The process of creating a new banner for my site, done by the very talented Daniel Acosta, produced interesting sketches, which I will proceed to include in this post for your viewing pleasure (or at least my own).

One Izar Lizarraga looking sassy.

One Manami looking catty.

One Lorenzo looking punky.

Daniel offered me four possible compositions for the banner.

I chose the last one for reasons, but I asked him to exchange the cat-girl’s pose with the one from the second composition.

That’s about it. I love the notion of opening my mail only for an artist to have sent drawings of something I’ve told him or her to draw. If I were a millionaire, I would probably do this every week.

At the beginning of this month, I started a series of posts about my attempts at finding an artist who would draw a banner for my site. Here’s the first entry of that series. I did find my artist: one Daniel Acosta, a very talented Argentinian who by his portfolio, I could tell that he would be open to drawing bizarre nonsense.

The banner is already up on my site, in case you are reading this in some format that doesn’t show the banner. Head to my landing page and you should see it.

From left to right, the drawing features Harelactal, the sasquatch goddess from this poem; motocross legend Izar Lizarraga from this novella in free-verse-poem form; Lorenzo the sentient triceratops from this bizarre thing I wrote; and Manami, the cat-girl slash willing slave from this poem. All of them belong to the yet unreleased collection of free-verse poetry titled Odes to My Triceratops and other trash, that right now you can check out in its entirety here. Some of the poems require additional revisions.

Anyway, that was all for today. See ya.

• #8

The day of reckoning has finally arrived: I have found my artist. Before I go in depth about the person in question, I’ll give a shout out to the couple of artists who offered themselves this weekend, with no luck:

• David Becerra Silva (portfolio): a talented artist with a bold, action-oriented style that I like a lot. Not what I wanted for this job.
• Saúl A. Arcucci (portfolio): a unique vision focused on dark fantasy. Quite interesting material. He could do bizarre well, but not the absurd, silly angle that accompanies most of my material.

Anyway, my chosen talent is Daniel Acosta, an artist from the land of Andrés Calamaro and Ariel Rot: Argentina. I can’t even with this guy’s talent and imagination. Check out his range:

Isn’t he grand? He’s the only artist who gave me the confidence that he could pull off bizarre yet silly material such as the sasquatch goddess (who is very much a sasquatch) and the sentient triceratops named Lorenzo, in addition to the lovely cat-girl Minami and motocross legend Izar Lizarraga. So in a couple of weeks or so I’ll be short 250 USD, but thankfully I’m made out of money, and I’ll have emblazoned my website with a header that I’ll love to stare at for years to come.

Tomorrow at work I’ll send personalized apology emails to all the other authors whom I had considered and that were informed of that fact. As for you reading these words, if you are neither me nor one of the artists in question but instead an author who has found your artist of choice through these posts, at my expense, I hope you’re grateful.

• #7
• #9

Another day, another entry of this popular series. Just five artists to consider today.

The style I’m searching for is somewhere between the following examples, belonging to the portfolios of some of the artists who have offered themselves: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8

Here’s the artist whose talent has impressed me enough that I’ll consider her when time comes to choose:

• Srish Nair (portfolio): a unique artist with a fantastic sense of color. She has also drawn some weird stuff, so perhaps she’d be able to handle nutty material like the sasquatch goddess (who is, despite instincts to the contrary, a sasquatch) and the sentient triceratops.

Here are the drawing persons whose talents I won’t consider further for this particular project:

• Mónica Acosta (portfolio): very talented fellow Spaniard who wants to work in the game industry. I like her style a lot, it just isn’t what I want for this project.
• Conscious Meat (portfolio): a unique vision with a matching name. I see myself paying this creature for a drawing, just not this one.
• Setsu Setsy (portfolio): a gorgeous, dark, horror-oriented style. I love it in general, but it’s hardly related to what I’m looking for right now.
• Chris Rutayisire (portfolio): competent stuff. Incompatible with my stories.

That’s all. Hope weather is good wherever you live.

• #6
• #8

Throughout yesterday’s hellish day at work, and an afternoon in which I finished the latest chapter of my ongoing story, I had artist after artist offering themselves for the job listing I posted on ArtStation, one I was on the verge of closing. What the hell is up with you, artists? Are you that desperate for work? Anyway, today I woke up to find out that someone from the US, presumably one of the artists, checked out the entirety of my tale of motocross legend Izar Lizarraga, for which I’m grateful. I’m a cranky loner, but I still like when people read my stuff.

The style I’m searching for is somewhere between the following examples, belonging to the portfolios of some of the artists who have offered themselves: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7

Here is the single artist from this batch whose talent has impressed me enough that I will consider her seriously for the “prize” of having to draw my header in exchange of money:

• Laila Arêde (site): fantastic style, a unique vision that approaches what I’m searching for. I’m tempted to call her a genius. My issues with it: may not be “loopy” enough for my material, and is perhaps too feminine for sasquatch goddesses and sentient triceratopses.

Here are the artists whose talents I won’t consider further for reasons:

• Nikita Atrenev (portfolio): this person has an excellent ability to use colors in a way that makes the illustrations look very realistic. But for this job, I need a different set of skills.
• Zamfir Sinziana (portfolio): very interesting work that would do great in game cards or visual novels. I find this person’s backgrounds particularly attractive. Wrong style for this job, I’m sorry to say.
• Kaide Robertson (portfolio): a fellow who’s majoring in writing and who proved that he had read at least my sasquatch-related story. Unfortunately, his visual work doesn’t cut it even just compared with today’s batch of applicants.
• Lucy Finch (portfolio): I love her medieval stuff; great use of colors to elevate her drawings. Wrong style for what I want.
• Kauan Dias (portfolio): a unique, gorgeous style paired with a great imagination. I see myself paying this person for a job, just not this one.
• Mailen Jacome (portfolio – instagram): very talented lady. I appreciate her attention to detail. Wrong style.
• TszHin Lau (portfolio): intriguing line-based style that unfortunately lacks when compared with other artists from today’s entry.
• Sebastián Ceballos (portfolio): a unique, very personal vision, that unfortunately doesn’t align with what I want.
• Gabo Zeta (site – portfolio 1 – portfolio 2): cases like these hurt: he’s clearly very talented, passionate, confident, and with a fully-developed personal style. It just happens that it doesn’t match what I want.
• Chloe Boetcher (portfolio – instagram): very talented, with a careful style that I appreciate a lot. Doesn’t match the anxious, loopy tone that I’m searching for, though.

Considering applicants takes hours; no wonder people hire secretaries. Whoever you are, I hope you got something out of this post. Now back to ordering the notes for my next chapter.

• #5
• #7

How y’all doing on this lovely Monday morning? You know the drill by now: I paid for a job listing on ArtStation so willing artists would offer their services. My goal: to end up with a good header for my site, one that I wouldn’t mind staring at for years to come.

The style I’m searching for is somewhere between the following examples, belonging to the portfolios of some of the artists who have offered themselves: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7

Here’s the latest batch of artists who have bravely offered their talents:

• Kirin Kar-Wai (portfolio): a unique, very interesting style, but one that clashes with what I want.
• Ertan Ceyhan (portfolio – instagram): super talented dude. Extraordinary attention to detail. Not what I want right now.
• Beau Madden (portfolio): I’m not sure what to say in cases like these (and I’ve had a few). Thank you for being brave, I guess.
• Giulia Minutillo (portfolio): very talented artist who does interesting stuff with color. I feel bad for not considering this one further, maybe in part because she said that she was “really fascinated” by my writing. Although I suppose that’s what someone applying to a job offer of this kind says.
• Nikodem (portfolio): a growing author who is unfortunately not on the level of the examples provided above.
• Tim Msibi (portfolio): a cool, dynamic comic book style that doesn’t match what I want.

The volume of emails has slowed down conspicuously, and disappointing so many artists by sending back “Sorry, but…” is making me sick. I think I’m going to shut down this job listing and choose the “winner” among those artists whose examples I have provided.

• #4
• #6

Welcome to yet another instance of me mentioning several artists by name, and potentially annoying them. You should already know what this is about: I posted a job listing on ArtStation because I wanted someone talented to replace the awful AI-generated header of my site with something I would love to stare at every day for years to come.

The style I’m searching for is somewhere between the following examples, belonging to the portfolios of some of the artists who have offered themselves: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7

Sadly none of the following artists match what I’m searching for style-wise.

• Lina Russo (portfolio): I’m very fond of her drawings, but wrong style for what I want.
• Gianpiero Mangialardi (site): a tremendous pro that apparently has produced covers for dozens of books. I’m very impressed with his stuff. Wrong style, though.
• Loan Art (portfolio): huge talent, very unique stuff. Same thing.
• Out Class (site): a collective of talented pros. They have pointed out two artists in particular, specialized in comic book styles, but that’s not quite what I’m looking for.
• Diya Sengupta (instagram): very talented artist with an extremely unique style. I like it a lot, yet…
• Alejo Vigliani (portfolio): fantastic work that would do great for hard-boiled, grungy projects. Mine’s not one of them, though.
• Michelangelo Di Gregorio (portfolio): I’m impressed by his stuff, and I appreciate that he’s from Rome (the old Rome would have continued to exist, if I had any say in it). He approaches the anxious, loopy vibe I was going for, but not quite as well as the examples above do for me.
• Kamilla Egri (portfolio): I like her drawings in general, particularly her use of colors. Not comparable to the drawings I’ve put as examples, though.
• Adrian Merchan (portfolio): an interesting style, but not what I want.

Nobody else has applied so far; maybe the onslaught of emails will slow down to the point that closing the job listing will make sense.

A curious detail I’ve come across: after informing some artists that their style didn’t match what I was looking for, some of them were eager to try and mimic those other styles. Is that something that visual artists actually enjoy doing? As a writer, if someone suggested that I should change my artistic voice to match what they prefer, I’d be tempted to tell them to eat a dick. Maybe visual artists are more adventurous.

• #3
• #5

After a busy morning working as a computer technician at a hospital, which has absolutely nothing to do with writing, I’m too tired to edit the current part of my ongoing story, so I figured that instead of wasting the afternoon, I could catch up on the numerous new replies I’ve gotten to my job listing on ArtStation for a header to my site. Who knew there were so many artists in the world?

The style I’m searching for is somewhere between the following examples, belonging to the portfolios of some of the artists who have offered themselves: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7

I connected with the art of the following artists to the extent that I’ll consider their work when time comes to choose, as well as for future endeavors:

• Alicia Bernáldez (site): apart from being a fellow Spaniard, she offers an enchanting style that’s uniquely hers. I love discovering an artist whose stuff would have hardly come out of anyone else.
• Bruno Gonçalves (portfolio): a huge talent able to create the kind of works that I wouldn’t mind hanging on my walls. I love his attention to detail. He also pointed out the fact that I’m reporting on those who have offered their services, and he didn’t seem outraged by it. Although I’ll consider his talent and I’m happy to give him free publicity on my humble site, it doesn’t match the style I was going for.
• Mae Dominguez (portfolio): gorgeous drawings, a very unique talent, but I write an anxious, loopy, generally disturbing kind of fantasy.

I failed to connect with the art of the following artists to the extent that sadly I won’t consider their work further, for different reasons:

• Valentine Tomeh (portfolio): I love some of this person’s drawings, and they make a great use of colors, but the style doesn’t match what I’m looking for.
• Mohamadali Moh (instagram): interesting and unique style. Not for this project, though.
• Anna Ballestero (portfolio): another fellow Spaniard who loves Baldur’s Gate 3 (count me as one of them). I like her style, but it isn’t what I want.
• Bruno Gonçalves (portfolio): I like how lifelike he makes the people.

I have yet to answer to like seven artists. Have I mentioned how much I hate replying to the humans whose works I won’t consider further? I imagine them opening my email only to find out that their day has gotten a little worse. That said, many more out there aren’t brave enough to show themselves.

• #2
• #4

Yesterday I received the highest number of hits in the history of my modest site, due to artists checking out my stuff. That’s the power of money. Here’s today’s batch of artists whose talents I had to consider, since they answered to my job listing on ArtStation. Unfortunately, none of them have convinced me to consider them further, for different reasons:

• Roch Hercka (portfolio): super talented dude with medieval-themed stuff. He also described my stories as “gonzo,” which I appreciated. Unfortunately, the wrong kind of style for what I’m looking for.
• Cengiz Ergüleç (portfolio): talented and with a very particular style that doesn’t match what I have envisioned for my characters.
• Burnt Butter (site): gorgeous drawings, but the wrong style for me.
• David dos Santos (portfolio): a dedicated high school student under extremely heavy competition on ArtStation.
• Pouya Zarif (portfolio): amazing drawings in a hyperrealistic style. Great use of colors. That said, wrong style for the anxious, loopy angle I want.
• Daniel Rüger (site): great style, fantastic imagination. Still, wrong style. I want something more cartoonish in an undefinable way.
• Ander Del Molino (portfolio): this guy lives in a neighboring province and has a graffiti-ish style that I like. Yet again, though…
• Diogo Aurich (site): nice style, and I appreciate the work he’s put into his website, which I can’t be arsed to do on mine even though I used to work as a website developer.
• Tristan Keith (portfolio): talented dude, good compositions and use of color.

So far, the style I’m going for is a mix of the following, all belonging to artists who have contacted me before: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7

I hope it isn’t a faux past to mention the artists by name, along with their works. I’m linking to their portfolios, after all.

Answering to these people is taking time from editing my work, so I suspect that I’ll end up cutting short the job listing, that otherwise has about thirteen days to go.

• #1
• #3

Yesterday I posted a job on ArtStation so some talented artist from somewhere in this vast world would draw me a proper header for my site. Very few people engage with my stuff, but this time I’m offering money, so I’ve already gotten plenty of artists interested with still 14 days to go. I suspect I may cut the job listing short, though, given some quality offerings.

Whoever you might be, you may be interested in this process and the kinds of artists that offer themselves for such a project. Here are the artists whose talents I have considered:

• Daniel Acosta (portfolio): my favorite so far. A huge talent, the kind that makes me feel unworthy of asking him to draw stuff for me, even in exchange of money. However, in our comms, he has seemed quite eager to work with me.
• James Chalmers (portfolio): very nice, clean style, closer to what I originally envisioned for the characters in my header. It just happens that Acosta above has made me consider going further.
• Logan Foret (portfolio): I love this guy’s style. However, I gravitate more towards Chalmers along the same lines.
• Scott Robertson (instagram): an extremely talented tattoo artist, but with drawings a tad more grotesque than what I envisioned. Still, fantastic work.
• Prima R. Bardin (portfolio / instagram): yet another huge talent with whom I would love to work, but I’m not sure if his very defined style matches the kind of drawings I envision for the header.

Here are other artists who have offered their services, but that I won’t consider further for different reasons:

• Maritzell Martínez (portfolio): a talented vector artist under very heavy competition.
• Carlos Villas (portfolio): very talented at the particular style he’s going for (that I can’t describe), but it clashes with the kind of drawings I’m looking for.
• Wesley Edwards (portfolio): I would have been fine with this guy’s stuff if it weren’t for some of the titans above.
• Vak Phoenix (portfolio): I like this guy’s use of color, but the style doesn’t match what I want, and I doubt that he’d be able to produce “monstrous” drawings like the sasquatch goddess’ to a quality that I’d like.
• Lukas Lima (portfolio): very talented 3D artist. Unfortunately, I’m not looking for a 3D artist.

I’m not sure how an artist would feel like seeing himself or herself in such a post, but I’d be glad to get some free publicity (tiny as my audience may be). In any case, now comes the troubling part: not only I have to write to these people, but also tell some of them that I won’t consider their work even though they’ve gone through the trouble of offering themselves. I’m getting flashbacks of requesting drawings on Fiverr; I went back and forth with a lovely Indonesian artist only for someone else to present a drawing that blew me away, and I had to tell that Indonesian gal that I wouldn’t choose her work. Poor thing.

I find it funny that some artists have included a curriculum of sorts. Dude, I don’t care where you studied, where you worked, or where the hell you came from: if your stuff is great, I’ll consider you.

Anyway, if you have come across this post when you have nothing to do with this job posting, I hope you’ve gotten something out of my words.