Catching a Vision 012
Breaking Comics Out: The Submission Part I
Catching a Vision, the (sorta, kinda) weekly column on Comic Related from C. Edward Sellner, Founder and Creative Director of Visionary Comics Studio. CAV provides practical guidance on how to break into the comics industry, as well as insights into this medium we all love. With resources you can order online, interviews and debates with comic professionals, and online workshops, this is your best introduction into the wonders of creating comics!
At Long Last...The Submission!!
It is the Holy Grail and Hellborn Bane of Comics, the Rubber Meets the Road and Going Down in Flames of the Creator! It's the Submission and it is the necessary evil of comics that anyone serious about breaking into this industry needs to face.
Keep in mind, again, this is not aimed at the people who want to self-publish and sell their titles online and at conventions. Here we're talking about the genuine attempt to make it into the established comic industry as a creator with a project.
"What's the big deal?" I hear you ask. "Submissions aren't all that are they?"
Yeah...they are. As a matter of fact, to cop a phrase...they are all that and a bag of chips. Now let me explain why.
The Challenges
First let me clarify, there are two kinds of submissions. There is the individual creator submission, usually focusing on one talent. These are most often called portfolios; they effectively become submissions when they are sent in to be reviewed for a job. Then there is the project submission, usually featuring completed pages of a potential series produced by a team. I'm going to be talking about both types in this column, though some points will be more applicable to one or the other, but all will apply some to both.
A submission is quite simply and profoundly the way an aspiring creator presents his or her work, or his or her project to the people that matter. Those people are the ones who will decide whether that work or project will see the light of day in a broader market.
In email or standard mail submissions it is the ONLY tool you, as the submitter, have to make your case, the only gauge any potential studio or publisher has to decide whether to work with you. For a project, it is the microcosmic study of the complete potential of the series, the only chance to make the cut. Given this reality, let's take a serious look at Submissions and how best to approach them.
This week let's actually look at some of the questions one should consider before submitting.
Are You REALLY Ready?
This question has a number of dimensions to consider.
First, are your talent and skills really at a level where you're ready to submit? Somewhere around 80% of the many submissions I've reviewed were no where near professional grade. Of those, some were not even comprehendible.
The point here is you first and foremost should take a critical look at what you're doing and ask yourself, truthfully, if it's at a competitive level to be a professional. Then you should find a way to ask someone of some knowledge that same question. It may be a local art teacher, posting something on a message board, or asking a friendly creator or editor at a convention to give you honest feedback. But get the feedback first.
For some creators this is a major stumbling block because when they hear criticism they take it personally, when they hear "no" they take it as failure. Don't. Instead, consider this a journey and someone saying you're not ready to submit yet, really just means you need to go back, practice more, learn more, push yourself harder, and improve your skills then try again.
There is also a world of difference between being ready to work for Marvel or DC, or being ready to work for a small, indy, black and white press. Some people want to break in directly to the big time. While this does happen, it's rare and has a lot to do with incredible talent and happening to be in the right place at the right time. For everyone else, you break in doing work for smaller companies, get a published portfolio, hone your skills while working, then make your way up the ladder. So, if you get rejected by the big publishers, that doesn't mean you're out, it may only mean you have to set your sights a little lower to begin with and focus there.
Second, do you have the commitment and discipline needed to submit? If you are submitting a portfolio as a creator, this applies to you individually. If you are submitting a project, this needs to apply to everyone attached. Submitting without having seriously thought through if you are prepared to do the work is one of the worse things you can do.
If you submit something, be sure you have a good understanding of your limitations. This includes how much you can produce in a given day, week, or month. Make sure you are at a point in life where you can set aside a regular block of time in order to make the commitment to your creative work, and then treat that commitment as you would any other work commitment.
I'm not saying you should be able to produce 3 pages a day. I'm not even saying you should be able to produce one page a day. What I'm saying is that if you are going to make it in comics, you need to be steady and solid in producing something on a regular basis, be able to verbalize those limits and then be able to hit those marks.
If you can't produce a page a day, you should not submit for a regular monthly title, simple as that. If your team wants to produce a four issue mini-series, but you are averaging 2 pages a week, meaning it will take you a year to get the series done, you should not submit five pages and accept a deadline to have it done in six months.
Whether you are getting paid or not, you should conduct yourself professionally, and professionals only commit to what they can reasonably do. Yes, extenuating circumstances happen, but if your regular life fills every waking minute then most likely you are not in a good place to submit and take on more.
A submission is essentially a job query. Would you submit a resume or go to an interview for any other job where you knew going in you wouldn't be able to actually show up to work? Of course not, yet people make comic submissions all the time without actually thinking about how they are going to carve out the time to actually produce said comic if accepted.
Third, and the final point, is have you done the research? Another major faux pas are those folks who submit and have obviously not bothered to research who they are submitting to. I've mentioned before about how the majority of submissions we get at Visionary clearly show the people submitting never bothered to even glance at, much less read and understand, our submission guidelines.
If you are going to submit your portfolio, or a project to a studio or publisher make sure you review their web-sites, any posted guidelines and their publishing history before doing so. Most companies have some kind of web-presence, find it and read it through completely. If there are not clearly posted guidelines send a query asking for them. Most companies identify their submission editor or where submissions should be sent. Don't blitz everyone in the company with it. Also, and this seems very common sense, but make sure you know the profile of projects and work they publish. I've heard of people submitting stuff with nudity, gore and profanity to children's publishers. I've also heard of people submitting ongoing series to companies who only publish in mini-series format. It makes a poor impression when you waste someone else's time because you weren't willing to invest your own.
Know about the publisher, then follow their guidelines. If you ever find yourself starting a submission with, "I know you normally don't review this sort of submission, BUT..." please, stop. You are wasting your time and will potentially be burning a bridge somewhere. This includes submitting projects when a publisher has publicly stated they are not looking for new projects, or submitting as a writer, when they are only looking for artists.
For all of these questions, there is one central reality you should remember. Some creators tell themselves the only submission that matters is the one that gets accepted. That isn't true. EVERY submission you make matters to some degree. If you submit something that really stands out in a negative way, they just might remember you when you submit something else.
I know personally, I've received submissions from someone that ignored our guidelines. Strike 1. I kindly email them to let them know...here are the guidelines. I then get another submission from them that follows the guidelines but is so confusing and ill-thought out that I can't even follow it. Strike 2. Each time, the chance I'm going to bother to open and actually review another submission from them gets less and less.
Okay, so you've weighed all these things and think you're ready. Now what?
Tune in next week for Submissions Part II!
NOW ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SUBJECT...
THE INDUSTRY ROUND-UP
Get the (re)Source
When I first launched this column, focusing on the how to of creating comics, I included a number of resources, from books, to web-sites, to schools. There aren't really any great, mainstream sources on the business end of comics. Most everything I've learned on this end has been trial and error and feedback I've gotten from other folks in the industry. If you know of any good sources, email me, let me know. I will check them out.
In the meantime I want to keep plugging other great resources out there.
Sketch Magazine
This is a great print magazine that has a wealth of information on creating comics. They regularly feature some of the top talent in the industry, focusing on their careers with tips and techniques. What I just recently became aware of is what a great resource they have online. They link in to a lot of various sites on the web as well and serve as a networking hub for creators. Special thanks to John Wilson who just highlighted Catching a Vision's Learning the Craft: Inking article on their home page.
Cheers and Jeers
Cheers to Archaia Studios Press! After a year of restructuring, they recently announced ramping back up to full speed as of June 2009. If you haven't read David Peterson's Mouse Guardor Mark Smylie's Artesia, you are missing out on some of the best indy comics EVER! ASP's entire line is stylish, with cutting edge books that every fan should at least check out.
Cheers to BOOM Studios and Mark Waid! They've been in the limelight a lot and are showing a strong grounding and intentional plan for growing as a publisher. We all knew Mark Waid was a great writer, one of the best in comics as a matter of fact, but I wasn't so sure he could steer a company. I'm glad to say he's showing he can...in spades.
Cheers to Mike Bullock for his series Lions, Tigers and Bears getting picked up by Paramount for a film. I take pride that I had a little, teeny-weenie part in that series making it...I officially introduced Bullock to Erik Larsen and was the one who handed Larsen the pitch.
Cheers to what is old made new again! Dark Horse is bringing Aliens back in the comics, Predator is poised to return to the big screen, Star Trek is about to hit warp speed... yeah, yeah, some of these are movies, but they all relate to comics, right?
Jeers to the Dabel Brothers who once again have alledgedly not just burned bridges, but blown them up. According to sources, these guys have burned almost every publisher they have ever worked with including Image, Devil's Due, Alias, and Marvel. From what I've heard, they have repeatedly not paid talent on their books despite ad nuseum promises. It is almost as if they have spit on anyone who has ever tried to help them, but hold them accountable. Most recently? Check their web-site forums, under calendar and print questions. It seems like they have now setup a practice of having people order calendars and prints, make them pay when they place the order, then never deliver the goods. Most have yet to receive their 2009 Calendars they paid as much as $50 for. YIKES! When people ask for refunds, they get ignored. Apparently quite a few complaints posted on their site were then summarily deleted while their poster boy Derek Ruiz complained about people complaining. Now, they've just gone silent. George RR Martin is apparently breaking ties with them over the latest debacle, with the calendar. All the clichés of bad comics company is pretty wrapped up with a nice bow in these guys.
Things That Make You Go Hmmm...
Okay, I know this is old, but... Marvel's DCU...did this throw anyone else? DCU has been used for decades to refer to the DC Universe. Now suddenly, Marvel's DCU refers to their Digital Comics Unlimited. I'm still trying to decide if this was just an incredible oversight on their part, or a stroke of marketing genius.
Next...
We wrap the two-part Submissions Column, more Industry Round-Up and a mega-major update on Visionary Comics Studio and its associated hooligans. We've got some exciting stuff coming the rest of this year!
Join the discussion and add your thoughts on this edition, or the column in general. If you have any questions or suggestions for resources, post them or email them to Sellner so they can be included in future columns. Are you an aspiring or up and coming creator and would like to share your story? Email Sellner and let him know who you are and what you've done.
C. Edward Sellner is the co-founder and Creative Director of Visionary Comics Studio, a studio that within its first three years has drawn high praise from the media and attracted the attention of legendary creators in the comics industry. They have been digitally and print published in the mainstream market and their creators currently work with over a dozen different publishers. Their work has been featured on television news shows, radio programs and internet podcasts as well as featured in every major comics news site online.
Contact him directly at cedwardsellner@aol.com
You can find him at...
Comic Related Forums
Facebook
Deviant Art
MySpace
ComicSpace
Visionary Comics Studio
The official site of the Studio where Sellner serves as Creative Director.
Visionary's Networking Sites:
VCS' Facebook Group
VCS' MySpace Page
VCS' ComicSpace Page
Catching A Vision
Check Out Past Columns
blog comments powered by Disqus