A few things that I’ve learned over the years that have crystalized through teaching…
• Devote your time to sharpening your art skills AND your business skills – trends, networking, contracts, etcetera all.
• Don’t pigeonhole yourself to one small aspect of the art form, like limiting yourself to just comics. Remember that Michelangelo wanted to devote himself to sculpture when he was commissioned to paint the Sistine Chapel.
• The people who succeed are generally the people who are working their asses off. Surround yourself with people like this, people who commit themselves fully and are getting their work out into the world. They’ll generally be better than you which is a GOOD thing – that way the bar keeps getting raised.
• Working hard isn’t enough, you have to work smart as well. You have to create work that’s marketable – that will suit the needs of someone who will then pay you.
• Working long hours with no sleep to meet deadlines isn’t the answer. Your career is a marathon, not a fifty yard dash. Eat right, exercise and sleep regularly – it’s the bare bone basics and it works.
• Start now (yesterday is even better). Research the jobs you want, look at the submission guidelines (and follow them METICULOUSLY), then work up samples that will blow the competition out of the water. I like the following advice from Steve Martin to those aspiring to enter the entertainment field as it applies to any pursuit – “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”
• To cap this off… If you treat your skills as a hobby then that’s where they’ll stay, as a hobby – and that’s FINE as long as that’s your conscious decision. But if you want to have it as your job, your career, then you need to get on board and on track.
And that’s…
For more info, check out the following links:
GENERAL INFORMATION
Comic Book Inking Tutorials and Videos
Recommended Books on Drawing & Cartooning
Graphic Novels – Addendum to Lecture
Commissioning Artwork – Things to Consider
COMIC CONVENTIONS
Networking and the High Cost of Comic Conventions
Mike Wolfer on Fan art/Homage art
COMMENTARY
My Somali Neighbors Are Not the Enemy
Appearing in a Comic Strip While Black
ARTICLES
Intro to Anime – sorely needed…
The Palm Restaurant – Cartoon Art Trashed
Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson
The Five Best Flashes Anywhere
Cartoonist Spotlight
Tom Gianni – Memories from C2E2
Steve Ditko – Creating Spider-Man
Bud Grace – Piranha Club Comes to an End
E. Simms Campbell – Map of Harlem
John Cullen Murphy – Interview
And last but not least, The Business of Cartooning.
This page has a number of subcategories, including…
1 Comic News Blogs
2. Contracts
3. Resources/Articles
4. Print On Demand Publishers
5. Self-Publishing Resource Articles
6. Convention Resources
7. Cartooning Schools and Organizations
8. Financial Aid
I started these posts after teaching Comic Art at the
Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Here’s the biggest thing I learned teaching there.
…and a special thanks to Professor Barb Schulz, head of the department, for giving me that opportunity.
