Ideas for Comics/Mangas....but little art skills and money...what am I to do?

[Giegue]

As the title asks. I have lots and lots and lots of ideas for various comics/mangas that I really, really, really want to do something with(like, say, make them a webcomic, or something...) but my own art skills are....well....bleh. Just not that great quality.(aka I suck) However, I don't know anybody who is that great an artist either, and I am not rich so I don't have the money to just pay an artist. So, the question remains, what, if anything, can I do to get these ideas out there? Should I just play the lottery and hope to become wealthy by chance? Or is there some magical place where I could find people willing to work with me? Or should I just give up totally and continue to bury all my ideas like I have been for so long now an feel like crap because none of them will ever see the light of day?

[AtlanteanTroll]

Cowork with someone else. Do the writing but don't do the drawing. The people over at MangaMagazine.net might help you. Maybe. I know we actually have two people who are doing collaborations on this site, with ... Well, very minimal results at this point. But it's happening.

[Giegue]

Yeah, that was my plan, but the issue is FINDING an artist. I don't know personally anybody who really has any kind of good art skill and I don't have the money to hire out somebody. So the question becomes how the heck do I find somebody willing to work with me? I mean, should I go in with intent to publish and write up a contract that will promise them pay once the thing gets published, and, if so, is there anybody out there who is even willing to work for payment that won't come until after publishing? Or is there some place I could find an artist willing to work with me?

[Adlan]

Originally Posted by Giegue

As the title asks. I have lots and lots and lots of ideas for various comics/mangas that I really, really, really want to do something with(like, say, make them a webcomic, or something...) but my own art skills are....well....bleh. Just not that great quality.(aka I suck) However, I don't know anybody who is that great an artist either, and I am not rich so I don't have the money to just pay an artist. So, the question remains, what, if anything, can I do to get these ideas out there? Should I just play the lottery and hope to become wealthy by chance? Or is there some magical place where I could find people willing to work with me? Or should I just give up totally and continue to bury all my ideas like I have been for so long now an feel like crap because none of them will ever see the light of day?

I'd advise checking some of Howard Taylors talks, he's the creator of Schlock Mercenary and you can see by his archives that he started with 'little art skills', and now he does really nice work in his own style. If you do something everyday, you will get better.

So start small, build up the start of a webcomic, then when you have a buffer, and maybe a script or plan for the future of the comic, get it hosted, and keep working on it. Your skills will improve.

[factotum]

I agree with Adlan. If you look at Schlock Mercenary, Penny Arcade, Dilbert, or many other webcomics that are currently reasonably well-drawn and mainstream, then go back and check how they were when they started, you can see the massive improvements in artwork over that time. Practice makes perfect, after all, and since you're drawing your own characters all the time you *will* improve at it!

[AtlanteanTroll]

Originally Posted by Giegue

Yeah, that was my plan, but the issue is FINDING an artist. I don't know personally anybody who really has any kind of good art skill and I don't have the money to hire out somebody. So the question becomes how the heck do I find somebody willing to work with me? I mean, should I go in with intent to publish and write up a contract that will promise them pay once the thing gets published, and, if so, is there anybody out there who is even willing to work for payment that won't come until after publishing? Or is there some place I could find an artist willing to work with me?

Somewhere on the site I linked, the forums have a seeking artist/writer section, so you could try there. Or you could try around here. I'm sure someone would indulge you.

[Giegue]

To all of you here who said I should use my own art....I don't think you understand just HOW bad I am. I AM REALLY THAT BAD. I suck. I UTTERLY SUCK. I suck so bad that OOTS, even with it's stick figures, has higher quality visuals then I can produce. I can't draw hands and feat properly. I can't shade to save my life. Even worse, I lack a tablet, so I have no way of inking anything I draw or producing a finished product of any kind because my art is mired by eraser marks that are so prevalent the only way to deal with them would be to ink my pic on a second layer and delete the original, which I can't do because, guess what? I don't have a tablet so I can't ink on the computer!

Simply put, I just suck too bad to produce something that looks EVEN PASSABLE let alone good quality. If you don't believe me, post here or PM me and ask me for a sample of my work. I WILL PM it to you, and you WILL see just how much I suck. I am not exaggerating. I am just that bad.

Also, I have already joined that site, AtlantianTroll, and have posted up a request. Now it is just a waiting game, and since I am desperate I can wait as long as need be.