How do I start looking for a creative partner?
October 13, 2015 8:38 AM   Subscribe

Looking for practical advice and anecdotes on actively looking for a creative partner when life does not grant you one "naturally" like best friends who share a hobby etc. More specifically how do writers find other writers or comic book artists. I've gone to a few writers meetups and they were fun and useful, but ultimately not fruitful (yet). I know there are probably a lot of online communities I could join (how should I approach this approach to finding someone?)
posted by deadwater to Media & Arts (5 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
You could try taking a class. I met my crit partners that way. It worked out because we had the whole ten weeks to get to know each other's work/crit style and build up trust that way.
posted by the_blizz at 9:12 AM on October 13, 2015


Best answer: Meeting working writers is tough (we're often hermits and often busy) and really depends on where you live. There are healthy comics/genre writer communities in Portland (OR), New York, Northampton (MA), Seattle, the Twin Cities, Chicago, many other places I'm sure I'm not thinking of now. Going to comic shows and readings for authors you like, joining a relevant coworking space, getting to know the people at your local comic/independent book shop can all be ways to meet comics folks just in general.

Meeting artists in a setting other than buying a book from them at a show is also tough! If your intent is to find an artist to help you create something professionally -- as in, to self-publish a book or webcomic that you want to use to advance your career, or to put together a pitch for publishers -- there are basically three routes for a comic writer:

1) Put in the time to get to know other people in the community and make friends with folks who are on your wavelength and are interested in doing the kind of work you have in mind. Life drawing nights and local small press comic shows can be good places to meet artists in person. All of the comics folks I know are on Twitter, and I've made some great friends there over time, although you have to be careful not to come on too strong when you're still just a random stranger to them.

Friends are often happy to do informal projects together as practice, especially if they're also just starting out. This approach can take years, though -- especially if you're starting as a total outsider or are substantially shifting from one peer group to another -- and the likelihood of finding a collaborator who's talented AND reliable AND interested in working on a book on spec (ie for free) is pretty low.

2) Save up the money to pay someone to do the work you have in mind. This is pretty common, actually. For a comic pitch, you might draw up a small contract in which an artist is paid X$ per page for sample work to show to publishers, which you would then be reimbursed for out of the advance/royalties if your book is picked up. (Alternately, you can fund this kind of project with Kickstarter, but that only really works for self-published books.) This method still works best if you've spent some time getting to know people, however! You want to work with artists you have a good rapport with, and whom you know will do their work well and on time.

3) Figure out how to draw the comic yourself. Maybe frustratingly, this is how many people get their first comic done and make the connections that enable more work in the future. My friend MK Reed has had multiple books come out from several big-time comics publishers, and collaborated with fantastic artists, but first she earned the community's respect and attention by drawing and self-publishing a short GN herself. The art wasn't of a quality or polish that a big publisher would accept, but it showed that she could write comics, and that she was disciplined.

One major piece of advice on top of the above: remember that artists are doing most of the heavy lifting with a comic. A good script will elevate their art, it's true, but remember that it'll take them many many more hours to complete each page than it took you to write the script. A full-color comic page can easily take a seasoned professional artist an entire day to complete, and often longer.

Hope that's helpful! I'm happy to answer specific questions if you have any.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 11:48 AM on October 13, 2015 [4 favorites]


Save up the money to pay someone to do the work you have in mind.


If you had something concrete and visual that I could relate to, it would do a lot to get my interest up.

As an animator/illustrator, I've always been super leery about collaborative side projects because so few people appreciate how much work goes into drawing. They also view collaboration as a situation where they'd get the work done and I in turn get free ideas and direction (or the prospect of future paying work at some unresolved rate) ....so I don't get excited.

If you do pay, structure an agreement to make it clear that the illustrations are work for hire so you can still own your project completely.
posted by bonobothegreat at 2:14 PM on October 13, 2015


Finding writer types is hard because we're mostly shut-ins. But we're out there. I had success by going to a few workshop events for the genre that I write, then I networked with everyone there and found a few connections with people in my home city, which led me to a pre-existing online group, which brought me more networking opportunities, and now my Facebook friends list is something like 50% writers. Before that first workshop, I knew zero writers personally. So start by looking up established workshops (or the equivalent for your art form) and apply to attend, then use that as your starting point to meet people.

Basically: go where your tribe gathers.
posted by deathpanels at 4:44 PM on October 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


Find artists and writers you like, in some kind of online forum, then leave feedback on their work.
Detailed, thoughtful feedback/comments, even if it's only a couple of lines. Paragraphs? Fantastic!

Just make a point of giving feedback to media that you respect and enjoy. People crave feedback, otherwise they wouldn't bother putting it out in public (usually it's just - did I convey what I was trying to convey? Does it work for other people too?). Keep providing feedback, and you'll usually end up in dialogue with at least a few of the artists/authors. Make sure your work is available too, and see if the creative feedback starts going both ways.

From feedback, you develop into creative inspiration - if someone has written the first chapter, or something that could have a sequel, just musing about where you think it might go, can provide creative inspiration for someone. You keep doing that, and it grows mutual, then you have organically developed a creative partner.
posted by Elysum at 4:01 AM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


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