Poll: Should I commission more artists?
Added 2021-11-30 19:48:05 +0000 UTCIt’s the source of a lot of stress for me. Since I’m not the artist, I don’t have complete control over an important part of the project. And while I try my very best to always release an update every month, if something happens to my artist, it could very well set me back for a month or more.
Right now, I only have one artist for the CGs. And although I’m very satisfied with his work, I can never be sure that something won’t happen. At any moment, he might need a break, or he might simply quit. He doesn’t owe me anything, so it’s not like it isn’t a possibility. Also, my budget grew substantially with this project, but since I only have one artist, I can’t have him work on anything other than the most important illustrations due to time constraint. It would be great to have CGs for other things that aren’t necessarily related to sex. For example, when Aya sent a picture of herself in a bikini to Harry in the last update, having a custom illustration there would have been great. Small things that can raise the quality of the game a little.
If it were only up to me, I would have already hired one or two new artists. The thing is, as some of you must know, with my last project (The Edge Of), I was forced to find new artists during the second half of the project. And while both artists were great, some people really didn’t like the disparity between the old art and the new art. Unfortunately, it’s extremely hard to find artists that have the same art style and who are both available and affordable. So if I look for new artists now, people need to expect that there will be a discrepancy between the art.
This is why I am making a poll; I want to know how people feel about this. It won’t necessarily dictate the outcome, but it can help me make a decision nonetheless.
Here are a few reasons why I should/shouldn’t hire new artists:
Why I shouldn’t hire new artists:
- The art of the new artists might be incompatible with the art of the current artist.
- The art of the new artists might be inferior to the art of the current artist
Why I should hire new artists:
- It’s a safeguard in case something happens to the current artist
- It makes monthly releases more sustainable
- Can have CGs for scenes that normally wouldn’t have any
- Can make the artist work on what they’re good at (my current artist is very talented, but he sometimes has difficulty with faces or arms depending on the angle)
- Less stressful for me
Comments
Makes sense, there is no point in using 3D art as a creator if it is not appealing to you as a player. But I'm looking forward to your small projects :)
GrumpyGranny
2021-12-02 09:27:17 +0000 UTCAh, well if that is the case then all I can ask for is that the general aesthetic be retained as much as possible. I'm sure you'll do that anyway.
MrAnon69
2021-12-01 19:27:30 +0000 UTCMy artist is not part of the creative process. He’s simply someone that I commission on the internet. And while I respect him a lot, our relationship is not very deep, which is why I can never be sure of if/when he’s going to move on to something else. For the 3D, I can’t say I will never do it because I’m open to everything, but I’m more a fan of traditional visual novel. My writing has been mostly influenced by the Japanese medium, and I personally find the esthetic much more appealing. It doesn’t help that a lot of 3D models can look uncanny, and a lot of 3D games seems to focus on the game aspect rather than on the story. Though I might be talking out of my ass since, to be fair, I haven’t played much of 3D western games. What I do think would fit NTR a lot, if I were a lot more talented, is VR. Anyway, I plan on doing small projects in the future—to test things, mostly—so who knows? Maybe I’ll try 3D for one of them.
hangovercat
2021-12-01 18:29:32 +0000 UTCWhat does your artist think? Also, possibly an unpopular opinion here, but I wouldn't mind the next game with 3D art. I don't mean that the current art is bad, not at all, but your writing is really good with a realistic setting, so the western-ish style of 2D or 3D would be a better fit.
GrumpyGranny
2021-12-01 06:49:38 +0000 UTCI think consistency of style for the main CGs (e.g. sex scenes) is important, but if it comes down to the artist not being able to get the work done obviously there's just not much you can do. One thing you could consider is something a lot of VNs do, which is use an alternate, simpler style for incidental CGs (like chibi-style, for example). That way you can still have a visual for situations where one would be a nice bonus, without the huge time commitment of developing a full-quality CG. You could use a different artist for those as well so it doesn't eat into the main artist's work time, and since it's clearly intended to be a different style and it's only for less important scenes, I don't think it would be too jarring.
realname_tba
2021-12-01 03:34:28 +0000 UTCIt’s a good idea, but I don’t think it would be feasible. One CG can take more than two weeks for an artist to draw depending on the details, and if there are three new CGs every update (month), then you can see that I would need a second artist to work on the third CG. The only reason my artist can keep up right now is because he started working on it while I was still releasing The Edge Of. Also, I’m not writing while thinking about budget or anything, so the number of CG that I might need in the future may very well ramp up. So, unless I take more than a month for each release, I will eventually need a second artist anyway.
hangovercat
2021-12-01 03:17:01 +0000 UTCI do find it jarring to have different art styles, but I suppose I can see this work if an artist is perhaps assigned a section of plot e.g. beginning, middle, end, etc as there will at least be some consistency instead of it alternating each update if that's the road you're going down. Hopefully, the current artist can handle it though.
MrAnon69
2021-11-30 23:38:37 +0000 UTCPersonally I didn't mind the different art in The Edge Of too much, as long as the quality of the art is still good I'm fine with multiple artists. The writing will stay great as always from you and as long as there's decent art accompanying I'm happy!
shpee wang
2021-11-30 23:31:38 +0000 UTCIn a perfect world I would say waiting more than a month is more than ok with the quality of what is being released right now however as you have mentioned you then become reliant on an artist sticking with the project and getting the following with bi-monthly releases. I have put down more than a month but I think you have the best vision for what the game will be with and without an artist so I would lean towards trusting your judgement on it.
narlaun
2021-11-30 20:08:24 +0000 UTCWell, I forgot to mention that my current artist is falling behind, and can't keep up with monthly releases. So if I want to keep up the pace, I would need at least another artist for the sex scenes. But what you're saying is right, I could find an artist dedicated only to the 'bonus' scenes.
hangovercat
2021-11-30 19:58:39 +0000 UTCPersonal opinion divide the artists work. Have the current artist work as H-scene only and the other artist as other scenes so those H-scenes and non H-scenes can maintain some type of consistency. I'm all for more H-CG but if the art is so different it can definitely throw things off for that type of scene. I think you can get away with it better though by setting different expectations for H and non-H CG
Loewe
2021-11-30 19:53:01 +0000 UTC
