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Artist Wanted for 'British Showcase' Graphic Novel

Started by JoshSpiller, 17 July, 2016, 08:04:20 PM

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JoshSpiller

Hi,

I'm a writer looking for an artist to draw a 10-page comic. The story has already been accepted by Markosia (http://www.markosia.com), and will be featured as one of the comics in their 'British Showcase' graphic novel.

This is an opportunity for artists to get their work professionally printed and distributed, and to add what should be an eye-catching piece to their portfolio.

The story includes:

- The setting of a modern-day city filled with skyscrapers
- A female teenage protagonist
- A sequence with a mute man speaking in sign language
- A spectacular, military aerial dogfight with fighter jets and helicopters
- And, critically, a lot of freaky alien spores and monstrous plant-human hybrids.

The story also switches between a creepy sense of horror and some more humorous sections, so as the artist you'll need to have a bit of range (although the art should lean more towards realism than cartoonishness).

Unfortunately, Markosia aren't offering any payment for this gig (I'm not getting paid either). But as this graphic novel is designed to promote aspiring British talent, it will hopefully open the door to other freelance opportunities. If nothing else, the artist will end up with a piece that demonstrates their wide range of storytelling skills, from humour to horror, from wordless dramatic action sequences to more dialogue-heavy exchanges, all within a format that bridges the gap between 5-page British anthology comics and their 22-page, more lucrative American cousins. And really, that sort of versatility can only impress future editors, can't it?

If you're interested, or would like to see a copy of the script to check it's something you're interested in, then email me at: joshua.spiller@gmail.com

If you would like to see other examples of my work, go to: joshspillercomics.tumblr.com

I hope to hear from you soon.

Best,

Josh Spiller

James Dilworth


GordonR

Serious question - shouldn't Markosia be in a position to match writers with artists?  Why - as well as giving your labour and creativity to them for free - are you expected to find an artist for your story?


Banners

As Markosia Enterprises Limited has a Net Worth of -£165k, maybe they have other things to worry about?

GordonR

#4
Oh, I wouldn't be surprised if Markosia had been running at a (on paper) loss for years.  It would certainly explain why no-one I know who's worked for them has ever seen much in the way of royalties on the hilarious back-end deals they offer creators.

And yet, somehow, they're able to keep publishing books.

blackmocco

"This is an opportunity for artists to get their work professionally printed and distributed, and to add what should be an eye-catching piece to their portfolio."

Ah, the magic words.
"...and it was here in this blighted place, he learned to live again."

www.BLACKMOCCO.com
www.BLACKMOCCO.blogspot.com

GordonR

Josh--

Your post is polite, clear and concise, and I wish you well with your comic-writing career, especially since I know how hard it is to break in these days.   

....but you've committed the cardinal sin of trotting out the old "it'll be great exposure for you!" line when trying to persuade creatives to work for free.

Never, ever use this line.  It's pure bullshit, and - as indicated in two of the posts above - artists are sick of hearing it.

IndigoPrime

As a writer (albeit not a scripter), bit of a time imbalance too, I'd imagine.

JayzusB.Christ

#8
Quote from: GordonR on 23 July, 2016, 04:36:26 AM

....but you've committed the cardinal sin of trotting out the old "it'll be great exposure for you!" line when trying to persuade creatives to work for free.


I'm afraid I agree 100%.  I work as a commercial artist, and in the early days did some free work in return for the promise of 'exposure'.  These particular jobs never, ever advanced my career one iota (it was the paid ones that got me where I am), and I must say when I hear anyone try to sell this idea, I get very irritated.

In my experience the only reputation you get in such cases is that of a sucker who'll do good work for nothing, and many potential clients and employers will latch onto that. 

Put it this way - would you ask a mechanic to fix your car in return for exposure? If Markosia can't afford creators, they're in the wrong business.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

JayzusB.Christ

Excuse the double post, but I've just come across this, which sums up my attitude to being asked to work for free perfectly.  Also, no offence to Josh - I appreciate that you've worked hard yourself on this project and care a lot about it - but I think you must realise that asking people to give up days of their professional time for nothing but a very shaky promise is a very, very serious demand to make of someone.

You only need to go two steps along this flowchart to find out whether this is worthwhile or not.

http://shouldiworkforfree.com/#no5
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

JoshSpiller

Hey guys,

Just seen your replies. Thanks for the feedback, and for anyone who finds that kind of request annoying, my apologies: it was a genuine blunder on my part.

I completely agree that asking people to do work for free is dodgy territory and, by and large, something I'm definitely not a fan of. However, in my opinion, it's only really bad when people get strung along on false promises, and generally exploited. Otherwise, it's just an offer on the table, and you're free to either take it or leave it, depending on what you think of the merits of the particular assignment. That's why I tried to be as clear upfront as possible.

As for Markosia, I don't know a lot about the company. But speaking to the guy who's helped put together the previous British Showcase GNs, he said he's always made a loss on them. He seemed to just want to continue producing them - in spite of this - because they're a means of promoting fresh British talent, and if that's true, fair play to him.

On a personal level, for the comics on my blog (joshspillercomics.tumblr.com) I've always paid my artists. Partly in order to get the calibre of artists I wanted, but just as much for ethical reasons. I'm well aware that doing the art for a comic is far more time-consuming than the writing, and I'd feel guilty if the artists weren't compensated for their skills, even though it means I make a financial loss putting these comics together.

As someone who works part-time so that I can pursue being a comics writer more seriously, I don't have a lot of spare income. Therefore, I've paid those artists £50 a page, which is all I can reasonably afford. However, when advertising for an artist for this 10-page Markosia script, I was a) low on funds, and b) I never have enough money spare to pay an artist £50 a page for a 10-page script. So unfortunately, an adequate payment from me for any potential collaborators wasn't a viable option.

Also, just to address one other point that was brought up: personally, I don't think unpaid work is necessarily useless for opening up doors into the industry. As an avid Alan Moore fan, I know he did a decent amount of unpaid work at the start of the career just to practice his craft and build up a body of work that would start to get his name out there. Obviously, you've got to be careful you're not taken advantage of, and being paid for work will always be more impressive than not being paid for it. But if an editor sees writing or art that s/he likes, whether you were remunerated for it or not, it's still going to help persuade them to hire you.  And if that work was published to a professional standard, giving it a more impressive appearance, all the better.

That's all I thought I would get out of this Markosia strip. A professionally produced graphic novel, containing a story I was pleased with, to show to future editors. Really, that's all the artist would get as well. And I certainly agree: it is less than ideal to have to source my own artists, but it seems like, with the smaller companies in the industry - even those run by honourable people - this has just become par for the course.

Apologies for the length of this reply; I appreciate all your feedback, I just wanted to make my position clear.

For any artists who are interested in illustrating the 10-page strip, I've decided I should fork out from my own pocket - since I want to see the story printed so badly - the payment for the work. However, as with my other strips, I could only offer £250, which is a pretty paltry sum for the amount of labour involved. Still, if you are interested, and you think it's the sort of thing you would enjoy drawing, please get in touch.

All the best, guys, and I hope you're having a great day.

Josh



Fungus

Interesting thread, the frustration on the part of writers & artists is impressive to see.

I'm no comics guy, but having spent a few hours over last week and my weekend doing yet another "practical test" in my own time, I can empathise. Currently job-hunting and it's the third time I've been given "homework" of this kind after interview :-( The cheek! I suppose it finds out who's serious and offers a good comparison, but jeez I'm starting to resent it. It's like having 2 jobs.

Wee bit off-topic, sorry   :-[


GordonR

Hey Josh,

I'd already had a look at your tumblr page, and saw that in the past you'd paid artists what you could to draw up your work, which I think is a very commendable way to do things.  In the longterm, it might be better to cultivate creative relationships with artists so that you can find someone who's a good fit for and with whom you can develop projects together.

Before you shell out money to have this story drawn, though, I'd very closely check the contract with Markosia. It would be a pity if, after using your own money to help get this into print, you then discovered you had less of a stake in its ownership than you thought.

JayzusB.Christ

#13
Quote from: JoshSpiller on 25 July, 2016, 05:24:10 PM

For any artists who are interested in illustrating the 10-page strip, I've decided I should fork out from my own pocket - since I want to see the story printed so badly - the payment for the work. However, as with my other strips, I could only offer £250, which is a pretty paltry sum for the amount of labour involved. Still, if you are interested, and you think it's the sort of thing you would enjoy drawing, please get in touch.



Fair play, that's very decent of you - a gesture like that makes all the difference.  I'm a terrible comics illustrator (believe me, I've tried) but I hope you find somebody.

EDIT - just read Gordon's post.  Obviously he'd know a lot more about these things than I would, so it's probably worth following his advice.  I know you're not out to exploit anyone, but Markosia might be.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

CrazyFoxMachine

Quote from: GordonR on 25 July, 2016, 07:40:49 PM
Before you shell out money to have this story drawn, though, I'd very closely check the contract with Markosia. It would be a pity if, after using your own money to help get this into print, you then discovered you had less of a stake in its ownership than you thought.

Those things are wordier than the Chilcot report   :-X