complete, but won't have any problem having them included in the artists' portfolios, websites, etc. as long as it isn't sold or provided to anyone else.

I don't have any real depth of story ideas and would want to work with a writer for the creative premise and details. I'm assuming that finding and working with a writer is the first step, but I'm open to any other advice.

I expect to pay for the writing and graphic work. I don't yet have any idea what the costs might be, so am hoping I can get some feedback here. My budget is hundreds, but not thousands.

I welcome any interest, proposal, suggestion, advice, or criticism!

Hello,

I think I can offer some advice going forward and perhaps my own services in writing at least one of the books you hope to create.

The average comic book today runs anywhere between 20 and 35 pages, 22 is fairly common. As you say, in comics these days - with some notable exceptions - the tasks are divided amongst individuals: generally the writer(s), penciler, inker (these are combine more than the others) the colorist, and finally the letterer. You would be very much the editor in this situation and probably a story credit too. The most expensive team will be your penciler/inker and colorist. Generally pencils by themselves range anywhere from $50-$100 and the inks added with be another $10-$30 per page. Colorists range around the $30-$60 range per page. Every artist is different of course, and for more pages sometimes they will discount their rate and vice versa. Lettering can vary as well but usually $15-$40 per page. Writers usually don't have a pay rate per se, usually a negotiated fee for the script entire.

Expecting all the original artwork will truly depend of the artist, and because the internet has made comic collaboration global, sometimes your artists will hundreds if not thousands of miles away. I wouldn't doubt you'll be able to acquire some of the original work, and definitely digital files of a high caliber, but I would be flexible on expecting everything.

I would recommend you seek out at least your writer, penciler, inker, and if possible colorist first for each project. If you want these books produced at roughly the same time you may want different teams for each. These costs of course may affect how many pages you'd like for each book. I would say at least 6 to 10 pages for the kind of project you're after.

I would also add, incorporating the DC Universe into the comics would not be wise given the copyright and the large corporation (Time Warner) that owns the property, but accounting for tone or aggregates would not be too difficult. Making something similar without inciting lawsuits is definitely possible.

I would love to here your thoughts on where you'd like to take these projects, and I would be happy to show you some of my own work to content for a writing position. If you're interested please email me at cjh83344@gmail.com, and I would also be happy to put you in touch with some artists as well.

Regardless, I hope your gift comes together. It sounds like a good deal of fun.

Hey CyberArtist,

I'll start with some advice (adding to what Rally has said, which is solid). Producing a comic book can be very expensive, as even a single issue can take 24-45 or so pages depending on your desired length (and if applicable, the adds you would put in it). Consider this, producing a comic book, on the cheap, would be a hundred dollars a page altogether for a colored page. even if you went on the lower end of a publishable book, 24 pages, that's #2,400 for each book. I'm guessing that spending in excess of $5,000 dollars is not on the table for a christmas gift.

Thankfully, you are not constrained by the comics industry's focus on "standard" books. I think that a fun romp with characters and people your gift recipients will treasure is what you want, and of course you can do that in 4-8 pages. Even so, that's, on this lower end, 400$-$800 per gift. As frustrates many around here trying to make comics, the production of a custom comic is not cheap.

That said, if this is a very special gift to these high schools you may be willing to spend a little more (and do realize that my estimate is on the lower middle end of possibilities). It is very possible to do a comic book short, people submit to anthologies with 4 to 8 or 8 to 12 limits all the time. It is certainly feasible to create such a comic, and narratively achieve what from what you have put forward. It will be, in essence, the comic book version of a short story.

I myself am a comic scripter offering my services. I have mostly worked helping to help companies explore comic avenues, but what makes me VERY relevant to your job application is that I also work as a writing consultant. I help companies produce pamphlets and most importantly, writers edit and develop their works. Right now I have a client writing a fictionalized memoir of sorts and I am guiding him through the process of both writing his book and exploring creative avenues. These skills are very relevant to your case, since in my opinion the optimal way of creating a personal message is for you to it yourself, with guidance. a 4-8 page comic script is very doable in a short amount of time, and I can guide you through comic formatting and through visual narrative. Note that I will of course be doing the heavy lifting in terms of making everything pretty for the artist and keeping things technically sound, but you will be writing the story. This way you can keep the gift sounding genuine through your own knowledge and relationship to the kids.

Do contact me at robert-finch@comcast.net, as that is the easiest way to communicate with me aside from Skype or phone (which I will provide through e-mail). I can bring forward comic samples from what I have worked on, as well as sample scripts.

Best of luck,
Sincerely,
Robert Finch

P.S. You will get a LOT of response from your post. Not only artists, but a lot of writers will respond to you. Take care to look over them, but at the same time be very cautious. There are quite of first time writers on the site and make sure to discern between writers who have a skill set specialized to comic scripts and those who are simply trying to break in and may not even be familiar with standard script format. Nothing against those writers, as I fully support their endeavors to get experience, but for a project in which you are offering a budget you will want to get a professional scripter to dedicate to your work. You will know who these professionals are because they will have worked on comics before and will talk specifics about their crafts. This sounds like very simple advice but people who have offered money for comic work have gotten close to a hundred applicants before and many of them just starting out. So definitely best of luck.

RallyL & Robert,

Thanks for the quick and helpful replies!

Putting the two responses together gives me a per-page range of $105 to $230, which is still broad but certainly gives me a guideline. Unfortunately, I can't afford the high end of that range, and even the low end will be a challenge. I'll have to see what can be negotiated given that I'll be producing several pages and not one-offs.

I'm definitely willing to consider a shorter length, as you suggested Robert. What I think I'll do next is stop in a comic book store and get a feel for what different lengths mean for story richness and overall feeling. From what you've described either 8 or 12 may work. My only concern is that I really want it to feel like a comic book and not a teaser for a comic book.

As for the DC universe, I was thinking something very subtle, like having one of my characters in a single-frame end of phone call saying something like, "Thanks, Barry." But the art style does need to be DC-ish.

How should I feel about the time I have? I would (maybe naively) think that getting to the printers by December 1 should be pretty easy. Assuming two 12-page books that's four pages per month as a high-level average.

I'll send both of you an email and I look forward to other responses as well.

hello cyberartist, you didnt provide an email address, thats important!

to add something else to whats already been said.

if the comic is for a gift and its not done for profit, publishing and so on, you can use dc comics characters, this is called fan fiction and its a common practice between fans of any given company, franchise, etc.

to have your comic already done, printed and shipped to your door on december you should aim to an october completion date at the latest.

and, i do have an offer here http://www.zwol.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9257 where I do draw complete comic book.
I would gladly help you with the concept of the comic book , and complete your vision.
I have no problem with your requirements

please contact me noonecomics@gmail.com and we can arrange a price and start building from there!
thanks
adrian9

I'm actually worked with Noonecomics for a comic pitch once. There is a lot of quality issues when you go below 50$ a page because then you're working with foreigners most likely, but that is an option. I would recommend Noonecomics but do keep in mind that he doesn't do colors and letters (at least when I worked with him) so do keep that in mind. It is a cheap option though, just realize that colors go for 20$ a page and letters for 10$ usually.

Definitely look at what your comic shop has but keep in mind, comic anthology which have short 8-12 page comics aren't common. If I had to think of a good anthology from the top of my head try the "Flight" series. There are many good shorts there, and you can find them in major comic stores since I believe DC does it.

Best,
Robert Finch

Hi there CyberArtist!

My name is Lucas Gattoni and I'm beginning a career as a professional comic book letterer, having a more than 12 years background in graphic design and typesetting. I'm currently working freelance for a company called Red King Press, but have nothing published yet.

I'd love to help you with your project (BTW is fantastic to meet teachers so commited to their students!), and I offer to give you a reduced fee for lettering the pages of your comic book (we could contact privately and arrange that way).

You can check some of my lettering jobs on my portfolio page here.

I do all lettering digitally, being able to provide ready-to-print digital files if needed. If you're interested, drop me a message at lucasgattoni@outlook.com and we can discuss this further!

Best regards!

Im an artist, pencils and inks $30 per page. Take a look at my deviant page and see if it suits you thanks
http://vxss57.deviantart.com/gallery/

It's only been a day, I know, but it seems like it's harder to find potential writers than illustrators/artists. I feel like I need to talk to possible writers first.

For those of you who've PM'd me, thanks! I promise to get back to you, but probably not until after the weekend. I still need to get to a comic book store so I can find things that line up with what I'm thinking.

Everyone else, I'm in need of writers, inkers, colorists, and letterers. See the description of my project above. I can be reached at ilikecomics@lunargenius.com .