Comics Experience

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CURTIS C’S THE WILD COSMOS NOW ON KICKSTARTER!

Creators Workshop member Curtis C has teamed up with artist Mauro Mandalari and colorist Harrison Yinfaowei for The Wild Cosmos Kickstarter campaign!

Their second outing on the crowdfunding platform sends readers on a rollicking adventure across the galaxy, where Captain Cooper struggles to maintain his small crew amid a plethora of perils. Unusual for a Kickstarter comic, this one will be in an 8”x12” format.

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(cover by Chun Lo)

Curtis says, “I really enjoy reading the bigger sized comics, almost like that European style size. From the way it feels in my hands to just having the bigger sized pages to show off the art, I think 8”x12” will work well for The Wild Cosmos.”

He also notes that the larger pages make it easier for readers to absorb themselves in the lush spreads the team has planned. Curtis is excited to be bringing the team from his first Kickstarter back for some galactic gallivanting, and showcasing how their skills have grown in the interim.

“They are the professionals in each of their fields, so sometimes I have to take a step back and let them experiment and try new ideas,” he says of his relationship with Harrison and Mauro.

“Then you also have to take into account that we’re all in different countries and time zones, as well as some language barriers. But we’ve all been working together for over a year now, and it’s been a pretty smooth process for a while; Google Docs is a life saver.”

Curtis’ time with the Creators Workshop also significantly influenced the direction of The Wild Cosmos.

He says, “Networking and finding collaborators in the Creator’s Workshop has been huge for me. I’ve found help getting logo designs to even editing (and all for free!). That’s huge when you’re just starting out and on a tight budget.”

“Also just being able to pop in and read some scripts is a great resource. It’s helped me with my own writing, from script format, panel descriptions, and more. And I can’t wait to take some of these courses one day!”

You can support The Wild Cosmos here.

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The Wild Cosmos Curtis C mauro mandalari comics harrison yinfaowei makecomics kickstarter Comics Experience

Get to Know Master Seminar Instructor Mark Waid!

Mark Waid has enjoyed one of the comic book industry’s most successful careers, writing for DC, Marvel, and every major independent publisher. His experience and expertise bring the kind of knowledge that would benefit every aspiring comics creator — and now he’s sharing it in a special one-day Comics Script Writing Master Seminar with Comics Experience on March 18, 2017.

We asked him a few questions to give a taste of the knowledge he’ll share.

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What do think is important for aspiring writers to know about writing for comics? How does it differ from writing for other media?

​Comics isn’t a motion picture. Each page is a series of snapshots, still pictures that readers can pass over quickly or linger on. One of the many things that ​make comics unique to other visual media is that the importance of an object or a moment isn’t determined by how long we linger on it, as with TV or movies–it’s how large it is on the page.

What can prospective students expect from your Master Seminar? What are some key points that are going to be covered?

Soup to nuts, we’re going to go over where ideas come from, how to shape them into stories, how to create pitches and proposals and full scripts, and much more.​

Who are some of your own writing role models? What do you learn from them?

​My number one role model has always been screenwriter William Goldman, who (despite the fact that he and I work in different media with different rules) has always taught me about story structure and about how leaving things out is sometimes just as important as leaving them in.

No writer can be a comics writer without working with an artist. How should writers build and maintain relationships with collaborators?

By always remembering that it’s only “your” story until such time as you hand it off to an artist, at which point it becomes “our” story. The best collaborations I have ever had with artists have been because I don’t treat them like “art robots.” I treat them like equal partners in telling the story, and so long as the storytelling is clear, I don’t mind that it’s not on the page as it might have looked in my imagination.

Where do you see comics going in 2017? What should aspiring writers keep in mind to succeed?

That more and more, thankfully, our audience isn’t just old straight white guys anymore. All of us in our work, regardless of our backgrounds or experience, need to be a LOT more mindful about being inclusive of others not necessarily like them.​

If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Mark Waid makecomics Comics Experience
…more and more, thankfully, our audience isn’t just old straight white guys anymore. All of us in our work, regardless of our backgrounds or experience, need to be a LOT more mindful about being inclusive of others not necessarily like them.
Mark Waid, on the widening comics audience. Read more at the mini-interview with Waid, who is teaching a one-day Master Seminar on March 18
Mark Waid comics makecomics comic books
jimzub

Anonymous asked:

I read your articles and I read the Beat article where Justin Jordan talked about comic budgeting. Just look at the math. Your comic gets $825 out of $15000, his costs $6000 per issue and is break even, I'd like more information as to how??? Did you forget to carry a zero?

jimzub answered:

Here are the two articles being referenced:

http://www.comicsbeat.com/overview-should-writers-pay-artists-upfront/

and

http://www.jimzub.com/the-reality-of-mainstream-creator-owned-comics/

Okay, believe it or not, the math does still work for a few different reasons.

Look closer at my numbers, I said $1500 remains for the artist and writer together if the print run was 5000 copies and the  cost percentages broke down in that way. Justin is stating his art/lettering costs would be $6000, but he’s not paying himself so it’s not $825 it’s $1500 left over. $1500 versus $6000 is still a big gap, so if Justin wants to break even he’s going to need to sell a lot more than 5000 copies through direct market comic shops if that’s his only way of making money on the comic.

At first glance you might assume he’d need to sell four times as much because 4 x $1500 = the needed $6000, but it’s not that simple. As you print more copies of a comic, there are thresholds where printing costs drastically drops, making the price-per-unit much more favorable. Look at the update I posted for Wayward #1:

http://www.jimzub.com/creator-owned-economics-the-changing-market/

The pie chart there is much more favorable for the creative team because sales were high and the print cost went down so there was more money left over. On top of that, a larger publisher like Image prints in such high volumes that they can negotiate for even better price breaks on printing.

If Justin is doing a creator-owned book where he’s paying the art team, it’s almost certainly at Image. A new Image #1 can vary, but most of them now launch well above the 5000 copy threshold I talked about. Higher sales mean more money at the end and a lower cost per issue to print it, leaving more money on the table when everyone else has taken their share.

You’re also assuming comic shop sales are the only way Justin can make money. He does conventions and sells books directly at shows to get ahead. He has digital sales that aren’t part of those calculations. He’s also doing other freelance writing for DC, Boom, and other publishers to build up the warchest to pay for his art costs ahead of time just in case building back that art investment takes longer than he planned for.

Your assumption was that Justin had to be in the exact circumstance I described in my scenario. It’s not a one-to-one comparison.

jimzub

Anonymous asked:

When it comes to comic sales what is the lowest number required to pass to avoid titles from cancellation?

brianmichaelbendis answered:

it depends on so so so many factors.

cost to make the book, ancillary sales (trade, foreign, digital, bookstore) all of which is COMPLETELY ignored by most of the know it all analysts (because they have ZERO access to that info because its literally no ones business but the publishers), if the creators or publisher think a book on the bubble and on the cusp of finding an audience, if the book might sell to hollywood…

creator owned books are a COMPLETELY different mode than work for hire. many creator owned books have the creators working at no page rate bringing the cost of production way down and the profit margin WAY up. its an investment but it can really pay off. or not. but at least you have a book.

or a book can get cancelled because it isn’t working creatively.  or it has run its story course.  that has happened. it happens all the time.

and i’ll yell from the rooftops till i am blue in the face but every chart, every column, every report about comic sales is bogglingly incomplete. most info, including EVERYTHING i mentioned above is never included. it is info that can add up to a HUGE percentage of a books profitability.  that is probably what is confusing you.  

you’re reading half reports. its like reading political poll numbers or domestic box office analysis :)

just enjoy your comics. comics are and should be fun for you.

jimzub

Short version: Yup. Right on the money

Long version: I know it can be entertaining to check sales charts and analysis, but it’s an incomplete and inaccurate picture that leads to confusion. I’ve checked out some of my books on those charts and seen numbers almost 20% lower than actual sales. That’s a huge margin of error and that doesn’t even include digital, trades, foreign licensing, convention sales, or how all those compare to actual creative costs.

Internet chatter can affect sales (positively or negatively) but there’s also a large portion of the market buying outside of our bubble. Something like the Disney Kingdoms: Figment series won’t burn up the sales charts in single issues (though it did well for its niche), but now, in collection as a hardback, it sells well in the book market, to libraries, and through the Disney park gift shops.

Fans armchair quarterbacking through flawed sales charts without understanding those complexities can be frustrating. So many assumptions. In the past I’ve taken a small writing pay cut on a work-for-hire project to keep it rolling with a different artist as a way to tweak the creative cost equation.

It might be nice to have a simple clear _number_ to indicate success/profitability or failure/cancellation, but that’s not going to happen.

Printing, shipping, marketing, editorial, and creative costs fluctuate.
Sales, profit, optics, and politics all factor into which comics stay afloat and which are cancelled.

brianmichaelbendis

Anonymous asked:

i love writing and i want to keep writing. and ive learned even from other creative ventures like music or design that just doing creative things over and over again helps you grow in your craft. but sometimes i hear about workshops, books, seminars, etc. that have really helped people and i get nervous because i dont do those things. makes me insecure about my writing. should i be doing things like that as much as possible or just writing as much as possible?

brianmichaelbendis answered:

there’s no right or wrong answer to this.  but i’m a big believer in following your gut.

your gut seems to say to take a workshop or class.  and maybe you should.  sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know until you find out.

can’t hurt.  maybe you’ll hate it and its not for you.  but i bet you take something from it.  i can’t think of a situation i don’t get something from.

 i am personally simultaneously preparing my next semester as a college professor and i’m taking an online class at the same time. And keeping up my writing schedule.  i’m learning from all of them.

you’re on a life long quest.  don’t close ANY doors.

comicsexperience-blog

Check out Comics Experience’s full slate of writing and arts courses – if that’s what your gut is telling you, of course!

makecomics Comics Experience Brian Michael Bendis

Get to Know Jim Zub!

Jim Zub is a true comics Renaissance man (though he prefers “workaholic”) with experience with licensed comics, manga, and creator-owned titles. He has successfully wrangled his own Image Comics titles, Skullkickers and Wayward, into places on many readers’ shelves and landed a seemingly made-for-him job as the writer of the official Dungeons & Dragons comic, published by IDW.

In his years managing his many projects, he has become an expert on the best practices for keeping projects on schedule, on track, and on point. The essays he posts on his website about the business of making comics have circulated widely on social media. On October 29, he will share that expertise in Comics Experience’s Master Seminar: Building Your Comics Project with Jim Zub.

We asked him a few questions to give prospective students a taste of the insight he’ll share.

What areas of comics creating do you think aspiring artists need the most education about?
The difference between drawing stuff that looks cool and drawing panels/scenes that tell a story well and are cool at the same time. I see a lot of people who can draw appealing characters or pin-up-style work, but when it comes to storytelling they’re way behind the curve.

Even before that, as simple as it sounds, a lot of aspiring artists rush through the basics of drawing: perspective, volume, anatomy, solid form, gesture, clarity. Getting those really nailed down and making them an instinctive part of your working process makes a huge difference when it comes to quality, consistency, and improving the work.

Have you noticed that successful comics creators have certain traits in common?
Stick-to-itiveness and flexibility. Staying on target and finishing projects is crucial. Being able to roll with changes as projects evolve will help you keep your sanity when things don’t go the way you planned.

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“Respect and professionalism comes from quality and clarity. Be the kind of collaborator you would dream of working with.”

What are some of the mistakes you made when you were starting out in comics?
Early on I was heavily focused on being given a chance to prove myself by someone else (an editor, publisher, gatekeeper) instead of understanding I had the ability to build my own body of work.One of the other things that was revelatory for me was understanding that having dreams/goals early on were a source of creative fuel, not a perfect map to be followed. My career hasn’t gone at all the way I planned it would, but having that plan kept me steadily moving forward and opened me up to all kinds of opportunities that have served me well and been creatively satisfying. It’s important, just not the way I expected.

As a sneak peek into your seminar, what is an important bit of advice you can offer to aspiring comics creators?
Communication is everything. The more accessible and available you are to the rest of the creative team, the better the end result will be. Respect and professionalism comes from quality and clarity. Be the kind of collaborator you would dream of working with.

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there! Sign up at comicsexperience.

makecomics Jim Zub Comics Experience