Tonight’s installment… “Momma always said it is better to have character than to be one.”

The Characters
You have a vision but no pen. Your artist has a pen and no vision. Now it is time to start changing that. Before you draw a panel you need to spend some time figuring out how they will look. This level of detail is important because it provides even more “character” to your character. Sometimes it is the minutest details that people find interesting. Is Fox football pre-game commentator Michael Strahan more or less interesting with the gap between his teeth? It sets him apart and is something that people remember about him. That whole remembering thing is very important. Will they have a specific body language? Are their clothes unique? Are their weapons realistic or futuristic? But it is more than just remembering the image; it is also about their movement. Carol Burnett tugged at her ear, Jack Benny placed his hand on his face, Michael Jackson grabbed his crotch, all things that immediately identified the celebrity. Some of you may have to Google the first two folks. Anyway, all that type of stuff needs to be thought out in the character design phase.

There is also a converse to all of this; what if they are just ordinary guy’s? How do you make someone ordinary appear extraordinary? For superheroes, this is the transformation from Clark Kent to Superman. In our case, we are doing a person that has powers but he is set in our realistic world. No spandex. No telephone booth changes. No secret identity, just a guy like you and me.

Except he is a super genius and an electrical engineer working in a secret laboratory set inside an electrical dam, other than that, just like you and me.

For him, I wanted a normal guy. Not too big and muscular but not an out of shape slob either. The “regular guy” needed a nerdy scientist feel. We went with jeans for the casual look but then a black ribbed turtleneck and jacket for the nerdy, smart guy appearance. We needed him to blend in.

Tim Lai did a great job with my rather spartan detail. He presented a bunch of options and we kinda picked what we liked best from the images. Here are the four that we chose from.

The second character was the reporter. For the majority of the first arc, the reporter plays the role of the viewer. Hopefully, you will find that he is asking the questions you would ask. After all he is a reporter. However, we also give hints that he may not be what he appears. He needed to look like a relatively poor, rumpled reporter. I used to work as a reporter so I had a good feel for what I was looking for. I wanted him to have a more rugged feel, so for the look I really was looking for a photographer more so than a reporter. We decided on a vest with a lot of pockets, jeans, t-shirt and sneakers. He is an older African American. By age we say mid to late fifties but for reasons explained later in the story, a man who looks much younger than that. However, his hair was to be speckled white to make sure we do not get too much age confusion.

Here was the first draft…

At the end of the day this is what we decided on...

I won’t comment on the thing with Ryan Spencer’s eyes. You will just have to read the story to understand. We also made a conscious decision to remove the eye scars when he was wearing his glasses.

Oh, the glasses. I guess that is really important. For the beginning I wanted generic glasses. In time we may upgrade that a little but for now generic big black sunglasses.

You will also notice that there is a third character. However, miscommunication between Tim and I saw a male character created. Since she does not arrive until the third story we decided to shelve that sketch for now. Once we get green lit we will go back and fully render her character sketch.

In preparing the packets, there is an awful lot of bobbing and weaving. Nothing seems linear. We would get ideas on the logo but not really be able to come to a decision so we would put it on the back burner and concentrate on something else. When you start up something there are so many other things to do. I wanted to just write scripts each night, instead I was buying domain names, negotiating with a webmaster, doing an exhaustively comprehensive character timeline, approving character sketches. Most of these things I never considered when this started. Now they were vital, especially the timeline.

Now we had characters, now we need a whole bunch of things I really never knew we needed.

Next Time… A lot of other things I never knew how to do

Labels: christopher, Comic Book Publishing, hill, john, lai, primordium, tim, watson

Posted on Friday, February 13, 2009 at 9:41 PM -  0 Comments

Tonight’s installment… “Details, Details, Details”

The Process
We had our creative team on board and now it was time to get things moving. I am somewhat of a type A personality. I like activity and some form of chaos, probably why my wife and I have three kids under the age of five. Chaos rules at our house. However, I also like it at work. For this project activity was going to be constant because our team was committing to the project. Everyone had their roles. Tim would do the interior “current day” sequentials and color all pages. John would lend his name and do the “flashback” pencils. I was in charge of everything else.

First, I fine tuned the story. Before I wanted the guys to work on it I had to make sure the script was tight. I also wanted to make sure a friend of mine got a chance to review it and give me his thoughts. Dan Murphy and I have been friends for years. He is a writer for Pro Wrestling Illustrated (who just broke the story of Yokazuna’s victory over Hulk Hogan) as well as several books on the Western New York area. He worked with me on many of the BallparkBrawl wrestling events we had at the stadium and I respected his writing and work ethic. He looked the piece over and critiqued it for me.

Always good to have others review your work. Now, you have to take their commentary in some ways with a grain of salt. If they are friends of yours, chances are they will like the piece. Even if it about little aliens and their formulation of the New World Order. They are your fiends and they want to help…so they will almost always be overly positive. To get through that and get some real substance from the commentary I like to ask for help with a somewhat benign topic like grammar. People have an acceptance of friends correcting their grammar. They may not love it but they accept the need to speak with the proper grammatical prose. Once they start to make changes with a few comas and accents a transformation usually takes place. Now, all of a sudden, your friend who would never criticize your creative outlet in a million years now feels comfortable enough to disagree with your characters motivation on page four! Now you are getting some where. Now you get input that will help to improve the piece. Of course, friends sometimes get carried away but that is a separate conversation.

Once Dan fixed the commas and questioned the extensive exposition on page 2, I had a pretty tight script that moved along nicely and had a decent mix of back-story with current day action. I also spent a lot of time rewriting the artist descriptions. As a writer, you have a vision of the page. How you communicate that vision will determine how satisfied you are with each page. As I mentioned before, I write in full script which means I am listing panels and descriptions. However, I want the artist to exert their creativity. They are in charge of imagery so I wanted to make sure that their voice was heard. What I have discovered is that if you want something done in a timely fashion you have two options; tell them exactly what to draw or give them a very broad outline and let them go nuts. Those two options help to create a third and final option.

Over time you develop an understanding of strength and weaknesses within yourself and your skillsets and your artist. After doing the initial work with Tim and John I have a much better feel for what they excel at and what they do not. I think they also have an improved understanding of what I am looking for. We got to that point by using both options. Some items were tightly scripted while others, especially the logo and some of the character sketches were left to the artist’s musings.

So they have the story and now we need to see what they will look like.

Next Time…The Characters

Labels: christopher, Comic Book Publishing, hill, john, lai, primordium, tim, watson

Posted on Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 2:09 AM -  0 Comments

Opportunity #1

Published writer seeking an up and coming comic book artist for a new detective series in the science fiction genre. Looking for a strong and detailed visual storyteller that has sequential experience. Commitment would be for 15-17 pages per month. The remaining pages (flashback pages) will be done by a well known Marvel/DC cover artist producing his first sequential pages. After completing 10 pages we will submit to the main independent publishers for green light. Once profitable the project will pay a page rate or percentage. Emails with sequential samples can be sent to mokeski@excite.com. This fall we will also be looking for a colorist and letterer. Samples and page rates can be sent to the address above as well.

One hour later I had 5 emails. Five hours later I had 25. By the next day I had close to 75 emails and gallery links to review. It was quite the process. So many different styles and techniques. I had in my mind what I wanted but that imagery is based on known talents that there would be no way we could afford. Luckily we had a lot of options. Unfortunately, we were a long way from where we needed to be.

I whittled the list down to twenty of so potentials. My criteria was based on a detail oriented style that veered towards photorealism. They also needed to show some sequentials. Pinups are great but we need to tell a story in the medium. If they could color their own work then that was a definitive plus. Once I had that list I sent them in parts to John for his review. It was great seeing his criteria. Real artists can spot things that we stick figure artists have no ideas about; anatomy, sizing etc. He could breakdown the talent line by line. He could also spot tracers.

Apparently it is common practice for artists to trace to develop their skills; unfortunately, some folks pass the originals off as theirs and do not note the differences. To me that makes no sense. You plagiarize to get a job but then if you can’t do the work to that standard you will get exposed and fired. Seems like a big waste of time.

Anyway, we got it down to five or so. I started to speak with them about the project and wanted to make sure they could commit to the requirements. That is one thing that every contact I have made mentions, hit your deadlines. Nothing kills an indy book quicker than missing deadlines. As a creator controlled piece you also deal with the issue of telling someone to prioritize your book when they will be receiving future royalties. It takes a special person to do that.

The first batch came and went. Two had to have upfront money despite the ad saying there was none. The other three were sketchy at best. So we were back to almost square one. We had a script and one artist on board but we needed another. However, despite the interest and my desire to get moving, one of the biggest mistakes someone can make is moving too quickly. If you send a submission and get green lit you need to have a team that can hit deadlines and produce product consistently. If your artist flakes then you have taken a step towards burning a bridge with a publisher, never a good step.

I was having to face the reality that I may not find someone who believes in this story strong enough to sacrifice pay for royalties. I may have to pay for the work upfront. A website named http://www.glasshousegraphics.com/ was recommended by a friend at Dynamite. They have a great website with a ton of sample work. Well known names coupled with fresh newcomers. David was great to work with. He must have thought I was an idiot with all the questions and lengthy emails but there was a method to the madness. Working with my wife I was trying to get a working budget assembled.

The business plan would take a tremendous beating going this route. Like every industry there is a big range between talents. Standard page rates are anywhere from $50/page to $200/page and much higher. Colorists range from $40 to $80 or so. Letterers come in around $10/page.

I note this because it took me a while to get pricing so if someone reads this and is assembling a budget this gives you something to look at. Of course, everyone is different. Plus, if they know you their price changes based on that relationship.

So based on my calculations I was going to end up paying close to $3,000 to get the book published…every month. Since you receive no royalties until a few months after publication we were looking at an outlay of close to $10,000 before any money starts to come in. My wife has been real supportive but I am sure she was sweating those conversations.

So I went back to DeviantART again in early September. The results were somewhat similar. A lot of pin-ups, traces and manga art. Nothing against manga but it is about as far from photorealism as you can get. From the emails there were a few that were interesting but nothing real spectacular. Then on September 10th that all changed.

Tim Lai, a Malaysian computer graphics designer sent a quick email with a link to his gallery. Once there I saw an artist with a very unique style and a demonstrated ability to change techniques. Then, I looked at his tryout work for the independent book “Darkness” and I knew this was the guy. Detailed, moody and unique, a perfect fit. However, we are a team so I needed John on the same page with me. If he says no, we keep looking. A decision like this has to be 100%. I sent him four or five other artist samples and asked him for his input. He liked Tim’s work the best.

I had been down this road before so I laid everything out to Tim and hoped for the best. No money upfront, must hit deadlines, you color your own work and then the three of us split the royalties. A lot of work before anyone receives any money, plus there is a chance if it does not sell that you will end up at zero regardless. A day later I received my response, he was in!

NOW, we were ready to start.

Next Time…The Process

Labels: christopher, Comic Book Publishing, hill, john, lai, primordium, tim, watson

 

Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 1:58 AM -  0 Comments

Labels: christopher, Comic Book Publishing, hill, john, lai, primordium, tim, watson

Posted on Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 1:45 AM -  0 Comments

From the very beginning I wanted to do something similar to the Norman Rockwell baseball pieces. I originally wanted Karee Andrews to do the cover. I had seen his work in the second Hulk series and loved his covers. Unfortunately, or fortunately as it would work out he was not available. Marvel recommended a British painter named John Watson. I had already liked his Uncanny X-Men covers so it was an easy yes for me.

The great thing about that first project was learning the process. You can be a fan and read hundreds of comics and never really understand all of the parts that have to happen for you to read a comic book. It is a very involved process. Marvel was there every step of the way.

The first book came out to some nice press.

2007 Marvel Press Release

Nothing earth shattering but it did spark some conversation. Teams made enough money that year two was on the docket. This year we had the knowledge and experience that we lacked the year previous. Through discussions with the Marvel editors and artists I began to understand the process better and began to really enjoy it. Sure, it is a lot of time consuming reports and emails but I really enjoyed the way everything worked especially working with the artists and editors.

The first book was centered about our business. The book touched on the 16 million fans that go to Triple-A games and the business of our baseball environment. We didn’t need to do the same book twice so we put the book to get sponsored. Whoever would purchase title sponsorship, they would dictate the editorial. However, we got close to deadline and the H-Vac company that was heavily interested could not pull the trigger this year. So we had no story.

Since we also had no sponsorship or baseball dictates for editorial I decided that I wanted to write the story. However, I wanted to make sure the story would be approved on its own merits and not due to any perceived or real influence I may wield. I submitted a treatment anonymously to the Comic Book Committee and the league presidents. They liked it. Marvel did not. We’ll they didn’t mind it but wanted someone to work with me on the project. Knowing what I know now, I can see why. I was a little wordy back then. Mark Sumerak took my story and modified it. The end result was a solidly traditional superhero story. Bad guy wants to do bad things and the good guys stop them. It was my first Marvel credit.

2008 Marvel Press Release

So what to do next? No question, I had the bug. I have always enjoyed writing but now I was able to write something in a medium that I loved. Now what? I did what I always do when I am fascinated with a subject I don’t know enough about, I read a lot of material. From comic centric articles to more obscure details I wanted to make sure I was as educated as possible. After familiarizing myself with the process I had the good fortune to sit down and spend a day with two guys that really propelled me on this process, Mark Sumerak (Mark's Website) and this years sequentialist Mario Gully (Mario's Website).

Each year during our giveaway, we fly in the artist to sign autographs for our fans. This year we were lucky enough to have Mark who lived in Cleveland. He wanted to drive in. So I was able to sit down and speak at length with Mario and Mark.

Mario produced his own book called “Ant.” It was published by Arcana and then Image and now I think he is at Big City Comics. His advice on the business was invaluable. He has had good experiences and poor experiences. He was able to write, pencil and ink his book. We talked about working with publishers, colorists etc. It was a great discussion that got me very interested in creating my own book.

I gave a piece to Mark to read. It was an obscure Marvel universe story I had written the week previous. He was nice and gave some constructive criticism. My talk with Mark was more about my specific skill-sets and where I needed to focus. As a former Marvel editor that information was invaluable. At some point I will re-write the piece. I still like the story but I would approach it differently today. I was over reaching style wise and of course I was a little too wordy.

So now I was torn. Based on the first work I was not ready but I wanted to get more involved with the business. The goal has always been to write for Marvel. I’m a Marvel guy. When I flew it to meet with the Marvel team last year my favorite part was meeting the editors and the editorial teams. I was kinda like a kid in the candy shoppe. One of their editors was a big baseball fan so we hit it off. He has helped a lot in nicely directing me on a preferred path. You don’t just walk in with no in medium experience and start writing Spider-man. He emphasized the ability to hit deadlines consistently and he recommended that I make a name for myself in this industry elsewhere. Once I could demonstrate an ability to hit deadlines and produce quality work then bring it back and we would go from there - great advice and just the right dose of realism.

So now I knew what I needed to do…produce a creator controlled comic book!

Next Time…Going it (almost) alone

Labels: christopher, Comic Book Publishing, hill, john, lai, primordium, tim, watson

Posted on Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 1:20 AM -  0 Comments

Labels: christopher, Comic Book Publishing, hill, john, lai, primordium, tim, watson

Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 12:56 AM -  0 Comments