Can't Draw? How to Hire A Comic Artist
If you’re like me, you really want to get started making comics but you’re not in any way able to DRAW. Yes, it’s a bit of an embarrassment. Yes, you’re allowed to secretly loath those unicorn humans who can both draw and write comic books. But NO, you shouldn’t throw the papers off your desk in frustration that you will never get a comic book made.
There are hundreds of comic artists available for you to work with and finding the perfect one depends on your Budget, Timeline, Story, and Luck. Before we get into where to find artists online, let’s discuss some of these factors to know about before hiring an artist.
Things to think about before hiring an artist
Budget
If you’re not drawing your own comic, chances are you will need to spend money on getting pages drawn for you. There is not an industry in art that does not work like this. If you’re starting a band, you have to pay the other musicians at gigs. If you’re making your own film, you’re going to have to hire a crew and actors. With comics, if you can’t write, hire a writer. If you can’t draw, hire an artist. If you can’t letter, hire a letterer. if you can’t color, hire a colorist. Comic creating is often a collaboration and that is to be expected. If you’re wanting everyone to work for free you are not going to get very far with other people working on comics. Sure there are individuals trying to “pad their resume” and “get started in comics” but if you’re serious about creating your comic and you’re thinking about it as a money-making venture, then don’t expect people working for free to be professionals. From my own personal experience, I have answered artists who were interested in “trying to draw some pages” with short comic scripts only to have them never respond again. I did not expect them to complete the pages though, because I did not offer payment. Decide your budget for your comic. Multiply the number of comic pages in your script by a page rate you’re able to pay and get the total. The lowest I have seen artists willing to work on comics is $30 USD and the high can go well above $125. The difference? Quality, time, and experience. Additionally, some artists may take a pay cut to work on a project they really believe in, but don’t rely on this happening.
Artists will expect to get paid in one of three ways - upfront, half now half later, and per page. If you’re paying upfront, make sure the artist is reputable and has references. There are some scammers that lure newbies in with low rates and then disappear with the full budget of your comic. Some writers like to pay half up front half at the end. This can be enticing to an artist but also can help you as the writer to set a deadline. Finally, paying per page is a tried and true method of making a relationship work with an artist and building trust. Sometimes this is a good way of working with an artist who is willing to take a pay cut for your project by “squeezing it into the schedule”. They may have weeks where they are overloaded with other projects, but in the end, you are working with a talented artist at a budget you can afford.
[A note about revenue sharing - I don’t personally believe in this way of working. I know other writers and comic producers will work from this model, but I think artists can get very flaky when they’re not getting paid up front. This is especially true if your content does not already have a strong audience and there’s no guarantee the comic will make any money. Most comics don’t make money for various reasons. On the chance that you do decide to offer a revenue share, make sure you draw up a strong contract and have all of your collaborators sign it before the project begins.]
Timeline
Comics take a really long time to make. Longer than you think they should. This is part of the reason artists get so mad at writers who expect them to work for free. A couple of sentences of a comic script that took 20 minutes to write, could take an artist 3 hours to draw. When you’re getting into comics, decide on a timeline that you want to follow and relay that to the artist. This may change their page rate significantly. If you’re in no rush, they may give you a discount to get some extra income during slow times. If you have a strict deadline, they may need to put other projects on hold and work nonstop to meet your demands. Both cases would call for different page rates.
Story
This one is pretty simple: does the artist you want to work with like your story? They’re about to spend a long time with your characters, possibly longer than you ever have. They don’t need to like your story, but if they do, it’s possible they’ll bend their set page rates and consider the lower page rate more of a “collaboration”.
Luck
There’s one constant when it comes to “show business” and that’s luck. If the artist you’re dying to work with is not available, no amount of money or time will make your comic happen with them. Sometimes finding the perfect artist is just a matter of getting the right person at the right time.
Where to find artists online?
Now that you have a budget in mind it’s time to start looking for an artist you would like to work with. Be open minded, there are lots of artists out there, they all have different styles, unique abilities and personalities. It’s a little bit like dating - just because someone checks all of your boxes, doesn’t mean they’re “the one”. Peruse some of these sites for a week or two, bookmark artists that you like and think about reasons you don’t like others. It’s important to think about style. While every comic artist is very talented, some artists will have a personal style that meshes with your story. If you can find an artist whose sensibilities to storytelling align with yours, you will have a good start from the get go. Here are some sites to get you started (in no particular order):
Digital Webbing
When I first started out looking for comic artists, I was fortunate to stumble on this site. It has been around for a long time. The site owner creates his own comics but has supported a community of comic creators who offer each other tips and feedback in the forums. The site also has a Job Postings section, including PAID and UNPAID sections. Make sure to read the rules for posting before posting your ad. I’d also suggest checking out the artist showcases in the forums and seeing if any of the styles mesh with your story. Digitalwebbing.com
Connecting Comic Writers and Artists Facebook Group
If you’re on Facebook, this is a quick resource to jump on and learn more about comic creators and writers. If you go back far enough in the posts you will hopefully begin to learn from other writer’s mistakes in how they have posted looking for artists. Though not extremely heated exchanges, there often good debates about the merits of asking artists to work for free. You will also find that artists post on this site with examples of their work, and it is another good way to “shop around” for an artist for your project. facebook.com/groups/Connecting.Comic.Book.Writers.and.Artists/
Fiverr
This is where I started when I wanted to make comics. Fiverr has many great freelance comic artists. They offer their page rates upfront and you can see examples of their work. It is often helpful to message them first to make sure they’re available. One other piece of advice: just because they are on Fiverr, doesn’t mean they are not SUPER EXTREMELY BUSY comic artists. Sometimes waiting for an artist to become available is worth it. If you find that you’re waiting three months and not sure if your project will ever start, it may be time to look for other options.
Reddit
There are few subreddits that are good for finding comic book artists, however in our opinion the best is r/ComicCollabs. Comic Collabs is similar to the Facebook group in the many posts, but has a wider variety of artists from across the world. There are also several posts each month about current indie comic creator Kickstarters which are great to explore as a budding comic creator as this is (most likely) a future step in your own comic production. r/ComicCollabs
We hope you find these resources to be a helpful start. Feel free to ask any questions or share other resources in the comments below!
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