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A guide how artists, illustrators and other creators can expand their audience and win new fans by working in other industries.
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Optimum Wound Comics
WAYS for A ComiC
ArtiSt to BEAt thE oddS in A doWn EConomY
BYJASON THIBAULT
Optimum Wound Comics
This was originally a to-do list that I wrote for myself I was trying to think of as many things that I could do as an artist to expand my reach and get the word out there Some were stupid so I immediately omitted them and tried to chisel this list down to only the good stuff
This isnrsquot meant to distract you from your goal of becoming an uber successful comic book artist I understand that you need to dedicate the bulk of your time to your craft and comic pages take long enough to finish as it is Believe me I sometimes wish there were 100 hours to a day
But sometimes yoursquoll hit roadblocks Other times yoursquoll hit seemingly endless plateaus where progress seems to elude you for months This list is meant to shake things up and get you to exercise the rest of your creative muscles
Irsquove personally already followed some of these suggestions Others Irsquove just begun to take steps on and then therersquos the rest which Irsquom eagerly trying to clear up the time to get to
Somewhere down the line Irsquoll expand some of these suggestions into full blown articles of their own Please feel free to add more of your own ideas in the comments section Wersquore all here to help each other When you step outside of comics what creative endeavours do you get up to
A few things to note
1 Drawing styles are all over the map Some draw in a simple and loose cartoony fashion while others tend to render highly realistic illustrations Not every suggestion below will apply to every creator but therersquos still a lot of room for artistic freedom
2 In order to be successful in any field yoursquore going to have to hustle Opportunities donrsquot often fall into your lap so yoursquore going to have to get out there and make things happen You donrsquot need to be pushy but yoursquoll have to be very outgoing
3 This is all a lot of work Therersquos no easy solutions To become a master of anthing you need to put in your ten thousand hours
23 wAYS fOr A cOmIc ArTIST TO HUSTLe SUrvIve ANd THrIve IN ANY ecONOmY
1 Draw big - I mean really big like 24Primex24Prime or 36Primex36Prime Try painting onto a board or canvas with acrylics Maybe even take a painting class at a local college or art studio Congrats now yoursquore on your
way to becoming a pop artist and your little comic drawing is now potentially a much more valuable piece of art Now go improve on that and make 20 more
If you really take to painting or creating larger works then you may be able to get in on a group show and eventually your own show Head out once in a while to a gallery show in your town and talk to the artists and the gallery owners Therersquos a lot of coffee shops bars and restaurants that want art on their walls Some give you the lionrsquos share of the commission as yoursquore decorating their place for free You get extra points for making your work topical and perhaps even ironic
2 In all seriousness therersquos a lot of examples of comic artists who went from comics into successful painting careers And some who still continue to do both Artists donrsquot necessarily like to be confined to a box (or panel as it were) and wnat to stretch their legs and work on bigger canvases So join a night-time painting class or go for drop-in sessions at local studios and get some life drawing sessions in Studios will often charge a day fee so that the cost of the modelrsquos time and space is covered You should be able to create in any medium once you show up If you want to master pen and ink go to the studio and draw directly in pen and ink
These experiences will add new depth to your drawing style
copy Copyright Kent Williams
Optimum Wound Comics
Artist Glenn Barr illustrated the astounding Brooklyn Dreams for DC Comicsrsquo Pirannah Press Glenn later found huge success as a painter in the ldquolow browrdquo art movement made popular by Juxtapoz magazine
Optimum Wound Comics
Artist Kent Williams came from a fine art and illustration background He illustrated the Wolverine Havok miniseries with John J Muth for Marvel Comics More recently we worked on Darren Aronofskyrsquos The Fountain graphic novel for DC Vertigo His large oil paintings command tall dollars
3 Test out some t-shirt designs - print 50 Itrsquoll cost you a few hundred and at worst yoursquoll have 50 people running around town with your artwork on their chest The image doesnrsquot have to be from your comic book either It could simply be a fantastic design Now yoursquore accessible to the other 995 of the population that doesnrsquot read comics
Some artists have found great success in merchandising Webcomic creators make a good portion of their income from t-shirts and therersquos no reason why you couldnrsquot make some extra cake this way either
4 Make screen prints of your best artwork Not the cheaper 500-1000 offset poster runs Irsquom talking about the quality hand-pulled silk-screen prints that yoursquod sell in limited quantities Out of the potentially dozens of screenprint shops in your area there should be a few willing to print on larger surfaces 18Prime x 24Prime is a standard size for a print but I have a collection that runs the gamut from huge to long and thin If you provide your own paper stock to the printer you can get quite creative with ink color choices and even paper colors Yoursquoll need
some knowledge about color seperations to do more elaborate prints or yoursquoll have to enlist the aid of the shop itself for an hourly fee Be careful about those hourly fees
Screenprinting process Check out a video of Wes Winship from Burlesque design rock a ridiculously intricate Aaron Horkey screenprint
Optimum Wound Comics
ldquoIn order to be successful in any field yoursquore going to have to hustlerdquo
You can also just have one-color black on white prints done on nice quality paper and then hand-color them with inks watercolors or acrylic paints That would make a series of highly unique prints Go to GigPosterscom to see the best of the best show off their prints and posters
And while yoursquore at it run off some of those aforementioned cheaper offset posters to give away at conventions People may even ask you to sign them You might be able to get away with selling them for a few bucks Especially if you tell people itrsquos to raise funds to print a book
5 Learn some software already Itrsquos almost 2010 Get a member ship at Lyndacom 25 bucks a month Canrsquot afford it You canrsquot afford 5 lattersquos a month Yoursquoll be able to get on top of Photoshop Indesign and Illustrator Web design as well If yoursquove already figured out anatomy perspective backgrounds learning software is a snap in comparison Yoursquove spent 20 years drawing Adobe Creative Suite will only take you a couple more to master
6 Get your own website and stop relying on MySpace and Facebook so much Whatrsquos going to happen when all of the kids leave for the next coolest thing Yoursquoll still have your website thatrsquos what If you think Facebook and Twitter will still be a major play in 3 years yoursquoll be in for a rude awakening To save money in the beginning you can used shared hosting at a company like DreamHost or AN Hosting Irsquove used both and can recommend them Othersrsquo opinions may differ
You can get one up and running pretty quickly by using Wordpress If you find the learning curve too steep you can hire someone to build it or have one of your more tech-savvy friends take a shot at it
7 Get traffic to come to your website Just having a website is not enough anymore You need people to find it and then your fan base will need a reason to keep returning Herersquos a good resource page by Jack Humphrey for getting traffic to your site
8 Social Networks part 1 On the other hand if yoursquove still resisted joining these social networks GET ON IT 200 million people are on Facebook half as many are left on MySpace and millions join Twitter each month Itrsquos where all of your fans are Donrsquot be dropping that ldquoI donrsquot have timerdquo crap on me either You donrsquot have time NOT TO Join some Facebook groups in your niche follow some peers on twitter post some videos on YouTube or Vimeo Wade in slowly and get a feel for it
9 Social Networks part 2 And contribute to these networks Donrsquot get on there and be all
me me me Yes you can promote but donrsquot be proposing marriage on the first date Be helpful Be useful Read the Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media as a primer on this
10 Is your comic online No Well then stop reading this right now and go get it online Therersquos individual webcomics online that have the same visibility (alexa ranking) and traffic as the entire Dark Horse Comics website The really successful ones tend to update everyday and itrsquos not just gag comics about videogames anymore Any subject that you can think of has a webcomic to accompany it And yes itrsquos an amazing amount of work to keep these running like a well-oiled machine But it can pay off big time
You can either post your webcomic on a network like Webcomics Nation or Zuda or you can learn how to host your own webcomic
11 Make some custom skateboard paintings You know ink sticks to wood right Whatrsquos a blank skateboard run 20-30 bucks Coat that sucker in white and then drop on some artwork Acrylic paint works just fine Kudos to you yoursquore now the
Optimum Wound Comics
coolest artist on the block and your customized skate deck looks pretty darn sexy hanging up on a wall Now go make 12 more
12 Music art plan part 1 Yoursquore an artist so you probably listen to a lot of music And therersquos
probably some local bands in town that play on a regular basis You might even like some of them They need posters and flyers to advertise their shows If you manage to drag yourself away from your studio and drawing table truck on down to those shows and approach them in person Give
Adam Turman is a very skilled artist who first caught my eye with his killer ink work This is a custom skatedeck that he painted Herersquos an online store filled with decks featuring his graphics
Artist Derek Hess used to book shows for the Euclid Tavern in Cleveland Ohio back in the early 1990rsquos In order to pull in more people to the shows he turned to his own artistic skills and drew flyers Within a few years he was creating and designing posters and prints for international acts along with magazine covers album jack-ets and t-shirts Axel Alonso at Marvel Comics eventually engaged him to draw the three covers for the Captain America Dead Man Running mini-series knowing that Hess was a huge fan of Cap
Optimum Wound Comics
lsquoem some photocopies of your recent work Tell them yoursquod like to help out Yes for free
13 Music art plan part 2 Most bands use a local poster distributor (a dude who pastes up flyers on phone poles and walls in various neighborhoods) Excellent now your work will be seen all over town Those posters will be gone within a week or two so keep making new ones for promoters and bands every month Oh yeah keep all of the originals and a few copies of each of the flyers When yoursquore famous those will make a nice collection for an artbook ten years down the road
14 Music art plan part 3 Keep this up and eventually yoursquoll be a local underground celebrity artist Eventually people will contact you for paying work on CD covers (those still exist) and t-shirts And a lot of bands are starting to sell silk-screened prints at their merch tables now Irsquove picked up half a dozen prints over the past few years at shows This harkens back to the 1960rsquos and the Summer of Love
15 Music art plan part 4 If you have mad design skills make posters in Illustrator or InDesign for bands to distribute on the interwebs
16 Make minicomics Do you have 12-16 pages of your comic ready to go Good now get them scanned in and format a minicomic booklet in Adobe Acrobat or lay it out by hand An 85Prime x 11Prime page folded in half will do but if you want to go super small you can do 425Prime x 55Prime Make 1-200 of those at Kinkos or any local copy shop Ask to borrow their heavy duty stapler Donrsquot wait until you get home get folding and stapling right at the shop Good now you have a couple of hundred comics to distribute The mini-mini-comics (425times55ers) are the coolest business cards in the world You engage the person yoursquove handed it to in an interactive reading experience Make sure your website address is listed on the back Some comic shops might even sell them on consignment although the financial rewards will be limited
The Comics Reporter has a good primer on putting together a minicomic And so does CaptionOrg
17 Submit your comics to the smaller publishers Bummed that Marvel Dark Horse and DC donrsquot agree that yoursquore the next hottest thing yet Therersquos over 5 dozen other publishers that will still look at your samples and as luck would have it I have a complete list of those comic and manga submission guidelines for you
Comic artists as diverse as Daniel Clowes and Todd McFarlane have been hired to create CD covers and album jackets for bands of varying levels of success The connection between the music and comic scenes has been an ongoing relationship since the 1960rsquos
Optimum Wound Comics
Check out this video on making a minicomic that stands out And herersquos the blog that details that process
18 Try out print-on-demand (POD) sites like Lulu and Ka-Blam who will print up low runs of your comic for a fraction of the cost of what a traditional printer would run you And the quality of their books are getting better each year This accomplishes a few things for you You get a complete package to present to an audience without fronting thousands of dollars And you get to see your work in printed form which will enable you to make improvements immediately based on things yoursquore not happy with
19 Join some comic forums Remember those old message boards and forums that were supposedly dead Well they arenrsquot and thousands of people still post on them every day There are still a lot of worthy communities out there to engage in conversations with Comic writers like Warren Ellis and Brian Michael Bendis have their own forums Message boards get a bad rap and some of the more fanatical ones deserve it but therersquos a lot of great conversations to be had on Digital Webbing CBR Whitechapel and ConceptArt
20 Be original I know itrsquos a cliche but if yoursquore an artist you probably have something unique to express I mean nobody really wants to see your take on Spiderman or Batman Wersquove been reading re-hashed storylines for the past 30 years Odds are yours wonrsquot be any better Give us something new Wersquore thirsting for it Comic store owners and the comic industry are very resistant to changeBut when yoursquore starting out you donrsquot need them Start a comic online Blow our minds on a regular basis and wersquoll keep coming back for more Wersquoll subscribe to your RSS feed and wersquoll tell our friends And post it on blogs tweet it talk about it on forums bookmark it If enough of us dig it (or digg it) then yoursquoll print it (or a publisher will) and wersquoll head to the shops and buy it or order it from Amazon
21 Draw by hand on paper Are you using Manga Studio Adobe Illustrator or a wacom tablet to draw all of your comics Maybe you should consider doing some of that art with pen ink pencil paint whatever Yoursquove read my post on reasons to draw with pen and ink havenrsquot you People love original art You can sell it and possibly give some away at contests
22 Hold Contests Speaking of which you should hold contests on your webpage Wersquove had really positive results from running contests in the past You can do it in a blog post tweet it run it in your newsletter or throw it up on Facebook If you want to appeal solely to your fans you can have them do something in return to promote you in order for them to be eligible to win the prize Skies the limit on this one
ldquoPeople love original art You can sell it and
possibly give some away at contestsrdquo
Optimum Wound Comics
23 Hit up conventions You could experiment with smaller local ones at first Unless local for you means San Diego Toronto Chicago or New York Reserve a table at artist alley Then yoursquore at ground zero If you donrsquot feel comfortable renting a table just yet at least get out to a con and observe other artistrsquos tables and booths Take note of which displays and companies impressed you as an attendant Or just take pictures
If you do rent a table EXCELLENT Make sure to read 7 Tips for a Winning Tradeshow Booth Engage in conversations with comic and art fans Donrsquot be too much of a salesman Find out what theyrsquore into Conventions especially larger ones give you a feel for the health and pulse of the industry Wersquoll be attending FanExpo 2009 in Toronto on August 28-30
This is by no means a definitive list but itrsquos a start and Irsquom sure Irsquoll post a part 2 in the near future We didnrsquot discuss doing illustrations for local papers and magazines And we didnrsquot discuss Flickr or Deviantart Letrsquos do that soon
Jason Thibault is a writer artist and the publisher for Optimum Wound ComicsHe recently wrote a widely read article entitled The Comic and Manga Submission Guidelines for every publisher in North America and the UK who still accept creator submissions
Optimum Wound Comics
This was originally a to-do list that I wrote for myself I was trying to think of as many things that I could do as an artist to expand my reach and get the word out there Some were stupid so I immediately omitted them and tried to chisel this list down to only the good stuff
This isnrsquot meant to distract you from your goal of becoming an uber successful comic book artist I understand that you need to dedicate the bulk of your time to your craft and comic pages take long enough to finish as it is Believe me I sometimes wish there were 100 hours to a day
But sometimes yoursquoll hit roadblocks Other times yoursquoll hit seemingly endless plateaus where progress seems to elude you for months This list is meant to shake things up and get you to exercise the rest of your creative muscles
Irsquove personally already followed some of these suggestions Others Irsquove just begun to take steps on and then therersquos the rest which Irsquom eagerly trying to clear up the time to get to
Somewhere down the line Irsquoll expand some of these suggestions into full blown articles of their own Please feel free to add more of your own ideas in the comments section Wersquore all here to help each other When you step outside of comics what creative endeavours do you get up to
A few things to note
1 Drawing styles are all over the map Some draw in a simple and loose cartoony fashion while others tend to render highly realistic illustrations Not every suggestion below will apply to every creator but therersquos still a lot of room for artistic freedom
2 In order to be successful in any field yoursquore going to have to hustle Opportunities donrsquot often fall into your lap so yoursquore going to have to get out there and make things happen You donrsquot need to be pushy but yoursquoll have to be very outgoing
3 This is all a lot of work Therersquos no easy solutions To become a master of anthing you need to put in your ten thousand hours
23 wAYS fOr A cOmIc ArTIST TO HUSTLe SUrvIve ANd THrIve IN ANY ecONOmY
1 Draw big - I mean really big like 24Primex24Prime or 36Primex36Prime Try painting onto a board or canvas with acrylics Maybe even take a painting class at a local college or art studio Congrats now yoursquore on your
way to becoming a pop artist and your little comic drawing is now potentially a much more valuable piece of art Now go improve on that and make 20 more
If you really take to painting or creating larger works then you may be able to get in on a group show and eventually your own show Head out once in a while to a gallery show in your town and talk to the artists and the gallery owners Therersquos a lot of coffee shops bars and restaurants that want art on their walls Some give you the lionrsquos share of the commission as yoursquore decorating their place for free You get extra points for making your work topical and perhaps even ironic
2 In all seriousness therersquos a lot of examples of comic artists who went from comics into successful painting careers And some who still continue to do both Artists donrsquot necessarily like to be confined to a box (or panel as it were) and wnat to stretch their legs and work on bigger canvases So join a night-time painting class or go for drop-in sessions at local studios and get some life drawing sessions in Studios will often charge a day fee so that the cost of the modelrsquos time and space is covered You should be able to create in any medium once you show up If you want to master pen and ink go to the studio and draw directly in pen and ink
These experiences will add new depth to your drawing style
copy Copyright Kent Williams
Optimum Wound Comics
Artist Glenn Barr illustrated the astounding Brooklyn Dreams for DC Comicsrsquo Pirannah Press Glenn later found huge success as a painter in the ldquolow browrdquo art movement made popular by Juxtapoz magazine
Optimum Wound Comics
Artist Kent Williams came from a fine art and illustration background He illustrated the Wolverine Havok miniseries with John J Muth for Marvel Comics More recently we worked on Darren Aronofskyrsquos The Fountain graphic novel for DC Vertigo His large oil paintings command tall dollars
3 Test out some t-shirt designs - print 50 Itrsquoll cost you a few hundred and at worst yoursquoll have 50 people running around town with your artwork on their chest The image doesnrsquot have to be from your comic book either It could simply be a fantastic design Now yoursquore accessible to the other 995 of the population that doesnrsquot read comics
Some artists have found great success in merchandising Webcomic creators make a good portion of their income from t-shirts and therersquos no reason why you couldnrsquot make some extra cake this way either
4 Make screen prints of your best artwork Not the cheaper 500-1000 offset poster runs Irsquom talking about the quality hand-pulled silk-screen prints that yoursquod sell in limited quantities Out of the potentially dozens of screenprint shops in your area there should be a few willing to print on larger surfaces 18Prime x 24Prime is a standard size for a print but I have a collection that runs the gamut from huge to long and thin If you provide your own paper stock to the printer you can get quite creative with ink color choices and even paper colors Yoursquoll need
some knowledge about color seperations to do more elaborate prints or yoursquoll have to enlist the aid of the shop itself for an hourly fee Be careful about those hourly fees
Screenprinting process Check out a video of Wes Winship from Burlesque design rock a ridiculously intricate Aaron Horkey screenprint
Optimum Wound Comics
ldquoIn order to be successful in any field yoursquore going to have to hustlerdquo
You can also just have one-color black on white prints done on nice quality paper and then hand-color them with inks watercolors or acrylic paints That would make a series of highly unique prints Go to GigPosterscom to see the best of the best show off their prints and posters
And while yoursquore at it run off some of those aforementioned cheaper offset posters to give away at conventions People may even ask you to sign them You might be able to get away with selling them for a few bucks Especially if you tell people itrsquos to raise funds to print a book
5 Learn some software already Itrsquos almost 2010 Get a member ship at Lyndacom 25 bucks a month Canrsquot afford it You canrsquot afford 5 lattersquos a month Yoursquoll be able to get on top of Photoshop Indesign and Illustrator Web design as well If yoursquove already figured out anatomy perspective backgrounds learning software is a snap in comparison Yoursquove spent 20 years drawing Adobe Creative Suite will only take you a couple more to master
6 Get your own website and stop relying on MySpace and Facebook so much Whatrsquos going to happen when all of the kids leave for the next coolest thing Yoursquoll still have your website thatrsquos what If you think Facebook and Twitter will still be a major play in 3 years yoursquoll be in for a rude awakening To save money in the beginning you can used shared hosting at a company like DreamHost or AN Hosting Irsquove used both and can recommend them Othersrsquo opinions may differ
You can get one up and running pretty quickly by using Wordpress If you find the learning curve too steep you can hire someone to build it or have one of your more tech-savvy friends take a shot at it
7 Get traffic to come to your website Just having a website is not enough anymore You need people to find it and then your fan base will need a reason to keep returning Herersquos a good resource page by Jack Humphrey for getting traffic to your site
8 Social Networks part 1 On the other hand if yoursquove still resisted joining these social networks GET ON IT 200 million people are on Facebook half as many are left on MySpace and millions join Twitter each month Itrsquos where all of your fans are Donrsquot be dropping that ldquoI donrsquot have timerdquo crap on me either You donrsquot have time NOT TO Join some Facebook groups in your niche follow some peers on twitter post some videos on YouTube or Vimeo Wade in slowly and get a feel for it
9 Social Networks part 2 And contribute to these networks Donrsquot get on there and be all
me me me Yes you can promote but donrsquot be proposing marriage on the first date Be helpful Be useful Read the Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media as a primer on this
10 Is your comic online No Well then stop reading this right now and go get it online Therersquos individual webcomics online that have the same visibility (alexa ranking) and traffic as the entire Dark Horse Comics website The really successful ones tend to update everyday and itrsquos not just gag comics about videogames anymore Any subject that you can think of has a webcomic to accompany it And yes itrsquos an amazing amount of work to keep these running like a well-oiled machine But it can pay off big time
You can either post your webcomic on a network like Webcomics Nation or Zuda or you can learn how to host your own webcomic
11 Make some custom skateboard paintings You know ink sticks to wood right Whatrsquos a blank skateboard run 20-30 bucks Coat that sucker in white and then drop on some artwork Acrylic paint works just fine Kudos to you yoursquore now the
Optimum Wound Comics
coolest artist on the block and your customized skate deck looks pretty darn sexy hanging up on a wall Now go make 12 more
12 Music art plan part 1 Yoursquore an artist so you probably listen to a lot of music And therersquos
probably some local bands in town that play on a regular basis You might even like some of them They need posters and flyers to advertise their shows If you manage to drag yourself away from your studio and drawing table truck on down to those shows and approach them in person Give
Adam Turman is a very skilled artist who first caught my eye with his killer ink work This is a custom skatedeck that he painted Herersquos an online store filled with decks featuring his graphics
Artist Derek Hess used to book shows for the Euclid Tavern in Cleveland Ohio back in the early 1990rsquos In order to pull in more people to the shows he turned to his own artistic skills and drew flyers Within a few years he was creating and designing posters and prints for international acts along with magazine covers album jack-ets and t-shirts Axel Alonso at Marvel Comics eventually engaged him to draw the three covers for the Captain America Dead Man Running mini-series knowing that Hess was a huge fan of Cap
Optimum Wound Comics
lsquoem some photocopies of your recent work Tell them yoursquod like to help out Yes for free
13 Music art plan part 2 Most bands use a local poster distributor (a dude who pastes up flyers on phone poles and walls in various neighborhoods) Excellent now your work will be seen all over town Those posters will be gone within a week or two so keep making new ones for promoters and bands every month Oh yeah keep all of the originals and a few copies of each of the flyers When yoursquore famous those will make a nice collection for an artbook ten years down the road
14 Music art plan part 3 Keep this up and eventually yoursquoll be a local underground celebrity artist Eventually people will contact you for paying work on CD covers (those still exist) and t-shirts And a lot of bands are starting to sell silk-screened prints at their merch tables now Irsquove picked up half a dozen prints over the past few years at shows This harkens back to the 1960rsquos and the Summer of Love
15 Music art plan part 4 If you have mad design skills make posters in Illustrator or InDesign for bands to distribute on the interwebs
16 Make minicomics Do you have 12-16 pages of your comic ready to go Good now get them scanned in and format a minicomic booklet in Adobe Acrobat or lay it out by hand An 85Prime x 11Prime page folded in half will do but if you want to go super small you can do 425Prime x 55Prime Make 1-200 of those at Kinkos or any local copy shop Ask to borrow their heavy duty stapler Donrsquot wait until you get home get folding and stapling right at the shop Good now you have a couple of hundred comics to distribute The mini-mini-comics (425times55ers) are the coolest business cards in the world You engage the person yoursquove handed it to in an interactive reading experience Make sure your website address is listed on the back Some comic shops might even sell them on consignment although the financial rewards will be limited
The Comics Reporter has a good primer on putting together a minicomic And so does CaptionOrg
17 Submit your comics to the smaller publishers Bummed that Marvel Dark Horse and DC donrsquot agree that yoursquore the next hottest thing yet Therersquos over 5 dozen other publishers that will still look at your samples and as luck would have it I have a complete list of those comic and manga submission guidelines for you
Comic artists as diverse as Daniel Clowes and Todd McFarlane have been hired to create CD covers and album jackets for bands of varying levels of success The connection between the music and comic scenes has been an ongoing relationship since the 1960rsquos
Optimum Wound Comics
Check out this video on making a minicomic that stands out And herersquos the blog that details that process
18 Try out print-on-demand (POD) sites like Lulu and Ka-Blam who will print up low runs of your comic for a fraction of the cost of what a traditional printer would run you And the quality of their books are getting better each year This accomplishes a few things for you You get a complete package to present to an audience without fronting thousands of dollars And you get to see your work in printed form which will enable you to make improvements immediately based on things yoursquore not happy with
19 Join some comic forums Remember those old message boards and forums that were supposedly dead Well they arenrsquot and thousands of people still post on them every day There are still a lot of worthy communities out there to engage in conversations with Comic writers like Warren Ellis and Brian Michael Bendis have their own forums Message boards get a bad rap and some of the more fanatical ones deserve it but therersquos a lot of great conversations to be had on Digital Webbing CBR Whitechapel and ConceptArt
20 Be original I know itrsquos a cliche but if yoursquore an artist you probably have something unique to express I mean nobody really wants to see your take on Spiderman or Batman Wersquove been reading re-hashed storylines for the past 30 years Odds are yours wonrsquot be any better Give us something new Wersquore thirsting for it Comic store owners and the comic industry are very resistant to changeBut when yoursquore starting out you donrsquot need them Start a comic online Blow our minds on a regular basis and wersquoll keep coming back for more Wersquoll subscribe to your RSS feed and wersquoll tell our friends And post it on blogs tweet it talk about it on forums bookmark it If enough of us dig it (or digg it) then yoursquoll print it (or a publisher will) and wersquoll head to the shops and buy it or order it from Amazon
21 Draw by hand on paper Are you using Manga Studio Adobe Illustrator or a wacom tablet to draw all of your comics Maybe you should consider doing some of that art with pen ink pencil paint whatever Yoursquove read my post on reasons to draw with pen and ink havenrsquot you People love original art You can sell it and possibly give some away at contests
22 Hold Contests Speaking of which you should hold contests on your webpage Wersquove had really positive results from running contests in the past You can do it in a blog post tweet it run it in your newsletter or throw it up on Facebook If you want to appeal solely to your fans you can have them do something in return to promote you in order for them to be eligible to win the prize Skies the limit on this one
ldquoPeople love original art You can sell it and
possibly give some away at contestsrdquo
Optimum Wound Comics
23 Hit up conventions You could experiment with smaller local ones at first Unless local for you means San Diego Toronto Chicago or New York Reserve a table at artist alley Then yoursquore at ground zero If you donrsquot feel comfortable renting a table just yet at least get out to a con and observe other artistrsquos tables and booths Take note of which displays and companies impressed you as an attendant Or just take pictures
If you do rent a table EXCELLENT Make sure to read 7 Tips for a Winning Tradeshow Booth Engage in conversations with comic and art fans Donrsquot be too much of a salesman Find out what theyrsquore into Conventions especially larger ones give you a feel for the health and pulse of the industry Wersquoll be attending FanExpo 2009 in Toronto on August 28-30
This is by no means a definitive list but itrsquos a start and Irsquom sure Irsquoll post a part 2 in the near future We didnrsquot discuss doing illustrations for local papers and magazines And we didnrsquot discuss Flickr or Deviantart Letrsquos do that soon
Jason Thibault is a writer artist and the publisher for Optimum Wound ComicsHe recently wrote a widely read article entitled The Comic and Manga Submission Guidelines for every publisher in North America and the UK who still accept creator submissions
Optimum Wound Comics
Artist Glenn Barr illustrated the astounding Brooklyn Dreams for DC Comicsrsquo Pirannah Press Glenn later found huge success as a painter in the ldquolow browrdquo art movement made popular by Juxtapoz magazine
Optimum Wound Comics
Artist Kent Williams came from a fine art and illustration background He illustrated the Wolverine Havok miniseries with John J Muth for Marvel Comics More recently we worked on Darren Aronofskyrsquos The Fountain graphic novel for DC Vertigo His large oil paintings command tall dollars
3 Test out some t-shirt designs - print 50 Itrsquoll cost you a few hundred and at worst yoursquoll have 50 people running around town with your artwork on their chest The image doesnrsquot have to be from your comic book either It could simply be a fantastic design Now yoursquore accessible to the other 995 of the population that doesnrsquot read comics
Some artists have found great success in merchandising Webcomic creators make a good portion of their income from t-shirts and therersquos no reason why you couldnrsquot make some extra cake this way either
4 Make screen prints of your best artwork Not the cheaper 500-1000 offset poster runs Irsquom talking about the quality hand-pulled silk-screen prints that yoursquod sell in limited quantities Out of the potentially dozens of screenprint shops in your area there should be a few willing to print on larger surfaces 18Prime x 24Prime is a standard size for a print but I have a collection that runs the gamut from huge to long and thin If you provide your own paper stock to the printer you can get quite creative with ink color choices and even paper colors Yoursquoll need
some knowledge about color seperations to do more elaborate prints or yoursquoll have to enlist the aid of the shop itself for an hourly fee Be careful about those hourly fees
Screenprinting process Check out a video of Wes Winship from Burlesque design rock a ridiculously intricate Aaron Horkey screenprint
Optimum Wound Comics
ldquoIn order to be successful in any field yoursquore going to have to hustlerdquo
You can also just have one-color black on white prints done on nice quality paper and then hand-color them with inks watercolors or acrylic paints That would make a series of highly unique prints Go to GigPosterscom to see the best of the best show off their prints and posters
And while yoursquore at it run off some of those aforementioned cheaper offset posters to give away at conventions People may even ask you to sign them You might be able to get away with selling them for a few bucks Especially if you tell people itrsquos to raise funds to print a book
5 Learn some software already Itrsquos almost 2010 Get a member ship at Lyndacom 25 bucks a month Canrsquot afford it You canrsquot afford 5 lattersquos a month Yoursquoll be able to get on top of Photoshop Indesign and Illustrator Web design as well If yoursquove already figured out anatomy perspective backgrounds learning software is a snap in comparison Yoursquove spent 20 years drawing Adobe Creative Suite will only take you a couple more to master
6 Get your own website and stop relying on MySpace and Facebook so much Whatrsquos going to happen when all of the kids leave for the next coolest thing Yoursquoll still have your website thatrsquos what If you think Facebook and Twitter will still be a major play in 3 years yoursquoll be in for a rude awakening To save money in the beginning you can used shared hosting at a company like DreamHost or AN Hosting Irsquove used both and can recommend them Othersrsquo opinions may differ
You can get one up and running pretty quickly by using Wordpress If you find the learning curve too steep you can hire someone to build it or have one of your more tech-savvy friends take a shot at it
7 Get traffic to come to your website Just having a website is not enough anymore You need people to find it and then your fan base will need a reason to keep returning Herersquos a good resource page by Jack Humphrey for getting traffic to your site
8 Social Networks part 1 On the other hand if yoursquove still resisted joining these social networks GET ON IT 200 million people are on Facebook half as many are left on MySpace and millions join Twitter each month Itrsquos where all of your fans are Donrsquot be dropping that ldquoI donrsquot have timerdquo crap on me either You donrsquot have time NOT TO Join some Facebook groups in your niche follow some peers on twitter post some videos on YouTube or Vimeo Wade in slowly and get a feel for it
9 Social Networks part 2 And contribute to these networks Donrsquot get on there and be all
me me me Yes you can promote but donrsquot be proposing marriage on the first date Be helpful Be useful Read the Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media as a primer on this
10 Is your comic online No Well then stop reading this right now and go get it online Therersquos individual webcomics online that have the same visibility (alexa ranking) and traffic as the entire Dark Horse Comics website The really successful ones tend to update everyday and itrsquos not just gag comics about videogames anymore Any subject that you can think of has a webcomic to accompany it And yes itrsquos an amazing amount of work to keep these running like a well-oiled machine But it can pay off big time
You can either post your webcomic on a network like Webcomics Nation or Zuda or you can learn how to host your own webcomic
11 Make some custom skateboard paintings You know ink sticks to wood right Whatrsquos a blank skateboard run 20-30 bucks Coat that sucker in white and then drop on some artwork Acrylic paint works just fine Kudos to you yoursquore now the
Optimum Wound Comics
coolest artist on the block and your customized skate deck looks pretty darn sexy hanging up on a wall Now go make 12 more
12 Music art plan part 1 Yoursquore an artist so you probably listen to a lot of music And therersquos
probably some local bands in town that play on a regular basis You might even like some of them They need posters and flyers to advertise their shows If you manage to drag yourself away from your studio and drawing table truck on down to those shows and approach them in person Give
Adam Turman is a very skilled artist who first caught my eye with his killer ink work This is a custom skatedeck that he painted Herersquos an online store filled with decks featuring his graphics
Artist Derek Hess used to book shows for the Euclid Tavern in Cleveland Ohio back in the early 1990rsquos In order to pull in more people to the shows he turned to his own artistic skills and drew flyers Within a few years he was creating and designing posters and prints for international acts along with magazine covers album jack-ets and t-shirts Axel Alonso at Marvel Comics eventually engaged him to draw the three covers for the Captain America Dead Man Running mini-series knowing that Hess was a huge fan of Cap
Optimum Wound Comics
lsquoem some photocopies of your recent work Tell them yoursquod like to help out Yes for free
13 Music art plan part 2 Most bands use a local poster distributor (a dude who pastes up flyers on phone poles and walls in various neighborhoods) Excellent now your work will be seen all over town Those posters will be gone within a week or two so keep making new ones for promoters and bands every month Oh yeah keep all of the originals and a few copies of each of the flyers When yoursquore famous those will make a nice collection for an artbook ten years down the road
14 Music art plan part 3 Keep this up and eventually yoursquoll be a local underground celebrity artist Eventually people will contact you for paying work on CD covers (those still exist) and t-shirts And a lot of bands are starting to sell silk-screened prints at their merch tables now Irsquove picked up half a dozen prints over the past few years at shows This harkens back to the 1960rsquos and the Summer of Love
15 Music art plan part 4 If you have mad design skills make posters in Illustrator or InDesign for bands to distribute on the interwebs
16 Make minicomics Do you have 12-16 pages of your comic ready to go Good now get them scanned in and format a minicomic booklet in Adobe Acrobat or lay it out by hand An 85Prime x 11Prime page folded in half will do but if you want to go super small you can do 425Prime x 55Prime Make 1-200 of those at Kinkos or any local copy shop Ask to borrow their heavy duty stapler Donrsquot wait until you get home get folding and stapling right at the shop Good now you have a couple of hundred comics to distribute The mini-mini-comics (425times55ers) are the coolest business cards in the world You engage the person yoursquove handed it to in an interactive reading experience Make sure your website address is listed on the back Some comic shops might even sell them on consignment although the financial rewards will be limited
The Comics Reporter has a good primer on putting together a minicomic And so does CaptionOrg
17 Submit your comics to the smaller publishers Bummed that Marvel Dark Horse and DC donrsquot agree that yoursquore the next hottest thing yet Therersquos over 5 dozen other publishers that will still look at your samples and as luck would have it I have a complete list of those comic and manga submission guidelines for you
Comic artists as diverse as Daniel Clowes and Todd McFarlane have been hired to create CD covers and album jackets for bands of varying levels of success The connection between the music and comic scenes has been an ongoing relationship since the 1960rsquos
Optimum Wound Comics
Check out this video on making a minicomic that stands out And herersquos the blog that details that process
18 Try out print-on-demand (POD) sites like Lulu and Ka-Blam who will print up low runs of your comic for a fraction of the cost of what a traditional printer would run you And the quality of their books are getting better each year This accomplishes a few things for you You get a complete package to present to an audience without fronting thousands of dollars And you get to see your work in printed form which will enable you to make improvements immediately based on things yoursquore not happy with
19 Join some comic forums Remember those old message boards and forums that were supposedly dead Well they arenrsquot and thousands of people still post on them every day There are still a lot of worthy communities out there to engage in conversations with Comic writers like Warren Ellis and Brian Michael Bendis have their own forums Message boards get a bad rap and some of the more fanatical ones deserve it but therersquos a lot of great conversations to be had on Digital Webbing CBR Whitechapel and ConceptArt
20 Be original I know itrsquos a cliche but if yoursquore an artist you probably have something unique to express I mean nobody really wants to see your take on Spiderman or Batman Wersquove been reading re-hashed storylines for the past 30 years Odds are yours wonrsquot be any better Give us something new Wersquore thirsting for it Comic store owners and the comic industry are very resistant to changeBut when yoursquore starting out you donrsquot need them Start a comic online Blow our minds on a regular basis and wersquoll keep coming back for more Wersquoll subscribe to your RSS feed and wersquoll tell our friends And post it on blogs tweet it talk about it on forums bookmark it If enough of us dig it (or digg it) then yoursquoll print it (or a publisher will) and wersquoll head to the shops and buy it or order it from Amazon
21 Draw by hand on paper Are you using Manga Studio Adobe Illustrator or a wacom tablet to draw all of your comics Maybe you should consider doing some of that art with pen ink pencil paint whatever Yoursquove read my post on reasons to draw with pen and ink havenrsquot you People love original art You can sell it and possibly give some away at contests
22 Hold Contests Speaking of which you should hold contests on your webpage Wersquove had really positive results from running contests in the past You can do it in a blog post tweet it run it in your newsletter or throw it up on Facebook If you want to appeal solely to your fans you can have them do something in return to promote you in order for them to be eligible to win the prize Skies the limit on this one
ldquoPeople love original art You can sell it and
possibly give some away at contestsrdquo
Optimum Wound Comics
23 Hit up conventions You could experiment with smaller local ones at first Unless local for you means San Diego Toronto Chicago or New York Reserve a table at artist alley Then yoursquore at ground zero If you donrsquot feel comfortable renting a table just yet at least get out to a con and observe other artistrsquos tables and booths Take note of which displays and companies impressed you as an attendant Or just take pictures
If you do rent a table EXCELLENT Make sure to read 7 Tips for a Winning Tradeshow Booth Engage in conversations with comic and art fans Donrsquot be too much of a salesman Find out what theyrsquore into Conventions especially larger ones give you a feel for the health and pulse of the industry Wersquoll be attending FanExpo 2009 in Toronto on August 28-30
This is by no means a definitive list but itrsquos a start and Irsquom sure Irsquoll post a part 2 in the near future We didnrsquot discuss doing illustrations for local papers and magazines And we didnrsquot discuss Flickr or Deviantart Letrsquos do that soon
Jason Thibault is a writer artist and the publisher for Optimum Wound ComicsHe recently wrote a widely read article entitled The Comic and Manga Submission Guidelines for every publisher in North America and the UK who still accept creator submissions
Optimum Wound Comics
Artist Kent Williams came from a fine art and illustration background He illustrated the Wolverine Havok miniseries with John J Muth for Marvel Comics More recently we worked on Darren Aronofskyrsquos The Fountain graphic novel for DC Vertigo His large oil paintings command tall dollars
3 Test out some t-shirt designs - print 50 Itrsquoll cost you a few hundred and at worst yoursquoll have 50 people running around town with your artwork on their chest The image doesnrsquot have to be from your comic book either It could simply be a fantastic design Now yoursquore accessible to the other 995 of the population that doesnrsquot read comics
Some artists have found great success in merchandising Webcomic creators make a good portion of their income from t-shirts and therersquos no reason why you couldnrsquot make some extra cake this way either
4 Make screen prints of your best artwork Not the cheaper 500-1000 offset poster runs Irsquom talking about the quality hand-pulled silk-screen prints that yoursquod sell in limited quantities Out of the potentially dozens of screenprint shops in your area there should be a few willing to print on larger surfaces 18Prime x 24Prime is a standard size for a print but I have a collection that runs the gamut from huge to long and thin If you provide your own paper stock to the printer you can get quite creative with ink color choices and even paper colors Yoursquoll need
some knowledge about color seperations to do more elaborate prints or yoursquoll have to enlist the aid of the shop itself for an hourly fee Be careful about those hourly fees
Screenprinting process Check out a video of Wes Winship from Burlesque design rock a ridiculously intricate Aaron Horkey screenprint
Optimum Wound Comics
ldquoIn order to be successful in any field yoursquore going to have to hustlerdquo
You can also just have one-color black on white prints done on nice quality paper and then hand-color them with inks watercolors or acrylic paints That would make a series of highly unique prints Go to GigPosterscom to see the best of the best show off their prints and posters
And while yoursquore at it run off some of those aforementioned cheaper offset posters to give away at conventions People may even ask you to sign them You might be able to get away with selling them for a few bucks Especially if you tell people itrsquos to raise funds to print a book
5 Learn some software already Itrsquos almost 2010 Get a member ship at Lyndacom 25 bucks a month Canrsquot afford it You canrsquot afford 5 lattersquos a month Yoursquoll be able to get on top of Photoshop Indesign and Illustrator Web design as well If yoursquove already figured out anatomy perspective backgrounds learning software is a snap in comparison Yoursquove spent 20 years drawing Adobe Creative Suite will only take you a couple more to master
6 Get your own website and stop relying on MySpace and Facebook so much Whatrsquos going to happen when all of the kids leave for the next coolest thing Yoursquoll still have your website thatrsquos what If you think Facebook and Twitter will still be a major play in 3 years yoursquoll be in for a rude awakening To save money in the beginning you can used shared hosting at a company like DreamHost or AN Hosting Irsquove used both and can recommend them Othersrsquo opinions may differ
You can get one up and running pretty quickly by using Wordpress If you find the learning curve too steep you can hire someone to build it or have one of your more tech-savvy friends take a shot at it
7 Get traffic to come to your website Just having a website is not enough anymore You need people to find it and then your fan base will need a reason to keep returning Herersquos a good resource page by Jack Humphrey for getting traffic to your site
8 Social Networks part 1 On the other hand if yoursquove still resisted joining these social networks GET ON IT 200 million people are on Facebook half as many are left on MySpace and millions join Twitter each month Itrsquos where all of your fans are Donrsquot be dropping that ldquoI donrsquot have timerdquo crap on me either You donrsquot have time NOT TO Join some Facebook groups in your niche follow some peers on twitter post some videos on YouTube or Vimeo Wade in slowly and get a feel for it
9 Social Networks part 2 And contribute to these networks Donrsquot get on there and be all
me me me Yes you can promote but donrsquot be proposing marriage on the first date Be helpful Be useful Read the Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media as a primer on this
10 Is your comic online No Well then stop reading this right now and go get it online Therersquos individual webcomics online that have the same visibility (alexa ranking) and traffic as the entire Dark Horse Comics website The really successful ones tend to update everyday and itrsquos not just gag comics about videogames anymore Any subject that you can think of has a webcomic to accompany it And yes itrsquos an amazing amount of work to keep these running like a well-oiled machine But it can pay off big time
You can either post your webcomic on a network like Webcomics Nation or Zuda or you can learn how to host your own webcomic
11 Make some custom skateboard paintings You know ink sticks to wood right Whatrsquos a blank skateboard run 20-30 bucks Coat that sucker in white and then drop on some artwork Acrylic paint works just fine Kudos to you yoursquore now the
Optimum Wound Comics
coolest artist on the block and your customized skate deck looks pretty darn sexy hanging up on a wall Now go make 12 more
12 Music art plan part 1 Yoursquore an artist so you probably listen to a lot of music And therersquos
probably some local bands in town that play on a regular basis You might even like some of them They need posters and flyers to advertise their shows If you manage to drag yourself away from your studio and drawing table truck on down to those shows and approach them in person Give
Adam Turman is a very skilled artist who first caught my eye with his killer ink work This is a custom skatedeck that he painted Herersquos an online store filled with decks featuring his graphics
Artist Derek Hess used to book shows for the Euclid Tavern in Cleveland Ohio back in the early 1990rsquos In order to pull in more people to the shows he turned to his own artistic skills and drew flyers Within a few years he was creating and designing posters and prints for international acts along with magazine covers album jack-ets and t-shirts Axel Alonso at Marvel Comics eventually engaged him to draw the three covers for the Captain America Dead Man Running mini-series knowing that Hess was a huge fan of Cap
Optimum Wound Comics
lsquoem some photocopies of your recent work Tell them yoursquod like to help out Yes for free
13 Music art plan part 2 Most bands use a local poster distributor (a dude who pastes up flyers on phone poles and walls in various neighborhoods) Excellent now your work will be seen all over town Those posters will be gone within a week or two so keep making new ones for promoters and bands every month Oh yeah keep all of the originals and a few copies of each of the flyers When yoursquore famous those will make a nice collection for an artbook ten years down the road
14 Music art plan part 3 Keep this up and eventually yoursquoll be a local underground celebrity artist Eventually people will contact you for paying work on CD covers (those still exist) and t-shirts And a lot of bands are starting to sell silk-screened prints at their merch tables now Irsquove picked up half a dozen prints over the past few years at shows This harkens back to the 1960rsquos and the Summer of Love
15 Music art plan part 4 If you have mad design skills make posters in Illustrator or InDesign for bands to distribute on the interwebs
16 Make minicomics Do you have 12-16 pages of your comic ready to go Good now get them scanned in and format a minicomic booklet in Adobe Acrobat or lay it out by hand An 85Prime x 11Prime page folded in half will do but if you want to go super small you can do 425Prime x 55Prime Make 1-200 of those at Kinkos or any local copy shop Ask to borrow their heavy duty stapler Donrsquot wait until you get home get folding and stapling right at the shop Good now you have a couple of hundred comics to distribute The mini-mini-comics (425times55ers) are the coolest business cards in the world You engage the person yoursquove handed it to in an interactive reading experience Make sure your website address is listed on the back Some comic shops might even sell them on consignment although the financial rewards will be limited
The Comics Reporter has a good primer on putting together a minicomic And so does CaptionOrg
17 Submit your comics to the smaller publishers Bummed that Marvel Dark Horse and DC donrsquot agree that yoursquore the next hottest thing yet Therersquos over 5 dozen other publishers that will still look at your samples and as luck would have it I have a complete list of those comic and manga submission guidelines for you
Comic artists as diverse as Daniel Clowes and Todd McFarlane have been hired to create CD covers and album jackets for bands of varying levels of success The connection between the music and comic scenes has been an ongoing relationship since the 1960rsquos
Optimum Wound Comics
Check out this video on making a minicomic that stands out And herersquos the blog that details that process
18 Try out print-on-demand (POD) sites like Lulu and Ka-Blam who will print up low runs of your comic for a fraction of the cost of what a traditional printer would run you And the quality of their books are getting better each year This accomplishes a few things for you You get a complete package to present to an audience without fronting thousands of dollars And you get to see your work in printed form which will enable you to make improvements immediately based on things yoursquore not happy with
19 Join some comic forums Remember those old message boards and forums that were supposedly dead Well they arenrsquot and thousands of people still post on them every day There are still a lot of worthy communities out there to engage in conversations with Comic writers like Warren Ellis and Brian Michael Bendis have their own forums Message boards get a bad rap and some of the more fanatical ones deserve it but therersquos a lot of great conversations to be had on Digital Webbing CBR Whitechapel and ConceptArt
20 Be original I know itrsquos a cliche but if yoursquore an artist you probably have something unique to express I mean nobody really wants to see your take on Spiderman or Batman Wersquove been reading re-hashed storylines for the past 30 years Odds are yours wonrsquot be any better Give us something new Wersquore thirsting for it Comic store owners and the comic industry are very resistant to changeBut when yoursquore starting out you donrsquot need them Start a comic online Blow our minds on a regular basis and wersquoll keep coming back for more Wersquoll subscribe to your RSS feed and wersquoll tell our friends And post it on blogs tweet it talk about it on forums bookmark it If enough of us dig it (or digg it) then yoursquoll print it (or a publisher will) and wersquoll head to the shops and buy it or order it from Amazon
21 Draw by hand on paper Are you using Manga Studio Adobe Illustrator or a wacom tablet to draw all of your comics Maybe you should consider doing some of that art with pen ink pencil paint whatever Yoursquove read my post on reasons to draw with pen and ink havenrsquot you People love original art You can sell it and possibly give some away at contests
22 Hold Contests Speaking of which you should hold contests on your webpage Wersquove had really positive results from running contests in the past You can do it in a blog post tweet it run it in your newsletter or throw it up on Facebook If you want to appeal solely to your fans you can have them do something in return to promote you in order for them to be eligible to win the prize Skies the limit on this one
ldquoPeople love original art You can sell it and
possibly give some away at contestsrdquo
Optimum Wound Comics
23 Hit up conventions You could experiment with smaller local ones at first Unless local for you means San Diego Toronto Chicago or New York Reserve a table at artist alley Then yoursquore at ground zero If you donrsquot feel comfortable renting a table just yet at least get out to a con and observe other artistrsquos tables and booths Take note of which displays and companies impressed you as an attendant Or just take pictures
If you do rent a table EXCELLENT Make sure to read 7 Tips for a Winning Tradeshow Booth Engage in conversations with comic and art fans Donrsquot be too much of a salesman Find out what theyrsquore into Conventions especially larger ones give you a feel for the health and pulse of the industry Wersquoll be attending FanExpo 2009 in Toronto on August 28-30
This is by no means a definitive list but itrsquos a start and Irsquom sure Irsquoll post a part 2 in the near future We didnrsquot discuss doing illustrations for local papers and magazines And we didnrsquot discuss Flickr or Deviantart Letrsquos do that soon
Jason Thibault is a writer artist and the publisher for Optimum Wound ComicsHe recently wrote a widely read article entitled The Comic and Manga Submission Guidelines for every publisher in North America and the UK who still accept creator submissions
Optimum Wound Comics
ldquoIn order to be successful in any field yoursquore going to have to hustlerdquo
You can also just have one-color black on white prints done on nice quality paper and then hand-color them with inks watercolors or acrylic paints That would make a series of highly unique prints Go to GigPosterscom to see the best of the best show off their prints and posters
And while yoursquore at it run off some of those aforementioned cheaper offset posters to give away at conventions People may even ask you to sign them You might be able to get away with selling them for a few bucks Especially if you tell people itrsquos to raise funds to print a book
5 Learn some software already Itrsquos almost 2010 Get a member ship at Lyndacom 25 bucks a month Canrsquot afford it You canrsquot afford 5 lattersquos a month Yoursquoll be able to get on top of Photoshop Indesign and Illustrator Web design as well If yoursquove already figured out anatomy perspective backgrounds learning software is a snap in comparison Yoursquove spent 20 years drawing Adobe Creative Suite will only take you a couple more to master
6 Get your own website and stop relying on MySpace and Facebook so much Whatrsquos going to happen when all of the kids leave for the next coolest thing Yoursquoll still have your website thatrsquos what If you think Facebook and Twitter will still be a major play in 3 years yoursquoll be in for a rude awakening To save money in the beginning you can used shared hosting at a company like DreamHost or AN Hosting Irsquove used both and can recommend them Othersrsquo opinions may differ
You can get one up and running pretty quickly by using Wordpress If you find the learning curve too steep you can hire someone to build it or have one of your more tech-savvy friends take a shot at it
7 Get traffic to come to your website Just having a website is not enough anymore You need people to find it and then your fan base will need a reason to keep returning Herersquos a good resource page by Jack Humphrey for getting traffic to your site
8 Social Networks part 1 On the other hand if yoursquove still resisted joining these social networks GET ON IT 200 million people are on Facebook half as many are left on MySpace and millions join Twitter each month Itrsquos where all of your fans are Donrsquot be dropping that ldquoI donrsquot have timerdquo crap on me either You donrsquot have time NOT TO Join some Facebook groups in your niche follow some peers on twitter post some videos on YouTube or Vimeo Wade in slowly and get a feel for it
9 Social Networks part 2 And contribute to these networks Donrsquot get on there and be all
me me me Yes you can promote but donrsquot be proposing marriage on the first date Be helpful Be useful Read the Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media as a primer on this
10 Is your comic online No Well then stop reading this right now and go get it online Therersquos individual webcomics online that have the same visibility (alexa ranking) and traffic as the entire Dark Horse Comics website The really successful ones tend to update everyday and itrsquos not just gag comics about videogames anymore Any subject that you can think of has a webcomic to accompany it And yes itrsquos an amazing amount of work to keep these running like a well-oiled machine But it can pay off big time
You can either post your webcomic on a network like Webcomics Nation or Zuda or you can learn how to host your own webcomic
11 Make some custom skateboard paintings You know ink sticks to wood right Whatrsquos a blank skateboard run 20-30 bucks Coat that sucker in white and then drop on some artwork Acrylic paint works just fine Kudos to you yoursquore now the
Optimum Wound Comics
coolest artist on the block and your customized skate deck looks pretty darn sexy hanging up on a wall Now go make 12 more
12 Music art plan part 1 Yoursquore an artist so you probably listen to a lot of music And therersquos
probably some local bands in town that play on a regular basis You might even like some of them They need posters and flyers to advertise their shows If you manage to drag yourself away from your studio and drawing table truck on down to those shows and approach them in person Give
Adam Turman is a very skilled artist who first caught my eye with his killer ink work This is a custom skatedeck that he painted Herersquos an online store filled with decks featuring his graphics
Artist Derek Hess used to book shows for the Euclid Tavern in Cleveland Ohio back in the early 1990rsquos In order to pull in more people to the shows he turned to his own artistic skills and drew flyers Within a few years he was creating and designing posters and prints for international acts along with magazine covers album jack-ets and t-shirts Axel Alonso at Marvel Comics eventually engaged him to draw the three covers for the Captain America Dead Man Running mini-series knowing that Hess was a huge fan of Cap
Optimum Wound Comics
lsquoem some photocopies of your recent work Tell them yoursquod like to help out Yes for free
13 Music art plan part 2 Most bands use a local poster distributor (a dude who pastes up flyers on phone poles and walls in various neighborhoods) Excellent now your work will be seen all over town Those posters will be gone within a week or two so keep making new ones for promoters and bands every month Oh yeah keep all of the originals and a few copies of each of the flyers When yoursquore famous those will make a nice collection for an artbook ten years down the road
14 Music art plan part 3 Keep this up and eventually yoursquoll be a local underground celebrity artist Eventually people will contact you for paying work on CD covers (those still exist) and t-shirts And a lot of bands are starting to sell silk-screened prints at their merch tables now Irsquove picked up half a dozen prints over the past few years at shows This harkens back to the 1960rsquos and the Summer of Love
15 Music art plan part 4 If you have mad design skills make posters in Illustrator or InDesign for bands to distribute on the interwebs
16 Make minicomics Do you have 12-16 pages of your comic ready to go Good now get them scanned in and format a minicomic booklet in Adobe Acrobat or lay it out by hand An 85Prime x 11Prime page folded in half will do but if you want to go super small you can do 425Prime x 55Prime Make 1-200 of those at Kinkos or any local copy shop Ask to borrow their heavy duty stapler Donrsquot wait until you get home get folding and stapling right at the shop Good now you have a couple of hundred comics to distribute The mini-mini-comics (425times55ers) are the coolest business cards in the world You engage the person yoursquove handed it to in an interactive reading experience Make sure your website address is listed on the back Some comic shops might even sell them on consignment although the financial rewards will be limited
The Comics Reporter has a good primer on putting together a minicomic And so does CaptionOrg
17 Submit your comics to the smaller publishers Bummed that Marvel Dark Horse and DC donrsquot agree that yoursquore the next hottest thing yet Therersquos over 5 dozen other publishers that will still look at your samples and as luck would have it I have a complete list of those comic and manga submission guidelines for you
Comic artists as diverse as Daniel Clowes and Todd McFarlane have been hired to create CD covers and album jackets for bands of varying levels of success The connection between the music and comic scenes has been an ongoing relationship since the 1960rsquos
Optimum Wound Comics
Check out this video on making a minicomic that stands out And herersquos the blog that details that process
18 Try out print-on-demand (POD) sites like Lulu and Ka-Blam who will print up low runs of your comic for a fraction of the cost of what a traditional printer would run you And the quality of their books are getting better each year This accomplishes a few things for you You get a complete package to present to an audience without fronting thousands of dollars And you get to see your work in printed form which will enable you to make improvements immediately based on things yoursquore not happy with
19 Join some comic forums Remember those old message boards and forums that were supposedly dead Well they arenrsquot and thousands of people still post on them every day There are still a lot of worthy communities out there to engage in conversations with Comic writers like Warren Ellis and Brian Michael Bendis have their own forums Message boards get a bad rap and some of the more fanatical ones deserve it but therersquos a lot of great conversations to be had on Digital Webbing CBR Whitechapel and ConceptArt
20 Be original I know itrsquos a cliche but if yoursquore an artist you probably have something unique to express I mean nobody really wants to see your take on Spiderman or Batman Wersquove been reading re-hashed storylines for the past 30 years Odds are yours wonrsquot be any better Give us something new Wersquore thirsting for it Comic store owners and the comic industry are very resistant to changeBut when yoursquore starting out you donrsquot need them Start a comic online Blow our minds on a regular basis and wersquoll keep coming back for more Wersquoll subscribe to your RSS feed and wersquoll tell our friends And post it on blogs tweet it talk about it on forums bookmark it If enough of us dig it (or digg it) then yoursquoll print it (or a publisher will) and wersquoll head to the shops and buy it or order it from Amazon
21 Draw by hand on paper Are you using Manga Studio Adobe Illustrator or a wacom tablet to draw all of your comics Maybe you should consider doing some of that art with pen ink pencil paint whatever Yoursquove read my post on reasons to draw with pen and ink havenrsquot you People love original art You can sell it and possibly give some away at contests
22 Hold Contests Speaking of which you should hold contests on your webpage Wersquove had really positive results from running contests in the past You can do it in a blog post tweet it run it in your newsletter or throw it up on Facebook If you want to appeal solely to your fans you can have them do something in return to promote you in order for them to be eligible to win the prize Skies the limit on this one
ldquoPeople love original art You can sell it and
possibly give some away at contestsrdquo
Optimum Wound Comics
23 Hit up conventions You could experiment with smaller local ones at first Unless local for you means San Diego Toronto Chicago or New York Reserve a table at artist alley Then yoursquore at ground zero If you donrsquot feel comfortable renting a table just yet at least get out to a con and observe other artistrsquos tables and booths Take note of which displays and companies impressed you as an attendant Or just take pictures
If you do rent a table EXCELLENT Make sure to read 7 Tips for a Winning Tradeshow Booth Engage in conversations with comic and art fans Donrsquot be too much of a salesman Find out what theyrsquore into Conventions especially larger ones give you a feel for the health and pulse of the industry Wersquoll be attending FanExpo 2009 in Toronto on August 28-30
This is by no means a definitive list but itrsquos a start and Irsquom sure Irsquoll post a part 2 in the near future We didnrsquot discuss doing illustrations for local papers and magazines And we didnrsquot discuss Flickr or Deviantart Letrsquos do that soon
Jason Thibault is a writer artist and the publisher for Optimum Wound ComicsHe recently wrote a widely read article entitled The Comic and Manga Submission Guidelines for every publisher in North America and the UK who still accept creator submissions
Optimum Wound Comics
coolest artist on the block and your customized skate deck looks pretty darn sexy hanging up on a wall Now go make 12 more
12 Music art plan part 1 Yoursquore an artist so you probably listen to a lot of music And therersquos
probably some local bands in town that play on a regular basis You might even like some of them They need posters and flyers to advertise their shows If you manage to drag yourself away from your studio and drawing table truck on down to those shows and approach them in person Give
Adam Turman is a very skilled artist who first caught my eye with his killer ink work This is a custom skatedeck that he painted Herersquos an online store filled with decks featuring his graphics
Artist Derek Hess used to book shows for the Euclid Tavern in Cleveland Ohio back in the early 1990rsquos In order to pull in more people to the shows he turned to his own artistic skills and drew flyers Within a few years he was creating and designing posters and prints for international acts along with magazine covers album jack-ets and t-shirts Axel Alonso at Marvel Comics eventually engaged him to draw the three covers for the Captain America Dead Man Running mini-series knowing that Hess was a huge fan of Cap
Optimum Wound Comics
lsquoem some photocopies of your recent work Tell them yoursquod like to help out Yes for free
13 Music art plan part 2 Most bands use a local poster distributor (a dude who pastes up flyers on phone poles and walls in various neighborhoods) Excellent now your work will be seen all over town Those posters will be gone within a week or two so keep making new ones for promoters and bands every month Oh yeah keep all of the originals and a few copies of each of the flyers When yoursquore famous those will make a nice collection for an artbook ten years down the road
14 Music art plan part 3 Keep this up and eventually yoursquoll be a local underground celebrity artist Eventually people will contact you for paying work on CD covers (those still exist) and t-shirts And a lot of bands are starting to sell silk-screened prints at their merch tables now Irsquove picked up half a dozen prints over the past few years at shows This harkens back to the 1960rsquos and the Summer of Love
15 Music art plan part 4 If you have mad design skills make posters in Illustrator or InDesign for bands to distribute on the interwebs
16 Make minicomics Do you have 12-16 pages of your comic ready to go Good now get them scanned in and format a minicomic booklet in Adobe Acrobat or lay it out by hand An 85Prime x 11Prime page folded in half will do but if you want to go super small you can do 425Prime x 55Prime Make 1-200 of those at Kinkos or any local copy shop Ask to borrow their heavy duty stapler Donrsquot wait until you get home get folding and stapling right at the shop Good now you have a couple of hundred comics to distribute The mini-mini-comics (425times55ers) are the coolest business cards in the world You engage the person yoursquove handed it to in an interactive reading experience Make sure your website address is listed on the back Some comic shops might even sell them on consignment although the financial rewards will be limited
The Comics Reporter has a good primer on putting together a minicomic And so does CaptionOrg
17 Submit your comics to the smaller publishers Bummed that Marvel Dark Horse and DC donrsquot agree that yoursquore the next hottest thing yet Therersquos over 5 dozen other publishers that will still look at your samples and as luck would have it I have a complete list of those comic and manga submission guidelines for you
Comic artists as diverse as Daniel Clowes and Todd McFarlane have been hired to create CD covers and album jackets for bands of varying levels of success The connection between the music and comic scenes has been an ongoing relationship since the 1960rsquos
Optimum Wound Comics
Check out this video on making a minicomic that stands out And herersquos the blog that details that process
18 Try out print-on-demand (POD) sites like Lulu and Ka-Blam who will print up low runs of your comic for a fraction of the cost of what a traditional printer would run you And the quality of their books are getting better each year This accomplishes a few things for you You get a complete package to present to an audience without fronting thousands of dollars And you get to see your work in printed form which will enable you to make improvements immediately based on things yoursquore not happy with
19 Join some comic forums Remember those old message boards and forums that were supposedly dead Well they arenrsquot and thousands of people still post on them every day There are still a lot of worthy communities out there to engage in conversations with Comic writers like Warren Ellis and Brian Michael Bendis have their own forums Message boards get a bad rap and some of the more fanatical ones deserve it but therersquos a lot of great conversations to be had on Digital Webbing CBR Whitechapel and ConceptArt
20 Be original I know itrsquos a cliche but if yoursquore an artist you probably have something unique to express I mean nobody really wants to see your take on Spiderman or Batman Wersquove been reading re-hashed storylines for the past 30 years Odds are yours wonrsquot be any better Give us something new Wersquore thirsting for it Comic store owners and the comic industry are very resistant to changeBut when yoursquore starting out you donrsquot need them Start a comic online Blow our minds on a regular basis and wersquoll keep coming back for more Wersquoll subscribe to your RSS feed and wersquoll tell our friends And post it on blogs tweet it talk about it on forums bookmark it If enough of us dig it (or digg it) then yoursquoll print it (or a publisher will) and wersquoll head to the shops and buy it or order it from Amazon
21 Draw by hand on paper Are you using Manga Studio Adobe Illustrator or a wacom tablet to draw all of your comics Maybe you should consider doing some of that art with pen ink pencil paint whatever Yoursquove read my post on reasons to draw with pen and ink havenrsquot you People love original art You can sell it and possibly give some away at contests
22 Hold Contests Speaking of which you should hold contests on your webpage Wersquove had really positive results from running contests in the past You can do it in a blog post tweet it run it in your newsletter or throw it up on Facebook If you want to appeal solely to your fans you can have them do something in return to promote you in order for them to be eligible to win the prize Skies the limit on this one
ldquoPeople love original art You can sell it and
possibly give some away at contestsrdquo
Optimum Wound Comics
23 Hit up conventions You could experiment with smaller local ones at first Unless local for you means San Diego Toronto Chicago or New York Reserve a table at artist alley Then yoursquore at ground zero If you donrsquot feel comfortable renting a table just yet at least get out to a con and observe other artistrsquos tables and booths Take note of which displays and companies impressed you as an attendant Or just take pictures
If you do rent a table EXCELLENT Make sure to read 7 Tips for a Winning Tradeshow Booth Engage in conversations with comic and art fans Donrsquot be too much of a salesman Find out what theyrsquore into Conventions especially larger ones give you a feel for the health and pulse of the industry Wersquoll be attending FanExpo 2009 in Toronto on August 28-30
This is by no means a definitive list but itrsquos a start and Irsquom sure Irsquoll post a part 2 in the near future We didnrsquot discuss doing illustrations for local papers and magazines And we didnrsquot discuss Flickr or Deviantart Letrsquos do that soon
Jason Thibault is a writer artist and the publisher for Optimum Wound ComicsHe recently wrote a widely read article entitled The Comic and Manga Submission Guidelines for every publisher in North America and the UK who still accept creator submissions
Optimum Wound Comics
lsquoem some photocopies of your recent work Tell them yoursquod like to help out Yes for free
13 Music art plan part 2 Most bands use a local poster distributor (a dude who pastes up flyers on phone poles and walls in various neighborhoods) Excellent now your work will be seen all over town Those posters will be gone within a week or two so keep making new ones for promoters and bands every month Oh yeah keep all of the originals and a few copies of each of the flyers When yoursquore famous those will make a nice collection for an artbook ten years down the road
14 Music art plan part 3 Keep this up and eventually yoursquoll be a local underground celebrity artist Eventually people will contact you for paying work on CD covers (those still exist) and t-shirts And a lot of bands are starting to sell silk-screened prints at their merch tables now Irsquove picked up half a dozen prints over the past few years at shows This harkens back to the 1960rsquos and the Summer of Love
15 Music art plan part 4 If you have mad design skills make posters in Illustrator or InDesign for bands to distribute on the interwebs
16 Make minicomics Do you have 12-16 pages of your comic ready to go Good now get them scanned in and format a minicomic booklet in Adobe Acrobat or lay it out by hand An 85Prime x 11Prime page folded in half will do but if you want to go super small you can do 425Prime x 55Prime Make 1-200 of those at Kinkos or any local copy shop Ask to borrow their heavy duty stapler Donrsquot wait until you get home get folding and stapling right at the shop Good now you have a couple of hundred comics to distribute The mini-mini-comics (425times55ers) are the coolest business cards in the world You engage the person yoursquove handed it to in an interactive reading experience Make sure your website address is listed on the back Some comic shops might even sell them on consignment although the financial rewards will be limited
The Comics Reporter has a good primer on putting together a minicomic And so does CaptionOrg
17 Submit your comics to the smaller publishers Bummed that Marvel Dark Horse and DC donrsquot agree that yoursquore the next hottest thing yet Therersquos over 5 dozen other publishers that will still look at your samples and as luck would have it I have a complete list of those comic and manga submission guidelines for you
Comic artists as diverse as Daniel Clowes and Todd McFarlane have been hired to create CD covers and album jackets for bands of varying levels of success The connection between the music and comic scenes has been an ongoing relationship since the 1960rsquos
Optimum Wound Comics
Check out this video on making a minicomic that stands out And herersquos the blog that details that process
18 Try out print-on-demand (POD) sites like Lulu and Ka-Blam who will print up low runs of your comic for a fraction of the cost of what a traditional printer would run you And the quality of their books are getting better each year This accomplishes a few things for you You get a complete package to present to an audience without fronting thousands of dollars And you get to see your work in printed form which will enable you to make improvements immediately based on things yoursquore not happy with
19 Join some comic forums Remember those old message boards and forums that were supposedly dead Well they arenrsquot and thousands of people still post on them every day There are still a lot of worthy communities out there to engage in conversations with Comic writers like Warren Ellis and Brian Michael Bendis have their own forums Message boards get a bad rap and some of the more fanatical ones deserve it but therersquos a lot of great conversations to be had on Digital Webbing CBR Whitechapel and ConceptArt
20 Be original I know itrsquos a cliche but if yoursquore an artist you probably have something unique to express I mean nobody really wants to see your take on Spiderman or Batman Wersquove been reading re-hashed storylines for the past 30 years Odds are yours wonrsquot be any better Give us something new Wersquore thirsting for it Comic store owners and the comic industry are very resistant to changeBut when yoursquore starting out you donrsquot need them Start a comic online Blow our minds on a regular basis and wersquoll keep coming back for more Wersquoll subscribe to your RSS feed and wersquoll tell our friends And post it on blogs tweet it talk about it on forums bookmark it If enough of us dig it (or digg it) then yoursquoll print it (or a publisher will) and wersquoll head to the shops and buy it or order it from Amazon
21 Draw by hand on paper Are you using Manga Studio Adobe Illustrator or a wacom tablet to draw all of your comics Maybe you should consider doing some of that art with pen ink pencil paint whatever Yoursquove read my post on reasons to draw with pen and ink havenrsquot you People love original art You can sell it and possibly give some away at contests
22 Hold Contests Speaking of which you should hold contests on your webpage Wersquove had really positive results from running contests in the past You can do it in a blog post tweet it run it in your newsletter or throw it up on Facebook If you want to appeal solely to your fans you can have them do something in return to promote you in order for them to be eligible to win the prize Skies the limit on this one
ldquoPeople love original art You can sell it and
possibly give some away at contestsrdquo
Optimum Wound Comics
23 Hit up conventions You could experiment with smaller local ones at first Unless local for you means San Diego Toronto Chicago or New York Reserve a table at artist alley Then yoursquore at ground zero If you donrsquot feel comfortable renting a table just yet at least get out to a con and observe other artistrsquos tables and booths Take note of which displays and companies impressed you as an attendant Or just take pictures
If you do rent a table EXCELLENT Make sure to read 7 Tips for a Winning Tradeshow Booth Engage in conversations with comic and art fans Donrsquot be too much of a salesman Find out what theyrsquore into Conventions especially larger ones give you a feel for the health and pulse of the industry Wersquoll be attending FanExpo 2009 in Toronto on August 28-30
This is by no means a definitive list but itrsquos a start and Irsquom sure Irsquoll post a part 2 in the near future We didnrsquot discuss doing illustrations for local papers and magazines And we didnrsquot discuss Flickr or Deviantart Letrsquos do that soon
Jason Thibault is a writer artist and the publisher for Optimum Wound ComicsHe recently wrote a widely read article entitled The Comic and Manga Submission Guidelines for every publisher in North America and the UK who still accept creator submissions
Optimum Wound Comics
Check out this video on making a minicomic that stands out And herersquos the blog that details that process
18 Try out print-on-demand (POD) sites like Lulu and Ka-Blam who will print up low runs of your comic for a fraction of the cost of what a traditional printer would run you And the quality of their books are getting better each year This accomplishes a few things for you You get a complete package to present to an audience without fronting thousands of dollars And you get to see your work in printed form which will enable you to make improvements immediately based on things yoursquore not happy with
19 Join some comic forums Remember those old message boards and forums that were supposedly dead Well they arenrsquot and thousands of people still post on them every day There are still a lot of worthy communities out there to engage in conversations with Comic writers like Warren Ellis and Brian Michael Bendis have their own forums Message boards get a bad rap and some of the more fanatical ones deserve it but therersquos a lot of great conversations to be had on Digital Webbing CBR Whitechapel and ConceptArt
20 Be original I know itrsquos a cliche but if yoursquore an artist you probably have something unique to express I mean nobody really wants to see your take on Spiderman or Batman Wersquove been reading re-hashed storylines for the past 30 years Odds are yours wonrsquot be any better Give us something new Wersquore thirsting for it Comic store owners and the comic industry are very resistant to changeBut when yoursquore starting out you donrsquot need them Start a comic online Blow our minds on a regular basis and wersquoll keep coming back for more Wersquoll subscribe to your RSS feed and wersquoll tell our friends And post it on blogs tweet it talk about it on forums bookmark it If enough of us dig it (or digg it) then yoursquoll print it (or a publisher will) and wersquoll head to the shops and buy it or order it from Amazon
21 Draw by hand on paper Are you using Manga Studio Adobe Illustrator or a wacom tablet to draw all of your comics Maybe you should consider doing some of that art with pen ink pencil paint whatever Yoursquove read my post on reasons to draw with pen and ink havenrsquot you People love original art You can sell it and possibly give some away at contests
22 Hold Contests Speaking of which you should hold contests on your webpage Wersquove had really positive results from running contests in the past You can do it in a blog post tweet it run it in your newsletter or throw it up on Facebook If you want to appeal solely to your fans you can have them do something in return to promote you in order for them to be eligible to win the prize Skies the limit on this one
ldquoPeople love original art You can sell it and
possibly give some away at contestsrdquo
Optimum Wound Comics
23 Hit up conventions You could experiment with smaller local ones at first Unless local for you means San Diego Toronto Chicago or New York Reserve a table at artist alley Then yoursquore at ground zero If you donrsquot feel comfortable renting a table just yet at least get out to a con and observe other artistrsquos tables and booths Take note of which displays and companies impressed you as an attendant Or just take pictures
If you do rent a table EXCELLENT Make sure to read 7 Tips for a Winning Tradeshow Booth Engage in conversations with comic and art fans Donrsquot be too much of a salesman Find out what theyrsquore into Conventions especially larger ones give you a feel for the health and pulse of the industry Wersquoll be attending FanExpo 2009 in Toronto on August 28-30
This is by no means a definitive list but itrsquos a start and Irsquom sure Irsquoll post a part 2 in the near future We didnrsquot discuss doing illustrations for local papers and magazines And we didnrsquot discuss Flickr or Deviantart Letrsquos do that soon
Jason Thibault is a writer artist and the publisher for Optimum Wound ComicsHe recently wrote a widely read article entitled The Comic and Manga Submission Guidelines for every publisher in North America and the UK who still accept creator submissions
Optimum Wound Comics
23 Hit up conventions You could experiment with smaller local ones at first Unless local for you means San Diego Toronto Chicago or New York Reserve a table at artist alley Then yoursquore at ground zero If you donrsquot feel comfortable renting a table just yet at least get out to a con and observe other artistrsquos tables and booths Take note of which displays and companies impressed you as an attendant Or just take pictures
If you do rent a table EXCELLENT Make sure to read 7 Tips for a Winning Tradeshow Booth Engage in conversations with comic and art fans Donrsquot be too much of a salesman Find out what theyrsquore into Conventions especially larger ones give you a feel for the health and pulse of the industry Wersquoll be attending FanExpo 2009 in Toronto on August 28-30
This is by no means a definitive list but itrsquos a start and Irsquom sure Irsquoll post a part 2 in the near future We didnrsquot discuss doing illustrations for local papers and magazines And we didnrsquot discuss Flickr or Deviantart Letrsquos do that soon
Jason Thibault is a writer artist and the publisher for Optimum Wound ComicsHe recently wrote a widely read article entitled The Comic and Manga Submission Guidelines for every publisher in North America and the UK who still accept creator submissions
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