[Broken Sky] How to acquire art.

[Nalanthi]

Hello Everyone, this is my first post here. 

Sometime in the last few years I seem to have accidentally founded an indie gaming company.  We are starting into the layout portion of our core rulebook using Quark and it seems like it is time to start ordering art.  We actually have a budget for art/marketing, though it is not large by any means.  I am familiar with some stock art resources, and intend to use them, but I would also like to commission some pieces and get publication rights to some other existing pieces.  Does anyone have a contract that they use for art that they would be willing to share?  I'd like to know of any pitfalls that I should avoid.

Also, is there anything resembling a standard rate used by the indie industry for paying artists?

--Nalanthi

[Vulpinoid]

What sort of images are you after?

Here's a link to my DeviantArt page if you'd like to see the kinds of artwork I provide? (Or you could download my free game FUBAR).

I do a bit of freelance work here and there, I'm willing to chat about images. If my style's not what your after, no probems.

PM me here, or contact me via my website (www.vulpinoid.com)

[Vulpinoid]

Sorry, as a follow up...

Artwork in the indie game community tends to be a pretty informal affair from what I've encountered. A lot of people are generating up their own games, creating games with friends, or finding new friends among the other designers.

I've seen a couple of "formal contracts" in my recent years as a freelancer, but in most cases the work is fairly open and loose.I've seen some companies offer money for their freelancers, others simply hope that people will be enthusiastic enough to work for free (the biggest problem here is that people are most enthusiastic about their own games, and everyone seems to be developing their own game).

As for standard industry rates, these vary immensely, I guess it all depends what quality of artwork you're trying to attract.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi!

One starting way is to check out some of the recent threads right here in this forum. I see two "I'm an artist" threads in the first ten at the moment. Many artist websites also link to others, so you can try some old-school internet web-tunneling through them as well, especially if you like the style at the site you start with. As a rough rule, artists who report good experiences with the publishers at this site are honest and fair, and the people they link to at their sites are similar. I've found that artists will not bad-mouth other artists with questionable or unreliable habits, but they express such views by avoiding linking to them.

Almost all artists welcome emails asking questions about their rates, deadlines, range of art style, and openness toward specific projects. It's good to be up-front about how much you are willing to pay, and to accord with the artists' own ideas about contracts or other logistics. However, the golden rule for you as a publisher is never promise what you can't afford, no matter how much you like the art and the person. Stay within your budget!

Contracts are a source of controversial discussions here. Some people swear by rock-solid before-anything contracts, and others (like me) prefer a publisher-pays-first approach which makes the contract less necessary. My only advice is to stay flexible, do not be forced into an arrangement that you personally do not like, and (again) stay within your budget so no unfortunate incidents occur either way.


Best, Ron