Storybones is looking for artists with strong fantasy and/or science fiction illustration skills. Color cover art, interior illustrations, line drawing, inks and pencils are all in your repertoire, as are computer design tools and the ability to work interactively with art direction input via Photoshop, Illustrator and Painter, or equivalents.
We prefer "realistic", detailed fantastic art in contrast to that which is impressionistic in style and less detailed in concept and execution. An ability to represent human or humanoid forms is essential. We will still work with an illustrator who does not do figure drawing, but that kind of work will necessarily remain minor in scope. We especially want action and movement oriented figure drawing, and illustrated vignettes that depict a story moment rather than portraiture or static poses.
It is critical for our artists to be able to work with primitive art and rough concept sketches from authors or art direction, and collaborate with the editor to get the desired look in the finished art. We are certainly open to original ideas and concept art, but also need artists who can work on a team to meet the overall design vision.
We are also very interested in seeing compelling original art that tells a story, and are open to constructing adventures and game material built around such inspiring pieces of art. We would also want the artist to provide more, similiarly-themed work to illustrate an entire game book.
Role playing game industry experience is useful but not essential. However, if you do not know the type of art that is stylistically common for this field, go to www.rpgnow.com and browse the product covers there, or surf to the links of publishers of game products and see what kinds of covers are on their work. You should also be familiar with the older cover art from Dragon Magazine (by Elmore), cover styles by book industry illustrators such as Whelan or Wurtz, and similar looks. That is the caliber of work we are looking for.
Publication credits are useful and will be considered, but are not essential. We are interested in working with and developing previous unpublished talent. Anyone who has the right look and the right work habits for us, is someone we will talk to. We want to connect with people who are talented, diligent and reliable, who understand the work ethic involved in professional illustration. Artists who do not respond to communications, who are late with work or cannot meet production deadlines, should look elsewhere.
All art is commissioned on a work-for-hire basis. Storybones owns all rights in materials under development or in the finished product. We compensate on a royalty basis which is calculated to pay the artist industry standard rates, plus bonus to be negotiated.
If interested, email Teramis with a narrative of your experience, design credits if published, and three samples of artwork in .gif or .jpg format. In the samples include one color piece, and at least one piece representing a human figure. We will also look at links to your artwork if you have it on a website, but still want particular samples of your choice attached to email. We prefer to see vignettes that are evocative of a story, rather than a character study.
Attention to detail is essential: persons whose queries lack the information we ask for above will fall to the bottom of the review-and-respond heap. If we decide to work together we will ask for and check references. Persons with a history of missed deadlines or poor collaborative work need not apply.