Hi Hopefully, within the coming weeks, I will be looking for an artist or two to help me on my current project. Now obviously I will be posting on the 'Help Wanted' forum here on GameDev, but I have heard (from friends and on the grape vine) that hiring an artist is, at times, quite difficult. Do you know of any forums where mainy game artists frequent, rather than mainly programmers? That way, I can post help wanted on their to, and hopefully get some decent responses :) Thank Daisy

Very much depends on what you have to offer. First, please use the help wanted section as this isn´t reeeally the place. Second, "hire" usually implies money, if that´s so, you shouldn´t have too hard of a time finding someone.
For the rest you might consider looking at the various FAQs.

Well sorry for the mix of words but no, it is not going to be a paid position.

Well I would look at the various FAQ but as I mentioned, I do not know of any other artist based forums out there, other than this one - do you know of any?

Daisy

Depending on the type of graphics youre looking for, there are a couple of places you could try.

The thing is, since youre only looking for artists, you might just try artist sites. The problem though is that not everyone, in fact probably very few, of these sites inhabitants are looking to do game dev. Most are in it for the art aspect. Good artists like getting paid too.

Your best bet is to look at game dev sites that have a lot of different inhabitants, and be sure they have art-related forums that are heavily frequented. To be completely honest, this is one of the best sites that I know of, since it not only has a bunch of artists, it also has hobbyists as well as professionals. There are others, it will be a long shot to get a good artist to join you.

The problem with hiring an artist is that they are highly desired, and art takes a long time, so most are already hired anyway. But they also tend to get bored with their projects if not given artistic freedom.

The best way to get an artist to join you, whether they be from an art site or game dev site, is to have something working already. A complete demo with placeholder graphics will go a LONG way. Youre also likely to draw better talent this way.

Good luck. ;)

Thanks for that. Do you have any game dev forum addresses that have such a wide range of people?

The project I am working on has been in development for quite a while and is fully functional, so that is not a problem :)

Thanks for the advice
Daisy

www.deviantart.com -> projects forum (not the jobs one)
www.gfxartist.com -> use the [NOT-PAID] TAG in the topic's name
www.cgnetworks.com -> no suggestion on this one

Overall suggestion: be specific that it is not a paid position. That will be the first question you'll have. Give something in exchange for the artist. Designing a webpage for them, free pieces of the final software, maybe some apparell.
(not big costs but will help you find a (wo)man) And you have to be quite detailed when talking about the project. What will it be (theme, type etc). To wake up interest.

Deviantart is the most likely, there are many amateur or half-amateur artist who might be willing to work for free.

One question. Not paid means that the whole project will be free for the public?
If you intend to sell it but want free art and want to give "exposure" as a payment for the artist, you'll have hard time finding any... (and if you think of it it is quite unfair too, so no wonder)

www.pixelation.us -> pixel art only. many top pixelers hang out there, but you should be prepared to spend some € if you want someone good.

www.sijun.com -> one of the greatest art boards available, some of the people there also work in game development. unfortunately also frequented by a lot of pros, but you might have some luck.

www.conceptart.org -> again also pros here.

Make sure you provide enough information for prospective artists to judge if they'll be interested in your project or not, and as said, be up-front about the fact that it's a non-paying position.

Try to talk up your game a bit if you can. Unfortunately this can be hard to do, but give it a shot. If you read through the Help Wanted FAQ you'll find a good link on making recruiting posts near the top of my recommended reading list.

Also, don't forget to use the template when you make your GDNet HW post, you can find it in the *** READ BEFORE POSTING *** sticky.


Make sure you check back on all the places you post the position by the way, people will sometimes be put off by a lack of response from the OP, and sometimes even reponding to some flaming well can be enough to give people a good impression of you.

Good luck with it. [smile]

Thanks for all the links, and I will bare everything you have said in mind.

Yes it will be a free project, and yes it will be available free to the public (if they would want it anyway).

But this is a learning expereince project, and that can of course extend over to artist. I'll hopefully look for a newer artist, who is looking for expereince too!

Thanks for the advice
Daisy