AVATAR PRESS LOOKING FOR ARTISTS

[MattBrady]

Press Release

Want to work on an Alan Moore or Warren Ellis project?

Avatar Press is looking for artists for a number of projects over the coming year, including Alan Moore and Warren Ellis comics. Also needed are artists for licensed books that require the ability to draw good likenesses, artists for future Lady Death series, and over a dozen other high-profile projects.

"We currently have 22 artists working on comics for Avatar Press, and we're still not where I'd like to be in terms of having artists available to assign to upcoming projects," says Avatar Press EIC William Christensen. "We are focused on making inroads into addressing the scheduling issues we have had in the past, but one thing I need to do to continue to make progress on that is to hire more artists. I've got a number of already-written or in-progress upcoming projects currently without artists attached that I'd like to get firmed up on the schedule, so Avatar is looking for pencilers or penciler/inkers who can work in a variety of genres."

Penciler/Inkers or pencilers may send their submissions or links to their samples to submissions@avatarpress.net.

"I want to take a moment here in this release to be clear about how this process works at Avatar, and what we are looking for," adds Christensen. "Some of these points may be a little blunt but I'd rather put it out there than have someone spend time on working up a submission and be disappointed down the road."

Additional notes on submissions:

* We are currently looking for penciler/inkers or pencilers. We are not in the market for additional writers, colorists, or letterers at this time.

* We are currently not in the market for "cover-only" artists.

* You will be paid a page rate for your work at Avatar. While we do not pay Marvel/DC rates, it is a page rate and not a back-end deal, and is within the range of competitive indy rates.

* Samples can be e-mailed, but please send individual files, not a compressed archive file containing lots of files.

* Please send a range of your work. We have titles in many genres.

* If we have an immediate interest in your work you will be contacted. If we're currently not interested, we may not have time to critique your work and may not get back to you. That said, if we like your stuff and have a place for you, you will hear from us.

"All that boilerplate aside, there are a number of opportunities for artists to work with high-profile writers at Avatar," Christensen concludes. "With the caliber of projects we have coming up, a few industrious artists will have the perfect opportunity to show the world what they can do."

Please send your submissions to submissions@avatarpress.net.

Avatar Press is a comic book publisher that continues to push the boundaries between mainstream and independent with current or upcoming work from creators such as Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, Brian Pulido, George A. Romero, George R.R. Martin, Joe R. Lansdale, John Russo, Mike Wolfer, Juan Jose Ryp, Jacen Burrows, and numerous others. The company has published a wide range of comic books including creator-owned titles like Garth Ennis' 303 and Brian Pulido'sLady Death, company-owned comics such as Pandora and The Ravening, licensed hits like Frank Miller's Robocop and George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and numerous other titles. A publisher that has established itself as one of the cornerstones of the American indy comic book scene over the past decade, Avatar has published some 500 comic books since 1997.

For additional information, any interview requests or general press requests, please contact David Marks at david@avatarpress.net or visit www.avatarpress.com .

[Darth_Barf]

While I applaud any publisher's efforts to reduce or elimininate late shipping books, one wonders how having insufficient creative talent holds up the release of collected editions like the Alan Moore's Yuggoth Creatures hardcover.

This book has been solicited twice, the first time about 2 years ago. Now that the final issue has been shipped, and the book finally resolicited, can we expect this to be released anytime soon?

It may be that Avatar needs help on the production end more than the creative...

[Arvandor]

It's long past time Avatar started expanding. It appears they've been understaffed - both creatively and productively - for too long. It's understandable that they want to avoid the common Indie trap of growing too fast too soon, but they've been in the business long enough, and have been too cautious.

Originally Posted by Darth_Barf

It may be that Avatar needs help on the production end more than the creative...

With both a new marketing director, and hiring new artists, I anticipate they'll hire people to help with production next as well. Christensen and Seifert have been running almost the entire Avatar operation on their own up till now.

Originally Posted by MattBrady

* We are currently not in the market for "cover-only" artists.

Now THAT surprises me. Considering their overactive cover policy, they could do with some cover artists in order to give their regular artists more time with the comics.

[ScottBieser]

Has Avatar been too cautious? I don't think so. They launched themselves during what hindsight tells us was one of the worst periods for the industry, but they've not only survived, but thrived. I have enormous respect for them.

My only regret is that I'm too busy with my Big Head Press commitments to even think about working for them.

[FIG]

I'm guessing 5 pages of sequentials works? Does it have to be Avatar characters? Things like this should be addressed.