An Eternity on Instagram

By Ife J. Ibitayo

Tobi had promised me it’d be easy. Log on to Instagram. Spend a few hours scrolling through posts until you find a handful of illustrators you like. Fire off some DMs. And when one finally responds, you have yourself a comic book artist. But the reality was not nearly as seamless as he made it sound.

The hours crawled by as I tried every hashtag I could muster to find the right artist to partner with. #christiancomicbookartist #christianillustration #historicalgraphicnovels #helpme

If it wasn’t one problem, it would be another. They wouldn’t possess the right style. Or they wouldn’t accept commissions. Or they had experience with every medium under the sun except comic books. And if ever the stars aligned so that all of these previous boxes were actually checked off, they’d ghost me like the Phantom of the Opera.

The Coup de Grace for Instagram

I remember one particularly discouraging interaction I had with a fellow I’ll call Matthew. On one of my seemingly endless Instagram scrolling sessions, I stumbled across his artwork, and I instantly felt a connection. He’d drawn a scene of David transitioning from meager shepherd boy to powerful warrior king. It was vibrant and colorful comic book style with clear Christian undertones. Then I clicked on to his Instagram page and found an up-to-date website with contact information. And when I filled out the form, he responded within twenty-four hours.

I felt like I had just won the lottery! We set up a phone call and bonded over a shared vision. Then I sent him a non-disclosure agreement and payment terms, excited to embark on a new journey together in 2023. But he vanished like smoke. Weeks passed, and my emails remained unanswered. It was like calling out into the void. I was back to square one.

Conclusion

Entering the new year empty handed, I knew I’d have to change tactics. Social media wasn’t the answer for me, but I was praying something else would be.

While attending LA Comic Con the previous month, I’d spent a few minutes chatting with an amazing independent comic book creator. He was a writer, like me, without an ounce of drawing capability in his body. And he practically gushed over his experience forming a team of artists to work with using an online freelance marketplace called Upwork. So I decided that that would be my next pit stop.