Zwol.org

I'm an aspiring webcomic author, and let's be honest...there are far too many people like me out there, and far too few artists to work with all of them. I'd really love to get a chance to work on a webcomic, though, so I'm going to try to be as appealing to artists as possible.

First...if any profits are made on this project, you keep all of them. I'll work completely for free.

Second...I can provide technical help, such as maintaining a website, if need be. I'm a programmer and web designer, as well as a writer.

Third...I'll work on almost ANY project, as long as I see potential in it. I really want to work on character-driven, "epic" stories in particular.

Now, I have a couple of ideas of my own that I've been working on for some time, and these are possibilities, but I'd also enjoy working on your stories.

1) A moderately hard sci-fi story set in a universe that I've been creating, in various forms, for years. Mostly focusing on the major players in a galactic conflict, who are all wildly different people with competing ambitions. Think a more serious version of Star Wars.
2)Something like X-Men meets Heroes meets Death Note. A story about a group of people with super powers. I've worked out four story arcs for this setting. I'll go into more detail if you ask me privately.

I'd love to work on either of these ideas, or on one of your own, and make something really awesome! PM me, reply here, or email me at joey.boey1@gmail.com.

(waits for snarky, cynical responses)

i'd like to do a sci fi story myself, buuuut, i'm stuck on 3 projects right now.

dbppres wrote:i'd like to do a sci fi story myself, buuuut, i'm stuck on 3 projects right now.

Well, good luck with them, heh.

Also, I replied to your noir thread a few minutes ago

I'm not an artist, but I'm a writer who's gotten to the point that he can attract more artists than he knows what to do with haha. You're definitely on the right track to attracting a great artist yourself but I think there are things you can do to improve your looking for artist post.

1. Don't sell your work short, don't work for nothing. This is a minor thing, most artists will probably specify that they'll split 50/50 out of a sense of fairness, but selling your self so cheap doesn't make you look good. But yeah, minor thing. I've suggested a 40/60 split writer to artist, but in all cases I've suggested this the artist will be shocked and prefer a 50/50 even though artists truthfully put a lot more into a project than a writer will due to arting being a craft that takes more effort to do page by page.

2. Describe your work in its entirety! Your ideas sound interesting, but there really is not much there and you should aim for a more complete description to around a standard paragraph long or longer. I speak from experience, well done variety and well done description can really make a difference.

3. This isn't necessary and it's arguable if it makes a difference or not, but write a script. Write a script, show it to people you trust for editing and make it as good as you can. I'm sort-of getting the sense right now that a good part of your pitch lies in your willingness to working with artists (which you've shown) and good examples of your ideas, but I do feel that proving that you can write well is important. When you get experience you can link to comics you've done instead, but for now write a script and pimp it out to artists as proof of your skills.

4. This is something I've learned recently, but a lot of artists just want to do short comics of around 10 pages or less. Whether you list these first or last is your call, but you'd be surprised how many artists have come to me wanting to do short pieces rather than long ones.

5. Advertise on more sites! Digitalwebbing is my personal favorite place to advertise, with Zwol.org my second fave, but that may be due to my style an experience being attractive to those on both sites. Smackjeeves and Mangamagazine are also good but google "Artist looking for writer" or vice versa and try everything that comes up. And I mean everything, go to two to three pages in and scout the gauntlet. You yourself will find which sites are friendly to your style.

So happy hunting, I hope my tips help!
Sincerely,
Ruyei/Robert

P.S. If dpress likes your work it's a good thing! He's not afraid to say if he doesn't like a writer, so if he says you're good I'd take it as a good omen! Even better that he wishes he had the time to work with you. I wish you the best of luck and retain this attitude of being as friendly as you can towards artists! It will get you far. Also be persistent. Bump and repeat posts on sites where you've gotten interests! I used to think this was an evil thing to do but it really does get you more chances to get a good artist if you can be on the front page as long as possible. But do artists a favor, once you've gotten all you can handle close your posts. I often get myself into a scenario where I have more artists than I have time for, and though that may not happen to you being that you're just starting out do be cautious about that. So best of luck! -Rob

Ruyei wrote:I'm not an artist, but I'm a writer who's gotten to the point that he can attract more artists than he knows what to do with haha. You're definitely on the right track to attracting a great artist yourself but I think there are things you can do to improve your looking for artist post.

1. Don't sell your work short, don't work for nothing. This is a minor thing, most artists will probably specify that they'll split 50/50 out of a sense of fairness, but selling your self so cheap doesn't make you look good. But yeah, minor thing. I've suggested a 40/60 split writer to artist, but in all cases I've suggested this the artist will be shocked and prefer a 50/50 even though artists truthfully put a lot more into a project than a writer will due to arting being a craft that takes more effort to do page by page.

2. Describe your work in its entirety! Your ideas sound interesting, but there really is not much there and you should aim for a more complete description to around a standard paragraph long or longer. I speak from experience, well done variety and well done description can really make a difference.

3. This isn't necessary and it's arguable if it makes a difference or not, but write a script. Write a script, show it to people you trust for editing and make it as good as you can. I'm sort-of getting the sense right now that a good part of your pitch lies in your willingness to working with artists (which you've shown) and good examples of your ideas, but I do feel that proving that you can write well is important. When you get experience you can link to comics you've done instead, but for now write a script and pimp it out to artists as proof of your skills.

4. This is something I've learned recently, but a lot of artists just want to do short comics of around 10 pages or less. Whether you list these first or last is your call, but you'd be surprised how many artists have come to me wanting to do short pieces rather than long ones.

5. Advertise on more sites! Digitalwebbing is my personal favorite place to advertise, with Zwol.org my second fave, but that may be due to my style an experience being attractive to those on both sites. Smackjeeves and Mangamagazine are also good but google "Artist looking for writer" or vice versa and try everything that comes up. And I mean everything, go to two to three pages in and scout the gauntlet. You yourself will find which sites are friendly to your style.

So happy hunting, I hope my tips help!
Sincerely,
Ruyei/Robert

P.S. If dpress likes your work it's a good thing! He's not afraid to say if he doesn't like a writer, so if he says you're good I'd take it as a good omen! Even better that he wishes he had the time to work with you. I wish you the best of luck and retain this attitude of being as friendly as you can towards artists! It will get you far. Also be persistent. Bump and repeat posts on sites where you've gotten interests! I used to think this was an evil thing to do but it really does get you more chances to get a good artist if you can be on the front page as long as possible. But do artists a favor, once you've gotten all you can handle close your posts. I often get myself into a scenario where I have more artists than I have time for, and though that may not happen to you being that you're just starting out do be cautious about that. So best of luck! -Rob

Thank you for all the tips! I'll look into doing all of them.
I decided to offer myself for free because most artists seem to look down on profit share. I wanted to make this as appealing as possible to them. But if you think that profit share will come off as more professional, then by all means, I'll offer that

Well I'm more referring to citing that you'll work for free. It might be an even better idea to say that profit sharing is negotiable.

The reason many artists don't seem to like profit sharing is that simply they want you to give them money for their effort. Honestly, especially since you're starting out, paying an artist is a far easier way to get a partner and a good quality one at that, but if you're like me and have limited funds or simply don't want to waste money on something you're just experimenting with use my tips and look for an artist. Do note that you'll probably get a less than professional artist either due to art quality or non-conventional style (I ended up with the latter for my first project). You'll also find that most artists won't want to commit to long open ended projects. What you should do since you're just starting out do it for your "portfolio". If you have comic stuff you can show to perspective artists than you have a better chance of getting better and more dedicated artists! Even if the artist won't let you post his or her work online it still is good experience even if you can't prove you did it. It's amazing what you'll learn on the job.

Good luck!
Ruyei/Robert

penciljack.com too.