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Occasionally brooding, deeply passionate, and always interesting.
That’s the tagline I use at the beginning of every show. But I just realized it’s been a while since I’ve been “Occasionally Brooding.” It’s high time I cut loose and let out some free range hostility.
In this episode I go off on an a couple of things.
- A certain talent network of creatives that gave me the runaround all summer.
- People who want artists to work for free, or offer a “back-end deal”
- A jackass Flash Developer that thinks treating artists like crap is the way to go.
I don’t like seeing Artists being pushed around, or taken advantage of. It’s a Pet Peeve of mine. This podcast holds the record for number of “bleeps”. What you are about to hear is the truth, straight from my heart.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Pull up your boots folks, the B.S. is going to get a little deep.
This is the blog post written by the Flash Developer Christopher Gregorio at kaitol.com I am leaving all typos and grammatical errors the way he posted them. I say this as I do a face palm and then roll my eyes.
I’ve hired a bunch of people to do art for some of my largest games, I thought I would give a little insight on what do when hiring yourself.
How to find an artist:
I recommend looking through art sites such as Deviantart for an artist which suits your taste, or any other site that has a decent art community such as Newgrounds. There’s a few reasons you want to find an artist this way. First of all, they’re cheaper. These guys aren’t used to making a lot of money for their work so they will be more appreciative of the chance even if they are being payed slightly less than what professionals are payed. Yes we should all be appreciative that men of power and esteem such as this guy are so willing to pay us scraps for our second rate art. Second of all, they’re better. The quality of art you can find through this method is pretty amazing, and the vast amount of artists guarantee you will find something that suits your tastes and needs. In other words, there are so many artists on deviantart that you’re bound to find someone you can rip off and exploit that draws in the style you need! Unless you have a specific price you want to pay in mind, ask THEM what they are willing to charge for the project. This usually causes people to give offers that are lower than what you normally pay, and will make them happy. You heartless vulture!
How NOT to find an artist:
Do not look for either professional artists, or an artist that has done a lot of game design work in the past. So if you need your car fixed or a root canal, don’t hire a professional mechanic or Dentist. Get your buddy to fix your fuel injection and your teeth and pay him with a six pac and a pizza! The problem with artists who do this as their full time job is that they’re usually expensive. Compared to what you can find through art sites, these guys tend to cost an arm and a leg. Artists who have done a lot of game design work are also bad for a similar reason, they know how much flash games can earn so they expect a decent percentage of the profit. It’s ridiculous to pay something 50% of a sponsorship when you can find someone else who would accept $500 for the same job. When your game sells for $10,000, the difference in cost is a multitude of 10. Amateur artists produce amateur results. If you want your project to look amateur then by all means hire amateurs!
Artist payment:
Make it clear to whomever you hire that they will not be payed until ALL the work is completed, unless it is completed by a predefined date, and unless it matches or exceeds expectations. Sometimes I have an issues getting all of these things, but if you give someone a job they’re expected to treat it as so even if they’re just a hobbyist. Paying prior to the completion of the project is a bad idea for several reasons. Only paying for the finished work encourages the artist to finish their job faster, if you pay up front the artist has no motivation to finish quickly. Similarly, if you pay up front the artist could disappear and you may never get what you payed for! That’s what happens when you pay peanuts and hire amateurs. Real professionals finish their jobs on time and on budget.
Keep them in the dark:
This relates back to what I talked about earlier. If an artist knows how much their artwork will increase the value of the game they will then feel they deserve that amount of money. You should be fed to the lions for the previous statement. This is not how a market economy works, you hire whoever is able to do the best job for the lowest amount of money, anything else is a loss of money on your end. If you don’t value yourself and your work, no one else will either.
Timelines:
Give strict dates about when you need the art done (even if you don’t) and give consequences by deduction in pay if the art is not completed by the date. Unless the person you’ve hired happens to be very punctual, you will need strong motivation to make sure they finish the art in a timely manner. Try to only hire people ages 18+ (I may sound a little hypocritical here), kids are generally less reliable and have more IRL things come up that they can’t control. I’ve had several bad experiences with this. The reason you have problems with artists meeting deadlines dumb ass is because you hire high school kids which are by definition irresponsible! But that’s because they are kids you idiot!
Here is the link to the original blog post called “how to hire an artist” which is a complete and total load of bull! This guy advocates hiring Amateur Artists from Deviant Art over Professionals! Why? Because the youngsters at Deviant Art don’t know what their work is worth and they are more likely to give low end quotes!
Everything this guy says is wrong. Completely. He is out of his mind and I hope he gets what he pays for. Gregorio may come off as a smug and brainless douche bag, but he is totally saying what lots of people think.
Check out the podcast for one of my finest raging rants ever. I’m really proud of this one folks! Enjoy!
Animation Alley
WHITTIER,CA- Animation Alley at Casita Del Pueblo…Come check out some crazy INDIE ANIMATION in the ALLEY behind the Casita Del Pueblo Gallery. Presented by Casita Del Pueblo and Ghettomation! There will be music, fun ,food, and outrageous cartoons broadcast on the alley wall….FREE!!! Suitable for older kids, teens, and grown ups! PG-13
Featuring cartoons by:
Jim Lujan
Raul Aguirre Jr.
Dominic Polcino
Gras Rodriguez
Supa Pirate Booty Hunt
Ken Mora
Ted Seko
Drewtoonz
Mike Garvey
…and MORE!
For more info check out the Facebook event page!
Also, any Indy Animators out there who would like to exhibit your short in one of our future festivals, contact Jim Lujan!
Here’s a sneak peek of my latest animated short currently under production at Studio Raul.
Another Chapter in the Citizen Sanchez© Universe! It should be out within the next week so.
The Vato Vlog©
With Smokey the Cholo.
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On Today’s show I am joined by Independent Comic Creators Neil Segura and Ray Mendivil to discuss their comicbook Forever Freshman! We talk about writing, art technique, tacos, beer, and Metal Gear Solid and more!
Neil Segura and Ray Mendivil first met on the schoolyard of Katherine Edwards Jr. High, in unincorporated Whittier. They soon found they had many common interests such as music, food and avoiding social interactions. In high school they both joined marching band and their reign of coolness continued. Many years later they decided to revisit those high school memories and created a comic about their experiences.
Neil and Ray two wild and crazy cats!
Man vs. Art Pantheon of Awesomeness!
Alex Toth
By Luis Escobar!
Shelly was the first and only really creative and knowledgeable comics editor I’ve worked for in all these years in the field. He was rough. He’d tear up my pages if I got too cute, too arty in telling the story. He’d tear them up on the spot and tell me to go home and do ‘em over again. I tried to put in all the elements that I thought were important. But they weren’t important. And Shelly was the one who pointed that out to me. He didn’t care how pretty the pictures were if they didn’t develop the story. “Stop trying to be another Michelangelo,” he’d say, “and just tell the story. Just tell the story.” And every time I walked out of his office, I’d learned something–whether I wanted to or not. The direction of action; staging; the importance of dialogue flow, how it should run through a page, panel by panel; what the eye should read first and what you want the eye to see first.
He wasn’t good at it just because he was Alex Toth, he was good at it because he worked harder and was more critical about his work than most of the guys around him. In an web article written by Jesse Hamm we find these quotes:
“Of all the artists I’ve met,” recalls veteran illustrator Greg Theakston,”none have been so quick to crucify their work, and with so much disdain.” Of Toth’s written self-appraisals, cartoonist Derik Badman observed that Toth “spends more time analyzing what went wrong, what he’d like to have done differently, than discussing anything else, as if all he could see were the flaws.”
Jesse Hamm, speculates Toth was a maverick in his approach to learning. He was always willing to throw away what he knew in order to try a new approach. He was willing to start all over by from square one in order to build himself anew. He didn’t simply do what most artist do, finding a formula that works for them and sticking with it. He was always willing to try an new approach that might make him look bad at first but would make him better than everyone else in the long run.
“There came a time when I had to unlearn many things.” ~Alex Toth
“It was great fun, to learn anew. You think you know enough, but you don’t. You must open up; let it in. …be receptive, admit what you don’t know, which few are willing to do. Start from square one. Again!” ~Alex Toth
Toth had guts and it made him an incredible artist. His sense of composition, tone, anatomy, design and story telling is an inspiration.
Toth passed in 1996 at age 77. He was found dead of a heart attack, at his DRAWING DESK.
Sketchapalooza 2011
This past weekend The Cartoonistas got together at Geeks comics to celebrate Jack Kirby’s birthday by giving out free sketches to the public! Good times!
Jim Lujan too cool to open his eyes.
Raul and the Lovely and Vivacious Hortencia
Little Maya and the portrait I drew of her.
The Bonilla Family and their family sketch.
