ADDENDUM! UPDATE! Whatever you want to call it!
Jonboy Meyers is NOT an A-Hole for asking me that question. He never has been and he never will be. He's simply one of the best people I know and his question was completely harmless. Please understand that Jon's question was a starting point for this whole essay. So please don't take it out of context. Jonboy is a VERY good friend of mine and I love him like a brother, I would NEVER imply anything other. I'm VERY sorry to everyone for the confusion.
Breaking In
This past Heroes Con I was hanging out with
Jonboy Meyers. We were enjoying some well deserved food over at Fuel awaiting the Ringo Tribute. It’d been an especially long day for me because I’d been up since 4 am so that I could be up in time to drive down to Charlotte, get set up for the show, and then work the show all day long. So it’s 6 or 7 pm and I’m a little wiped. We’re sitting around shooting the shit when Jonboy looks at me and asks, “Why aren’t you getting more work?” I admit I was a little taken back, I’m pretty humble so I don’t really think I’m all that good, but I do know I could work for the major companies, if they’d just hire me. I didn’t have an answer for Jonboy at the time, I probably just shrugged my shoulders and said, “I dunno”. I was pretty tired so any rational thought that would go into an answer for such a big question got lost.
So, Jonboy, here’s my answer. :)
I’m going to be simplistic, but bare with me.
To sum it up,
there is no such thing as Breaking In and every creator has broken in differently and no one way can be repeated or simulated. Breaking In is the main term that’s been used over and over again when it comes to working in comics; “How do you Break in?” There’ve been countess articles, interviews, and discussions on the subject and no one seems to say the same thing. So what I’m suggesting is that there might be a such term as Breaking
OUT. What I mean by that is there can be someone who has toiled in comics for a few years doing smaller projects, from smaller publishers, where little to no one notices the work they do. Somehow, suddenly, maybe they have a small hit at Image, or Moonstone, or NBM and then one or both of the major companies takes notice of their talent and decides to give this person a chance at their creations, now all of a sudden, that person is a well known name in comics so they have Broken Out of the Small Time and into the Big Time with a major company. That’s what I would sum up Breaking Out to mean. Breaking In doesn’t mean they haven’t been doing comics for a number of years, it’s just that they’ve hit the mainstream and are now a “household name” in the comics community. A perfect example of what I’m talking about would be someone like Dave Finch. He worked at Image and Top Cow for roughly 10 years or so, then all of a sudden, Marvel catches on to him and he’s considered a Young Gun? Please. He’s been around, he’s “made his bones” so-to-speak but he’s certainly not “new” to comics or a Young Gun. Dave is just one example, I could name a whole lot more.
Breaking IN is a relatively easy thing to do. Just publish your own comic. I know that’s a little simplistic and the bulk of this is better saved for another discussion but that’s it in a nutshell. (There is always Dave Sim’s Guide to Self Publishing. He knows a thing or two about that.) But, with today’s technology and knowledge base located firmly on the internet, there’s no reason one can’t do everything themselves. Even with the market as shaky as it is. It’s still possible to Break In under your own terms and for relatively small amounts of money. The best and easiest way to get better at what you do is to do it. Deadlines are the great teachers, because it will cause you to HAVE to get something done. The more you do, the better. The pressure of getting something done will force your hand at getting better and better because, ultimately, you are responsible for what you put down on paper. Once it’s down and printed, it’s all you. That’s when it’s time to take responsibility for what you’ve done and own up to it. From there you can start thinking about what you need to improve. But like I said, Breaking In is the easy part.
Breaking Out, now that’s a different story. Also, just to touch on it for a second, Breaking Out is a reason for this whole essay/rant that I’m going on. See, Breaking Out is really the hardest part. There comes a time when you start wanting to do this for a living and let’s face it, the only real way to make a living doing comics is to work for the Big 2, Marvel or DC. Sure there are those few break out hits like Kirkman and his gang, they make some great comics, but they are one small part of a lot of people regularly making comics nowadays. See for me, this all started back in 2003 when, in June, I was hired out of the blue, to work for Avatar Press. They needed 22 pages done for a book in 2 weeks. I did it. It was one of the hardest, most grueling things I’d ever done, I liken it to Basic Training when I joined the Army in 1993. I busted my ass on it. And now looking back it was the biggest bestest (yeah I said it)rush of adrenaline I’ve ever felt. For the rest of 2003 I worked for them on some things that got published, some didn’t, it didn’t matter, I got paid to ink comics. I’d been dreaming of this for 10 years or more. Ever since then, once I got bitten by that Comic Bug, I’ve wanted to work in comics fulltime, all the time. It’s now 2008 and it still hasn’t happened. 5 years later and only a few inches closer to doing that.
Which brings me to now and why I’m typing this and sending to every creator I know and posting it all over the place. See, in 2007 I did a bunch of Work for Hire (WFH) for An Unnamed but Not-One-of-the-Big 2 Publishing Company. Great gig, paid well, constantly had work and everything. It was nice. Then the books themselves came out and they were….bad. Bad coloring, bad story, everything you would expect for crappy books. And that really got me to thinking. Do I want to continue working on crappy books that no one reads and I am embarrassed about, or do I want to start working on books that are good, that I’m proud to promote and thrust into people’s hands? I think you know the answer to that. But I still want to Break Out. Which brings me back around to Jonboys’ question? “Why don’t I get more work?”
Which is a tough one with a lot of answers. The first answer is probably that I don’t go hunting for a lot of work. What some people don’t understand that part of the job of a freelancer is to go looking for work. What ends up happening most of the time is that half of your time is spent looking for work and lining up jobs, which also happens while you’re trying to finish up another job. It’s pretty nerve-racking sometimes but that’s just the way it is. Unless you sign an exclusive contract, but then you’ve Broken Out and no longer need to listen to me ramble. J Why don’t I go hunting for work? Well, the last few jobs I’ve taken have all come looking for me. Lee Ferguson and Co. needed an inker, we all hung out at the same message boards and so they asked. I accepted. Simple as that. And it’s kept me pretty busy since then. My reasons for that are all stated above, I just didn’t want to do crappy books anymore and wanted to make sure that the teams I’m working with were good. Another reason as to why I don’t get much more work is because I don’t think there is much more work to be done. Marvel and DC both have what I like to call stables of artists. Each editor knows who to go to, to get something done and slipping someone new into the mix can cause problems, especially if that new person isn’t tested and can’t cut making the deadlines on time. So for the most part, the way it works at the Big Guys is that the exclusive contract holders are filled first, so that they always have work to do. Then the regular freelancers are filled next. After that if there’s anything left over, then they might dip into the pool of Possible New People to try out. But honestly, by the time they get there everything is filled up and there’s no room left. It sucks but in a market like this one, it’s the truth. You have to be good, and I mean really, really good to beat out those guys. Inkers, like myself, are competing with guys like Tim Townsend, Mark Morales, Dexter Vines, John Dell, Sandra Hope, Karl Story, Mark Irwin, etc. You see what I mean? Pencillers are competing with Steve McNiven, Lenil Yu, Oliver Coipel, John Romita Jr., Bryan Hitch, etc. See? It ain’t easy. You have to bring you’re “A” game. Sure, a lot of people have the guts and the talent to do big name books, but we’re in a shrinking market. This isn’t 1950. Comics aren’t selling 500,000 copies of anything anymore. As much as I wish it was, it isn’t. So the competition is just that much higher, the wiggle room is just that much tighter, so getting into one or both of the Big Two is just that much harder. Hell, it’s damn-near impossible nowadays.
So why do it? Why continue pushing and pushing? Cause it’s so much damn FUN! Seriously, comics are just one of the greatest forms of artistic communication there is. There’s no budgetary restraints on your imagination, no committee telling you how to tell the story, no boundaries. At all.
None. It’s just you and the paper in front of you. What you choose to do with it is completely up to you. I love that. That’s why I keep pushing, that’s why I keep trying. There’s no feeling like when you complete a page. You‘ve done your best for the page and the story you’re telling and….and…it’s euphoric.
So, Jonboy, I hope I answered your question. :)
But moving on from there, it has to be said and people have to know, the best way to Make It in comics is to simply Do It. Figure out what it is you want to do. You want to be a penciler? Fine. Study, imitate, and absorb what you see from the best. Look at it until your eyes bleed. It’s time for you to BE a penciler. Act like a penciler, talk like one, walk like one. Call yourself a penciler, but most importantly own that title. Inker? Fine, do the same. Colorist, letterer, editor. Study from the best, read up on the industry and study it from every angle. You want to do it all? Be an independent creator and tell your own stories your own way? Fine. Cool. But
own your title.
Now, DO IT.
That’s all there is to it, DO IT. Don’t tell me how you’re going to do this or you’re going to do that, JUST. DO. IT.
Here’s what I’m doing. I’m continuing to work on a few samples, only because I want to. I’m working over pencilers that I admire and want to work over. For fun and exercise. Other than that I have three things going on that are on the fore-front of my mind;
Miranda Mercury. W – Brandon Thomas. P – Lee Ferguson. I – ME. C – Felix Serrano. L – Matty Ryan. The only thing slowing us down with that is that the publishing end of it is in limbo. We don’t know where she’s going to end up. Once she does, well, it’s On like Donkey Kong.
Spellbinder OGN. Written and Colored by Otis Frampton. Penciled by Matt Hebb. Inked by ME. Published by Viper Comics. Just waiting on the penciler to start turning in pages.
Shinzu. Everything by ME and Lawrence Christmas. We’re writing, penciling, inking, coloring, and lettering it all. Again, just waiting to get some penciled pages going. And it’s ON.
All of these projects are near and dear to me I also have some stake in these as a creator. So I’m always working, always striving for that Perfect Line. I dream about it sometimes. Getting that Perfect Line. I’m getting there. :)
Hey, that turned out to be not-so simple.
Now I have to apologize to those that got kinda spammed with this one. I just started clicking on people in my address book and just fairly blindly sent this out. If this upsets you, let me know, I’m a big boy and can take it. I will be posting this on my blog, my Deviant Art site, and I’ll be sprinkling it out over a few messageboards. Respond however you like.
Take care. Peace.
Marc Deering
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