New Manga Writer/ need info for artists

[MrThirtyTwo]

Ok im new to writing manga, and since im not a good drawler. So im looking  for one. But I was wondering if I pay $20 per page for a color manga, would you all say that's too much or too low (I use paypal if this helps)? also because I work and that im in college and transferring from a novel to manga its going to be a slow process. I just want to make sure I get the info I need so I don't fall flat on my face down the road. any advise would defiantly be appreciated.

[Sukebe]

$20 per colored page is low.
Newbie artists could take that offer but no experienced or at least a pretty skilled artist would take it.

[MrThirtyTwo]

oh I see, so what would be a good price range then I plan on making this a long project like 100 pages. cause this is the first time doing something like this.

[DeAngelus]

For the more professional & seasoned artists , they usually work on hourly basis for long projects , not per page basis . I don't know the USD amount equivalent for artist's hourly pay , but what I can tell is that it's very very costly .

But if they do charge your per page , 20$ is definitely not worth their time . Something tells me they probably need at least 100$ per page , but then again , I don't know the USD value to them , but if one wants to know what affects the cost is living expenses (food & utility bills) when on work , labor cost & time needed to finish one page .

[MrThirtyTwo]

For the more professional & seasoned artists , they usually work on hourly basis for long projects , not per page basis . I don't know the USD amount equivalent for artist's hourly pay , but what I can tell is that it's very very costly .

But if they do charge your per page , 20$ is definitely not worth their time . Something tells me they probably need at least 100$ per page , but then again , I don't know the USD value to them , but if one wants to know what affects the cost is living expenses (food & utility bills) when on work , labor cost & time needed to finish one page .

wow I never even thought about that. so with me being new to this, how should I go about figuring out the pay for someone? Just go on the channel Manga Artists wanted and post my writing there and wait for an artist and collaborate a contract or set like a 1 time deal?

[DeAngelus]

wow I never even thought about that. so with me being new to this, how should I go about figuring out the pay for someone? Just go on the channel Manga Artists wanted and post my writing there and wait for an artist and collaborate a contract or set like a 1 time deal?

When you set your own price , you'd usually get a set kind of clients with set artistic skill level . But when you remove your pricing & instead let them put their own offer , you maximize potential clients with the limitation being set be the kind & quality your story is . And most skilled artist will hop on to such offer the moment they spot it , but if you can't afford their costly offer (which most probably will be) , you'd end up rejecting them , lots of them .

[Operative13]

^I agree. I guess the quickest way to get a pool of potential is what the artists themselves are willing to pull out. Kind of like an auction for a job. Lowest wage with the highest quality wins (Or some variant thereof). You can always bargain with certain offers if the pay is a bit higher than you can afford, but at least you get to see all the possible options than just the options limited to your budget. Keeps an open horizon for ya in the future 

There isn't many professional mangakas in the US, much less those with coloring. Because of that, prices tend to be quite steep. If you were hiring from Japan, it'd be much easier to do so, as they have an entire section dedicated to manga work, but then you'd have to account for yen-dollar exchange, language barriers, timezones, etc. etc. (Honestly I wouldn't hesitate to jump on a US version of that, if there was one...  )

Page or hourly depends mostly on what the artist and you agree upon. Hourly would be more effective if you're looking at fetching out the most amount of pages in the least amount of time, but that also means lots of active work on both parts. It's very loose in what you can accomplish. Page is more set in stone as you are assured the artist will do that many pages, but that also means you can't go more than that and could constrain you if your story stretches beyond that limit.

I don't think I need to go over writer expectations, as you very know well your capabilities  but for artists, keep in mind the time and effort it takes to make the first draft of their work. First the lineart, which can range from a quick 5 minutes to perhaps an hour based on changes or rearrangments, then there is the details, which takes a good 1-3 hours or more, then there's the outlining, the shading, the polishing, coloring, etc. And all that for one panel of a page. It's nice to know where a realistic work boundary is, so you don't accidentally trap yourself in a pit of delays and fallbacks due to some unforseen circumstances (I always give a lax schedule with the group I'm working on for a one-shot. You never know when real-life hits ya  )

Most importantly, get to know the person you're working with on a personal level. Compatibility and positivity are the best motivators for any work, even more so than cold-hard cash!  If the people you work with are pleasurable to be with, perhaps you can set yourself with to create more and even greater pieces of work with a trustworthy and reliable network of compatriots. 

Good luck with your search, and I wish you great success in your endeavors! 

[MrThirtyTwo]

OMG I don't even know how to express my thank you to you both. yes im tight on the financial part but I think I can over come that. and I plan on giving artists plenty of time when it comes to their work. it cant be down over night lol. well I guess it could if they decided to work their butts off. but I don't want that I want them to have fun with the work you know.

I love this site I get to hear so many different things form different people who lives god knows were. thank you for all this advice. I will cherish it and continue to use it when I find an artist that can work together with me.