From: [i--ru--r] at [cats.ucsc.edu] (Isaac Truder)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.info
Subject: Rob Davis Comics Career Article 7 of 9
Date: 3 Sep 92 11:16:27 GMT
A Mr. Rob Davis, comics aritst, has written a number of articles on the
subject of breaking into the comics business and conducting your business
once you're in. He has recently personally given me permission to
disseminate his articles to the Internet (they were previously available on
CompuServe). These articles originally came from a publication called the
Comics Career Newsletter. This seventh article gives an example of the
process of breaking into the business and getting work.
RULEBOOK TWO
By Rob Davis
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
Siekiewicz, John Byrne, etc.), right? Wrong.
Sorry, boys and girls, it ain't that easy. Even if you've gotten
all the ground rules going for you it's going to take patience and
persistence and most probably a number of years to get that first job at
one of the big guys.
Five years ago I was an assistant manager at a mall shoe store. I
was miserable and frustrated. Ever since I'd picked up my first Jack
Kirby comic book I knew that I wanted to be a comics artist but was
convinced that it was beyond my ability to reach. In response to that U
was settling for uninteresting, unsatisfying, dead-end jobs. Finally,
so fed up I was a terror to be around, I decided to give everything I
had to becoming a comics artist. I lost my job at the shoe store (it
was only a matter of time), got another job pushing records and
proceeded to spend every non-working hour in perfecting my art.
One day at the local comics shop the manager (a good friend and
best man at my wedding) pointed out a slip of paper posted on the shop's
bulletin board. A local writer was looking for an artist to illustrate
a story he had half-sold to Archie Goodwin at Epic Comics. I called the
guy, met with him at his house, showed him my portfolio and promptly
made a new friend and ally in the fight to get published. That guy was
Steve Miller (who has since written Rust for NOW Comics and was featured
writer in a DC bonus book featuring the Doom Patrol). Unfortunately the
deal with Archie Goodwin fell through, but with Steve Miller's scripts I
finally had some stories to illustrate (I'm not a writer) and some pages
to show.
Again at the comics shop Steve and I saw a flyer for a comic book
convention some 200 miles away. At that convention would be Dick
Giordano of DC Comics and then-managing editor of First Comics Mike
Gold. At the convention Steve and I exuded confidence and boldness by
cornering Mr. Gold and stuffing our work in front of him. He patiently
looked over the pages we had and kindly told us we had potential but we
needed to work on it. Over the past 5 years both Steve and I have
continued (together and separately) to have contact with Mike Gold right
through his move to DC. As a result, just recently Mr. Gold has told
both of us (separately) that we're on the verge of making the jump to
being published at DC.
Okay, we've covered how actions taken five years ago have worked
into possible work tomorrow, now let's move ahead a little.
After the trek to see Mike Gold a couple of years went by. I was
attending my second Chicago Comicon and waiting in a long line outside
the door to the portfolio room. A very nice (and very pregnant!) lady
walked past. She said she worked for Mayfair Games, the DC Heroes
role-playing game people, and was looking for artists. I promptly
jumped up, shoved my portfolio in her direction and said, "Here, look at
my stuff!!" She slowly lowered herself to the floor (remember, she's
real pregnant) and quietly paged through my portfolio. When she was
through, naturally everyone else in line shoved their portfolios at her.
When she was finished with everyone else she walked over to me, handed
me her business card and said, "I think we can work together." That
contact became my first real professional job and, added to my resume,
helped me to get other work.
A couple of years later, when Iron Crown Enterprises (the Champions
role-playing game people) were trying to track me down (they were
answering a submission I had sent several months earlier and then
unexpectedly moved in the meantime) the same lady (now no longer
pregnant) gave them my address and telephone number. Remember --
cultivate good relations with every contact you make.
Thanks to my work with Mayfair I felt confident in asking the Kansas
City MO-Kan Festival people to allow me to be a guest at their
bi-annual convention. They said yes. The first convention was that
fall. It has turned out to be the most productive convention I have
ever been to. There I met Tony Caputo of NOW Comics -- I did a lot of
work for him; penciling, lettering, inking. I also met R.A. Jones at
that convention -- I'm presently penciling two different books for him!
I met Steve Erwin (DC's Checkmate penciler), who has been very helpful
to me at different times with advice and tips.
That was Fall, the next Spring I pleaded my way to a small science
fiction convention that was being conducted in my area. At that
convention I met Kirk Chritton, the (then) future publisher of Comics
Career Newsletter. Through that contact I gained another ally and
friend. When the regular writer on DAI KAMIKAZE! (the NOW Comics
publication I was illustrating) left unexpectedly, I enlisted Kirk as
the new writer. Kirk has since moved on to self-publishing CCN, where I
now work for him.
I could go on about how I met Paul Kupperberg at the Chicagocon
later that year. Since I wasn't in total, tongue-numbing awe when he
came over to speak to me and I talked to him like an old friend, he's
actively interested in working with me in the future.
By now you should be getting the picture. You should get the two
points that this story indicates. Be aggressive! Take advantage of
every opportunity given you to make new contacts even if they seem
insignificant to you at the time. Keep the contact going on good terms.
That meeting that was so helpful to Kirk has turned into Comic Career
Newsletter and an opportunity for me to keep my name in front of a lot
of editors, one of whom may be my boss some day. Just remember to help
out the other guy when you can. As it turns out with Kirk, I've gained
a friend and ally in breaking through the wall separating the amateurs
from the professionals, and so has he.
I don't want to leave out the most important contact of my life --
my wife. If everyone reading this had spouses as supportive and
understanding as Kirk and I have then they would have the battle hald
won. If it weren't for the underlying faith my wife had in me there
probably would have been several times where I'd have been tempted to
give up. Thanks Theresa! So find a spouse ot close friend who can give
you the support you'll need through the long, hard journey you'r on.
You'll need 'em.
Go get 'em!!
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
| This article is Copyright (c) 1992 by Rob Davis. The author is a
| feelance artist whose work has been seen under a number of different
| company logos. His professional comics career started with SYPHONS
| #7 from NOW Comics, as a letterer. He also lettered RUST #'s 1 and
| 2 and penciled, lettered and inked DAI KAMIKAZE!. At Malibu
| Graphics Rob has penciled and inked several projects. Among those
| were SCIMIDAR and MERLIN. For Innovation Rob penciled STRAW MEN,
| MAZE AGENCY, and QUANTUM LEAP. At Rip-Off Press Rob penciled,
| lettered and inked THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN NEMO. At Marvel Comics
| Rob penciled theee issues of Hanna Barbera's PIRATES OF DARK WATER.
| At DC Comics Rob has penciled STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, and
| STAR TREK (one issue each as fill-in, so far). All this as of
| September, 1992.
--
-Hades (Brian V. Hughes)
"Egads! These look like a women's fingerprints"
-- Durlock Holmes