The Reality of Independent Publishing

This isn't meant as to discourage, simply educate.

Comic writer Jim Zubkavich breaks down the cost of publishing your own comic, including how much or little you stand to make,

http://www.jimzub.com/?p=1953

As I said -- not meant to discourage, but to encourage you to do your best work possible.

- Zach

DECOMPRESSED - Podcast by Kieron Gillen

A customer of mine gave me the heads-up on this podcast series and I figured I'd pass it along. podcast DECOMPRESSED (also available on iTunes!) is an interview/discussion/dissection of a single comic between Kieron Gillen, a current Marvel Comics writer (and a personal favorite), and whichever creator he's convinced to sit down with him for an hour and "talk shop." He's British and speaks somewhat quickly, so it can be a little difficult to keep up at times, but his discussions with a writer or artist (and sometimes both) on how they make their comics is definitely worth a listen (and look -- there are visual aids!).

In particular, I liked the interview with Matt Fraction & David Aja about Hawkeye #1; I'm not a huge fan of Fraction's work, but he understands the mechanics of storytelling and loves making comics. David Aja, in my opinion, might be one of the best illustrative storytellers working in comics today (Chris Samnee, too).

I also liked the discussion with Matt Fraction & Mark Waid about the pros and cons of scripting using the "Marvel Method." The "Marvel Method" of scripting is when the writer giving the penciller a page-by-page plot breakdown, writing the dialogue for the pages only after the artist turns in the finished pages; an approach I think I myself will be trying to speed up my writing.

Enjoy!
-Zach

Demonic Symbols for Prof Kerr!

Zach and I stumbled upon these while looking through tumblr and thought you might find them interesting reference for your story.

Potential Comix

Hi, haven't contributed in a while, and I probably won't make it this sunday. Though here's what I have been doing while absent.

http://potentialcomix.tumblr.com/

Basically, there's a weekly topic, and you have an entire seven days to complete a page. Simple. I've been participating, (mbrillo) and it's been running for six weeks, so check it out.

Date Change! Sept 2nd Meeting.

Hi All, Due to conflicting plans for many of the members, the meeting is moved to the following week (Sept. 9th) at 1:00pm. Look forward to seeing you all there. --Tom

Alex's Zombie (Chimmy) Apocalypse

Hi Guys, Here is my contribution to the "Worst Zombie Death" It is only a couple of hours worth of work, but fun just the same. Add, if you've completed yours.

Notes and Links from Today's Meeting

So here are the links for each of the writing advice pages that I had during today's meeting.  I'll also paste in the outline of today's notes as well.

John Steinbeck's Six Tips on Writing


Writing Tips from Elmore Leonard, Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, etc.

Kurt Vonnegut's Eight Tips to Writing a Good Story

Six Rules for a Great Story

Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling


Below are my notes, all of which came from writing lists off of the Writer's Digest website.


Attitude:

1) Take yourself seriously and act like a professional

2) Do not write as revenge


3)  Just start writing, don’t try to wait for perfect moment/perfect mood

4)  Don’t get jealous/competitive

5)  Don’t try to be trendy.

 6)  Don’t be a perfectionist.

7) Write in small pieces


Plot:

1)  Start with a smash, don’t build up to it -- “Bob crashed his car”

2)  Show, don’t tell

3)  There needs to be cause and effect -- do not make people do things only because you want them to or because of the plot

4)  Escalate the stakes throughout the story

5)  Don’t do what people expect you to do based solely on your premise

6)  Avoid prologues

7)  If it’s something you’d skip over in someone else’s book, don’t put it in



Characters/Language:


1)  Dialogue is how you show who a character is -- don’t have everyone talk about how wonderful Mary is, have Mary be a wonderful person and let readers figure it out

 2)  Make sure each character has a voice -- they shouldn’t all ‘sound’ the same

 3)  Be conversational but don’t get bogged down in how people actually talk -- “Hi, how are you?” “I’m fine.  You?” “Oh, I’m okay.”  “That’s good.”

 4)  Try to simplify your character’s lines -- people don’t speak in prose. 

5)  Don’t overemphasize.

6)  Avoid regional dialect

7)  Everyone has to want something/don’t write about wimps

8) Be sadistic


Storytelling:

1)  Do not clutter with detail -- don’t need to show Bob getting dressed, brushing teeth, eating breakfast, driving, then crashing car -- just show the car crash

 2)  Try to make every page interesting -- don’t waste time on filler

3)  Don’t try and telegraph when you’re being funny, thoughtful, serious, etc.


4)  Kill your darlings.




What Not to Do:

1)  Avoid cliches --  the morning routine, explaining a day-to-day routine, start of a phone conversation, etc.

2)  Don’t rely on coincidence

3)  Don’t try to force symbolism/themes

4) Don’t write for the invisible audience

5) Don’t write for your mother

6) Don’t focus on the weather

"Submission Guidelines for every Comic and Manga Publisher in the Universe"

This is a list compiled almost two years ago, but it's chock-full of information on what each specific comic publishing company is looking for in a writer/penciller/inker/colorist.
http://www.optimumwound.com/the-submission-guidelines-for-every-comic-and-manga-publisher-in-the-universe.htm

If you were interviewing for a regular nine-to-five job, you'd need to tailor your résumé to match what the job requirements are to make you seem like the most suitable candidate -- portfolio reviews are no different. If you're looking to get a job doing art chores for one of these companies (I'm looking at you, James), make sure your portfolio/submission shows that you can do the job they're looking for.

As I wrote before, the list hasn't been updated since a year before the DC relaunch set the comic industry on a bit of a boom again, so what each company may be looking for now could be different. Some publishers are missing from the list. I didn't see BOOM! Studios anywhere on the list and they've become quite an up-and-coming publisher of both licensed and creator-owned titles. Looking at the BOOM! Studio's website I found the following info on their submission process; apparently you can post art samples (not stories or scripts) to their message boards. They "do not reply to these posts directly, but have hired several people that way." Info on that here: http://forums.boom-studios.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4

Not all these options are necessarily work-for-hire or freelance opportunities; Image Comics is entirely creator-owned comics -- basically you bring your comic, story pitch, script, and art samples to them and they'll help you publish it (at a cost to you, of course.) But this model has worked for people -- look at Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore & Charlie Adlard's The Walking Dead, Brian Michael Bendis & Mike Avon Oeming's Powers, or John Layman and Rob Guillory's Chew as a few hugely successful comics from Image.

Lastly, and most exciting for me, is the emergence of Kickstarter as a means to not just financing a project you're working on but also as a grass-roots way to find an audience. A lot of the comics projects posted on KS look like junk (bad design abounds!), but should you present your idea well you can find a following while maintaining complete creative control and ownership over your property. It's all do-it-yourself: you need to find a printer to print your story, organize shipping of the books once their complete, etc, etc. But isn't that the most exciting prospect?

Well, that's enough rambling from me. Hope some/all of you find this useful -- if not now, maybe at some point down the road.

Thirteen Writing Tips from Chuck Palahniuk

Re-stumbled across this as well: 13 Writing Tips by Chuck Palahniuk

It seems we already have "Number Six" down, but we do it monthly not weekly.

Some of these might help you out if you feel stuck or you're struggling with your story; I find myself doing a lot of these on my own and sometimes they help (and even work!).

A Little Composition Lesson from Milton Caniff

I had favorited this link on Twitter months ago and just found it again; this is a quick little lesson about comic panel composition from the late, great Milton Caniff.  Not an earth-shattering revelation -- just something to keep in mind.

Story Composition

For those who don't recognize his name: Milton Caniff was the writer/cartoonist of war/adventure comics strips Terry and the Pirates in the 1930s and Steve Canyon in the 1940s up through his death in 1988 (although he didn't draw all of Steve Canyon after the first few years).

WSJ Story on Comics

Hi Guys, Saw this and thought some of you might like to see it.

Art Doldrums

I came across this from an artist I admire.

He makes some decent points. Nothing groundbreaking, but hopefully reassuring.

The Ghost of Foxtopus Jones

Hi Guys, Though Foxtopus Jones is not a regular attendee at our monthly confabs, she shared this on FB (you may have already seen), but I thought it worth sharing here too. Enjoy! http://harkavagrant.com/mothersdaycomic.png

How to write...WELL

Hey guys for those who missed the presentation on the Hero archetypes and hero's journey, here is my keynote. Basically how to write a story.

Chris Ware...

I saw this via a cartoonist friend on FB. Thought you'd all like to get a peek at Chris Ware, who rarely appears in media of any type.

No bubbles, but--maybe--a solution

Chris, Here is an example from the period. Text and image...and frames no less.

Amazon Studios Animation...

I thought some of you who aspire toward animation might be interested in this deal from Amazon studios. http://studios.amazon.com/?ref=astu_placement_AnimatorsOAA

Loup, With bubbles??

Hey guys, I just wanted to get some feed back. I am trying a few different ways to tell the story of my comic without the words or bubbles. As I was working I asked myself what would the comic actually look like if it had bubbles? So I said what the hell and whipped up one of the pages as if it was a final with the bubbles. I am also playing around with the idea of leaving the inside of the comics Black and White rather than full color, just an idea. Anywho...the bubbles actually turned out way better than I thought they would, soooooo since I am still at a stand still as to what direction I should go I wanted to know what you guys thought of the page with the bubbles. Be honest!! Thanks guys!!


Chris

P.S. I know I knowwww The font still needs work :)

Neil Gaiman Comencement Address

I caught this video and thought it useful for all graduates of the the arts.

The Odyssey Comic

Hey guys! I wanted to share a "small job" I am doing at St. Anthony's where I work. (not that I don't have enough to do) But one of my colleagues, Nick, an english teacher at St. Anthony's, is teaching his kids the odyssey and he asked me to do a sketch for him during one of my hall duties about the scene where Odysseus goes to the edge of hades' land to speak to the prophet Teiresias. Apparently he was worried the students would have trouble visualizing the scene because their text leaves out a lot of the details. Anywho..... I was bored on Thursday night and couldn't really sleep so I decided to take it one step further and make him a quick comic of the scene. Needless to say I really got into it! Let me know what you think. I still have to ink the first page but you get the idea. 

Side note: It was a huge hit with the students and Nick and I are going to try to meet with the Eng. dept. chair to discuss doing comics of other books the students have to read. Hopefully this will help them get more involved and actually read the material they are assigned.

City Hall Subway for Theresa

 For Theresa's underground adventure story.  IF you ever decide to set it in Manhattan instead of Queens, you could use this abandoned subway stop as a little backdrop/setting.  Or I guess if they travel far enough they could end up there too!  It's the City Hall stop, which was closed in 1945 and then everyone seemed to forget about it.  Now you can see it on one of the trains as you ride by. I just thought it was really cool.

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/10/the-hidden-abandoned-city_n_781669.html#s179138

There are more pictures at the link above too :)

Beard Info-Graphic for Diamond

 Here's a fun little info graphic about beards (mostly present day statistics), but I thought maybe it would be useful for how you wanted to focus on body hair on certain characters.  There some links at the bottom if you want to investigate it further. 

http://www.damnlol.com/phd-in-facial-hair-17697.html

Also, if you've ever watched Game of Thrones on HBO, there's a certain group of people called the Dothraki (who are also very persian/middle eastern influenced) where the men grow out their hair really long.  They only cut it off when they lose in battle to show their shame, so the man with the longest hair is the leader.  Just some other ways you could distinguish characters by how "macho" they are.
Just note, I'm not saying you should copy the long hair thing, it's just another example of how power/respect was symbolized with respect to hair.

Chris' Comic

Hey guys! I am sorry I missed the meeting today guys, its been a very rough week. I will talk to Zach to get filled in and I will deff see you at the next meeting. In the mean time I did think about what we discussed about doing my comic as large images without words. There still is some thinking to be done about it, however I do believe that the less talking the better. With this in mind I re-drew the next page that would need to be carved so that it has larger images and uses no words. I think it would be wise to let the imagery control the story rather than the words. This being said I think to accomplish a decent story without words, or very few of them, the panels, rather than large full size images, would be even more important to create a sequencal story.

Anywho.... I attached the new sketch as well as the original just to get your guys opinion.

(The top one is the original)

The Cartoonist's Goal

This appeared in today's NY Times. I thought some may get a lot from this brief look into the creative life of a graphic novelist.

Infinite Comics

Hi All, I read this article at GIZMODO on Marvel's Infinite Comics. Read through this--it's interesting and useful.
 The video says it all:
http://gizmodo.com/5898782/infinite-comics-marvels-new-format-changes-how-comics-are-created

A pro shows how it is done these days:
 http://gizmodo.com/5898788/avengers-vs-x+men-infinite-comic-gallery/gallery/5

Thought this TED talk by Scott McCloud was interesting...Enjoy!

Latest Stylistic Iteration

Hi Guys,

As you know, Rather than focusing on the what would seemingly be the normal concerns of Graphic noveldom, I'm busying myself attempting to forge "a look" that could suffice for the whole effort. In this one, I've opted for more brush work, It really isn't a panel that will appear in the final version (some ideas might). What do you think?

Awesome thank you professor and Mrs. Kerr! I will check it out asap.

Also here are the books professor Kerr was talking about before we left. I truly believe they are a MUST HAVE! Especially for all of us of this group.

Framed Ink

and

How to draw Noir Comics

The Hero's Journey in Under 75 Panels

Discussing Chris's GN as being done as a silent narrative reminded me of this recent piece by Matt Rhodes (a video game concept artist) titled My Hero. I tried to post the whole image, but it was too small, so check it out here. Any thoughts?

Inking Batman #7 Page 2 by Jonathan Glapion

Here's that time-lapse video I mentioned earlier at the meeting -- it's the current inker on Batman working on a page from start to finish.

Below is the brush he mentions using; I've never tried using it before but he seems to do some nice work with it.
Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Miniature Brush
http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-series-7-kolinsky-sable-miniature-brushes/

He also has a few more tutorials/time-lapse videos; if you like this one, be sure to check them out.

Great First Meeting!

Great success today everyone! What a clutch of talented people!

Chris--the werewolf novel Val mentioned was called "Feeding Ground".

Here is that panel I did with a little digital tone added.

Ira Glass...on creative work.