World of Warcraft, Eh?

Hey all,

This blog post is meant to be more of an ‘info-sharing/rant’ sort of thing. Take from it what you will. I’m not mad about anything, per say, this is just a culmination of experiences and thoughts I’ve had in the last year and a half.

More than once, I’ve had people ask me, in person, email, what have you – about what it takes to be a ‘good’ comic artist. Now, let me start off by saying that I am far from ‘good.’ Am I a professional? I’m hesitant to use the word myself, but I do get paid to do it in once instance (Byron), so…I dunno. I have no formal education in comics, and only really started taking it seriously about 8-10 months ago. In the last few months, I’ve really stepped it up, by doing research, attending lectures, meeting local comic artists – the whole nine yards. I have read probably hundreds of indie and independent comics, looking at style, layout, and technique. Again, I’m not sure how qualified I am to dispense advice (compared to say, Todd MacFarlane or someone), but here goes.

So yeah. My ‘breaking point’ (I can’t think of a better word) came at the local Vancouver Comic Jam last weekend. Comic Jam occurs once a month, and a bunch of artists get together in a little restaurant and, well, draw comics. I sat with some very nice (although timid) artists, and we started talking. After speaking to a few of these girls, there was one prevalent and generalized thought:

“I want to draw comics, and I want my comic to get lots of hits and be popular, but I don’t want to do any marketing. Or work. At all.”

This began to drive me NUTS.  One girl I talked to wanted her comic to get lots of traffic, but didn’t want to do any marketing. She just wanted to “sit there and draw.” The same girl wanted to get better and get feedback, yet she told me that she turned off commenting on her site. Obviously, the biggest problem here is part of the natural human condition: we’re all afraid of failure.

No one in their right mind enjoys being picked on, or needlessly criticized. Yet, these comic artists are so hesitant to leave their protective bubble, that they let their fear get in the way of their success and growth. To me, that is no excuse.

Now, my general style of working in any industry is to WORK. If you don’t like something, you muscle through it. I realize my work ethic is a little more…obsessive than others, but I hold strong and fast to it. If you’re afraid of something, hike up your britches, grit your teeth, and get through it. I had to learn this lesson the hard way, and multiple times. I remember having a frank discussion with my Dad about Byron, and how I wasn’t cut out for the often vicious WoW.com commenters. You know what he told me? He, as a musician for 45+ years, had told me about some song artists that gave up, and others that pushed through. He told me to not pander to those who spread hatred, as frankly – “do they sign your paycheck? No? Then there you go.”

And it’s true. To this day, I am immensely glad I stuck through, and now Byron is so much more enjoyable to work on.

Was that a tough period in my career? You bet your ass it was. I lost sleep, I cried, I thought about quitting every day. But I stuck with it, for the sake of making comics. Making art. My art.

Back to my original point… >_>;

Comic artists need to learn to take criticism. My original professional background was in 2D animation. I remember a time I was called into my directors office, and he told me that I was an idiot, didn’t understand the simplest concepts, and was basically a drooling moron. Did it suck? Sure did. What did I learn? Take your knocks, make an effort to get better, and get back on the horse.

Success is the other half of this equation. Probably…oh, less than half a percent of all online comics ‘make it big.’ Even less than that are overnight hits for ‘no good reason.’ The rest? They work. They market. They’re consistent. They network. And then they work some MORE. So no, new comic artist still in highschool, don’t expect your comic to rake you in tons of cash right away. Hell, it probably will never happen. If you work at your craft, you will get better, and hopefully create comics for the sheer joy of creating them. When I started WoW Eh, I read somewhere that “if you’re getting into webcomics to [primarily] make money, you’re getting into it for the wrong reason.” Personally, I’d say that’s true. Don’t expect your webcomic to replace your full-time job, or whatever you have for your primary source of income.

So, I guess…to summarize:

• Don’t let your art be ruled by fear of rejection or failure. At the end of day, you have created art, and that’s the best you could’ve done. Failure is NOT the end of the world. Have a good cry, grab a good drink, and get back to drawing.
• Don’t expect your comic to explode overnight into popularity. Unless your comic is some kind of amazing prodigy or whatever, you will have to network. Link, ask others to link you, do guest comics, use Twitter, Facebook…I worked my ass off to get WoW Eh to where it is. The majority of my traffic still comes from ‘Sunday Morning Funnies’ from WoW.com. Connect with your readers out there. Your audience is worth their weight in gold.
• Be open to criticism. I happily admit that I have over-reacted to some comments. Read each one, and accept them graciously. There IS a difference between [constructive] criticism and trolling. Constructive criticism will tell you how to improve (ie – your line quality is hard to see, your speech bubbles don’t flow, etc). Trolling is ‘lol ur comic fckin sux ballz’.
• DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS. I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH. HOPEFULLY PUTTING THIS POINT IN CAPITALS WILL BE ENOUGH.
• Don’t take after me – learn to balance your work and your life.
• In order to make comics, read comics! Go out there and see what it has to offer! Read everything – mainstream, indie/independent, manga, foreign (comics from Europe are usually AMAZING things to behold, even if you’re not fluent in French or German. I’m talking about comics like Skydoll and Blacksad.)
• Study! Reference is your best friend. You should never be ashamed of not knowing how to draw something. Practice, research, and when you’re done, practice some more.

There’s my brain dump on comics. I hope it isn’t too ‘all over the place.’

Now that that’s done – get out there and DRAW!

~Kelly