An artist. In a box. That performs on demand.
In lieu of that, I’ll accept an artist that will work with me at reasonable rates on the understanding that he or she will be my “go-to” person. When I need art, they will be my first call.
The problem with being a web developer (a coder versus a designer) is that although I might have a sense of layout, and I might have a sense of what a site should look like, I have no skill to actually produce the art required for it. I get lucky sometimes with trial and error, and I can find my way around Photoshop (more likely Photopaint and Fireworks) reasonably well when I need to edit existing art, but I’m not an artist and I often have the need for some custom artistic works.
I have a particular personal project under the flame right now that requires art that I simply can’t create. I think it’s a fun little project, and would hate for it to be held back by something as seemingly trivial as the lack of art.
Artist freelancers scare me. For the size of this personal project, and the budget involved (to say the word “budget” implies that there is money, when… ha!) I don’t want to get into a big deal with sites like iFreelance, and have a ton of people bidding on it and asking about requirements. I basically want to sit down with one artist I’m familiar with, sketch out the site, point out where I’m going to need art placements and what I have in mind, and then just have it be done.
I wonder if there is any alternative compensation I could offer. Any artists out there willing to work for hosting or blog services? Not that I’m not willing to pay, but that I have no idea what I’m talking about in terms of price, and I imagine everything to be super expensive because I can’t do it myself. Like plumbing.
It’s times like these when I wish I had Chris’ little black book, containing all the contact details of all the artists he worked with at Reaper, Ral Partha, Fasa, and ZN Games. I know that at least one of those guys was local and affordable, because he was always visiting him.
So that’s what I want. A freelance artist with good prices and a welcoming contact channel. Hook me up, internet.
