How Do I Find A Graphic Novel Illustrator To Work With?

Q&A: How do I detect an artist to depict my graphic novel?

For more than advice and help with writing, check out the For Writers section of Antony's website.

Hello Antony,

I'm seeking advice, and hopefully not crossing the line.

I've just finished an MA at [REDACTED] and have a total length graphic novel to show for it (written on your Scrivener template — thank you lot). But I'chiliad having trouble finding an artist who is interested in even looking at the script, let alone collaborating.

Can you lot offering any thoughts?

[Name withheld]

How-do-you-do there! You lot're not crossing a line, but it's a tricky question to answer. In fact, comic writers get asked this a lot, so I'm going to use this opportunity to cover a agglomeration of related stuff, and hopefully it can stand as a catch-all answer for new writers in the same situation.

Commencement, congratulations on finishing the script for your graphic novel. That'southward awesome. I've written a lot of OGNs — more than anyone else in the English language-language marketplace, in fact. I mention that non to brag, but then that you know I understand how much work you put into it, and what information technology took to consummate it, when I say:

My advice is to take that script of yours; put it in a drawer; and forget nigh it for a while.

Yes, really. Hear me out.

You lot're having trouble finding an artist to look at the script considering of its sheer size. You called information technology a "full length" graphic novel, so permit'southward presume it'due south at to the lowest degree 100 pages. In fact it'due south probably more than that, but fifty-fifty 100pp is a lot of work for a comic artist.

"Artists not wanting to encounter your graphic novel script is non a reflection on its quality. No affair how proficient information technology is, the length will but turn most artists off."

Most monthly series comics are 22pp, and have a professional, experienced artist one month to describe. Then to depict 100pp will accept that same artist near five months. (And that's bold they tin can afford to do it full-time, which they probably tin can't, considering I also presume you tin't afford to pay them.)

(Of class, maybe you can afford to pay, somehow. If so, tell the artists you approach, because that could alter things a lot. Simply for at present, let'southward assume there'south no money.)

It's also important to understand that artists not wanting to encounter your graphic novel script is non a reflection on its quality. No thing how good it is, the length will simply plough nearly artists off, considering information technology will have them "off the market" for at least half a twelvemonth, sometimes more. That further limits the number of people willing to depict it, because our industry is over-reliant on monthly exposure to make, and keep, a creator'southward reputation. Some artists can't afford to sacrifice that.

All of this ways you're probably not going to find an experienced creative person to draw your script. Instead, you need to await for creators in the same gunkhole as you: starting out, and looking for a style in to the manufacture. And that's great, merely even new artists probably aren't going to leap into a 100pp+ graphic novel with no budget.

So what can y'all do?

Selection ane:

Put it in a drawer and write shorter pieces instead.

Find new artists — people like you who are hungry for publication, for portfolio pieces, for the gamble to build a reputation — and write brusque scripts for them, somewhere between vi and 12 pages (perhaps you even wrote some during the grade of your MA?). Work with as wide a diversity of artists as you can, and when they're finished publish those short comics online somewhere; tumblr, a website, flickr, whatever.

(Sidebar tip: become to know artists, and ask them what kind of stories they desire to draw. Write short pieces accordingly, to accommodate their manner, so everyone comes out of it looking good.)

A dozen pages isn't too daunting a task for either yous or the artist, and serves you both well. Long enough to be a consummate story, and make a representative portfolio slice; short enough to accomplish in a month or 2 of spare fourth dimension.

This is the option I normally advocate for new writers. Write short comic stories, get them drawn, publish them online. Rinse and repeat, and if all goes well you lot'll build up your profile, experience, and reputation. You'll probably then move on to writing miniseries, four–5 problems of regular comics at 22pp each. And one time you've got a few of those under your belt, getting your OGN drawn and published becomes a whole lot more viable, because the next option is…

Option 2:

Sell it to a publisher and let them finance an artist.

The less published work yous have under your belt, the more difficult this is. And you have to know your market; depending on the subject area matter, an OGN pitch might be better placed at a fiction publisher rather than a comics specialist. If you do approach a comics publisher, make sure information technology's one that publishes the kind of book you want to make. Don't take your literary fiction to Curiosity or DC; don't pitch your Spider-Man epic to Image.

Just, the usual difficulties of pitching a volume all the same, this is oft the best option to see your OGN published. Existence approached by an editor to draw a book already approved for publication (and with a budget!) is much more attractive to artists than a common cold pitch from the book'south writer.

Note that this pick isn't exclusionary to the get-go; in fact, unless you go very lucky and achieve a quick sale, I recommend that you write and publish shorter pieces while trying to find a book publisher for the OGN.

Finally, of class, there's always…

Option 3:

Draw information technology yourself.

Depending on the style and genre of the slice, your ain illustrations might exist perfectly suitable. They might not, and if so, I understand. Believe me, nobody wants to decipher a comic featuring my craven scratch. But there's no more than surefire way to go your script drawn than to practise it yourself.

Conclusion

I know this doesn't answer every question. Information technology doesn't consider Kickstarter, or Patreon, or digital-first publishers, and those are all increasingly feasible outlets. I've also talked nigh 'finding an creative person' without going into how you lot exercise that. But such issues are details and sidebars, and they change with the times. The main thrust of what I've written here hasn't changed significantly in the past twenty years, and it's unlikely to in the next 20.

I thing that never changes is conventions, and the value of networking. Us artistic types can be shy and socially nervous at the best of times, but getting to know other artists and writers, whether in person or online, is one of the most valuable things yous can exercise.

Exist friendly, be professional person, be kind. Yous never know, you might just meet an creative person looking for an OGN to draw.

Source: https://medium.com/writing-and-breathing/q-a-how-do-i-find-an-artist-to-draw-my-ogn-5bdf7f89e87a

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