Manga Character Designer - Dark Psychological Mystery (Paid Trial for Full Chapter Contract)

Project Overview I am looking for a talented Manga Artist / Illustrator to collaborate on a new, high-concept psychological mystery manga series titled "Inheritance Tax." The Premise: In a world where newborns inherit random fragments of the memories and skills of the dead, a high school student named Kyo Tokizaki is born with the complete, intact life of a person inside his head—except the life belongs to a woman who won't be born for another 80 years. He is hunted by Inspector Vance, an elite international agent for the government bureau that taxes these memories. Visual Style & Vibe Genre: Seinen / Psychological Suspense / Noir. Aesthetic: High-contrast, cinematic, heavy use of deep shadows and expressive character acting. Visually inspired by series like Death Note, Psycho-Pass, and Tokyo Ghoul. Scope of Work (Phase 1: Paid Character Design Trial) Before diving into the full 18-page script for Chapter 1, I want to commission character design model sheets for our three main characters to ensure our visual styles align. You will be asked to create rough concept sketches/turnarounds for: Kyo Tokizaki (17): An average-looking Japanese high school student. Key requirement: Visual Duality. He must look slouchy and unremarkable normally, but completely shift into a rigid, precise posture with an intensely dilated left pupil when his future memories hijack his body. Inspector Vance (40s): An elite foreign investigator. Imposing, sterile, pale features, short slicked-back greying hair, and completely circular dark glasses. Wears an immaculate tailored black suit/trench coat with a silver scales-and-eye lapel pin. Sora (25-30): The ghost from the future. Sharp, striking features with a practical short bob haircut. Wears a sleek, futuristic tactical combat uniform scuffed with ash and blood. Deliverables Required Rough expression sheets and front/side pose turnarounds for Kyo, Vance, and Sora. Black and white digital line art (shading style test on at least one character). High-resolution files (PSD/CLIP format and PNG exports). Future Work Opportunity If this character design phase is successful and we work well together, this will immediately transition into a long-term contract to draw the entire 18-page first chapter (and subsequent chapters), paid on a fixed-price, milestone-per-page basis. Rights & Ownership This is a standard Work-for-Hire contract. Upon release of the milestone payment, 100% of the intellectual property, copyrights, and commercial rights to the artwork and character designs will belong to the client. You are welcome to use the designs in your portfolio after the official launch of the series. To Apply Please submit: - A link to your portfolio (specifically showcasing manga pages, panel sequential art, or high-contrast character designs). - Your estimated fixed-price quote for designing these 3 character sheets. - Your standard page rate for fully finished black-and-white manga pages for the future chapter work.