Rob Davis
- Penciler’s Rulebook
- “So you have the finished plot in your sweaty hands. What now? There’s a blank sheet of Bristol board staring you in the face and laughing maniacally because it has instilled utter fear in you. All that work you’ve invested to get a publisher or editor to look at your work has paid off, but now comes the real test.”
- The Guy with the Dirty Fingers
- “Two aspiring comics creator were standing in line at a convention. One of them turns to the other and asks, ‘How can you tell an inker from a penciler?’ The second guy smiles and says, ‘The inker’s the guy with the dirty fingers.’”
- Coloring for Comics
- “In printing, four colors are used: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The first three colors (corresponding to the primary colors) are also called ‘process blue’ (cyan), ‘process red’ (magenta), and ‘process yellow’ (yellow). Just as on the color wheel, these colors are mixed together to form the secondary and tertiary colors in the printing process (more on that later).”
- Coloring Too
- “Last time, we dealt with the technical aspects of coloring. With that out of the way, we can deal with style and method and some of the unusual properties of color.”
- Beating the Deadline Blues
- “It’s got to be every freelance creator’s nightmare. The due date on that project you contracted to do is tomorrow and there’s a week’s worth of work left to do on it. What now? Pray that your editor or publisher knew you were slow and left himself plenty of time for you to catch up.”
- Deadline Blues Again
- “I’ve got a bone to pick with a lot of newcomers in the field who seem to regard deadlines with the same disdain politicians do of campaign promises—‘I’ll honor them if it suits me.’ I’ve said it before, and likely I’ll say it again: deadlines are the most important thing in this business of comics.”
- Rulebook Two
- “Okay. You’ve read my Penciler’s Rulebook article, right? You’ve got some of the ground rules etched forever on your forehead in reverse type so you’ll see them every morning when you brush your teeth, right? Now all it’s going to take is cornering an editor or publisher at a convention and convincing him you’re the next Frank Miller (Bill Sienkiewicz, John Byrne, etc.), right? Wrong.”
- Conventioneering
- “In the upcoming season many of you will be attending comics conventions lugging your portfolios packed full of stuff you’ve churned out. I’ve said before that conventions are the best place to get real, honest appraisal of your work. I believe this to be true, especially since you get immediate feedback.”
- Positive Mental Attitude
- “Anyone who has dealt with salesmen or salesmanship has probably brushed up against the phrase, ‘PMA, all the way!’ When I was a shoe salesman, I had the ‘Positive Mental Attitude’ saying thrust in my face repeatedly by over-zealous co-workers and supervisors who had a warped vision of what it really meant.”
