I think part of the problem is that these posts asking for work without compensation are going unchecked. Someone should be keeping an eye out for these, and compiling them into a thread so other people who actually offer money or compensation don't get drowned out.

magickmaker
Is asking someone to do your coloring for you on the same annoyance level? I've been really busy lately and haven't had time to color my comics properly. It'd be my art and I'd be inking it still, but someone else would use Photoshop and do the colors/shading for me.

It's the sort of thing I need, but can't really pay for. (I'm applying to colleges. Wallet drain.) Should I get someone else to do the coloring for free or would that be just like having someone do the art for free?

I am also a published children's book illustrator (book is sold in stores). I found a colorist (a friend of mine who trained with me back in animation college) who coloured my pages for me (I coloured the front and back cover while he did the inserts), to the publisher's agreement. I arranged for him to receive a credit as the colorist in the book plus I gave him a good percentage of my own fee for the illustrative work so the publisher didn't have to pay extra. He was very happy with that! As far as I was concerned, I was sub-contracting my work and felt the extra help deserved to be paid, plus the credit reference.

You can also barter with folks, provide illustrative services for other things from your clients. For instance, yet another friend (and also an animator) recently built a highly trafficked website for a client using Flash. The arrangement he had with his client was that he would produce the website interface and all elements found therein while he, in turn, received free advertising on that website. It worked out for him as a bartering agreement of sorts.

If you know someone who doesn't mind the free work experience, and that is known from the onset of the project that it was a non-paying assignment, then absolutely, go for it. It really is a subjective, case-by-case scenario. If you ARE getting someone to do coloring for you, try and at least have that person receive some sort've credit in the book for his services. That way he can use it as a portfolio piece for his future perusal. It's a small token for the sheer amount of work involved in so much coloring.

I actually enjoy the coloring aspect than the illustrating

subcultured
I actually enjoy the coloring aspect than the illustrating

Yeah, there are certain aspects of illustration that appeal most to me as well. I try to keep honed in all areas, but colouring is not my favorite phase, even if I can hold my own in that area.

Colouring is my favourite part. I don't really like drawing that much anymore... That's funny, because I used to dread the colour stage.

ozoneocean
Colouring is my favourite part. I don't really like drawing that much anymore... That's funny, because I used to dread the colour stage.

See, this kind of information is very useful to me. If I ever am in the need for a colorist I can certainly come in here to find one!

Actually, coloring does sound fun. Then again I haven't drawn in over a year and now the thought fills me with dread...

coloring can be fun, I've colored one shots for people before without even being asked. Sometimes you're watching a movie and you just want to create something while you're doing it and you don't feel like really having to flex that half of your brain.

I find this whole discussion fascinating to read. I am *not* an artist, and can't draw to save my life (see thursday's Blue Ninja & Red Pirate ). I've wanted to do a webcomic for a while, and simply sat on it and in frustration for a while until I found a medium that would work. I've experimented with other methods, and idly hoped to find an artist who I could get as jazzed about the idea as me. But the idea of just writing the strip and expecting someone else to draw it because I said so never occurred to me.

Vaguely related to this, I love cars, and working on them. I've worked on friend's cars for them many times. I've done it for free (they pay for parts), or for money (usually a sliding scale based on how much of a pain in the ass the job looks to be). And it amazes me how people react to this.
I've done work multiple times on someone's car for little or nothing because they were polite and thankful and always treated me like I was doing them a huge favor. Or they've insisted on paying (sometimes more than I ask) because they know they're still coming out ahead of what a garage would charge. A f'instance was a friend who bought me dinner because I replaced the taillight bulb on her car she couldn't figure out how to get at. For those people, I'd go drive out in the middle of a rainstorm to go crawl under their car on the side of the road and get it running again.
Then I get the ones who act surprised that I ask for money, or are really slow to pay me, or want me to deal with pointless fiddly stuff. These people act like my crawling around inside their car, getting greasy and dirty and smashing my knuckles is something I should be glad for the chance to do, never mind that I could be spending the time doing it on *my* cars. A f'instance being a friend who's transmission I replaced in an unheated garage in February who took 2 months to pay me back for the $50 in parts it took. Unless I'm desperate for cash, I won't even return their calls for car repair work.

Right, so that was a long winded way of saying I completely agree with the artists in this thread, and sympathize in my own way.

yep, story of our lives. Right now my boss is asking me to do a picture that he wants to put on his WoW guild's website. ANd obviously, he is expecting a Blizzard-quality piece of art. There has been no talk about payment, and I'm afraid he assumes I'd rather be doing that than my job, so it should be O.K., right?

Pixel: You hit the nail right on the head. :)

It is very much the same as "Will you fix my car for nothing as I treat you like crap." situation. Its just substitute " WIll you draw me something for nothing as I treat you like crap." Its EXACTLY the same.

Although in the case of mechanical work, I'd trade care repairs for artwork. I'd consider that fair trade, considering the cost of mechanical repair. Its worth my time, and I get something, you get something. Its also tax-free to barter. :D

The only nice things the mechanic angle has from the artistic angle is that everyone KNOWS how much car repairs are. They know they are expensive and thus place a fairly high value on them. They also know when they are getting a deal. Often times, people seeking artists have NO IDEA what the product they are looking for is worth. Because people don't see the value in what artists do, having not regularly had to deal with professional artists, they generally consider their skills to be low in value.

Although, when you deal with people who DO know what you are worth, its really really nice.

When I was looking for someone willing to draw the lineart for TAE, I knew how much time and effort they'd have to put into just that one aspect, and I was perfectly willing to draw panel outlines as a reference of what I saw in my head, and even spend time coloring and lettering. Thankfully, I found a good friend that had wanted to do a webcomic, but didn't want the effort of coming out with a plot. And since she's taking art classes, she sees the comics as practice.

Besides, I actually love coloring, and I recently started inking digitally, so I might be able to take a bit more burden off Chiyo for the comic. It's time-consuming and tedious work, to be sure, but I love doing it. :3 Just like I love writing and all of the world and character building that goes along with that.