Join me for a sketch a day in ink/marker; I will try my best to get 1 ink sketch per day accomplished, family and schedule permitting, but it’s going to be a fun challenge either way!
Knock knock! Officially, kicking off the Patreon account for the House of Rawlings! Patreon is site where you can support your favorite artists, writers and podcasts while reaping exclusive benefits directly from them! I will be uploading a minimum of four digital pieces each month with special perks and rewards depending on donation tiers so check it out and let’s see where a little support can take us! Hint: I’m really hoping we can break the goal because an adult coloring book of monsters would be badass and a lot of fun!! Check it out! Patreon.com/houseofrawlings
#inktober is finally upon us! Thank you to everyone who gave their suggestions and comments for this inktober list!! The theme was TV or movie characters you would like to see me take on (a few video games slipped in here and there). I’m pretty excited! Not sure how much time my schedule will allow for each but my goal is quality > quantity so a little catch up on a weekend or two may have to happen lol. #5k #ink
First of all this list is in no way comprehensive. (I could probably list 50 things). Second, this is just my opinion. I know a LOT of artists and I keep seeing the same things happening at cons year after year. I feel people need to start operating differently, otherwise cons really are going to be a waste of money and time. So this is what I think most artists are doing wrong when they try to sell their stuff at cons…
Some of my best and worse experiences with artists were at a convention at some point in time. It is PHENOMENAL how well someone broke down essential Marketing 101 / Business 101 for artists and convention vendors. Fantastic advice for anyone curious about what to expect (AND WHAT SHOULD BE EXPECTED) at a comic-con etc.
Note from Gail: Last year, I was in Norway for a fantastic event in Bergen, and one of the things I did was teach a two hour class to students aspiring to become comics creators. So, I asked many of my most talented writer friends for a simple tip to impart to the students. The question was, How…
A couple days ago, I read a truly excellent self-published comic called CLOWN (it kind of defies description, but you want it…it will be on Comixology next month). I mentioned how much I liked it and struck up a conversation with the author, James Maddox. It turns out he is a very effective self-publisher, something I know very little about, but something a lot of aspiring creators may want to learn.
So I asked him to write a little bit about what he has learned to help those who are attempting to do what he has done. And again, his books are DAMN GOOD, and he keeps making them, so this stuff is very valuable! I would listen!
JAMES MADDOX!
SELF-PUBLISHING 101
While some of us writer-types go on to pitch our stories to editors and publishers, there’s a whole other group that just get down to business and make comics happen. These people are self-publishers. Thankfully, the world of comics is a proactive community of creators, so self-publishing isn’t met with much stigma, but if you’re looking to get into this brand of comic creating, you might have some difficulty getting over that first hump of “But how?”
The how is actually pretty simple. In its base form, you draw a comic, take said comic to a print shop, copy the thing several times over, and fold these copies to create a booklet. Ta-da! Comic!
Greg offered us this wonderful piece to share with you guys. This is a terrific article, enjoy! And thanks, Greg!
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I came up through independent film as a writer and director, but over the last eight years, I’ve written somewhere around two hundred comic book scripts for big superhero stories like “Planet Hulk,” historical fiction like “Magneto Testament” and “Red Skull Incarnate,” supernatural action like “Dead Man’s Run” for Aspen and Gale Ann Hurd’s Valhalla, and creator owned sci-fi like “Vision Machine.” Every day I’m working on becoming a better writer. Here are a few thoughts and principles that have worked for me along the way.
All those good dramatic writing principles apply
They call them graphic novels, and yes, the medium allows for extended prose, should you choose to use it. But I’d argue that the driving engine of comics is dramatic storytelling. So all of that great advice and training you’ve gotten by reading Lajos Egri’s “The Art of Dramatic Writing” and Syd Field’s “Four Screenplays” and Robert McKee’s “Story” apply. Work those conflicts, tell your story visually, put your characters in motion, know your premise.
For this tumblr’s launch, I asked several of my favorite and most talented artists, what makes them see red when they get a script from a writer? This response is from the wonderful, Eisner-winning artist of Y: The Last Man, Pia Guerra. Writers take note!
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Here goes…
- More than one action in a panel.
I’v seen this a lot with new writers, they put two separate actions into one panel “Tom drags the bag of money over to the pick up truck and drops it into the flat bed.” Visualize the panel when you’re writing. Draw a little thumbnail if you have to but understand that only so much can happen in a panel and still be clear.
I have great respect for the endeavor that Seth MacFarlane and Neil deGrasse Tyson are doing and I see it a necessity for society (and the scientific community in general educating the general public) but seriously….
Every Episode: Oh, Neil put his seed in the eye of the universe again? I guess we’re heading to Titan…
