Commissioning art

Hi!
I'm looking for artists for my next game, so far:
I've checked Reddit #HungryArtists
and contacted people i noticed on Boardgames and rpgs i've played.
Also checking Patreon for map makers for exemple.
Lots of emails sent but got quite a few interested replies!
Good luck with the search!

One way to meet artists is to go to a venue like a Comic Con or an Anime Con, either way they usually have a section reserved for Artists. While you are at that con, check out all the amazing things artists are doing and see if there is anyone's style you think would mesh well with your game design hopes.

From there it's like a: "Wow, love your art would you be willing to work on a larger commissioned project?" or "Would it be possible to negotiate a flat rate per piece for a larger volume of illustrations?" Usually these artists work on commissions ... but if you have a *larger* amount of illustrations you can work to figure out a equitable budget for your specific project.

Other sources that I personally like is going to Universities that have a Fine Arts department or a College for Multimedia Graphism where you can meet great Graphic Designers or Web Designers, etc.

Another option I like is Art Schools... There are specialized schools around that focus only on enhancing a student's skills with very professional teachers that are very well versed in realism (or perfectionism from an artistic point of view).

And the best option I feel is "referrals". Once you have found your first artist and finished a project with him/her... They can then probably refer you to other artists they know, have heard of or just general networking (from a meetup or working at a school together or collab-ed on a Graphic Novel, etc.) That has proved to be the best way for me.

But try some of the earlier approaches and see if you can find LOCAL talent. It's much easier to deal with someone once you have met them in-person and establish a bit of a "trust relationship". Granted that is not always possible but I feel it's better than just relying on the Internet. Because the artists online are "more pricey" than the ones I deal with in my neck of the woods. And it has nothing to do with "quality" ... just because you need a logo, doesn't mean you should have to pay excessively. And while I searched DeviantArt, I found nice logos, but the prices were just too ridiculous... Everyone wants to be paid in USD (and I'm in CAD).

So that didn't work for me... But no harm in trying those online directories...

Our Creative Writing. I found one of the best Creative Writers on UpWork and I got him immersed into what our game "TradeWorlds" was all going to be about... Since my Publisher and I decided to go to a Four (4) Player Big Box with four (4) distinct Factions, I had setup a bit of the "broad" direction for them. And then I spoke with Mark and told him that what I needed was Four (4) "Bios" for Factions given some guidelines... Mark did a great job of "totally expanding" the direction into very distinct Factions, each with their own personality and founding member.

The next step was to draft the "description" of storylines. So I had eleven (11) storylines that I just asked Mark to think of the "story" he would like to tell for each of the Factions. Just a one line description... Again something relative easy and it could get him even more interested in the stories he would like to tell...

And obviously the last step was to flesh out each storyline with the correct amount of "blurbs" (think Flavor Text). And then we (My Publisher and I) took that writing and broke it down for all the resource cards in the game. In total there are 44 distinct storylines with some really great "story-telling"!

So that worked out fantastic ... And I've since asked Mark to write a few intros (for some of our expansion products) and some minor revisions too.

The bottom line is that "online" can work too... Just be certain you and your "creative" are sharing the same passion over the project. That's why I prefer LOCAL talent, they seem more involved... But Mark's been SUPER!

Note: It's not always a home-run either... I had another writer earlier that I got online (can't remember the service), it's not like the writing was "bad"... It's was just not as "Creative" as Mark's writing was.

And that's why we (My Publisher and I) decided to re-write all of the previous storylines with new ones. It was just one of those things, we wanted a top-down approach with the four (4) Factions and so I went searching for another Creative Writer.

The sheer volume of writing was also another factor. We need 4x the amount of writing ... and we wanted more "creative" content.