Comic books and graphic novels have been popular for decades. Boys, girls, men, and women; comic books appeal to people of all ages, and of all interest levels. From superheroes to anime, and even cartoonish portrayals of normal, everyday men, women, teens, and children, and from fantasy to science fiction to historical fiction; comics come in a wide array of styles, themes, content, genres, topics, and more.
One of the reasons why comic books are so appealing is because they are so appealing. The graphic imagery brings the content to life, makes it more relatable, and more memorable. There really is no denying the awesomeness of comic books. You have a great idea for a genre, storyline, characters, and plot for a comic book. You’ve written up the dialogue, and you have to pat yourself on the back as you read it, because it really is awesome. While you’ve got the writing component of comic book creation down, there’s one major thing you’re missing: the artwork.
A graphic novel can’t be a graphic novel without illustrations. Pictures are a vital part of a comic book, as they bring the story to life; in fact, the images are what separates comic books from other genres of writing. You are confident in the content you’ve written, but you can’t draw a stick figure to save your life, and, well, you can’t very well create comic book without images. What do you do? Well, you find a comic book artist, of course!
There are tons of talented artist out there that specialize in graphic novel style artwork. There’s just one problem: you have no idea how to go about finding a comic book artist for hire. Fortunately, it isn’t as hard as you might think. There are literally endless freelance artists out there, you just have to find them, and with the following tips, you will be able to do just that. Keep on reading to discover how you can go about finding the best comic book artists for hire.
Determine Your Needs
First things first; you need to figure out what your needs are. Before you start looking for comic book artists for hire, figuring out exactly what it is that you require. To determine what you need, consider the genre and the content of your comic book, as well as the images that you have in mind when you think about the content that you’ve written for your comic book. By determining what it is that you are looking for first, finding comic artists for hire that can suit your needs will be a lot easier. To illustrate, the imagery for an anime graphic novel is going to be quite different than the imagery you’d use in a graphic novel that features everyday teenagers, or a young family.
Once you’ve determined what type of artwork you want, you’ll have a much easier time finding comic book artists for hire that specialize in that style of imagery, and who will be able to bring your words and story to life.
Ask for Personal Recommendations
Do you know any comic book authors? If so, ask them if they do their own illustrations or if they use a freelance comic book artist for hire. If any of the people you ask use the latter – using freelance comic artists for hire – ask if they can recommend the artist that they use. Ask if they have any printed comic books that the freelance artist they worked with illustrated. If so, ask if you can see samples of the finished comics in print for. Thumb through the pages of the comics, paying close attention to the images on the pages. Do they speak to your style? Do they appear as if the style of imagery would appeal to your writing?
If any of the people you know make personal recommendations, ask if they were satisfied with the results that they provided, and if they would recommend using the comic book artist. The people you know are often the best resource to use when you’re looking for any professional service, including comic book artists. Why? Well, because you can usually count on the people you know to provide you with their honest feedback and recommendations.
Check Online
Whether you don’t know anyone who can recommend comic book artists for hire or you do, but you’d like to add more names to the list of artists you’re considering, check the internet. You can find pretty much anything you need on the internet, including comic book artists for hire.
To search the internet, simply head to your favorite search engine, type “comic book artists for hire near me”, and there’s no doubt that you’ll get a long list of results. While you can certainly use this method, using a more specific search tool would be even better. Reedsy, an online marketplace that features talented professionals that specialize in all types and phases of writing, editing, illustrating, and more, is a great tool to use. It’s essentially an online database that you can search through to find the most talented comic book artists for hire.
Get In Touch
After you’ve finalized the list of comic book artists that you’re interested in, get in touch with each candidate. Ask each of the comic book artists for hire that you’re considering key questions that pertain to their professional history. Examples of some of the key questions that you might want to ask include:
- Do you have professional training?
- How long have you been creating comic artwork?
- What types of comics have you worked on in the past
- What style and materials do you use?
- Do you have samples I can look through?
- Do you have references that I can contact?
Jot down the answers to the questions that you ask and after you’ve spoken to each of the artists, compare the answers you received. Based on the information that you acquire, you should be able to narrow things down and choose the best comic book artists for hire.
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