How to stick to it… or I guess I really don’t need to see my significant other that often.
People really seemed to like the column on choosing a professional name, so I figured I’d do up another on a topic I get asked about a lot: the determination to keep going. There are so many distractions in life that can eat up a creator’s time. Our bodies have this funny desire to eat, to sleep and for the occasional sexual encounter. Also stuff like a day job, family commitments and the ever-evil television. Well, we can get by with a lot less sleep than you think; you can function on four hours a night. You can always eat at you computer/art table and if your partner doesn’t mind, you can take care of that sex thing right there too… and for some without partners, the computer is already involved.
All joking aside, the only way to succeed in the comic industry is to commit the time necessary and sacrifice where necessary. There’s no secret to it. I self-published my own book ten years ago and started moving towards that two years prior; so for twelve years I have been making the necessary sacrifices. And I’m just now starting to make a name for myself. Now I did spend the first eight years trying to be a publisher, but the last four years have been solely focused on freelance writing and I’ve made pretty good strides in that time.
The key is to narrow your focus to what you are a) really good at and b) really enjoy doing. My friend Jason Hanley was torn between writing and lettering. We discussed it and he realized that lettering was something he was really good at, enjoyed doing and more likely to get him immediate work. He went from doing a handful of free books to now lettering books for a few different companies and doing it full time. Sometimes a penciler should only pencil and leave the inking to others. I’ve seen inkers who are decent artists but not on the level that companies would pay for, yet as an inker they could get work the next day. When I decided to stop publishing, I had been doing multiple jobs and have been published as an inker, colorist and letterer as well but knew in my heart of hearts that writing was my best skill and what I really enjoyed.
Once your focus is chosen, you have to allot yourself a set amount of time per week. If you have to go to work Monday through Friday and classes after work or the gym or whatever, then you have to find the time on the weekend or between things to focus on your path. If you’re an artist that needs to draw two pages in a week, then just focus on doing a third of a page a night for that week. You can do more in a night but don’t do less. Don’t set your goals based on time but rather accomplishments. When I sit down to write my goal is based on doing a scene or two from a script or to do the outline, etc. Do not set two hours a night as a goal because one night you may zoom through the two hours and that’s great, but other nights you may struggle through the two hours and that gives you a stopping point without really accomplishing anything.
Its very important to set up these kind of goals early and do everything you can to reach them because when you do make the jump to full-time writing/art then you will need these types of disciplines to make your deadlines. It’s foolish to believe that you will be able to do five pages a week when you get your Marvel job if you can’t don a page a week now. Learn to manage your time now so when you get your break, you’re ready.
People really seemed to like the column on choosing a professional name, so I figured I’d do up another on a topic I get asked about a lot: the determination to keep going. There are so many distractions in life that can eat up a creator’s time. Our bodies have this funny desire to eat, to sleep and for the occasional sexual encounter. Also stuff like a day job, family commitments and the ever-evil television. Well, we can get by with a lot less sleep than you think; you can function on four hours a night. You can always eat at you computer/art table and if your partner doesn’t mind, you can take care of that sex thing right there too… and for some without partners, the computer is already involved.
All joking aside, the only way to succeed in the comic industry is to commit the time necessary and sacrifice where necessary. There’s no secret to it. I self-published my own book ten years ago and started moving towards that two years prior; so for twelve years I have been making the necessary sacrifices. And I’m just now starting to make a name for myself. Now I did spend the first eight years trying to be a publisher, but the last four years have been solely focused on freelance writing and I’ve made pretty good strides in that time.
The key is to narrow your focus to what you are a) really good at and b) really enjoy doing. My friend Jason Hanley was torn between writing and lettering. We discussed it and he realized that lettering was something he was really good at, enjoyed doing and more likely to get him immediate work. He went from doing a handful of free books to now lettering books for a few different companies and doing it full time. Sometimes a penciler should only pencil and leave the inking to others. I’ve seen inkers who are decent artists but not on the level that companies would pay for, yet as an inker they could get work the next day. When I decided to stop publishing, I had been doing multiple jobs and have been published as an inker, colorist and letterer as well but knew in my heart of hearts that writing was my best skill and what I really enjoyed.
Once your focus is chosen, you have to allot yourself a set amount of time per week. If you have to go to work Monday through Friday and classes after work or the gym or whatever, then you have to find the time on the weekend or between things to focus on your path. If you’re an artist that needs to draw two pages in a week, then just focus on doing a third of a page a night for that week. You can do more in a night but don’t do less. Don’t set your goals based on time but rather accomplishments. When I sit down to write my goal is based on doing a scene or two from a script or to do the outline, etc. Do not set two hours a night as a goal because one night you may zoom through the two hours and that’s great, but other nights you may struggle through the two hours and that gives you a stopping point without really accomplishing anything.
Its very important to set up these kind of goals early and do everything you can to reach them because when you do make the jump to full-time writing/art then you will need these types of disciplines to make your deadlines. It’s foolish to believe that you will be able to do five pages a week when you get your Marvel job if you can’t don a page a week now. Learn to manage your time now so when you get your break, you’re ready.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home