ɑlpha six productions •

beautyschoolfingerprince:

HEY EVERYONE
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN CONTACTING SOMEONE ABOUT PAID CONTRACT WORK BUT YOU ARE ALSO AN IDIOT WHO DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO TALK TO PEOPLE?

Well then sit down because I Have Some Words For You

This right here

This is absolutely not how you approach someone about a project, no matter how small it is.

If you would like to hire an artist to help with your game or video or project of any scale, you need to give them as much detail as possible about your project. 

1. Tell them about your game, the genre, and the expected scale
2. Tell them the timeline you have in mind for development
3. Tell them your budget (VERY IMPORTANT [TELL THEM THIS I DON’T CARE HOW EMBARASSED YOU ARE] YOU HAVE TO TELL THEM)
4. If you feel that is still not enough information include whatever else you would like them to know about the game, a vague idea of the assets, something about the people they’ll be working with, something about projects you’ve worked on in the past
5. If you think that you have *too much* information at this point, you are wrong and also a dummy

If you have no budget, you are in a very difficult position. You might be able to find someone willing to collaborate with you on a project if you look hard enough. Maybe. Possibly. But people don’t work for free. Even if you think it’s “just art” (you’re a giant idiot if you do, by the way) people do support themselves by doing freelance art, and you’re probably about to offend someone when you get all uppity at their question about your budget. Some people, myself included would LOVE if they would work without pay. But we have to worry about the whole not dying cold and alone in the streets thing just like everyone else.

I actually have a very good example of this (shitty internet aliases/game names withheld because yall are brutal)

When your artist inevitably replies to something like this with

“I don’t know who any of these people are, and I don’t know what any of those ~fangames~ are. What is your budget for this project? How long to you expect this to take? Do you have any actual information on this game that I could take a look at?”

Do not reply like this:

As that little story has (hopefully) demonstrated, it also helps to be polite. Treat the artist in question with respect - this is very important. No one wants to work with a client who acts like a pretween “ideas guy”

And no one wants to work with someone who continually give them nicknames like “bud”
just

don’t call anyone you plan on giving money to “bud”
in fact don’t call anyone bud, at all, ever.

“But Hunter! But Hunter! I’m just trying to be friendly”

You can and should be friendly to an artist. Don’t give them nicknames, it’s demeaning and paints you out to be a controlling and difficult to work with client.

Just
Be friendly, and be ready to explain as much as possible. The artists you will be contacting are generally living payment to payment, and diving into a project that has a budget of $500 but you expect it to last 8 months is incredibly harmful. Know that you may not be able to afford certain artists. Know that someone turning your job offer down does not mean they don’t like you as a person.

You are one job offer in a sea of terrible, terrible, one sentence emails, and you’re not always going to get the artist you were hoping for.

bitWICKED

• Source: professionalmanlyguy69
• Permalink
• 642 notes