Artists Wanted!

[benflip]

Fierce Comics is growing and is currently seeking submissions for pencilers, inkers, colorists, and letters. Opportunities will exist at various levels of experience and artists are encouraged to send their submissions soon. New projects are expected to begin in the late May/early June time period, so don't delay if you want your work to be considered.

Go to the Submissions links at http://www.fiercecomics.com/ for more information.

[A_James]

From your website's "Journeyman Artist Program" submissions section:

Q – Will I be paid for my work?
A – The artists chosen to participate in the Journeyman Artist Program will receive 10 copies of the printed comic book and a letter of recommendation that outlines their performance along various competencies. This valuable recommendation and the printed books should be used when approaching publishers for freelancer opportunities.

Two questions come out of this:

1) Just to clarify... there is no pay?

2) How is the "Journeyman Artist Program" deal different from what is offered to freelancers?

[benflip]

Freelance/Journeyman Clarification

Hi there, thanks for asking about the distinction between a journeyman and a freelancer submission. An established, published artist with credible work experience in the comic book industry should submit using the freelancer submission form. An unpublished, aspiring artist without experience should submit using the journeyman submission form.

Experienced freelancers are eligible for a page rate based on their name recognition, the quality/style of their work relative to the title in question, and the budget assigned to the particular book(s) to be worked on.

Journeyman are not eligible for a page rate, but do receive a formal letter of recommendation commensurate with the work provided, as well as copies of the published book to use when soliciting mainstream publishers for freelancer opportunities. A journeyman artist could also "graduate" to a freelancer opportunity at Fierce after completion of their journeyman assignment. This program is specifically intended for unpublished, inexperienced artists who have a genuine desire to break into the industry with an emerging publisher and stand out from the thousands of other artists targeting the relatively few freelancer jobs.

I hope this helps. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

[A_James]

Thanks, that's exactly what I was after. I really think the FAQ on your site would benefit from having these two paragraphs included (especially the bolded parts)...

Experienced freelancers are eligible for a page rate based on their name recognition, the quality/style of their work relative to the title in question, and the budget assigned to the particular book(s) to be worked on.

Journeyman are not eligible for a page rate, but do receive a formal letter of recommendation commensurate with the work provided, as well as copies of the published book to use when soliciting mainstream publishers for freelancer opportunities. A journeyman artist could also "graduate" to a freelancer opportunity at Fierce after completion of their journeyman assignment. This program is specifically intended for unpublished, inexperienced artists who have a genuine desire to break into the industry with an emerging publisher and stand out from the thousands of other artists targeting the relatively few freelancer jobs.

...as it really helps to clarify the information that is already on there.

[benflip]

That's an excellent suggestion. We were concerned that there would be confusion between the two options when we launched the journeyman program, which is why we added the FAQ section. I can certainly see how adding this would help clarify the difference. I'll ask for that modification to the site.

Thanks!

[benflip]

Updated

Thanks again for the suggestion. We've updated that portion of the site.

[slyaguilar]

Any style in particular that you would be interested in? ....also check out my DA link below.

[benflip]

Hi Sly. We're open to reviewing just about any style. We don't want to exclude anything that might be a good fit for one reason or another. That said, I just looked at your deviantArt portfolio. Nice work. If you decide to submit, please try to include any additional sequential art you may have.

Thanks!
Flip

[amadarwin]

"Exposure" is hardly a good selling point. All artists you choose to have work on a book should get a page rate, or paid, regardless of previous experience. It's only proper. You can't expect a guy to want to work for free on a book when another (more established) artist would get paid for those very same pages.

I feel sorry for the 'journeyman' applicants.

[Beastie]

Yeah, I'm sure some people will opt to apply via the journeyman route -- but it's not very fair.

If someone gives you their time and devotion - you should reward them for that, IMO.

Still, you're being very open with your thinking - so its not like they'd be going into it blind.

[benflip]

Thanks for the comments on the program. I disagree that exposure isn’t a selling point. The journeyman program is no different than any intern program that gives a person valuable and credible experience in a chosen field. We see a great deal of value in the exposure inherent in having been personally selected and given the opportunity to showcase your skills with a company’s property in a real-world environment.

There are literally thousands of comic book artists who want to be seen by the big publishers but have limited, or no, visibility. For example, here’s a quote from Marvel’s site: “If you are an aspiring comic book artist or writer, we suggest you publish or publicly post your material, continue to create, and if you have the right stuff...we’ll find you.” And for those attempting to stand out in the DC talent search program know that simply being a good artist isn’t good enough, but having a letter of recommendation from a publisher along with your sample pages goes a long way toward building confidence in your dependability. It’s our belief that those who get in print and have something tangible to show that they are professional and worth taking a chance on will stand out – and that’s valuable.

That said, to Beastie’s point, we’re being very open about the details. The program has been carved out from our standard freelancer submissions to ensure that it’s clearly communicated and that anyone submitting fully understands the exchange that is being proposed.

I certainly appreciate your opinions on it. We knew some would not consider this program beneficial, and that’s fine. No one is being forced to participate, of course. Those who have and those who will submit will have our full support if they are selected.

Thanks again,
Flip

[Beastie]

I know where you're coming from, Flip, it just makes me sad that artists (as a group in general) are frequently given 'opportunities' to work without being paid. It does not appear to be an arrangement that arises too often with other professions.

[Mase]

They have paid positions, too. Sounds like the journeyman option is more like an internship. Sounds fair to me.

[jsmith0316]

Yeah, I'm always torn on things like this. Sequential art is so much more time consuming then other art. However, as a guy who is working on breaking in, and knows that when I send Dead Kittens around that one of my weakest areas will be the fact that they have no idea how I will perform under deadlines I can see how it could be beneficial. Couple that with the fact that I would be drawing regardless of whether I'm getting paid and it doesn't sound too bad. However, It all depends on what is expected of a journeyman. I could probably pencil a one shot, with no pay, if the deadline is long enough to allow me to work my full time job too.

The one thing that would be nice is to offer some sort of percent of profits to jouneymen. Even if it's small it would make it a lot easier to swallow the idea that if it sells like hotcakes the artist would end up getting something out of it. That's my main concern with working for free. Sure, if you sell a couple hundred copies it's no big deal. However, if by some miracle of word of mouth sales sends it into the realm of Goon, then I'm going to feel a little sore over the zero pay. Especially when part of the reasoning behind the newbie getting no pay is because they don't have the name recognition to sell lots of comics.

I'm thinking about it though, because Dead Kittens has a while to go before completion, and who knows, it might help me prove to publishers that I can meet a deadline.

Benflip, does the sight explain what kind of projects journeymen would expect to get, and what kind of deadlines they would be facing? (no time to read through right now and check, and if not I would like to hear more so I can make a decision whether to apply sooner rather then later)

[benflip]

Hey Jeromy – The projects can range from one-shots to multi-issue runs if agreed to. Part of the selection process is based on the person’s ability to turnaround pages in a timely manner. A person with a proposed turnaround time of 30 days for 22 penciled pages will likely be selected over another person with equal skills, but a turnaround time of 60 or 90 days for the same quantity of pages.

Hope this helps!
Flip