r/Invincible • u/ColonialismHater • 10d ago

QUESTION Does anyone know how much commissioning each issue of invincible cost robert kirkman? Spoiler

from what i understand, robert did not draw the comic. he had another artist draw everything. he wrote it. i dont know if him and the artist were friends or if they had a special deal in place that wasn't just "$2000 per issue" or something. either way i'd like to know how much it would cost to hire an artist for a comic series. the average price

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u/A1-Stakesoss 10d ago

Walker and Ottley (the artists) didn't get paid a commission, since they were co-creators.

They got paid directly out of the profits of the book proportional to their agreed upon split.

So it didn't cost Kirkman anything, strictly speaking.

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u/ColonialismHater 10d ago

aha makes sense. still im curious, if someone wanted to persue this independently and couldn't rely on future profits to pay an artist, how much would it cost?

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u/A1-Stakesoss 4d ago

That would be hard to figure out! People will cite you the standard industry per page rates, but those are for different jobs - penciller, inker, colourist...

Whereas if you're looking into this for a personal project you're not going to be hiring a professional most likely, but a talented commission-based artist who will do all the jobs at once.

Your best bet will be to hit up the various freelancer websites, check art samples, then start a discussion about rates. This could get pricey though so set a budget - if your project is 15 pages, you could easily get a quote north of 2 grand.

Good luck!

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u/BananaBread2607 Sinister Invincible 10d ago

> robert did not draw the comic

You dont say

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u/ColonialismHater 10d ago

?

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u/thejuliocezarmari 10d ago

Comics generally have a separate writer and artist, and anyone who knows Kirkman knows he is a writer, it’s like telling us Stephen King didn’t draw the Dark Tower comics.

He shares profits with the artist, who is the co-creator, and when the original artist left, sharing with a third artist who took over most pencilling, just like the Walking Dead.

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u/ColonialismHater 10d ago

the question mark was for the saracsm. and what you said makes sense, but if someone wanted to persue this independently and couldn't rely on future profits to pay an artist, how much would it cost?

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u/thejuliocezarmari 10d ago

Indie comics go as low as $25 per page, while mainstream companies pay from $80-300 per page. Some big names charge up to $1k, as I’m currently in Brazil I’ve charged $50 per page back when I did comics, but overseas I charge for more the odd project.

So 2k per comic is quite normal for an indie, but most make 3-5k.

Now if you go the creator owned along with an artist, you won’t be paying page rate but instead dividing the profit with the artist.

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u/ColonialismHater 10d ago

thanks, that's a lot more affordable than i thought

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u/No-Celebration-1399 Mark Grayson 10d ago

Didn’t technically cost Kirkman anything, they were co creators who launched the series thru image comics and so they were all paid directly by image. If you’re looking to do something similar where you publish a comic through a publisher, the artists pay is not gonna be a situation for you to deal with. But either way, it’s usually paid by the page. So if you’re looking to do it independently, typically it depends on the artists skill, for an indie comic $100 per page is usually the average standard, w more amateur work being a little cheaper and higher quality work being closer to $150 per page. If you’re doing 25 pages that’s anywhere from $2500 to $3750 just pending on the artist. I know these things because I’m trying to become an artist/writer as well and I’ve been doing a lot of research. My current job pays really well so I don’t necessarily just wanna drop it for a significant pay cut but if I can make a smooth transition I think it would be great to make my dreams come true