Advice for Aspiring Artists
When my wife and I participate in art shows, we are asked a lot of questions about what it’s like to be an artist and what it’s like to attend art school. In an effort to answer some of these frequently asked questions, I thought I’d share my experiences attending art school and share some advice for people who may be considering an art school education.
My Story:
Like many artistic people, I’ve drawn since I was old enough to hold a pencil. In elementary school, I struggled with literacy, so my mother introduced me to comic books. Comics motivated me to read, to write, and to draw. In junior high, I decided that my life goal would be to create my own comic books, but I didn’t think that I could support myself financially if I pursued that goal. Because of my fears of becoming a “starving artist”, I decided to study graphic design in college. My plan was to support myself as a commercial artist and to work on my comics on the side. I studied graphic design at a local liberal arts college and in my free time I made comics that poked fun at the eccentricities of college life.
I quickly learned that having artistic talent in one area of art doesn’t mean that you have artistic talent in every area of art. I loved graphic design and could tell good design from bad, but my brain simply wasn’t wired to create graphic design. After two years of study, my professors told me that I didn’t show enough potential to remain in the graphic design program. I was told to transfer to fine art or to drop out of the art department completely. I was devastated. I didn’t see an economic future as a fine artist, so I decided to focus on becoming a commercial illustrator. I turned all my fine art projects into illustration projects and finished undergraduate school intending to be an illustrator.
Once I completed undergrad, I felt that my artistic skills were decent, but I lacked business skills. There were no business classes in the fine art department. Because I had no idea how to run a business as an illustrator, I decided to continue my studies. At the encouragement of my fine art professors, I enrolled in graduate school at SCAD in Atlanta, GA.
Graduate school honed my artistic skills. I had the opportunity to enroll in SCAD’s sequential art program (basically a program for comic book artists) but I didn’t want to accrue massive amounts of student loan debt. To participate in the sequential program would have extended my graduate degree to at least 3 years. The cost of graduate school was too expensive for me to rationalize spending more than 2 years to get my Master of Fine Arts degree, so I studied Illustration instead of Sequential Art. I earned my M.F.A. in illustration and then launched myself into the world of freelance illustration.
I spent four years trying to make a living doing freelance illustration and graphic design. Because of my inexperience and geographic location (Podunkville, SC), I couldn’t find many employment opportunities. Few businesses in my area were willing to pay for illustration work and I didn’t know enough about web design to be a full-fledged graphic designer. After four years of struggling, I finally decided that it was time to make a change. I went to an employment agency and they placed me with a local IT business. My immediate financial worries were erased and I finally had time to take stock of my artistic direction in life.
I looked at my life and I saw that I had been miserable the entire time I worked as a graphic designer. I decided to stop doing what I thought was “the smart thing to do” and to start doing what I had always wanted to do. I took a couple of comic book characters that my wife and I had developed and started making comic books. I used my knowledge of graphic design to self-publish our books through online printers and signed up artist alley tables at nearby comic book conventions. I’ve only spent about a year and half working on comics, but during that limited amount of time, I’ve been the happiest I’ve ever been. I’m not making a living off of my comics yet, but I do see the potential for making a secondary income. Working a “day job” currently takes the financial pressure off of my back, pays off my school loans, and gives me the disposable income to invest in developing the comic book business that I’ve always wanted to pursue. I travel from state to state selling my work at conventions, and I’m happy as a clam.
Advice for Aspiring Artists
1. If you want to make artwork, make it and make lots of it. The only way you get better at art is by doing art. In college I spent a lot of time reading books about artwork, which isn’t a bad thing, but the fastest way to learn is to get your hands dirty making artwork and experimenting with different mediums.
2. Become friends with other artists. Artists are some of the nicest people on the planet. Find someone your own age or an older artist and work on projects together. Having artistic friendships keeps you from getting discouraged, encourages you to produce artwork, and improves the quality of your work. I’ve learned more from working beside another artist than I have ever learned from reading a how-to book.
3. Don’t try to be someone else. When you’re starting out, you’re going to want to imitate the artwork of other people around you. You’ll go through phases where you copy the drawing style of your favorite artist. That’s a good and natural phase to go through, but don’t let yourself get stuck in it. You’ll learn a lot from imitating someone else, but don’t try to become a carbon copy of that person.
4. You don’t have to go to art school to become a better artist. Art school is beneficial in many ways, but it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll find a job or that you’ll become the next Pablo Picasso. What is art school really? It’s an atmosphere where experienced artists force you to work on projects in a specific time frame, where you are forced you to work outside of your comfort zone, and where you are forced to accept constructive criticism.
If you’re motivated, you can educate yourself without an art school education. Watch “how to” Youtube Videos. Check out books from your local library and use them to practice techniques. Attend live drawing sessions at your local art gallery or your local college (a lot of colleges will let you attend live drawing sessions for a small fee). Introduce yourself to a local artist in your home town or at your local art museum and offer to help them out in exchange for giving you some artistic pointers. I once helped a local artist whose car had broken down. In exchange for some car rides, he invited me to his home studio and reviewed my portfolio. He even offered to let me work on projects with him so that I could learn the trade and so that he could get some help meeting his deadlines. When I was in undergraduate classes, I found that the best student artists had worked with older artists when they were young adults. By the time they entered college, they didn’t need any more art classes. They were head and shoulders above everyone else and when they graduated, they went out and became working professionals almost overnight.
5. You don’t need an art school degree to work as a professional artist. I’ve known high school students that went to work at design firms right out of high school because the quality of their work was amazing. A dirty little secret that I’ve learned is that some talented people don’t need to bother with art school at all. If you know someone who is hiring and your work is good enough, you don’t need a degree in art or design. You just have to show the right person your artwork. I have a lot of friends who travel selling their artwork at conventions and art fairs. All they need to make money at those events is a knowledge of how to collect sales tax, a product, and a customer with disposable income.
6. Don’t give into your fears and don’t give up. Being an artist is hard work. Making money while being an artist is even harder work. It’s sometimes a scary thing to pursue art. You’ll often times be plagued with self-doubt about the course you’re taking with your life. As an adult you’ll wonder if you’re going to make the rent or be able to afford visiting the dentist. Family members will scratch their heads and do their best to steer you into different directions. You’re going to go through times of deep discouragement, but don’t wallow in them. Realize that these are all things that every artist has to go through. Buck yourself up and get back to work. Sometimes you’ll need to take a break from your artwork. I’ve noticed that every couple of months, I’ll hit a week or two where I just can’t make anything. That’s fine. Take a break and read a book or hang out with friends…then go back to work the following week. Success as an artist takes time and effort. A few lucky people have overnight success, but for most of us, it takes years of dedicated hard work to reach our goals.
7. Be proactive. Being an artist is all about self-motivation. Create your own projects, deadlines, and goals. You can’t just sit around waiting for a project to fall into your lap; you have to make your own projects. If you can’t find the perfect artist job that you want, you have to create it for yourself. The most successful artists that I’ve known have built their own businesses from the ground up.
Advice for the person considering art school
If you want to attend an art school, take a minute to evaluate why you want to attend that school. Is your motivation to become a better artist? To become a working professional? Are you clueless about what you want to do with your art? Are you going to that school so that you can party with eccentric people? There are a lot of pros and cons to attending an art college. Knowing why you want to go is a good thing. Here are a couple of other things you should keep in mind when making the decision to enroll.
The Pros of studying art in college
1. You’ll make connections in the art world. If you study art in college, you’re going to rub shoulders with dozens of artists. Make connections with as many artists as possible. Maintain those connections after you graduate. Many times your art buddies will be able to help you find work after school and can provide helpful advice when you’re trying to make business decisions. Good art schools will bring in working professionals for you to talk to and work beside. They’ll bring in editors, artists, and art directors to talk to you about the companies for which they work. When these people visit the school, make a good impression, introduce yourself, and find out these people’s contact information. You never know when they may be looking for interns or employees in the future.
2. You’ll be forced to work outside of your comfort zone. Human beings like to be comfortable. As an artist, it’s easy to get into an artistic rut where you work the same way over and over again. Art school forces you to branch out and try new mediums. It forces you to experiment. You may find that you really like the medium that you’re used to using, or you might find a new medium that just blows your mind. The hallmark of a good artist is that he’s always pushing himself to evolve the quality and content of his work. Art school helps you develop your artistic evolutionary drive.
3. You’ll produce lots of artwork. In school, you’ll face deadlines and quotas that force you to make artwork efficiently. You won’t have time to be lazy. You’ll finish one project and the next will be staring you in the face. Because of this fast pace, you’ll see your artistic abilities grow faster than any other time of your life. Art is a muscle and art school is the Olympics. You’ll quickly learn your strengths and limitations as an artist and you’ll learn how to evaluate your work with a discriminating eye.
4. Art school will give you access to equipment that you don’t have. Art schools allow you to work with equipment that you probably can’t afford. You’ll get the chance to work with the latest versions of Adobe Creative Suite, professional printing presses, and fancy animation programs. Getting a leg up with the latest tech or fancy printing press can be invaluable in helping you land your dream job.
5. Art school will provide you with skilled mentors. The professors at most art schools are masters in their fields. You’ll get the opportunity to be trained by some of the most skilled artists in your area of interest. You’ll be a participant in a microcosm of the master/apprentice relationship. Your professors will often be your harshest critics, but their criticisms will push you to become a better artist.
The Cons of Art School
1. Massive Debt. In all honesty, the biggest problem with an art school education is the price tag. Attending a big name art school is the equivalent of taking out a 30 year mortgage on a home. If you earn a four year degree at a school dedicated to teaching art, you’ll probably end up $100,000 in debt. If you attend a smaller school that simply has an art department, you’ll probably be paying $40,000+ for your degree. Graduate school will probably run you $50,000.
Here’s a financial breakdown of my education. Undergraduate school was around $40,000. I attended a private college in my home state and was able to use scholarship money to pay for most of undergrad. I lived at home for the first two years and had financial help from my parents to pay for two years of living in the dorms. When all was said and done, I owed $8,000 once undergrad was finished. Grad school cost me $50,000 for my two years of M.F.A. education. Once I graduated, I had 6 months of grace, and then the student loans went into repayment. My minimum repayment started out at $400 a month and because of my payment schedule, it increases every two years. I’m currently at the $500 a month repayment mark.
2. Art school introduces you to the principles of creating a business, but doesn’t teach you how to run a business. The art school you attend will (hopefully) teach you the basics of being a freelance artist, but you won’t get any actual business classes. You have to figure out how to do your taxes, bookkeeping, marketing, and budget yourself. The reason I went to graduate school was because my undergraduate education didn’t teach me how to run a business. I hoped that grad school would make up for that, which it partially did, but I’ve found myself wishing that I had some heavy duty business classes under my belt. If I could do undergrad over again, I would have minored in business. Having that business minor would have largely eliminated my reasons for attending graduate school and I wouldn’t be $50,000 in debt. On a side note, if you’re looking to take some business courses, a lot of cities actually have annual small business classes that you can attend for a relatively small fee. Check out their department of revenue websites and you should find a list of available classes.
3. An art degree doesn’t guarantee you a job. I spent four years after graduate school applying for any art related job that I could find. I pursued freelance illustration, graphic design, education, marketing, and any job opening that was slightly art-related. There were times when I felt that I couldn’t mention my master’s degree because it would make me seem “overqualified” for the job I hoped to receive. I earned my masters so that I would be qualified to teach on the college level, but when I applied for educational job openings, I was told that I needed at least 8 years of work experience in my field. When I did have interviews with design firms or “traditional” employers, I found that my degrees didn’t matter. All that mattered was the quality of my work and if I knew how to use the computer programs that they required for the job. I’d consistently receive feedback from interviewers that said “Your artwork was great…you were easily in our top five picks for the job, but there was just someone better than you that applied for the job.” When you’re job hunting, you’ll find that there will be stiff competition and usually the best portfolio gets the job, not the highest college degree from the fanciest art college.
4. Art school can leave you a little bit bitter. If you attend art school, you’re going to rub shoulders with people who “get all the breaks” and who “make it big” almost overnight. A select few of your classmates will have overnight success and if you’re not careful, you can find yourself getting a little bitter at their success when you’re working your butt off without much to show for your efforts.
Advice for the Art School Student
If you’ve decided to study art in college, congratulations! You’re going to have a lot of fun…and you’re going to experience many, many sleepless nights. Enjoy yourself and learn a ton. Here’s a couple of pointers that I like to share with people who are enrolling in art school.
1. Get your prerequisite classes out of the way first. If you’re going to attend art school for your undergraduate degree, get your “bonehead” freshman prerequisite classes out of the way first. Find an inexpensive community college whose credits will transfer and take your English, math, and history classes there. If you’re going to pay the premium price to attend art school, don’t pay a premium price for the non-art classes. The same thing applies if you attend a state school and major in art. Knocking out your prerequisites at a cheaper location will save you and your wallet a lot of stress when it comes to paying off those student loans.
2. Take classes outside of your interest, especially technology-related classes. When you’re out of school, having some knowledge of computer based design programs can make the difference between landing a job or being unemployed. If you apply for “traditional” employment after school, you’ll find that employers expect you to know how to use a plethora of computer programs. Become acquainted with Adobe Creative Suite, After Effects, Flash, and any animation or 3d rendering programs that you can get your hands on. Study what you want in your core classes, but fill out your electives with a variety of tech classes. Take some screen printing classes as well. If you ever get into a financial pinch, you can use that screen printing experience to get work at a local tee shirt print shop. Print-on-demand tee shirt businesses always seem to be looking for extra help and they’ve helped several of my art school buddies stay afloat financially when they’ve had difficulty paying the bills.
3. Take advantage of all available internships. Internships are worth their weight in gold, even if they are unpaid. If you can land an internship in your field of interest, you’ll get a taste of the real world. You’ll see what it’s like to work that job “day in and day out” and will quickly learn if that job is something that you truly enjoy. Internships will also help you populate your resume. The biggest problem I ran into when I applied for employment was that businesses wanted me to have at least five years of experience in my field. Internships help you earn those years of experience while you’re still in school. The greatest advantage of working an internship is that it “gets the ball rolling” on establishing your business connections. These days, most people are hired because of relationships. An internship puts you in front of a lot of people who could potentially refer you to other businesses that are looking to hire employees.
4. Work while you’re in school. You want to do everything you can to diminish your student loan debt. Your interest kicks in once you’re done with school. If you work to pay off your loans before graduation, you’ll have less interest to pay back once you have your diploma. Working will also provide you with the extra funds to job hunt, buy art supplies, and go on any school related art trips (which are awesome). A word of caution…I’ve had friends who just lived off their student loan money while in art school. Because of that, they had cushy school experiences, but when their student debt came due, they had heftier loans to pay.
5. Take advantage of networking opportunities. Attend every networking or industry-related event that your school hosts. Networking is the name of the game. It’s pretty much the only way you’re going to find paying work. Get involved in art clubs at your school. Better yet, research the city you live in, find out if it has any professional art leagues, and join them.
6. Develop a unique and eye-catching portfolio of work. Your portfolio is the thing that will make or break you. Your artwork speaks louder than your art degree, your clothing, or your work experience. Make it impressive.
7. Learn to be easy to work with. There’s nothing worse than an artist that has an overinflated ego or an attitude of superiority. Develop good customer service and communication skills. In the real world, you’re going to have your toes stepped on and some of your ideas shot down by employers. Don’t take it personal. Learn a little bit of humility and patience. If you’re a likable person with an easy-going personality, you’ll get repeat customers and referrals. If you don’t work well with others, you’ll have difficulty finding work.
8. Make time for personal art projects. Several of my illustrator friends have gotten work because of personal projects they created. What caught the eye of potential clients wasn’t a flashy art school project; it was a fun little personal piece of artwork that the artist made for his own enjoyment. Make a series of personal projects to include in your portfolio or website. Your personality and passion will really shine through those projects and the artwork will grab other people’s attention. For example, when I completed the first issue of one of my comic books, I posted it on my blog. A magazine editor that I had worked for in the past saw it on my site and decided to hire me to illustrate an issue of their children’s magazine. He said that the “whimsical” nature of my comic pages caught his eye.
9. Forge friendships with positive, motivated people. Nothing will drag an artist down faster than a bad friendship. If your friends are negative, unmotivated, or lazy, you need to make some new friends. We become the people that we surround ourselves with. Being an artist is difficult; you don’t want your closest relationships to make your life any more difficult.
10. Have a plan once you graduate. Don’t wait until the last day of classes to think about life after school. If you don’t set goals for yourself, you’ll wonder and waste precious time, money, and resources. Think about where you want to go with your artwork and set up a plan of attack to reach that place. Plan out baby steps and start toddling towards your goal.
11. Have a secondary career path or day job. The thing to keep in mind with artistic careers is that they usually are “nontraditional” and pretty fluid. A lot of them are contract or freelance based. It’s rare to find an art job that you’ll work for 30 years. You’ll find yourself bouncing around a lot. Having a dependable day job or secondary career path can pick up the slack if you “hit a dry spell” of art related work. Sometimes having a non-artistic day job can give you the extra time and money you need to further develop your artistic career goals. Be aware that it will probably take you several years to get any sort of freelance business running.
How Pretty Weird Art Makes a Comic Book
Making Comics FAQ’s
Have you thought about making your own comic strip, comic book, or graphic novel, but didn’t know where to start? Here’s a simple guide to help jumpstart your creative process.
Step 1: Plan your project
Plan out the scope of your project. Decide the format of your comic, how you'll make it, and how many pages it will be.
Step 2: Prepare your supplies
Decide what materials you’re going to use to make your comic and have them handy. You’ll need to get paper, pencils, erasers, pens for inking, and coloring pencils, paint, or a computer program for coloring your work. You’ll also need to have a way to scan your artwork into a computer in order to set up your pages for a printer if you want to print your comic professionally.
Step 3: Develop your characters, story, and world
This is the most important part of your comic and the most fun! You want to decide who your main characters will be, what sorts of personalities they will have, and what they will look like. What they look like is very important! You’re going to have to draw your main characters a lot so you want to make sure you can draw them consistently over the course of an entire comic. You don't want to get sick and tired of drawing your character on page 5!
Once you’ve completed your main characters, make an outline of the plot of your story. The best plots have a beginning (that introduces the main characters and villains and what their goals are), then a middle (that generally introduces conflict between the heroes and villains as they work towards achieving their goals), and then a climax where the main characters achieve their goals (in most superhero and adventure comics this is the big fight at the end).
After you've designed your characters and have a general idea of what your story will be, design the backgrounds and environments that will be used in your story. Think of your backgrounds like your main characters; you want them to reflect the personalities of your characters.
Step 4: Thumbnail / script
Once you’ve planned your story, the next thing to do is to thumbnail, which means to plan out what the pages of your comic will look like by drawing quick, tiny versions of the your pages. You aren’t supposed to add a lot of details to these pages. You just want to draw enough for you to know what you’re going to have on each page. Try out different designs for each page. Don’t just settle on your first idea. Usually you want to plan out the look of each page three different times. Usually the 3rd version will look the best.
Step 5: Pencil your pages
Once you’ve made thumbnails of every page and planned out what each one will look like, it’s time to start drawing! You’ll want to draw out each page really light at first. Don’t bear down too hard on the paper or else it’ll scar, making it almost impossible to fully erase your pencil lines afterwards. You generally want to pencil all of your pages at once if you’re doing a full comic or graphic novel before you start the inking process. That will help you keep the way you draw your characters consistent.
Step 6: Ink your pages
Once you’ve finished your penciling, you’ll want to ink your pencil lines. You can either ink directly over your pencil lines and erase your pencil lines afterwards or you can get a light table and ink directly onto a clean piece of paper that is placed on top of your pencil drawing. If you make inking mistakes, you can buy a white out pen to cover up your mistakes.
Step 7: Color your pages
Once you’ve finished inking your pages, you’ll want to color them. When I color traditionally, I use markers, white out, and ink to make the work before scanning it into Photoshop to touch up my mistakes.
Step 8: Letter your pages
Once you’ve finished coloring your pages, you’ll want to letter them. I try to hand letter as much as possible in my comics, but my handwriting isn't the easiest to read, so I usually draw the sound effects by hand and then type the dialogue in Photoshop.
Step 9: Proofread your pages and prep for printing
Don’t forget to proofread your text for spelling errors. It’s always best to have a couple of friends check for spelling errors before you prep your files for printing. Once you’ve spell-checked each page, then check out the file requirements for the printer that will print your comic. Printers almost always provide templates that you can use to make sure your pages are the right size and format for printing correctly. If you have time, do a test print of a single book so that you can check for typos and other formatting errors. Once you're happy with your comic, then you can print more copies!
Step 10: Sell your finished work
If you're going to sell your comic, you'll have a few other steps to take. You'll want to come up with a price for you books that allows you to at least double the cost of printing your book. If you aren't at least doubling the cost of making your book, you're not making enough money! Self published books tend to be more expensive than books from mainstream publishers, but don't let that stop you from making them. Add something special to your books to make people feel like they're getting more bang for their bucks. Most people make their first comics black and white to save on printing costs. Try making your comics in color so they stand out more from other indy comics. Include a free poster or mini-print with your books as an incentive for people to buy them. Keep in mind that if you want to sell your work to the general public, you'll be required by the government to apply for a business license and you'll be required by law to collect and submit sales taxes on anything you sell. Most states have an arts and crafts retail license you can purchase that allows you to sell your artwork pretty much anywhere in the state. After you have your published books and your retail license, then you can scope out local art shows, pop culture conventions, and comic book shops where you can take your finished work to sell.
How Pretty Weird Art Makes a Comic Book
Here I'll explain in more detail how Pretty Weird Art makes a comic book.
I have a little notebook where I've made story outlines for my Skull Gun Bunny and Churchology comics. Each outline has a summary of what I want to happen in each issue of the comics. While I work on those scripts, my wife Rachel writes scripts for The Adventures of Death Elf and Woose. Once she's completed her scripts, she hands them off to me for pencilling.
To keep our comics consistent, I always try to keep issues of our comics either 28 or 40 pages long. That way I always know how many pages we have to tell each issue's story. We put out at least one issue a year for each ongoing story line. We try to finish between 3 - 5 comic books each year, so we plan out how we will spend our time during the year to meet our goals.
Here's how I plan out our work schedule for the year:
January and February - I spend prepping our comic books for the printers, printing hard copies of our comic, and planning art shows for the rest of the year.
March, April, May, and June - My wife and I attend art shows on the weekends and sell our artwork and comic books. On the weekends we don't have art shows, I work on pencilling more comic book pages.
July, August, September - I've usually finished the pencils on several of our books by this time. I spend these months inking our comics and doing art shows on the weekends.
October, November, December - I spend these months coloring, lettering, and proof reading our comics, prepping them for the printers.
When it comes to art supplies, we tend to buy supplies that are less expensive than what you find at most art supply stores. Since we use so many pencils, pens, and reams of paper, we don't buy a lot of fancy art supplies.
Here's a breakdown of the supplies that we use to make our comics:
Traditional Supplies
Needed Eraser
(Its an eraser that looks like a wad of gray gum. It's a cool thing because you can erase your pencil marks without leaving shavings all over your paper)
Mechanical Pencils
(I use mechanical pencils when I draw my pages because I like a consistent pencil line and because I hate having to sharpen a pencil every 20 minutes)
Fine Line, Medium, Heavy, and Chisel tip Sharpee pens
(Microns are nice pens, but they are super expensive. Sharpees aren't as archival, but they get the job done and are less expensive and have a nice variety of tip sizes compared to most art pens)
8.5 x 11 Card Stock Paper
(You can buy bristol board that is sized to traditional comic book pages. It is better to work on than card stock because it can withstand heavy saturation of ink and coloring, but it is more expensive to buy. Since I'm on a budget, I buy a stack of the heaviest cardstock that I can at the local department store. It can take the sharpie ink just fine and it's $6 for a pack of 90 pages. It would cost me $20 for a package of traditional 11x17 comic book paper.)
White Out Pen
(A white out pen is helpful to correct mistakes or to add highlights to heavy inking)
Copic Markers
(These fine art markers are the most expensive thing we use in our normal art kit. They have very vibrant color and allow you to blend colors really well. They are worth the hefty price point. Generally we buy these when art stores like Hobby Lobby or Michael's have sales)
3 Ring Binder + Page Protectors
(One I've finished my comic book pages, I like to put them into page protectors in a 3 ring binder. This lets me see how the pages flow together and it helps me when I work on my script. It also keeps me from losing random pages, which happens a lot. )
Sticky Notes
(I like to tweak my dialogue once my pages are drawn, so I put the pages into the 3 ring binder and then write out the dialogue for each word bubble on each page and stick it on the page protectors to see how the dialogue works on each page. This helps me to decide if anything needs to be changed.)
Digital Supplies
Flatbed Scanner
(Regardless of how you make your comic book pages, everyone needs a way of getting them into a computer (unless you're working 100% digital). I bought a refurbished flat bed scanner online and have it hooked up to a super old computer. It allows me to scan all my pages into the computer so I can clean them up in Photoshop. If you can't afford a scanner, you may be able to go to a copy shop and rent time on the computers there to use their scanning abilities.)
Photoshop
( I take my scanned artwork and open it up in Photoshop. I then clean the pages and color and letter them in the same program. I'll also download page templates from my printers and import them into the Photoshop to make sure my page layouts are print ready.)
Packaging
(Once your comics are printed, you want to protect them. I buy comic book bags and boards to keep my books from getting creased or bent. It also makes the books feel and look nicer when they are sold.)
The Content of Our Comics
I'm a firm believer that comics should be wild and crazy fun. Every comic book that Rachel and I work on is infused with a huge dose of humor. We intend for our comic books to look like freeze framed cartoons from the Cartoon Network and we shoot for a Cartoon Network meets Looney Toons aesthetic in our comics. I'm also a huge fan of comic book artists who do non-traditional comic book page layouts. I try to make each page of my comic book look as interesting as possible. At the same time, I don't want the comic book pages to look confusing either. When I draw my comic pages, I always try to tell the story in such a way that a reader could understand what was happening without there being any words. This means that page layouts need to be easily read and the facial expressions and body language of my characters need to be able to communicate without word bubbles. I also try to color my comic book pages so that no matter what page you turn to in the comic, you can pick out the where the main character is located.
Suggestions for Beginners
- Keep a tiny notepad or sketchbook with you at all times. You never know when you'll get a good idea for a story or character drawing and wish you had something to scribble it down on so you don’t forget it.
- Practice making several different kinds of comics to figure out which kind you enjoy making the most. Try making a couple of single page comics that tell an entire story in just one page. Or make a couple of humorous comics that tell a joke in a single panel. These sorts of exercises will force you to develop your visual story telling abilities.
- Develop interesting characters. The most important part of your story is your main character. You want to draw and write him in such a way that a person that reads your story sees your character as real person. A well written character is one that people remember and can describe back to you in detail after they've put down your book.
- If you're not sure what to write or draw, start by making comics about your life. People love to read autobiographical comics and everyone has unique life experiences that others would find fascinating. Creative Writing classes in college say that the best way to develop your writing ability is to write about things that you've experienced first hand.
- Keep your first comics simple. My first comics were one page comics. When I was in college I used to fold 4 sheets of paper into 4ths and then fold them together to make a simple comic book. All it cost me was .50 cents to print the pages at my library. Your comics can be as simple or complex as you want them to be.
- Finish what you start! If you start making a comic, don't give up on it half way through making it. Even if you hate your comic by the time you've completed it, having completed an entire comic will have taught you a lot about how to work and you'll feel a great sense of accomplishment. Your next comic book will also be better than the first one. Believe me, I know this from experience. You've got to work out your bad artwork to get to your good artwork. You have to be willing to fail and to learn from your failure before you can succeed.
- Try making comics that tell different types of stories. Play around with different genres of storytelling. Make a couple of humorous comics, a couple of autobiographical, and then really stretch your creative wings by trying something different like a science fiction story or a romance.
- Find an art/writing buddy to work with. If you're working by yourself it’s very easy to get discouraged and to give up on your project. If you work with a friend they'll help keep you motivated. It's also nice to have someone who can give you advice and critiques on your work when you're not sure if something looks right.
- Make a 24 hour comic. Take 24 hours and try to tell a complete story in that time. I tried that one year and didn't finish the story in the time frame, but it did end up evolving into the very first Pretty Weird Comic book. After finishing that first comic, I found it easier and easier to make the next comic and the next one after that. If I hadn't have made that first 24 hour comic, I wouldn't be making comics today.
- Most importantly, make something that you enjoy to read and show off! I read all of the comics that we make multiple times a year because I'm proud of what we've made and accomplished. Make something you're proud of and show it off to other people.
Helpful Tips
- Michael's and Hobby Lobby both have weekly 40% coupons online and do annual 40-50% off sales. Take advantage of these when you see them to stock up on pricier art supplies.
- Buy refurbished computers, scanners online. The equipment may be used, but it usually works like a champ and you don't have to pay the full price premium.
- Photoshop is available on a subscription basis from Adobe for a monthly fee of around $15. There are also several free versions of other programs that work similar to Photoshop that you can download to your home computer.
- We use Greko Printing for our comics and Minute Man Press to print posters of our comic book characters. They have good quality, pricing, and customer service. Check them out online if you decide to professionally print your comics.
