Ok so I’ve found a suitable artist to work on a card’s illustration for my game, what then? I have a fair share of emails completely ignored and some that went unexpectedly well. These are some steps to make your first query and also some things to avoid based on my experiences.

Before your Query

Find Contact Email

When you browse through Artstation or Twitter pages, you will often find their contact email attached to their profile. Sometimes, you will find their website, which then holds their contact email. If you can’t find it anywhere, then you need to make your first query through DMs, for which you have to ask for their email. My point is: find their email.

You can send your query through Twitter / Instagram DMs if you’d like, but I personally would suggest using emails. It’s easier to document and the nature of freelance work would require you to send large files back and forth. Email is the best way to do this to my knowledge. On top of that, any payment you’re going to make will require their contact email anyway if you’re going through Paypal or other international payment services. So make the effort to get their email.

Prepare a Document Containing Brief on The Job

Job description in DETAILS. If you are hiring a freelance artist then prepare a full Art Description. You don’t want to have them saying yes to your project and only replying after 1 week for the description of the job. Worse, you don’t want them asking “what do you want me to do?” and not having a description ready. I’ve honestly lost count on the amount of headache I got because I queried an artist without having a description ready. The scramble after but also the mess of direction-lessness when the work has begun.

Here’s an example of what to include, specifically, for Illustration Descriptions:

1. Moodboard. Moodboard are a collection of reference images and a brief explanation on a particular piece. This is very very important. Visual reference helps describe ideas better than words.
2. Specifications. In the context of tabletop games, you want to specify your artist to work in CMYK and give them a minimal dimension for the canvas. They will usually ask for resolution in pixels but you can calculate this by calculating the dimension of your component in inches multiplied by 300 (assumes the minimum of 300 pixels per inch for prints). Note the word ‘minimal dimension’. You can go higher than this. I made a mistake of not specifying the correct resolution when I first started. I simply said 1920x1080p because that’s the usual resolution of videos you usually watch on Youtube. It went on for a good year until I brought up the matter to Jakub, indicating that it was my folly and inexperience. He was kind enough to help me upscale the pieces he worked on without additional charges.
3. Attributes of Interest. Focus on the important areas that must be highlighted in a piece. This is especially true for characters. There must be something or a set of things that makes the character stand out from other pieces. It could be a sword or an action. These pieces help become the anchor which allows artists to express their creativity freely without jeopardizing the direction you’ve already set.
4. Backstory. This one is not a must but I’ve received a fair share of appreciative comments from those I worked with because I included backstory. I think imbuing your piece with some character allows those artists to ‘live the character’ and it helps with illustrating one.

I asked one of the artists I worked with—Justin Tiang—regarding what makes a good Art Brief, this is what he has to say. I am also sharing some example of my most recent mood boards for your reference.

In my view, a good art description is one which accurately and succinctly conveys five distinct classes of information:

1. The technical requirements of the output (things like aspect ratio, orientation, and recommended pixel dimensions).
2. Details about the composition (objects in the piece and their arrangement, as well as things like colour and lighting).
3. Visual examples of the art style desired.
4. Relevant details about the world the piece is set in.
5. All expectations the author of the brief has about turnaround time, deliverables, and workflow, if these have not been discussed before that point.

For 2) and 4), there is often a sweet spot between providing an oppressively excessive amount of information (completely understandable if the author of the brief has a rich world to show), and too little, which will paralyse an artist with doubt and uncertainty. Arriving at this balance between commissioner and artist can take several pieces to develop.

Check if They Already Have TOCs / FAQs Posted Somewhere

The worst feeling you can get is when you already spent some time crafting a document containing TOCs of your working relationship, but your hirer just doesn’t read them at all. Not everyone will have this posted up, but there are those who do. Browse through their website and check for it. Most of the time, it includes crucial information with regards to price and licensing (two important topics I’ll cover in future posts). Reading these TOCs also gives you a valuable topic to talk about when you make a query. Also, it shows them that you respect their work. It’s a huge edge to get talents saying “Yes, I would love to work with you.”

On Your Query

These are some important things to include on your first query email, and things you shouldn’t do.

Do #1: Tell Them How You Found Them

Have you ever been approached by a random stranger on the street demanding something? Or maybe receiving a message containing only ‘Hi there!’. It’s weird, isn’t it? And it made you sound like you’re a scammer. So be sure, before anything else, tell them how you found them and how you got their email.

Do #2: Tell Them Which Piece Captured Your Attention and Why You Like It

Start with a compliment on one of their past works you really like. And don’t tell me that you can’t find one. If you don’t like any of their past works, why are you even considering working together? Tell them why that particular work stood out and why you think it will fit the direction of the game / project you are currently working on. When you say this, you should already have an idea in mind on the kind of work you want them to work on. Use it and draw parallels. If you don’t have one, go back to working on your job description before sending in your query.

Example:
Hi <Name>,
I found your email through Twitter. I saw your illustration of a child’s ghost on a ghastly bed in the piece ‘Nightmare’. I think there is an illustration in my project that suits your style. Would you be interested in working on a Tabletop Card Game with a Dark Fantasy theme. The theme revolves around undeads, spirits and creatures from gothic horror.

Do #3: Tell Them That You Are Looking to Make Money Out of Their Work

This is very important. It might first come off as ‘duh, of course I’m trying to make money’. But do understand that some creatives are not open to having their work be used commercially. You must make it clear as early as possible that you are planning to commercialise their work so that both of you can come up with the appropriate licensing. I will cover matters regarding Licensing in a future post.

Don’t #1: Ask for a Price

If you didn’t go for the Job Post route, it is very likely that you are not the person who decides the cost of the piece. Most of the time it will become a negotiation. I would suggest saving this talk only after you sent in the job description because most of the time you need to give a lot more context about the job before the freelancers can come up with an accurate price.

Rather than going for boring talk about money, focus on delivering your idea pitch. Actionable ideas, especially good ones, make people excited. That excitement is really important in getting the initial stride to your working relationship.

Don’t #2: Act Like You Are Their Boss

You were not their boss before you signed a working agreement. Even after you did, an employer – employee mentality is not good for long term business. Freelancing is a form of business and you are their client. So don’t start your email with supercilious content like: “Hey, you wanna work for me?” or worse “Yo, you should work for me, I’ll pay you money.” You could probably pass if they’re your friend, although you’d be framing the comment as a joke and risk them not taking you seriously.

Don’t #3: Make it Sound Like You Are Writing a Fan Mail

Let me share an experience. When I first queried for illustrators, there was one illustrator whose work I really admired. She worked on many high profile Magic the Gathering Artwork (you can check out Livia Prima). I queried her with a fan mentality instead of a tabletop designer looking to hire an artist. I thought: Gosh, I probably can’t afford her and she’s probably busy. 

So even though I wrote in the email subject “Inquiries on Freelance Rate”, I ended up writing about how much I love her work. And the worst part, I wrote: “If you are not open to this sort of work, you can treat this email as a fan letter.” It’s not a good thing to say because it just shows that you’re not serious enough about your project that you don’t mind for them to shrug it off as a fan mail.

No matter how high profile these freelancers are, write your query more seriously, and really mean it when you said you want to work with them. When you do, you will most definitely get a reply. Most of the time it’ll be rejection, mainly because they are really just that busy. But on rare occasions, they may refer you to apprentices or circles, especially if your project is amazing (Thank you Francesca Baerald).

Have you ever approached high profile individuals with the intention to work together? What are your experiences getting rejected? Or worse, completely ignored? But most importantly, on days you finally found a partner to work together with, how do you celebrate those small victories?