(Because “Submissions” is kinda creepy, right?)

Anyway. Heya, Josh Hechinger here.

Here’s the thing: if we’re not running at least five pages/series a week, I’m generally looking for artists to develop new serialized graphic novels (48 to 96 pages) or series with, either from existing scripts/ideas I have, or by developing something from scratch to show off your style. I’m also open to taking on the scripting duties for a story idea you have.

What follows is the deal I offer every single person I’ve worked with so far:

Who Does What

I write and post the comics. You draw the comics and possibly a logo and collection cover down the line.

That said, it’s a collaboration, not a dictatorship on either side: I’m open to changing or adding things to suit you with my script, and I don’t ask for re-drawn art without a good reason. I have been known to change dialogue on the fly, but only if I’m lettering.

(Speaking of: I’m more than willing to letter the comic, though I prefer artists hand-draw their own SFX. Also, I tend to take a crack at logos before asking the artist to.)

I work full-script as a default, but am willing to do plot-first/Marvel-style if that’s your preference. I’ve even been known to work Japanese style, sending thumbnails/roughs with a dialogue script.

I’m also generally willing to do half or more of the script before you start drawing, depending on how fast you are and how long the script is.

Time and Money

It’s a back-end deal, meaning neither of us is paying the other up-front for the work. If we self-publish, via e-book (see below) our split is 50-50. If we snag a print deal, the split is 60-40, favoring you.

You become co-owner of the series copyright, unless you leave the project, at which point I will retire it unless given permission by you to carry on without you. This will involve a re-start/re-work on my part, so the new artist isn’t working with your designs.

Any outside paying work, for either of us, takes priority to the serialization of the strips, with one of us giving the other a heads up on the hiatus before hand.

Publication

The comic, whether series or GN, runs at a single page a week, on a set day, in black and white. We’ll decide the length beforehand, and stick to it (unless we decide to do an “open-ended” series and have to stop for whatever reason).

For a GN, we have two goals after completion: publish a colored PDF e-book for $2 through an online store and/or try to land the project with a print publisher. My preference is both, but that the print publisher doesn’t make us take down the webcomic or PDF if those are up first.

For a series, we’ll work out a collection program for PDFs and/or print along the lines of the GN plan above.

In any case, I’ll put together the PDF, unless you particularly want to.

Merchandise

Profits are based on a who-did-what basis; John Bivens’ THAW shirt was designed entirely by him, so he gets 100%. I contributed lettering/coloring to the Robot and Monster shirts based on Jorge’s designs, so I get a small cut, less than half.

For any self-published books or ashcans, the profits go to whoever pays to have them done. For example, if you’re doing a convention and want to run off a small book of comics we did, and you pay to have them done, you keep every cent you get for selling them at the convention. If we go halfsies on the print run, we each get half the books to sell as best we can, and neither of us gets a cut of the other person’s sales.

I don’t take a cut of sales from original art of our comics, or commissions you do of the characters.

Contact

Interested artists can email me at Jamheck (at) gmail (dot) com for more information or to feel me out on doing a project.

If you’re aiming for a project, it’s a good rule of thumb to show me some samples in your initial email; to that end, I generally prefer a link to a gallery of your work, as opposed to attachments, but I’m easy either way.