We're Hiring Artists!
HIRING STATUS: Closed
Hello everyone, our expansion of the Artist Team has officially begun!
Hello everyone, our expansion of the Artist Team has officially begun!
We are looking for artists who are willing to join our creative team and take on a longterm position and on-site role. The position is paid for on a project by project basis, in which artists will be assigned work periodically to be completed by certain deadlines. The amount of assigned work depends on the site's needs, budget, as well as artist availability. Artists will have the option of being paid in Real Life Currency or Turnips (if a volunteer based position is preferred) at market rates based on their preferences.
The position of Site Artist entails:
- Signing an NDA, contract, and using our Site Artist Discord server regularly to communicate
- Hands-on training under our Head Artist for various areas of site development
- Collaboration with the Head Artist as well as the rest of the team on various projects
- Artwork created can include (Depending on artist strengths and project needs):
- Pet Edits
- Item recolours
- Items, Clothing assets
- Pet assets
- Other Misc Artwork
A member of the Artist Team would be expected to:
- Work well in a team setting, providing feedback and bringing creative ideas to the table
- Be accountable, present, and communicative
- Be proficient in Photoshop or another PSD-enabled program
- Complete their assigned work within deadlines
- Represent Dappervolk in a professional and welcoming manner
APPLICATION FORM
If you're interested in this position, please fill out the application below and email it to [email protected] with your portfolio and resume attached.
Username and ID:
Pronouns:
You consent to providing your full name if accepted:
Type “Yes” to consent. This is required as you will be signing an artist contract and an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) in regards to any unreleased Dappervolk content you may see or create as an artist for Dappervolk. It is however fully confidential and will remain with the site owner only.
Confirm that you are over 18 years of age:
Type “Yes” here, only adults over 18 years of age are legally able to enter into a binding contract and receive payment.
Timezone:
We're looking for team members who can participate in active discussions regarding asset development and participate in the on-hands training process.
Preferred rates:
Outline the general rate of pay you would like per piece completed. Examples of what you could use are per item, pet, or a general hourly rate.
Asset Preferences:
Let us know which area(s) of art development you're most interested in contributing to on Dappervolk. Ie. Items, clothing, pets, other?
Introduction:
Let us know a bit about yourself and what interests you about becoming an artist for Dappervolk. What qualities do you have that would make you a great addition to our team? Feel free to also include information about yourself outside of Dappervolk too, such as any hobbies/interests!
Experience on Pet/Avatar Sites:
Please share any relevant experience you may have working as an artist for other sites, or otherwise playing a role as a community figure.
Username(s) on Social Media: If applicable!
Username(s) on other Petsites/Communities: If applicable!
Any other Details/Information: Optional
Why not have a standardized payment rate?
There is too much variation in experience, skill, and preference in different artists for us to set a standard rate of payment here. Please list out payment preferences most suitable for you when applying. The preferred payment artists receive is at their comfort and discretion, and will not have any weight when reviewing applications.
How are artists selected?
We will be hiring applicants who seem like a good fit for the team based on art style, past experience and skill level. All artists will be joining our team of creatives and taking on work that fits into their own schedule. We're looking to create a great team environment that will boost the creativity and variety of future site content.
What kind of hours are artists expected to work each month?
This is flexible for each artist, we have no minimums for work taken on each month. Essentially, artists will claim what they have time for in each project and manage their time independantly around our planned deadlines.
Will hired artists be drawing turnip-based items such as monthly sets?
No. We will not be hiring artists to draw items or content that directly generate revenue. All site artists will be working on free-to-play content such as new permanent items/pets, assets, and free seasonal content.
Why ask for a timezone?
This is to best coordinate scheduled things like deadlines. If selected, we will be getting in touch to discuss everything in further detail, as not everyone in the same timezone has the same active schedule.
When will my application be replied to?
Due to the potential volume of applications, we may not be able to reply to every application, but thank everyone in advance for their interest in the available positions! We will be emailing with additional questions where applicable.
Applications will remain open indefinitely until we assemble a full team.
Thank you for reading, and feel free to spread the word about hiring opportunities on Dappervolk! We look forward to hearing from you, and we're so excited to expand our creative team and get to know everyone in the process.
Comments
Sorry to shitpost, but I don't think simply having the option is a problem. I could see myself taking turnips if I got like 1.5 times the worth or something - or even as a partial. Yes, artists should be compensated monetarily for their work...so...they should request that. I hate to dog on the community, but we love to dog on dv at any turn and to go above and beyond with reactions.
Also I don't think many people were saying "this site did it so it's ok", I think they were just clarifying why anji would have this offer. The culture was like that on Ayways, so it's just what she knows. I'm only assuming, I could be wrong. But I think I've only seen one person actually say the quoted statement.
If an applicant does not know average hours or know that the staff is AT LEAST flexible with them then it's going to be hard for the people having multiple jobs, who are stay at home parents, who are in school, etc. On any professional application they would give at least a ROUNDABOUT for what a normal day in office would look like or how they would go about working on a project.
This isn't something that breaks an NDA or goes against any in office TOS so it's important to have that information open and readily there incase someone has a messy schedule or on the off chance they'll need to have that flex for other things going on (such as a second job, classes, etc.) and I've seen comments saying that it shouldn't be available when it ABSOLUTELY SHOULD.
Even for the people who're not artists and who're at a 9 to 5 job get paid per hour and they know how much they're getting paid on the application or at the very least it's available on the site for the certain job title. So with that I'll go into the 'turnip payment' everyone's been going nuts about.
Consider it an OPTION. It's not a straight payment method as said in the original post BUT if the artist PREFERS turnips over payment then they will compensate of course. BUT I would suggest a HYBRID payment system if this is the case so the artist can still get paid with real currency and have that much stated on the original post to not have so many people on your throat about it.
Clarify what needs to be said or done and fix the mistakes, thank you.
I understand many of you are young or not in the professional world, so I don't say this in anger. Yes, there are many questions, and some things in the listing could be worded differently, but demanding and in-depth explanation of the job's details is unrealistic. That's between employee and employer and between coworkers.
As for offering in turnips, it's been explained enough. It's a different work culture in browser games that have a premium currency. Plus, from reading it, it sounds like the job will be more part-time, side-gig type of hours. especially with the comment of budget and need. They AREN'T paying for your rent. In my experience, with asset work, you get sent concept art and you make the asset and with some tweaking as per the developer, you turn it in(It's more complicated but that's the tl;dr). So if they don't have the budget for a week or a need for anything that week... you go without being paid or making anything that week. This isn't a job to say any artist will be making a living on--as nice as that would be--and if someone wants this as a casual side job, for all we know, they could be using it to fund their time on the game and it's their right to choose such payment. It's up to the person being hired, leave it at that.
If I've said anything blatantly incorrect without realizing--i know my experience isn't universal--or others have other experience in asset creation, I'd be happy to hear another side. Unless you're actively aggressive, I'll happily talk more at length.
I sympathize the the general anti-turnip sentiment because many CS startups lowball/overwork new graduates and same with a lot of post-grad student jobs. I just don't think that DV has the same ill intentions.
But DV didn't start out like most petsites. They started out with almost double the kickstarter funds that even Flight Rising started with- nearly 100k CAD by the end. They have reliable methods for monetization- premium shops pushing turnip sales every month, theater and page ads, etc. From my perspective, it seems like they should have plentiful funds to pay all artists fairly with IRC.
It's insulting to me because of DV's history. If they were just a tiny project struggling to get off the ground, sure, try and mitigate some costs by offering site currency. But it's just blatantly not the case here.
The culture of underpaying artist being so easily accepted and brushed off is a problem and people keeps saying "Other sites do it so it's okay". This argument just brush off the problem and hide it under a rug.
But after reading your other posts it seems you didn't meant your first post like that, but more of "Staff did it out of habit but not out of malice" which I agree is highly likely what happened, though I don't really agree criticisms were "overreactions" or "acting as if the staff ruined someone's career over" because there were plenty politely said arguments. But I agree that people can chose to be paid in IGC or RLC, when they know exactly what the workload is (and aren't used to the idea that their work isn't worth RLC).
I just wish the whole "Other sites/people do it so it's okay" stopped, cause it never is a good argument and can do more damage than good. It's just sad seeing it so often, exactly because this whole thing is so easily accepted, despite knowing it's bad.
Basically, I'm just iffy about one sentence and saying criticisms are only overreaction, but I don't mean any ill towards you and am happy to see your other posts as they help understand better what you meant and we agree on a lot of things ! I really hope this response don't come off as mean or something. I promise that's not the intent (just trying to change this nonchalant response that can be a bit dangerous), but if it does somehow I'm very very sorry.
I agree that artists should be paid their worth. I am an artist and many of my friends are artists. What bothers me is the fact this is an option and people are terming it as an end-all and be-all without any other valid choice, that artists are being manipulated, and that this wasn't just a mistake to include that can't be simply resolved.
Every artist, I think, should get an estimate of the hours we're expected to work, the minimum wage stated upfront, and the marketization or privatization of work specified. That was never a question. This announcement is fundamentally flawed, but the flaw never hinted at any malice or manipulation of an artist to me.
I'd sometimes prefer to be paid in IGC because I'm very faulty with my own finances. I'm neurodivergent, and less financial stressors or expectations (I have PDA, pathological demand avoidance from autism) mean I won't have near as many overstims. I also think that if I were someone who didn't have access to Paypal, such as being in another country or not having all the necessary identification to make a Paypal, I'd choose IGC.
Artists are absolutely worth every penny, a tip, and so much more for their valid and hard contributions. That, to me, was never the heart of the argument.
But acting as if the staff ruined someone's career over a fauxpas in a post that we grew up seeing numerously in our own childhoods and in our own adulthood is a bit odd. It's something we grew up with and got conditioned to seeing. Because we grew up with a different netculture, we grow accustomed to that culture. Is it time to change? Sure. But this wasn't an act of deliberate hate towards an artist.
In closing, I agree with everything you're saying. The way it's being addressed is the only thing bothering me.
P.S: I enjoyed the debate, wish you no ill will for any same or differing opinions, and hope you have a lovely day. <3
Also what's happening on another site (aka Aywas) doesn't makes it okay, especially when this site main artist left said site because she was underpayed for all the work she did.
I understand that the turnip option may have been mentioned because the DV staff could use less strain on their budget. That’s understandable, especially considering how green DV is… but if you can’t pay employees or contractors, you shouldn’t be hiring them. This is true for not only all pet sites, but ALL BUSINESSES. Additionally, the actual job description here is so very vague and unhelpful. It’s important for artists to have a say in how much they get paid, but the business should still have an estimate of how much they’re willing to pay per piece or by the hour. I’d also like to echo the sentiments of a few other users in this thread— how many hours would each artist be expected to work per week, and at what rate should they be completing pieces?
Seriously, though. DV has the opportunity to set a good example for pet sites. It’s disappointing that they don’t seem to have used it, but hey, c’est la vie.