Catching a Vision 005
We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Column with...
Comic-Con Etiquette 101
Catching a Vision, the weekly column on Comic Related from C. Edward Sellner, Founder and Creative Director of Visionary Comics Studio, 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!
I know, I promised a column on comic book coloring, and its drafted and everything, so why didn't I run with it? Well, I decided with the New York Comic-Con becoming the center of attention between now and when it actually kicks off this Friday, I should jump on the bandwagon and offer something NYCC Related. So, with that, here's the official Catching a Vision's Comic Convention Etiquette 101 crash course, just in time for NYCC'09!
Conventions are a part of the comic book sub-culture, a phenomenon strange, and sometimes downright inexplicable to the non-comic fan. Unlike most other arenas in life, Comic Conventions are meeting places of the pop-culture, the exotic and fantastic and the outright weird as well as a gathering of professionals.
Comic Conventions serve two real purposes, though the public may be less aware of one.
First, they are indeed networking and deal-making havens. With creators and publishers spread all over the country and beyond, and communication often dominated by emails and phone calls, a chance to be in the same geographic location as the major movers and shakers in the industry is indeed a match made in Heaven. Behind the scenes at every major convention there are meetings that take place in the back of small booths, around tables in the food court, and outside at nearby benches. Conventions have been the birth place of books, creator contract signings, publication and movie right deals, as well as everything in between.
On top of all the business dealings, there is also the socializing, which is a very important aspect of any convention scene. Comics are a small industry, and comic professionals are an even smaller community. In that community are many long term friends, associates, and sparring partners. So, any time there is a convention, there will also be the inevitable gatherings with drinks, food and fellowship. Not necessarily in that order, and not necessarily within advisable thresholds, but they all usually pop in there somewhere.
The result? For pros, conventions are often like a marathon run in terms of time, energy and thought, and that's even before you let the thousands of attendees in the door!
This brings us to the most public and celebrated purpose of conventions: The Fans! Conventions provide opportunities for fans to immerse themselves for a few precious days deep into the zen of their past-time. For the avid fan, there really is nothing quite like walking onto the floor of a major convention and realizing you've just stepped into several thousand square feet of giant toys, comics, costumes, statues, creators, publishers and celebrities.
Fans get to check out booths from their favorite publishers, where they can hear presentations on upcoming special projects and get exclusive sneak peeks of upcoming books. They can go into Artist's Alley and get a chance to meet, greet and get that original sketch or autograph from their favorite creators. They can attend panels and learn the latest developments from every end of the pop culture world. They can buy anything remotely related to comics and genre pop culture, from cheap graphic novels to real bikini chainmail armor.
Now, among those many, many fans are the aspiring creators who are truly hoping that THIS time, this show, this weekend, will be when they get their big break! They come nervously clutching their portfolios and look for any and every opportunity to make some connection with the industry they love and want to work in.
So, with that in mind, here are some critical guidelines of how to make conventions an effective use of your time and increase your chances of making that jump to pro status.
It's All About Presentation...
First and foremost, decide why you are going to a convention. If your goal is to have fun, then by all means do so. If your goal is to try and pick up comic work, then decide to put 100% of your effort into doing just that.
If the latter is true, then essentially, the comic convention for you is a job fair. It's an opportunity to present yourself as a mature, professional level, skilled creator, ready and willing to work. It is hard to do that in an ill-fitting spandex costume. It's just as hard to do it in shabby jeans and a t-shirt. Dress to impress. A tie might be a bit much guys, and ladies, you can forget the three piece professional look. However, make sure you are well groomed, and dressed professionally but relaxed (collar shirts, khakis, etc.).
Also make sure your portfolio is a good representation of your work. Make sure it's laid out nicely, in an organized and well thought out manner. If it's original art, use a portfolio case, to have the art showcased in display pages. If it's something that can be shown smaller scale, a nice binder will do. Pages should be properly sized for what they hold, and laid out to make for easy review. A binder where pages won't turn, or art crammed into a slip too small for it is a good way to ensure you won't be taken seriously.
Be Courteous and Professional in Your Dealings...
This is an extremely important arena of consideration on several fronts.
First, be aware of who you are submitting to and how it should be received. For example, DC offers an orientation panel early in the con, outlining exactly what they are looking for. Other publishers will have set times for portfolio review, possibly even sign-ups for editorial critiques. Check the schedule at any given booth for a publisher or studio and see if they have posted guidelines concerning times etc.
Second, make sure you are submitting something that is on par with what they are looking for. If they want book artists, make sure you have sequential pages. If they want projects with teams, make sure your portfolio is several finished pages of a pitch. Ideally, portfolios should reflect what any given potential publisher is looking for. If you want to submit to Marvel, have a portfolio with Marvel characters, or DC, then use DC characters. Now, while it may not be critical to use the right characters, it is important that you show a portfolio that is in the same ballpark. So, a portfolio of cartoon animals is not going to impress an editor at Marvel or DC, just as a bloody, gory horror portfolio shown to a company that publishes mostly all-ages material, is not going to impress them.
Third, respect boundaries and limits and always show respect. This is a major one. Remind yourself that professionals at a convention are running that physical and emotional marathon, and most have huge agendas. They may be a part of panels, doing signings, running a booth, doing commissions, etc. etc. Thus any time they give to review a portfolio should be seen as a gift they are giving you, treat it accordingly.
Along those lines, keep in mind that just because you've read everything so-and-so has done, does not make you their long lost friend. Observe boundaries. Some creators are used to working solo, in a small studio. A convention can be overwhelming, and someone treating them like their old high school buddy when they just met, can be awkward. Be polite, be courteous and address them as respectfully as you can.
If they are courteous enough to review your portfolio, listen. Don't feel the need to justify mistakes, don't explain, just take the opportunity to glean whatever wisdom you can and learn from it. Some reviews may be soft, professionals who don't like hurting someone's feelings, others may be blunt and even feel brutal. Don't take it personally. Learn what you can and move on.
One point worth stressing here is to not burn bridges. Again, the community of comic professionals is very small indeed. An editor who has a bad confrontation with Joe Schmoe at their booth on Friday, is most likely going to curse, laugh or otherwise share the encounter with all their buddies Friday night at the parties.
Be Honest and Straight Forward...
Sometimes people feel the need to pump themselves up to someone in order to try and impress them. This is a BIG mistake in comics.
First, anybody worth their salt in comics is not going to care much about your background, they are mainly going to look at the quality of your work. Oh sure, if they like the work, they may want to then know what experience you have, but first and foremost, it's about your talent.
Second, on this point, again, comic professionals are a small community. That means nine out of ten times, if you pass yourself off as say a full blown member of a studio to a publisher in order to sound credible, don't be surprised when that publisher then pulls up next to the head of that studio at the after-hours events and asks if they know who you are. Also don't be surprised when that studio head then nearly loses it!
Be Prepared Physically...
Have business cards with all your contact info. Have photocopies of portfolio material you're handing out to give to an editor who may ask for one. Make sure those packets have all your contact information on EACH page. Having CD's with portfolios or project proposals on them, ready to give is also handy. Anything you can have prepped and ready to make someone's life easier, the better.
But also be prepared to get a card instead and asked to email items, or mail them to a certain address. Remember, these folks travel from all over and most already have more crap then you would EVER want to transport across country, thus may not be looking to add more.
Be Prepared Mentally and Emotionally...
Some publishers may just not be looking for someone in your chosen arena at a given convention. Others may not have review editors present when you come by the booth. Others may fain interest, then ask you to get in touch, but never follow-up. Others may just shoot your portfolio out of the water as 'crap'. It happens.
The fact is a lot of folks who try to make it in comics are not very emotionally mature or professional. Trust me, I've dealt with a good number of them. Sometimes professionals are simply being polite to a person face to face and being noncommittal, but also not outright rejecting may be a strategy to avoid public confrontations with hotheads or people who take such far too personally.
Also, a solid fact is that comics are very much a thing of taste. I have shown portfolios to various professionals at a comics convention and had the very, exact same portfolio from a given artist called crap by one pro, and top-notch by another. Styles, approaches etc. can vary and some publishers or editors may not appreciate a given approach or style, while another will. Some very popular artists got many rejections before they got published and ended up becoming hot commodities.
So, take everything with a grain of salt. Do your best, be your best, and try your best. See what happens from there.
So, there's the Convention Etiquette 101 class!
The test will be held at NYCC this coming weekend. Anyone who comes up to me at the con, lives out these guidelines and tells me they read the column, I will give you 50% off any piece of original art I'm selling!
Who says I don't take care of you people?
Next...
Well, assuming I survive New York Comic-Con, you will get that promised column that introduces the concept of coloring comics!
Also, somewhere here soon, a full blown, in-depth interview with Josh Williamson will be hitting the boards. Stay tuned.
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 two 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
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