Hey guys,

Just to let you all know, Muzlack''s serious about getting stuff done. He''s been helping me with a bit of code and he''s extremely diligent. I trust that he''ll get his project done, so consider at least checking out his project =)


Anyways to answer your question about whether it''s possible to find artists.. I understand what you mean. Personally, when I was working on Adventures of Bobo, I probably spent about 30 whole hours looking for artists, with very little results.

You have to be realistic. You got a lot of things going against you:
-There''s no upfront payment
-Don''t have loads of experience or projects under your belt
-RPGs are common, and they''re often associated with naive newbies.
-Long-term committment. Artists get their kicks from seeing their art in a game, and if they have to wait months and months for the game to be finished then,they''d probably rather be doing something else.
-Probably don''t have that many friends who are artists
-Asking for lots of work, without any real compensation. How do you convince artists that it''s worth their time and effort to help you?

Now I''ve told you all the obvious things- why you Can''t get an artist. But that''s not so much help so, how DO you get art for your game? Well, here are some options.

1. Do it yourself.
-Art can be learned with practice
-It''s impossible to get artists, but at this stage maybe it''s not realistic. Once you have more experience under your belt, more contacts, more cash, you may have better luck.

2. Seek out leaders
-There are 2 roles: the "leader" and "follower". When people play leader, they are motivated, because they get to have control. Followers lack that committment since they don''t have their heart and soul invested the way the leader does.
-Everyone wants to lead. People start projects because it''s more fun to work on something of your own than work for something else. But hey, if everyone is a leader, and no one is a follower, then we all end up alone.
-So my point is, seek out other "leaders"- people who have talent and motivation. Be willing to let go of the control sometimes, and let someone else have a say.
-If I started my current project from scratch I''d be alone. Instead I found an artist and offered to program his game idea. By giving up some control of the project, I''ve found a great partner. I think teaming up can be more effective than starting a project alone and hoping that by luck, some great motivated, talented worker happens to see you and join your project.
-Of course finding good people is always a matter of luck, but at least if you partner with someone, then you both have a strong will to work hard because the project belongs to both of you. This is kind of a lame analogy but it''s kind of like a baby. I mean, if there''s 2 parents, does that mean that you own half of the baby? Of course not! Both parents care about the child, because it belongs to both of them. However if you somehow have a baby by yourself and then you post a message in the help wanted section of gamedev.net asking someone to care for your baby, well, you''ll get a few babysitters who will help out but no one''s going to volunteer to be the mother of your baby. Get what I mean?

3. Be friendly and make contacts
-As far as I can see, you do this already which is excellent, but I''ll write a bit about it anyways hah
-A couple of artists I''ve heard from said they''ve worked for someone because he was very respectful and friendly, and that was more important than money. Also, they''re more likely to work with him again in the future.
-Take interest in other people. Most people are very focused on themselves, so most people are busy doing their own thing and don''t take the time or consideration to think about others. It''s really not hard to do though. It could be something as small as giving praise or showing interest in what someone is talking about. These things are rare and if you are considerate and interested in others, then they will naturally be interested in you. Of course, I''m not suggesting that this should be exploited to get stuff out of others, but I''m just saying that it''s a good thing to do and often people will be much more willing to listen to you.

4. Look harder and be creative
-This is an option but even if you find some creative ways of looking for artists, there isn''t any secret method you can use that will suddenly make artists appear. I mean, it just takes time and perseverence- maybe more than it''s worth, depending on how badly you need the help.
-You might be able to find some interesting "deals". For example, I believe a person named z3lda on gamedev.net had an offer that he can supply your art, and in return, they get most of the profit from sales.

Anyways I hope that was sort of useful and I didn''t rant too much haha. I think this topic of how to find artists is really interesting because it gets at a lot of issues like how to motivate people, how to lead teams, and all kinds of stuff like that. I''m not sure if much of what I said will apply to Arean''s wish but maybe some of those things are be worth considering on future projects..

Good luck man.. Btw, I''m not that great with art but if you could use some extra programmer art, I could help out hehe.

Raj