Hello everyone, this is Gordon. We are a new startup in the process of launching an ecommerce site, and we are hoping to make it fun by introducing a daily 4-panel gag webcomic! We are completely new to this forum, and prior to this we have looked for long term writers on freelancing platforms without luck unfortunately...
We have four cartoon animal characters that have already been developed and we will release more information (their images / character description) once you are selected. The webcomic will be published on a daily basis and we are open to hiring up to 3 freelancers at the same time since we understand that not everyone can commit this much time to one single project.
Drawing style: Very similar to Buttersafe.com. The comic will be in color, but very simply (and adorably!) drawn. The characters cannot be stick figures.
Comic style: Mostly 4-6 panel standard gag comic. They should be as funny and witty and lighthearted as possible. It should be a mix between Buttersafe and Cyanide and Happiness. We think Buttersafe is very adorable, but a tad dull at times; Cyanide is very clever, but sometimes too offensive and in bad taste for our style. (No offence to anyone! Sorry!) Please see attached for some examples.
Comic background: Daily encounters of our characters based on their character descriptions. We would also like some relevance to the real world, such as pop culture, politics, recent news, etc.
Target audience: 16 – 40 year old North Americans. This is a big group of audience so please avoid offending any particular demographic. Please do not take political stances.
Candidacy: Those who currently resides (or have resided) in North America or at least have a very profound understanding of American humor and culture will be considered first. Although drawing style matters, humor and wittiness (not offensiveness) is the most important trait we are looking for here.
Image Quality: Very similar to the aforementioned webcomics. We are quite flexible - once we see your samples we will provide more accurate feedback on changes required for the long term project if you are selected.
Project Details:
Stage 1:
We will offer $80 to those selected to produce 4 sample comics in a week based on the above requirements, after we release details about our characters. We will then select approx. 2-3 writers for the long term project.
After you are selected for the 4 comics, please let us know your available capacity. (e.g. 5 comics per week; up to 20 a month, etc). This will help us determine the number of freelancers that we need. Note that work capacity does not affect your eligibility. Your candidacy is purely based on the quality of your work.
Stage 2:
During our long term partnership, we will pay you $40 per comic that we end up publishing and $15 per comic that we do not end up using. You will be paid once every two weeks via PayPal. We will give you our URL and inform you exactly when your comic will be published. Sometimes we might suggest minor tweaks to your work before we publish them – you will also be compensated $40 for each of these. We will provide feedback periodically (approx. once a month) so you have a clear idea of what we are looking for to improve your "success rate".
This partnership will go on indefinitely until either of us decides to terminate (To be fair, we will give you a 2-4 week heads-up. We hope that you would do the same as well.)
To help us understand your work better, please send us some of your past work.
If you do not agree with any of the terms listed above, please put your thoughts in your message as well.
Let us know if you have any questions or if we are missing any important details (very likely we are!). Thank you!
Gordon