Oniisanbomber's Blog

The Quest of Finding New Artist for
“I Met You After the End of the World Volume 5”

26th of September, 2025

In my last blog post, I wrote about starting to write Volume 5, the final volume of “I Met You After the End of the World.”

Unfortunately, misekiss won’t be able to illustrate the volume due to the serialization of her manga. Isn’t it amazing? She won an online manga competition and will get a full serialization! That is the kind of story you only see in manga like Bakuman. Her manga is going to be amazing. I’m sure of it.

While I am happy for her success, it also means that I need to find a new artist to draw the cover and inside illustrations (as well as a new secret project I’m working on!)

Finding an artist can be an arduous task. Every time I need to find a new artist, it involves spending many hours across many days on Twitter and Instagram, going through countless profiles and portfolios, trying to put together a list of artists whose art style and taste are suitable for the cover art I have in mind. It’s exhausting work. The Internet is a deep and dark place. And whether or not you find an artist who is a good fit really depends on luck. Will the gods of social media allow you to click on the right profile?

While looking at artist profiles and portfolios, there are several questions on my mind.

Is their art style a good fit for the series?

Are they able to draw the ‘feel’ that I have in mind?

But beyond that there are also other non-creative considerations in mind.

Are they open for commissions?

What are their commercial commission rates? (Established artists can charge around 3000-5000USD per drawing, which is far beyond my budget.)

Are they okay with commissions from private individuals? (The best artists only accept work from companies.)

And AFTER all of that, the chance of them replying to your e-mail is only around 10% in my experience. It really is an exhausting process.

After all, they have zero obligation to you. You are just a random individual on the Internet. Why should they trust you?

(In my case, it got easier finding a new artist the more books I wrote and the more artists I worked with. It turns out that the online artist circle is pretty small as they all participate in the same conventions such as Summer Comiket. They recognize each other’s names, and if you have worked with one before, then it is easier to find the next one to work with. It is finding the first artist that is the hardest.)

And beyond that, most Asian artists (typically they are Korean, Japanese or Taiwanese) loathe to work with English-speaking foreigners. There are cultural differences and language barriers to consider. Asian artists simply don’t want to deal with all of that. Furthermore, foreigners have a bad reputation. They pay late and have high demands.

So how do I overcome ALL of these barriers?

First of all, cover as much ground as possible on social media. Try to see as many profiles as your eyes will allow you.

Write a professional e-mail. I cannot emphasize this enough. After years of trial and error, I have crafted the perfect e-mail format that has a higher chance of success. It covers all of the basics and some other not-so-obvious information that makes it easier for Asian artists to respond.

If you are interested in how to write such an email, I will soon be launching a one-time fee online course teaching you and anyone else who wants to break this mysterious barrier. (Also check out my other Services!)

And finally, when deciding on an artist, I follow my gut feeling.

If you look at misekiss’s portfolio, her art style and portfolio are not a good match for any of my light novel series. BUT – my gut feeling told me that she is the right choice. It is difficult to explain.

And now finally it is time to reveal misekiss’s successor.

_luna610 (Portfolio and X/Twitter)

When I saw Luna’s artwork, my gut feeling told me: this is the right person.

After sending a quick email, we quickly reached an agreement for her to draw the illustrations for my upcoming light novels!

Have a look at her work. Isn’t it charming? (Artwork credits: _luna610)