Deadlines and Dollars
On the day-to-day practical side of creating comics, the editors are often the only contact the writers and artists have with a company. They are the company faces, the talents’ guiding lights, often the sole connection to their livelihoods. Yet when money questions/problems arise — and they do, at every company large and small — […]
Home Disassociation
A shout-out to my neighborhood’s HOA: Eleven years ago this month, before moving into our new home in Clermont, FL. I followed the instructions of the Legends Home Association. I had to submit to them any plans to add a structure “of any kind” in our back yard. The structure was a high-quality wood swing […]
When Harley Was One
Today’s portfolio review, from someone seeking representation from Glass House. Hi — Thanks for showing me. I think you need to take a mental “step back” and try to study your own art objectively, while comparing it to the professional artists who are already getting the jobs. Look for storytelling sense, clarity in the layouts, […]
Gone in a Flash
I gave THE FLASH television show on the CW way too many hours of my time over the years and finally stopped watching it last season. I had an argument with one of its head writers about the most obvious problem: “Why does Flash STOP a fraction of a second BEFORE capturing the villain, only […]
STARTING 2022 OFF RIGHT
It is quite tough becoming a professional comics artist and keeping that career. To my mind, there are four steps to achieving it: * ABILITY TO DRAW — That means mastering the skill at drawing EVERYTHING — people, buildings, animals, cars, monsters, perspective, etc, and doing it consistently from all angles. * ABILITY TO TELL […]
A Screenplay is not a Comicbook Script
I’m frustrated by writers who hire a comicbook artist then send a screenplay as their script. My first question to them is, “Are you hiring one of our writers to adapt this into a comic book script?” Usually they’ll respond, “No that’s the script to work from.” But it’s not. Word balloons aren’t […]
BAT-SAMPLES
Sample portfolio review, based on the Batman test plot on our website written by Mike Buckley: Thanks for reaching out to me. I’ve reviewed your sequential art samples and have a few observations– * Think about your storytelling. There’s a stiffness to some of your figures that feel more like posed action figures rather than […]
The Classic Artist Test
One way to test an incoming new artist’s storytelling skills is to offer a test plot or script — a few pages that a top professional artist has already done, so there’s a baseline of storytelling standards with which to compare results. This is not about style but, rather, storytelling strength — clarity, powerful action […]
A Package of Deception
True story: In my early years writing comics scripts, I realized that I could sell more work to smaller companies if I put together the “package” of the script + artist + letterer + colorist. I started getting really good at discovering quality artists trying to break in whom I could coach and nudge to […]
Panel Problems
At left: A CONAN page by John Buscema and Bob McLeod with a poor storytelling choice. If an arrow has to be used to direct the reader, the layout artist has failed. Honestly, though, in lieu of an arrow, a writer can cheat the storytelling by instructing placement by having a word balloon from panel […]
