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So you want to do comics?
9 years ago
You have a fabulous, groundbreaking idea that will be a kick-ass comic, and you're looking for an artist? Valuable piece of advice #1: learn to draw comics yourself. Unless you're independently wealthy, or are good friends with an artist, that's the only way it will get done.
Both the blessing and the curse of the internet age is instant access to other artists. But it also creates unrealistic expectations, where people are no longer willing to put in the years of effort it takes to become good at something. When I was in middle school and high school, I had NO access to any other artists. I didn't even know anyone else who drew.. I was a voracious reader of comics (mostly fringe comics like Elfquest, or fantasy-SF like Heavy Metal or Epic Illustrated.) I desperately wanted to get my work in books like that. I had no one to help me, or give any advice, or anything. But I started drawing my own comics. My first efforts were pretty bad, and without any kind of artistic mentor I didn't even know what I could do to improve them. But I also thank God there was no internet then, where early bad efforts at things are mocked and derided.
I kept on for literally years, working in a vacuum. It wasn't until I went to art school in my early 20's that I was finally around other artists and a place where I could learn something and get structured critiques. As a result my work took a huge leap forward in quality during that period, but comics are their own beast, and in addition to just doing pretty drawings you have to learn how to render, do layouts, perspective, pacing and writing. I see a lot of comics today with nice drawings, but artists who have no clue how to write, layout or pace a story.
I did literally hundreds of pages of comics before anything I did was public. I worked my ass off learning to draw comics. I made not a dime off of anything comics-related until well into my 30's. That's why I shake my head when I see announcements of multi-volume graphic novels, that all die after the first issue, when the person realizes how much work it is, for basically no money, and the unpleasant realization that being able to draw a pretty picture does not always translate into being able to tell a story through comics. You mean you have to draw hundreds and hundreds of pages in order to get any good at it? Whoops!
If you have a great idea for a comic, draw it yourself. If it's not worth investing the countless (and thankless) hours laboring over in your own life, why in the world would anyone else be expected to labor over it? Edison had the famous "1% inspiration and 99% perspiration" quote, but it seems few people are willing to put in that 99% part any more. Ideas are cheap, but having finished product to show people that you did yourself, that's something else.
Both the blessing and the curse of the internet age is instant access to other artists. But it also creates unrealistic expectations, where people are no longer willing to put in the years of effort it takes to become good at something. When I was in middle school and high school, I had NO access to any other artists. I didn't even know anyone else who drew.. I was a voracious reader of comics (mostly fringe comics like Elfquest, or fantasy-SF like Heavy Metal or Epic Illustrated.) I desperately wanted to get my work in books like that. I had no one to help me, or give any advice, or anything. But I started drawing my own comics. My first efforts were pretty bad, and without any kind of artistic mentor I didn't even know what I could do to improve them. But I also thank God there was no internet then, where early bad efforts at things are mocked and derided.
I kept on for literally years, working in a vacuum. It wasn't until I went to art school in my early 20's that I was finally around other artists and a place where I could learn something and get structured critiques. As a result my work took a huge leap forward in quality during that period, but comics are their own beast, and in addition to just doing pretty drawings you have to learn how to render, do layouts, perspective, pacing and writing. I see a lot of comics today with nice drawings, but artists who have no clue how to write, layout or pace a story.
I did literally hundreds of pages of comics before anything I did was public. I worked my ass off learning to draw comics. I made not a dime off of anything comics-related until well into my 30's. That's why I shake my head when I see announcements of multi-volume graphic novels, that all die after the first issue, when the person realizes how much work it is, for basically no money, and the unpleasant realization that being able to draw a pretty picture does not always translate into being able to tell a story through comics. You mean you have to draw hundreds and hundreds of pages in order to get any good at it? Whoops!
If you have a great idea for a comic, draw it yourself. If it's not worth investing the countless (and thankless) hours laboring over in your own life, why in the world would anyone else be expected to labor over it? Edison had the famous "1% inspiration and 99% perspiration" quote, but it seems few people are willing to put in that 99% part any more. Ideas are cheap, but having finished product to show people that you did yourself, that's something else.
Or, you could do what I did, if it is a drama, write it out, and do it as an audio drama.
I don't read too much slice of life, I think the last one I really got into was Berlin City of Stone/smoke but that's classified as historical. As often it's not the writing or concepts that puts me off from slice of life but as you said it the art styles. Though I'll take an artist trying their own unique style over ones that copy what's trendy at the moment.
-2Paw.
-2Paw.
P.S.: Would a frat assault using leg puttees instead of toilet rolls be more effective?
P.S. Puttees have more weight, so less wind resistance, but are only about 2 meters or so long, so you lose the advantage of a heavy dense roll after launch. They are also made of wool, and are more expensive than TP, so how much money is worth wasting on a raid is up to you.
I suspected that'd be the case with puttees, as I believe they're woven fabric rather than processed wood pulp (toilet rolls). I was badly addicted to the whole 'traditional leg wrap for werewolves' thing before I saw your work (say, with Asheru and company or the WW I and II pictures you've done) and again before that, it never would've occurred to me to consider what a RL leg wrap would be made of at the time. Fabric, or at least some reasonably-strong woven material, makes the most sense, as you say.
Not too far from the Snail, at a store once known as Grey Region, I picked up my own copy of Cyberpunk 2020's mainbook around 1994 or so. It took a few years to put two and two together and realize the Scott Ruggels and Bryce Nakagawa I knew of in the annals of fandom and the chummers mentioned in the credits were indeed one and the same. There were no furries (Exotics, as in) in drawn work in the mainbook, but I know I could pick out at least a couple of pieces that I was reasonably sure were of your draughtsmanship, cybernetically-enhanced human or otherwise. ^_^
-2Paw.
-2Paw.
Unless you are doing graphic novels, you need to keep a regular schedule. I've seen great comics fold, because they took months before the next issue came out and interested people had moved on.
For webcomics at least weekly.
For a printed comic series monthly, yes that means you need to complete 0,8 to 1 complete page every day, depending if your comic will have 24 or 32 pages.
In both cases with no vacation on the horizon if you don't go ahead and create the pages ahead. You are sick? Bad luck, you'll still have to work if you aren't ahead. Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo) kept his deadline even when he had double vision. Don't ask what forced him to pause the series, but then, after over 25 years the fans tend to be very forgiving, something you can't expect when you start out.
I can only emphasize the part about having to be prepared to work (yes, creating a comic series is work) long and hard with no guarantee of success.
Now, there can be rewards. Mind you, this is a singular example and I am not aware of similar ones. But it shows what a good story and/or good humour can do even with a rather simple art style. The webcomic is 'The Order of the Stick' ( http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1034.html ) The comic had over 800 pages when the creator wanted to reprint the first two paperbacks and did a Kickstarter with a $50.000. Look for yourself how it ended: https://www.kickstarter.com/project.....-reprint-drive
Remember, he had to do 800 full pages to get there. 800 pages in 9 years.
My problem with comics comes down to one thing (well, several, but one in particular) : drawing speed. I am HORRENDOUSLY slow at drawing, and when I finish something the proportions are usually WAY off and it looks horrible. How can I POSSIBLY think I can make a comic? But the dreams are still there, nagging at the back of my mind.
...And instead of doing anything productive, I spend all my time on the internet. (and sometimes games) *facedesk*
Also something I find both fascinating and horrifying is that a GREAT NUMBER of artists, and not just those who work on comics, can't draw with a pencil on paper!! If they're tablet or main machine goes down they're almost helpless. I thought it was some kind of weird stupid joke when I first heard about it, but then I met some artists like that in the flesh and it literally opened my eyes. They could NOT use a pencil to draw and actively discouraged their fans from asking them when they were at cons or bring the "black books" to them! It was digital or nothing!
Funny to think that if we have a world wide catastrophe that sends us all back to the "stone age" there'll be no "cave drawings" to show we've been here because no one can draw without their stylus or Wacom Cintiq!
When I was in school one thing that was brought up about comics is that you will never get the same praise as you would for a stand alone image. Sequential art tells a story, therefor requires more time and thought. That's something most people won't give on the internet, it's easy to look at a piece of art and go 'I like this' or "I don't like this' long format Comics takes normally 10-32 pages to really assess if this is something you like and want to continue to read.
I think many people get caught up in thinking comics will gain them attention. Sometimes it does, some few people have lighting in a bottle but most people are just another idea people can't spare the time to read 10-32 pages to assess if they will or won't like it. So it's a labour of love or insanity... I'm unsure.
This is why I think most artists bail on ideas and we get unfinished graphic novels. It's a very thankless job.
This also happens more often than people want to admit.
How do you know you're going to be a successful comic artist? You don't. I scribbled for two decades while I could; now, due to Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, I can barely hold a pencil. Fortunately, my artistic abilities were such that I don't miss them much. Regrets? Maybe a few. Was I ever convinced I would be a great artist? I think Jim Davis was a better cartoonist when he started Gnorm Gnat (long before Garfield) than I ever would have been.
I already went way ahead in planing it... keeping key things in mind, and trying to arrange them on a timeline, so the entire story is set, but only keyparts are chosen for each "Issue" / "Episode".
Too bad I have too many ideas for projects, I can't actually focus on any of these.
And think of it this way-- if you don't think you can afford college, you sure can't afford to hire an artist to illustrate your work.
I'm far more 'drawn' towards the writing side and have been far too slacking on development of my art style, to date. But, I have dipped my toe into this field, just to see what it would be like. My strong suit was writing the whole scene. Not sure how long that bit took. (Though, I probably have some base records to work with for a time estimate.) Then I found a starving artist whom didn't charge me an arm and a leg. She basically did the work to keep food on the table and that works out very well with my limited budget. Setting that agreement up, I went to work on rewriting the scene into panel notes. And it is interesting to see how some things work well, others really don't work and the visuals can create whole new chunks. Kind of feels like translating one language to another. In one language, the word may be "Hgky". (Totally made up. Try not to find a meaning, BTW.) Which could translate to "I stopped by the food store and bought the night's worth of dinner groceries." Or, perhaps the act of saying 'hello' to an old friend requires a whole paragraph in the other language. In other words, the written approach didn't always translate well to the visual medium. But, I envisioned in my head how the scene would turn out and came up with these panels. ( http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16656828/ ) Then, I let my artist interpret from there how the scene would go. We'd do streaming, when possible. And that helped some of the scenes work out even better. Would produce results like this. ( http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16945200/ ) Now, we're past the one year mark and the comic's full chapter is nearly concluded. It's been an interesting experience and I do hope my artist the best of luck. She's been finding it very hard to make ends meet. Just moved and is nabbing internet signals, when she can. Which has made the whole thing an interesting experiment. But, had this been anywhere near production grade, the whole project would have had to been scrapped, almost from the start.
I wish I could "favorite" a journal post, because this... THIS is fantastic.
Lots of artists got the "pretty pin-up pose" stuff down pat...to have the characters doing the poses actually do stuff worth following chapter by chapter would be a next logical step...if said artists wish to pursue it...but it would take a helluva lot more effort than a one and done character pin-up.
To quote "You can give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.. Teach him to fish and he will eat for a lifetime"
On a similar note I often suggest tp people to try their hand at either repairing or making their own fursuit. I can supervise, help, offer suggestions, even do some of the more difficult parts with them there to learn.. But in the end they have a suit that is uniquely theirs AND they have the skills to do the repaires/mods.
Of course things like the head can be very complex so have no issue with someone buying their.. But bodies are relatively easy and all it really takes is the courage and encouragement to take the first steps :)
Marc