Letterer

BEFORE YOU APPLY: Can not emphasize this enough: Please read the compensation information at the bottom of the page!

OVERVIEW

We are currently looking for a part-time letterer for our upcoming experimental comic book that we are running (very strangely so, we know), similarly to a TV show/movie (Art Directors, Producers, Concept Art before “shooting it”, thumbnail artist, block outs, lettering before pencilling (what? XD), background artists).

This video was made for our concept artists but it’ll still give you a good overview of: 👉 https://youtu.be/4px-xOubioQ 👈

ABOUT THE COMPANY

We are creating films, games, and comics - stories with soul - for our own fantasy universe (think Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc., but smaller - for now hehe). We started 4 years ago as a small team of folks who were initially supposed to package a TV show. Finding ourselves unwilling to sign away our IP, we decided to build out the universe ourselves to retain (creative) control. Now, 4 years later, our rag-tag band of pirates has grown to over 150 members (far over 200 depending on how you count).

Our current slate includes 3 short films (2 in active development, 1 in post production, 30min each), a comic book series (9 issues of Season 1, 45 pages/issue), and two games (one Card Game online and offline version featuring our characters and factions, and one TTRPG with one shots, campaign rules, and region expansions). We also produce music, art, and have our own in-house media marketing element and ops.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

• Create your own preliminary style guide and check it with the Art Director
• Starting 15th of February, Letter 2 pages/week
• Evolve and expand the style guide as you bring your creativity to the story

YOU

• Have a design/graphic design education (self-taught is fine, the result counts) or have lettered before (if you are a senior letterer, we will take a step back)
• Are able to place bubbles organically with good anchoring, good flow, and proper spacing (lines, letters, linework)
• Are very detail-oriented. The text can’t be off center, too close to the rim, too far spaced, differently spaced, different fonts for no reason etc. etc.
• Good taste for fonts, bubble style, special effects

OUR WORKFLOW

Due to our part-time working team (and some ideas for how to potentially improve quality), we are running the following pipeline (each position having one week to complete their 2 pages):

Script (done ahead of time) > all concept art & worldbuilding (done ahead of time) > all thumbnailing (done ahead of time) > layout > 3D block-out > lettering (incl. mutual adjustments with block out) > pencilling foreground > pencilling background > inking > coloring > background illustration > assembly.

Your steps are after “Block Out” which gives you panel sizes, perspective, characters in scene and leading lines. You will have more freedom now to request changes in framing and perspective, working with 3D to improve the flow of the page by (where necessary) making adjustments to the panels. After you are done, you give your work to the pencillers who will now know to avoid the space with the bubbles, allowing for a reduction in painting times. (Yes, the writers are ready to commit to the dialog ahead of lettering)

COMPENSATION DETAILS

Time Investment:

Part-time. Approximately 5-15 hours/week (flexible week on week, as we understand you may have other commitments) - you set your own boundaries and communicate your availability. To allow for flexibility we will try and find you a partner as a stand-by so that you can take time off for urgent/important matters or go to holidays etc. (Also why the style guide is important)

Salary:

At this point, there is no salary for anyone in our team (from the CEO to the producers to the set runner, nobody draws a salary). We instead give parts of the profit away:

Profit Participation:

We are currently in the development of a profit share/royalty system that will award everyone who is part of the project a piece of the pie without causing any upfront taxation. Upon request for an interview, we will send you a detailed breakdown so you can make a decision on whether or not you want to continue with the application. This is fundamentally an investment contract (time invested, profit participation/royalties gained), and as a result, we are happy to support any due diligence you want to undergo ahead of joining.

Thank you very much for considering the collaboration.

We hope to see you on the other side and that we grow together on these exciting projects!

Please apply here: https://shorturl.at/sD9q5

All the best,

Your Soul Atlas Team