I can't talk about the details of the game until it's ironed out, I'm afraid. I can say this much right now: the game will be in print form, probably selling 1000 copies or something. Naturally, if I think your art is what I need, you'll know all about the project.
I'm totally happy — excited, even — to have art done by fans. When I say "professional", what I mean is:
- You show me a bunch of your work so I can see what your strengths are and if/how they fit into the project.
- You tell me how much it will cost to do an illustration, given that I'll tell you a certain size and whether it's color or black and white. You also tell me completely honestly if you can do things according to the project's deadlines. Think about school exams, weddings you have to attend, boyfriends who want you to go on a vacation with them.
- You listen carefully to my art direction (there's a setting being developed, so things will have to match to a certain degree) and offer loose sketches based on that direction. You listen to my needs, then stick to your guns when your idea is good, explaining to me why it's a good idea, or you do it my way. This is a serious professional skill and no one's really that great at it, frankly. We can all get touchy about our art.
- When we've settled on a loose sketch, you develop it according to our decisions.
- These things all happen at or before deadline because things will go wrong and sometimes we'll blow it, making everything else even more time-sensitive.
- You make it easy for me to pay you! I can't believe how often illustrators make it hard to pay them. I'll mail you a check or PayPal you or whatever you want. Just make it easy for me to give you money. I realize for some people the money takes the fun out of the project, so if you want something else from it (aside from credit, which you'd of course get), we can talk about it.
The big influences on the aesthetic of the game are VOTOMS, Macross, Dorvack, Patlabor, Dougram, and other super-hard Real Robot things, though not Masamune Shirow right now. Battletech/Mechwarrior isn't an influence (except that it's how I found out about some of the above long ago), nor is Evangelion or anything Supaa. Some of the later Gundam might be an influence, but the background Mobile Suits of 00 are much closer to the core than the Gundams themselves. There's something practical about the Zaku that fits this, though.
I'll need several pieces of line art plus a few dramatic battle scenes. Because the character of those will likely be different, I don't mind at all if they're by different artists.
I'm happy to help someone through a process of doing their first professional illustration. I'd love to have someone fired up to do something they love. We just need to make sure that each illustrator can do what I need when I need it.
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with one exception I can think of, we're all just fan artists who have never thought of going pro.
... so who's the exception? That seems like a good place to start.
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the glyphpress: science fiction games for people who love science and fiction.
