[OT] Artist Wanted

[hellbender]

I still say, you get what you pay for. Only a fool does work for free. Future sales potential isn't much incentive to do pro bono work. And yes, I know of many illustrators who work for free, if that pays their bills, fine. There is no such thing as doing work for free, as the art materials cost the artist money, therefore, anyone doing free work is losing time and money that could be aimed at paying jobs. By your standards, why should anyone pay for your writing? I mean, it is just sitting down and typing, correct? How is your writing time worth more than an artist's creative time?

By the way, don't judge my work until you have seen it (and I don't mean as a submission, I don't work for free). I don't recall attacking your writing abilities, just your judgement and haughtiness on finding someone to work for you for free.

hellbender

 

[Theuderic]

Hellbender, I would like to see some of your work.

 

[Samurai]

While you put down the art in published books and magazines, all of that was paid for. In order to get free art, you'll have to get someone WHO WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH to even get hired for those jobs. You'll get high school kids who draw on their free time, or someone really damn desperate. I'm a professional artist, and I charge for every job I do. Not as much as a real pro like Chris Stevens or Storn Cook, but enough that it is worth my time to do it.

As hellbender said, you get what you pay for... and with a payment of $0, you either get 0 offers, or offers from people who feel their work is worthless. And because they don't have a paying gig, others must agree with them...

 

[Ashtal]

Getting serious here. Damn right I'm being choosy.

Hard to be picky when you aren't prepared to pay for it.

At best, you will get talented newbies, who will work long hours to produce something in the hopes that someone will see it. But you aren't likely to get professionals or even semi-professionals responding to your post.

And I think any starving artist would probably want the $1000 bucks. You know, to pay for his time, his supplies, the sort of thing that lets him keep drawing.

 

[Tsyr]

I'm not an artist. I draw a stick figure badly. I'm decent at some things (3D art and textures, frex), but my actual ability to draw is non-existant. But I do know a couple of people who do get payed for their work. And I know both of them would fall down in hysterical fits if they read this post. Good gawds man, listen to yourself...

"I want people who do really good, professional level work to do their work for me for free instead of getting payed, on the theory that it's good publicity, despite the fact that any published art they do is good publicity (People that are willing to PAY for art will figure out who does art they like, they don't need the complementery link), but despite being a begger and groveling for art because I'm not willing to pay for it, I'm not only going to be very choosey, I'm going to be rude as well. "

Boy, that's one heck of a job your asking for. If this was a corporation, I'd expect the speach on "the intangible benefits" right about now.

I mean, even when my FRIENDS do artwork for stuff I'm working on, I expect to pay them. I don't pay them their usual price, I'll admit that, but I do at least pay them for time and materials. I mean, art that isn't purely done on a computer does actualy cost money, remember. So does art on a computer in theory, but in practice I've got a sneaking suspision Adobe only sells five or ten copies of it's software...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Learn to draw yourself. That's probably the best way to get what you want (even though it might take a few years until you can meet your own standards... ).

Thread hijack! To any people out there who maintain their own RPG pages with illustrations, how do you go about this?

So far, I have managed to get by with public domain art, which I use as the background for my web page that details my homebrew setting (some of the Renaissance art is fantastic, and helps to evoke the feeling that I want), but I will eventually have to draw things myself - especially a map of the setting.

So, how do you guys go about it? Do you also ask around in messageboard for artists who work for free?

 

[Raesene Andu]

I'd agree with the above comments. The only way you are going to get someone to do your artwork for free is to learn to draw yourself. Personally, I'm a terrible artist, but not bad at mapping. Which means my maps are beautiful works of art, while my art is... well lets just say I don't bother too much anymore.

An in response to the poster who said there are a lot of writers out there, I'd agree, but ask are there a lot of good writers out there? I have seen very little to inspire me over the past year or so.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I'd agree with the above comments. The only way you are going to get someone to do your artwork for free is to learn to draw yourself. Personally, I'm a terrible artist, but not bad at mapping. Which means my maps are beautiful works of art, while my art is... well lets just say I don't bother too much anymore.

Do you have any sample maps, and any advice on mapping?

 

[Dingleberry]

If it helps influence whether an artist is willing to give this guy free art in exchange for exposure to the buying public, it's worth noting that this guy's attitude has guaranteed that I'll never visit his site.

 

[mythusmage]

Some people's buttons are so easily pushed.

I set standards. Evil me.

I admit to being unable, at present, to pay. Evil me.

I critique "paid" artists. Evil me.

So now I'm going to be even more evil, and reiterate what I'm looking for.

I need an artist for my site. One who can work in a naturalistic style. (Think bird books and books on dinosaurs.) One who is willing to let me display the art on my site sans pay. Should any money come my way thanks to what's on the site, that money will be shared with the artist. Should the material find a publisher, I shall see that the art is included, and that the artist is compensated. Furthermore, the artist retains all rights to his work. All I get is his permission to display his work on my site.

It's a gamble, and something of an experiment. It may work, it may not. At the very worst, the artist chosen gets some free publicity. As the old saying goes, as long as they spell your name right.

So, if this looks like something you'd be interested in, drop me a line via the email button below. Remember to include the words "Mythusmage" and "Art" in the subject line. It may work, it may not, but we won't know unless we give it a shot.