Anybody have a guess why it's pretty much impossible to find anybody to draw art for free for a game? I think I'm going to have to take some drawing tutorials on the internet and draw my game myself, which might actually be kind of fun now that I think about it. I definitely understand not wanting to work for free but it seems odd to me that there's nobody out there designing and drawing their own game and then trying to find somebody to program it for them for free. It's always opposite, programmers begging for artists.

Although I'm pretty sure you mention it with the primary goal of self-promotion, I think the relative dearth of artists on GameDev.net is an interesting topic that could use some discussion. I think it's a few things:

- the layout/features do not appeal to noob artists; there is no built-in gallery system or easy way to upload pictures. To handle files and images well here requires some experience with at least html to write out how you want things to look rather than using a simple GUI. (But then maybe people want artists who can look at some scripting without being terrified, yeah?)
- the aesthetic/design of GameDev.net is not especially friendly to noob artists; It's all cold gray/blue, white backgrounds, looks technical, very light on graphic-design wankery that makes artists feel special. The page is obviously coder-ground, made by and for coders.
- the community is made up mainly of coders, not artists. It's kind of a catch 22; there just isn't that critical mass of artists to maintain a really active artistic forum here, just a handful of individuals who stick around for whatever other reasons.

(Personally, I'm rather technically-minded for an artist; code is fun, and I like the intellectual rigor that good coders value. Plus, if I'm a freelance artist looking to make money, do I hang out with the other artists or do I hang out with the coders desperate to find an artist? Simple logic ;)


So two answers:
1: If you really want something to get done, and even get done well, you'll have to pay for it.
2: Otherwise, you'll not find so many artists here, especially those working for free, and those that are here tend to get involved in projects pretty quickly considering the ratio of coders to artists. If you like, go to a site with many artists and ask around -- I can't attest to the quality, but you'll probably find someone.

I'm not self promoting anymore, I just haven't changed my signature yet. I've already done self promoting and it seems pretty much useless. I'm going to get an easel and some pencils and try to teach myself the basics. I don't think I have to be Michaelangelo. I think mostly I have to work on making the game fun and then the art can be "C" quality.

I'm not using anyone else's engine, I programmed mine from scratch. I guess that's easier when it's 2D. You're probably talking about complex games that are like Doom3 or something, right? If I used somebody else's engine I'd be done already.

I got inspired by reading about Battle for Wesnoth and the KISS principle so I made all my goals doable. ...even if I have to do the art.

Man, an RTS with 3D terrain? That's impressive. I think importing 3D models is something I could figure out but a 3D world is something where I have pretty much zero idea of how it works. For the game I want to make it would be superfluous. My worlds are all flat 2D like old school Zelda except instead of tiles I want to draw them all free hand and scan them. Then I'll doctor them up a little in Gimp.