Ok, when I first started seriously making comics with TonyDoug Wright at Champion City Comics, I figured every artist was like me-hard working but just looking for that big break. We started making comics. The End of Paradise was what we cut our teeth on-getting 140 pages done before we realized that the entire thing would have to be re lettered. So we moved on to other projects, along the way trying to get other artists and writers together to build a webcomic company, gain attention and break into the big leagues.
The first artist I brought to Tony went to work on a great story of Tony's titled And We Formed a Band. I was stoked and so was Tony as the guy's style fit the story. He cranked out a page and we were stoked. Then....the pages stopped. This dude ended up doing like 2 1/2 pages in 4 months. Remember-a Marvel artist MUST produce at least 22 pages penciled a month or they will soon be FIRED.
So I started putting ads on Digital Webbing to try to get artists for various projects. Ok, they were unpaid assignments, but having produced 140 UNPAID pages myself for practice and exposure I didn't think it would be an issue. Artist after artist began doing a page, two pages.....then quitting. Stunned, Tony and I began to realize that hardly ANY artists out there actually wanted to draw; they just wanted to, I don't know, get hired by Marvel, do 5 pages then retire. None of them were DRIVEN.
So I began to realize WHY Marvel and other publishers do not even take submissions anymore-they got tired of wanna-bes WASTING THEIR TIME. I'm sure they went through artist after artist who was talented, then an editor gave them an assignment.....and they did like 5 pages then started with the excuses. Marvel finally said, 'enough'.
So my point here is these wanna-be-not really want-to-be 'artists' that have ruined it for everyone. Well, everyone who is serious, which is not that many. In the year and a half I have been getting artists off Digital Webbing I have a total of five pages to show for it. And it was like pulling teeth to get them. Why these guys don't take up some other hobby if they don't intend to draw is beyond me. It's like the guy in the bar who thinks he can kick everyone's ass, then when someone says 'Ok, let's step outside'-he backs down. Then his brain works overtime coming up with excuses about why he backed down. "He's not worth it" is the most common one.
So, obviously I have a bit of anger here-but these guys are helping to make my dream harder to accomplish, and it's already damn near impossible. Tip: if you don't draw at least two pages a week every week of the year, paid or unpaid, just because you love to draw, this is not the business for you.
So PLEASE get out of my way.
A. Kaviraj is an artist and writer at Champion City Comics. His works include Dr Death vs The Vampire, Doctor Death vs The Zombie, and The End of Paradise.
No comments:
Post a Comment