A Call for Artists!

As all of you regular readers know, the sexy vampiress Lamia is going to launch her own series on Halloween! The site will officially go live, if it goes according to plan, on 29 October, so everyone reading this blog will be able to check out the early launch!

A Call for Creators

Lamia

I would also like to extend an invitation to any and all artists willing to work with my output. Each issue of Lamia will receive a Standard Edition and a Director's Cut edition, and both will be available in print and digitally. I typically do the Standard Edition's cover myself, but for the Director's Cut, a special release, I get another artist to do it.

Contract Info and Details

Any artists who are interested in this would have essentially carte blanche for the cover's content. A small contract would be necessary, due to the series characters being my copyright, but that much is necessary with any such work. For payment, I can offer either a percentage of sales, or we can treat it as a commission and I can pay you up-front for the work. I additionally have no problem helping you to set up a Ka-Blam and Indy Planet account so that you can profit from releasing art prints of your work. I will also happily take art prints to conventions and shows and sell them for you.

Glorious Artistic You

I am also in the planning phase of a gay-friendly, gay-oriented comic anthology that will be called Glorious Artistic You. I have always been gay-friendly in my work, but especially lately I think that an anthology like this will be well-received and serve a good purpose. In recent years, discrimination and bigotry have hit all-time highs, and that is especially tragic after all of the work that we did to improve life, to promote equal rights, and to be seen as something other than second-class citizens. I've discussed this problem in other recent entries, so I won't get into it again now.

Series Details

Glorious Artistic You will be a series updated every week and will be treated like a monthly magazine. Each week, I intend to update twice, with two pages forming an installment of a comic. The next week will be a different comic. Every four weeks, we will come back to the same comic, in a new installment.

For example, week 1 we could have comic A. Week 2 would be comic B. By week 5, we would return to comic A for another two-page episode. Week 6 would be a return to comic B, and so on.

Success, popularity, and interest will dictate how many comics are done by me. I am using this, in some ways, as a test for some comic ideas that would not be able to continue on their own. Eventually I may do two series per month, with each title switching out every other week, or less, or more.

Guest creators can do any number of comics, which will optimally update on days not used for other updates, for maximum exposure and interest.

Contract Details

I am currently looking for artists and other creators willing to work on Glorious Artistic You. Contracts will be negotiated in 4-week (1 month) increments. I expect at least 1 update per each week of that period, and all updates are to be delivered to me digitally before the beginning of the contract month. You retain all rights for your creations and stories, however I require a link back if they are posted elsewhere in the duration of Glorious Artistic You. I also will want to negotiate the ability to include them in a printed edition, for which you will receive a part of the profits proportional to your contribution.

For example, if you contribute 8 pages out of 32 total in the book, you will receive 1/4 of the profits for the book.

You don't have to do four comics, of course. You can if you want. You can simply do four pages of one comic, or a series of pin-ups.

Content

Pretty much any content is acceptable, because I don't want to restrain your creativity, but ideally I would like to see gay-friendly and uplifting work, rather than unpleasant or depressing work. The name is Glorious Artistic You, after all! Everything from comics to art to pin-ups is perfectly fine. Written works are welcome too. You can show full nudity or none at all, as far as content, and it can appeal to audiences everywhere from all-ages to adults only.

Advice to Interested Creators

Of course I am always happy to hear from fellow artists, and these are both opportunities for work, exposure, and getting a name out there. My studio may not be a huge, wealthy studio right now, but we always try to be fair and to do right by our creative members and friends. There are a few things we do and don't want to see, though, so I will tell you up front.

* If you're homophobic or not comfortable working on something that has gay content, don't write us. You should know better anyway, but if you're going to write regardless and ask for work but insist you won't work on something with gay content...you won't get a response. I'm already busy enough addressing emails from people who are willing to comport themselves maturely.

Depicting a character who, in the story, is gay doesn't mean that is going to be apparent from a picture in the first place. But drawing even explicitly gay content doesn't make you a homosexual, any more than drawing heterosexual content makes you a heterosexual. Alex Ross, who is happily married, has drawn a most famous gay kiss and has many times stated his support of fans regardless of sexuality. He is regarded as one of the most respected comic artists working today. It's not going to limit your success except with the insecure. And if someone is that puerile in the first place, take it from me: you're not going to be able to rely on them anyway.

I am trying, more than ever, to promote support and tolerance for all sexual orientations. Love shouldn't be discriminated against. And I won't tolerate discrimination in my studio.

* Deadlines are important. If you can't work with deadlines, you need to get yourself to the point where you can before you write. I can be flexible on a case-by-case basis, but if I'm sitting waiting for a page on the day it needs to be uploaded, that adds stress to my life that I don't need. It's much better if you have an idea, draw the pages you'll need for a month or two, and then write me.

At the very least, I'd like you to have a concrete idea about what you'd like to do before contacting me about doing it. If you have an idea about a sexy circus acrobat going on an adventure with the Monkey King, you might decide to develop it and, in development, it might transform into a stripper who can change into a superhero. That's kind of an extreme example, but ideas do change during development. It is important for me to know the tone we're going to be establishing so that I can promote your work optimally.

I am eager to hear about your ideas for comics and your ideas for stories. I'll even help you brainstorm! But if you are writing me about participating in Glorious Artistic You, please have something either prepared or in the process of being prepared. It will be weeks or months before we launch it, but it's much easier and more helpful if you're at least mostly ready. It leads to less stress for both of us.

* You don't have to be gay to work with us. And nobody in their right minds will think you are if you do. The only thing I ask is that you be tolerant yourself. You're likely to get some gay or gay-friendly fans from your work, and I wouldn't want to introduce them to someone who, for whatever reason, is going to hate or abuse them. I want this studio and all of its output to be something I can feel comfortable endorsing.

* You won't have control over other creators' work unless you are working with them. You don't have to do adult-oriented stories, for example, but another creator may want to do them. Your works will be separate. Mutual respect and maturity must be understood before participation in Glorious Artistic You.

* You will have to do things to specifications. This is just because I want everything to be of a consistent size and quality, and for print things must be to certain specifications.

* I'll want to hear from you regularly. While you're working on something for the studio, I'll need regular status updates so that I can make my own plans accordingly. If you've hit a snag and will be delayed in something, if you tell me ahead of time, I can account for it and offer help. Even just a quick email to say everything is going according to schedule will help me to keep my own schedule.


I look forward to hearing from any of you who might be interested in contributing to Lamia or Glorious Artistic You! Please send any correspondence to my email address. Just remove the spaces. You know how it goes.

hushicho @ gmail . com

I look forward to your mail!