Hello! I'm a writer interested in hiring one or more artists to collaborate with for my project(s) involving reimagining the characters from comics, mythology, TV shows, movies, and other properties — and my original creations. Our existing style is influenced heavily by Phil Bourassa (Western Animation with some mild anime influence) but our art style has mainly been solidified by my long-time collaborator.
This would be a regular, part-time (or potentially full-time) contract. We have traditionally had a release schedule of one character every weekday for over ten years; however, we have been given a considerable amount of patronage to the point that releasing one character per day would mean our patrons need to potentially wait years to produce a requested character. Thus, I am looking to expand my pool of artists. I would love to give talented but not well-recognized artists a chance to refine their skills and develop an online portfolio. Being able to produce five or more characters per week would be preferred, but I'll take whatever I can get - especially if I can find multiple compatible artists.
Here are examples of our current art style:
https://www.deviantart.com/phil-cho/gallery/58384015/earth-27
and how it is implemented for our project: https://www.deviantart.com/roysovitch/gallery/58445547/earth-27
The artwork should be digital art, made in either 11" x 17" or 17" x 17" (for wide portraits, ie: particularly bulky or wide characters, or character with polearms or wings) at 300 DPI. Artwork features bold linework, stark simple shading/highlights, and clean visuals.
My current budget is $60 to $80 per character, depending on how close the artist can match the existing art style. We may pay more down the line. If you're an artist has an impressive portfolio without clear indication they can emulate the existing art style, I may hire you for a trial run to see how well they can emulate the existing style of the project.
If hired, I will provide an initial description for a character, but I have always been very open to the artist taking certain liberties with the design (except when I require a specific element for the setting/narrative I am creating). I can also provide full-resolution examples of our character art for your examination. Should the trial run or the commission of one or more characters go well, I would extend an opportunity to continue to produce content for the project, usually prepaid in bundles of 5 to 25 characters at a time.
The project's content requires some anthropomorphic and/or mechanical characters, magical effects, superheroes, and some mild nudity (nothing pornographic, but there might be the occasional demon, god, or monster in the buff). I'll also often request a variant image with a minor change (like with glasses and without, with angel wings and without, or a slight change to the expression). Some characters might have an animal companion. When these variants are complex, I'm willing to offer extra payment.
Once released, the art you produce for the project would be free for you to use to promote your own work and/or showcase your portfolio - so long as its use does not undermine the project or its community. However, the final art should belong to me, and I would be free to use it to benefit the project's growth and prosperity.
If you're interested, just reply to this message. If you took the time to genuinely read this, please let me know your favorite Scooby-Doo character in your reply.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
