Okay, so I'm looking for someone to help me out with the strip.

What I'm looking for is an assistant or assistants to help block out bonus strips that will be going into the eBooks/print collections — and, hopefully, also be able to help with the collections themselves (layout, color work, etc.).

Some drawing/illustration ability is very helpful. Someone who can take my rough sketch relatively close to completion will be more valuable than someone who can't do much besides cut and paste characters into backgrounds. (In every case, I'd be fine-tuning the characters expressions and the layouts/compositions, to make it all look right.)

I do all the new/current strips at the last minute, so I would be doing all of that myself still.

If you catch on quick and have illustration skillz, I might have you start creating some background characters, backgrounds, cars for the parking lot, or that sort of thing, though.

PAYMENT! Yes, I will pay you. It will be in the form of some Illustrator/CS4 instruction and then a pittance on the side (depending on how good your skillz are), per piece (set of illustrations/comic/whatever).

Remember, I make barely any profit off of Multiplex, and you're gonna be making less than me from it; we're talking gas money and some Illustrator tutelage.

REQUIREMENTS/ETC.

• Your own copy of Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator and Photoshop are a must, InDesign too, preferably) — no Gimp equivalents or any of that, sorry.
• IDEALLY, you have CS4; if you only have CS3, but know it rather well, I would still consider you.
• Some knowledge of Adobe Illustrator is important, because I don't have the time to train anyone from scratch
• Working knowledge of InDesign, Photoshop, and Acrobat Pro a huge plus
• Ideally, you're a Mac user, too
• Ideally, you would live close enough to Chicago to meet with me once in a while, although most file transfers and such will be done electronically. If you're good enough, then I can ignore this, but being in the US or Canada will probably help with logistics when I do need to call you.

HOW TO APPLY

E-mail me at gordon@multiplexcomic.com and tell me why you want to be my assistant. (This doesn't mean tell me how much you love Multiplex, although that's cool; I mean, why do you want to learn about Illustrator, etc.)

A sample AI file or two to show where you're at now would be good — ideally a drawing of some sort.

I would love to help. I would even do it for free, but I would actually need the Illustrator lessons. My design classes don't start 'till fall but when I get the hang of it I'll definitely give you a shout. Any Photoshop work you need done, though I can pitch in no doubt.

Never work for free unless you're doing it for yourself!

Sorry, I need someone with Illustrator experience. Working with vectors is a bitch and a half, and I need someone who has the right approach to vectors, too. A lot of people just run their hand drawings through Live Trace or whatever and call it a vector drawing, but Multiplex is drawn with much different... uh... principles in mind — it's more geometric.

If you want Illustrator training, though, Lynda.com might be a good place to start. I used their Flash training course and was very impressed. It got me much farther along than any book I'd ever bought.

Thanks, I'm bookmarking the page now.

In my community there's a lot of digital design artists already so in order to get your name out there you have to prove that you work well for free for the first few major projects, otherwise someone will be willing to work at a better price. My portfolio also isn't big enough to be considered professional so I'm looking for as much experience as possible.

Doing it for the portfolio piece is sometimes worth it, but in my experience, the people who rely on free work "so you can get your foot in the door/get exposure/whatever" have no shortage of people who will do free work.

After your first few "major" projects, when you start feeling like, "gee, maybe it's time you start paying me," they'll just move on to the next guy who needs "exposure."

People who value design will pay you for it, because it's work. Those are the clients you want.

Granted, I'm not paying my freelancers very well (i.e. Trisha Lynn at Movie Make-out, my brother for the site maintenance, etc.), but that's because I'm financing the whole strip myself and I'm fuckin' poor. Every penny Multiplex brings in gets turned around into the strip in some way or another.

I know a few people who couldn't pick Illustrator up right away, but what makes you say vectors are a "bitch and a half"?

Enh, I was just being colorful. But Illustrator is a very deep program (deceptively so), and Multiplex files get pretty complicated sometimes.

Most Multiplex files aren't really "a bitch and a half" or anything, but I need someone who isn't just able to make the file look like what I need, but able to do it efficiently, with everything organized and grouped sensibly, so that I can pick up their files as if they were my own.

Ah, working on other people's files is where the "bitch and a half" applies (sometimes). Every once in awhile I'll have to go back and make changes to an old file created by a different artist, and it can get frustrating if you don't know how they put things together.

Yeah, I hate working in other peoples' files… which, as a print production artist at a publishing company is kind of my job.

But I realized that if I ever wanted to get a print book and be able to keep up with the twice (or more) a week pace of the current strips, I either needed help, or I needed to quit my day job. And… I can't afford to do the second part.

(How poorly I'll be paying might indicate I can't really afford to do the first option, but like I said, hopefully a bit of Illustrator instruction from a guy with a decade of experience would be valuable to somebody.)

I'd love the chance to learn more about how you do your art, Gordon, or Illustrator in general.

I do have acess to Illustrator, but only on my work machine. I don't actualyl use it in my day to day job, but my workplace recently negotiated a site-wide liscence for all Adobe tools. I have no hands on experience with Illustrator, yet, but I've had it recommend it to me many tiems for the sort of work I've abused Photoshop to do in the past.

With it being a work onyl copy, it's not something I could accept payment for, legally, even if I had the chops already. Still, perhaps a good reason for me to start gathering said experience, for a future opportunity.

Which reminds me, Gordon ... I would LOVE to see you do a screen/timelapse capture of the way you put a strip together sometime. Unless you feel that would reveal too much proprietary insight?

Sooner or later, I promise I'll do a live Ustream.tv thing (and probably make the video available after the fact — significantly sped up).

Honestly, I'd be sort of embarrassed about it, because I spend literally hours staring at the computer writing and rewriting dialogue (improvising dialogue, essentially). Write a little, draw a little, surf the internet for movie news a little.…

Monday's strip, for instance, took me about 8 hours — maybe two of which were drawing. Six of which were writing and rewriting it as a six-panel strip before finally just getting rid of two middle panels and making it a four-panel strip. I love the flexibility that Illustrator gives me to make gigantic changes to a strip at the 11th hour, but it would make for a very boring video.

But sometime when I have a solid idea/script before I sit down to draw, it would be fun to do. Or maybe I can just vidcap myself sometime and... you know, edit it down.

As for learning Illustrator: As I mentioned to rabid_chickin, Lynda.com has wonderful video tutorials. I haven't seen any of the Illustrator-specific ones, mind you, but the Flash stuff I've seen has been far more helpful than any book I've ever used.

amen. don't get the freebies just because they're there. spend a little time looking for work that actually pays, and you've taken the first step into setting your trade up as something that will pay for a life time.

by the bye, i'll get your word out. i may know some folks.

Are you still looking for assistants?

I have two guys who are interested and have helped me out a little bit, but if you have Illustrator CS4 and some samples of vector illustration, I'm still open. I'm not settling on one candidate; I'll farm out work as I need it, and whoever's the fastest and the best will just get the most work.

It's not really a "job" so much as it's freelance work.