I was telling someone the other day how being a comic book artist is tough work. You are basically the Director, Costume Designer, Cinematographer, prop guy, lighting guy, cameraman, etc. You have to think of so much. A lot of times the writer will set up a scene or a panel and give suggestions for placing characters or background information. Brian Vaughn, who wrote the sample script I am working from, would actually include links to reference photos. That was helpful. But you have to make the camera flow from panel to panel. You have to think of the light sources. You have to come up with different clothes for each person. Imagine Spidey swinging through the city. You have to be able to draw convincing details on the buildings, convincing perspective, various clothes on a ton of people, all the little details that go into a street scene and choose a camera angle that best fits the story. And that's just one panel. I was talking to my buddy Matt a few months ago about how people perceive artists. He was saying that sometimes people at his day job would ask him what he did on the weekend and when he would reply that he spent the entire weekend drawing they would say something like, "Yeah. I didn't do anything either."
I had someone come over to my house once and when they saw art everywhere they told me that they needed to find a hobby as well.
One day at work I was complaining about working so much and how I had to go home and draw for at least four or five hours. They looked at me with their head cocked to the side and an "oh, really" smirk as if drawing was always fun good times and not work. When I told the guy at the convenience store I had been drawing for 6+ hours he told me that at least it was something I liked to do. Which is true, but for 6+ hours? I wanted to play a video game or watch a movie or just run down to the river, but I had to make myself sit there in one spot looking at about a 6 inch square for 6+ hours. Being an artist and drawing all the time isn't just hanging out jacking around. If you want to be successful you have to devote a ton of time to producing work. Even when you are tired or have a ton of other things on your plate. And it IS work. Most really good art takes a lot of work. Coming up with a theme or a vocabulary of symbols or researching different objects and techniques takes a lot of time. It doesn't just come to you, BAM, right on the spot. Not for most artists. There are those unique individuals that just flow with ideas and just pop out some amazing work, but they are few and far between. Most comic book artists spend 8 to 10 hours + a day on just one page. And then there are the distractions. Most artists work from home or the studio and have access to the computer, to video games, to books, to the fridge, to many many distractions. They aren't necessarily "on the clock" so when a friend calls to go have a drink or eat dinner you can always just get up and go. Since I have started doing submissions for Marvel I have noticed just how often I get up for some of the stupidest shit, getting a snack, checking Twitter, go to look up reference and get caught up reading about hippopotami on Wikipedia or looking up an actor in a movie on IMDB. Geez. It can be so hard to just sit there staring at a piece of paper for hours. But it is SO worth it when it works out! 8) I was telling my friend, Taira, at work the other day how sometimes I will work on thumbnails for hours, get down a certain camera angle and then after spending more hours drawing it all out I realize it doesn't work at all. Then I have to erase the entire thing and start all over. Lots of time wasted. I like to think that it is all time learning. Even the time spent on setting up a shot you are still working and learning, refining your skill. Point is, art takes a lot of time, dedication and patience. It isn't always fun and games, but hopefully the product will pay off in the end. Being a comic artist you have to be able to draw ANYTHING the writer comes up with. I see this as a challenge. I try to draw everything. I try to study everything as well. When I am talking to you I am usually studying your nose or hair or wrinkle in your smile. I study peeps on the bus or walking down the road all the time. How do pants crease when someone is sitting or walking? What kind of designs are there underneath the ledge of a rooftop? What does bark on a tree look like? What does it look like when wet? How does water look when it moves around objects? What do objects look like when they are floating in water? I am constantly trying to file everything I see away in my vault of images. I can walk around for hours just studying everything I see. So, as you can... see, being an artist is actually a lot of work. It isn't just a hobby or just playing around wasting time. Give your favorite artist out there some props and some respect. Not only does their art look good, but they usually work hard for it. Represent!!
