Wanted: Colourist For Goblins (filled)

EDIT: The position has been filled. Thank you so much to everyone who applied!

It's no secret that I've been struggling to maintain an update schedule that I consider frequent and reliable. For this reason, I've decided to try hiring a colourist for my webcomic, Goblins. I tried this years ago but the artist, through no fault of his own, had to back out before long.

Here's what you'd be required to do"

I'd send you the black and white pages and you'd be colouring them and adding lighting effects, shading, etc. Here are some examples of my colouring style and what would be required of you. Some of these visuals would be very common, while others are fairly rare. (click on the pic for a closer view).

Effects like these beams of light.

The way this hallway fades off into the darkness and the water visuals on the stairs.

Textures like this metal armour or the glass-like tip of his sword hilt.

Rock textures and metallic shine, etc.

Your job wouldn't be to mimic my style. I'd want you to bring your style and skills into it in a way that compliments the feel of the comic. However, I'm not looking for a drastic change in style with a vastly different look. I don't want Goblins to suddenly become a completely different comic, visually.

There would be times when a page would require more time consuming visuals and believe me, I understand how that is. In those times, I'd be happy to take on a bit of the colouring workload or listen to your suggestions on how those visuals could maybe be handled in a better way.

Here's what I'm looking for in an artist"Long Term

Having a new artist add their talents to the comic changes the look and feel. It requires the readers, for better or worse (hopefully better), to adjust to the change. It's kind of like seeing a different actor play a known character in a movie's sequel. So naturally, I'd rather not have this change occur a bunch of times as I hire different artists. I understand that life happens and unexpected changes will sometimes happen. But the artist should be coming in with every intent to stick around.

Experienced

Whether it's professional experience or just a lot of creating on your own, I need someone who's created a lot of work and is very familiar with what they'd be doing. If you're still 'cutting your teeth' with this kind of medium, then you might not be what I'm looking for.

The Right Style

Your colouring style isn't going to perfectly match mine. However, it should compliment the feel of the comic. This can be because your style is very similar to mine or it can be because you're bringing something that, although very different than my style, just makes this particular comic look awesome.

Photoshop, Manga Studio, etc

Goblins is drawn in Photoshop on a drawing tablet, so I'd be sending you the black and white pages to be coloured on your computer and sent back to me. You'll need to be very familiar with using your computer as your medium.

Take Instruction But Not Need It

There are things in Goblins that absolutely need to be shown in a very specific way, so I'd need an artist who is okay with me being annoyingly specific at times. A magic sword might need to glow a very specific way or a scene might require a certain emotional feel with the lighting. Most of the time however, I'd want you to make it yours in your way. If I've hired you, it's because I like your style and I am confident that you know what you're doing. As an artist myself, I completely understand that the more creative freedom I take away from you, the harder it is for you to feel passionate about what you're creating. Faded passion means faded quality and a bored artist makes boring work. Which leads me to"

Passionate About This

You wouldn't have to have read the whole comic or be personally into the story, but you'd need to enjoy what you're working on, on some level. No matter how talented and experienced you are, I can't use an artist who's just looking for a paycheck. If you're not into fantasy styled comics/artwork, then that'll show in your work.

Communicate Well And Be An Awesome, Intelligent Person

I can't imagine this working with an artist who I can't get along with. We've all had to work with someone we didn't like and we know how that goes.

Be Able To Keep Up With The Schedule

I realize how hypocritical it is for me to add this point, since I've been defeated by deadlines more often than the Joker has been defeated by Batman. However, the whole point of this is to be able to have a dependable update schedule. I need to be able to create at least one page per week. I'd love to someday update even faster, but I don't know how realistic that is with this comic. You'd need to have the time to colour one page a week, dependably. Now here's where my message gets a little conflicting"

I'm an artist and I know how deadlines can be missed. I know how there will be times when artwork is late. Especially when you are passionate about creating the best work that you can. In fact, I'm nervously hoping that I myself, am not ever late in handing you the black and white page that you need. So while I understand the artist/deadline relationship, I need this to work. So if you're an applicant sending me examples of your work, don't give me beautifully detailed digital paintings that took you six weeks to create. If you know that you can't create that kind of work on the required schedule, then you're not showing me what you'd be creating. Also, if your schedule is really busy, then this might not be best fit for you.

An Adult

Since I mentioned on Twitter, that I'd be placing this ad, a bunch of people have already contacted me about it and some of those people are a bit too young to hire. I've seen the art you sent and more than once, I was blown away. Please, please keep creating. You're awesome and I so need to see that kind of talent continue grow over time.

And now the final details, like"How Much Does It Pay

The base pay is $125 per page (that's Canadian dollars, so I think that works out to around $100 American). I say "base pay" because there are a bunch of things that can/will alter that number. I just want you to have some idea of what you're looking at before you apply. That's with an intent to make 4 pages per month. I'd be super happy if we could get to 6 or even 7 pages per month, but that might not be possible.

How Do I Apply

Send me some of your work. 3 - 8 examples should be about right, but that's just a guideline. Or you can link me to a collection of your work on DeviantArt, etc. Send your email to thuntsthisland@gmail.com along with a brief description of who you are and what kind of experience you have. I'll be emailing those artists that I think might be a good fit and giving more detailed information about payment, the contract you'd be signing, etc. I'll also be happy to answer any questions you might have for me. After that step, I'll make my decision. I'm not certain how long this process will take, so I can't really tell you when you can expect a response from me.

Thank you SO much to those of you who are applying. I really appreciate the time you're taking to do this and while I'm sure I won't be able to respond to everyone, I will carefully look over the artwork you send/link. If you've already sent me your work, please resend it to the email shown here.

You can also follow me on Twitter, if you're not already. That's a great way to shoot me a question or keep an eye on what's going on.

Thanks so much and I look forward to hearing from you.

-Tarol