HERO

I haven't done much in my short time in comics, not nearly as much as I have wanted to, but I still have plenty of time fortunately. Next to having my first book ever picked up by a publisher, released and optioned for a movie (VILLAINS from Viper Comics), the thing I'm most proud of is my work with the HERO Initiative. I've talked about them here before, I tend to do sketches for them every Free Comic Book Day and I have also done sketch-covers for their series of art books in conjunction with Marvel Comics. They are a wonderful organization that helps comic creators with financial and medical needs. Jim McLauchlin runs things over there and recently wrote an article for Wizard magazine about Wally Wood. He posted the article on their blog and was kind enough to send out an email about it. I'm glad I took the time to read it and I hope you do as well. If you read my blog then I assume you are a comic book fan as well and this is a wonderful and sad article about the life of an amazing artist. Wood's work was beautiful but his life was not perfect, much like the rest of us.

Click here to read the whole article.

The HERO Initiative

Please, when and if you can, think about donating to The Hero Initiative.

What am I worth?

If we are talking about the value I bring to the world around me in terms of pleasantness, then my net worth is probably right around $-2.33. But I am talking about my art, or more specifically my comic/cartooning artwork. I don't really consider myself an artist, I never mastered painting or sculpting or any other fine art discipline. My work will never hang in a museum, but some of it does hang on people's walls of their studios or homes, and that's pretty cool.

Sometimes I get paid to draw comics, sometimes not, but the real value of my art comes in the form of how much someone will pay for it. I hope I don't sound greedy or anything, I know my place in the pecking order of comic book artists currently working out there today. I often draw for fun and for free, but if it's my goal to make a career, I need to be paid for my work. An aspiring plumber will only unclog so many septics for free until he feels he should be rewarded for his work. Same rules apply here. I attended a con last year and I did free sketches for kids. I was happy to do it, I have kids, some of them are neat little people. In the end though, the majority of the drawings I did ended up being for infants or toddlers, with the parents proudly proclaiming they wanted a sketch of Wolverine. Somewhere between crapping himself and drooling, I doubt that kid asked his Daddy for a Wolverine sketch (yellow costume no-less). I didn't mind the sketching, it was a challenge and I agreed to do it. Over the course of the 2 days however, not one parent offered to buy a commission, a comic or a con sketch of their own. My point is, because I was doing sketches for free, I was given no value by the people.

So instances like the one above cloud my view about what I should be asking for my work. At conventions I do sketches for $15. I think that's a fair price for my 20 or so minutes worth of work to provide the buyer with a unique piece of art. Sometimes I get people who say I should charge more and actually force more money into my hands, sometimes I get people who make faces if I don't do a free sketch for them. I do include a free quick sketch if they buy a copy of my comic or sketchbook, but that would still cost money and they are not interested in that. I usually take on commissions ranging from $30-$50 and I sell most of my original art for only $10-25 bucks. This is a very fair price I think, and I always appreciate the customers who come back every year and support me.

I guess what prompted this entire hot-air filled post was that earlier today I was thinking about lining up some customers for some custom sketchcard art. I have a total of 4 artist return cards from work I did for 5finity cards that I am looking to sell so I tried to gauge my value and check eBay. It was then that I noticed a card I did for a panel at the Phoenix Comic-Con, a card that was raffled off and given away for free was posted up there for a $150 buy-it-now. The person who owns the card has every right to sell it of course, but they are seriously over-estimating the value of my art. So I estimate it at more than free, they obviously have a much higher opinion of me, god bless them. I have a strong feeling that this person would never buy any work from me at a convention however, but I hope they get something for their hard work in setting up that listing.

Okay, the little bit of curiosity and self evaluation is over. All that said, I am currently taking commissions for full size pieces and sketchcards. Let me know if you are interested. super75comics(at)gmail(dot)com.

Projects that never happened....

Here is a list of projects that I blogged about roughly four years ago or so. Most were unpaid, some offered great opportunity I thought and others just seemed fun. I thought it might be fun (and sad) to go back and update these projects now. Original list in red, current status in bold.

October 2006
- 10 page bonus story for the Villains trade
Finished & included in Villains:Thick as Thieves TPB
- Compose and put together Villains trade – Deadline November 1
Ditto.

November 2006
- Illustrations for Actionopolis book. – Deadline November 30
Never went beyond a handful of illustrations, mostly my fault for not being able to really supply what they wanted. Would have been fun to work with Shannon Denton & Doug Moench.
- Legendary Anthology Project Pages – Deadline January 1
I turned in my story but the anthology never got picked up anywhere, I eventually ran my story in the Hollow one-shot I put out through my Super75Comics brand.

December 2006
- "Jackpot” pitch*
Never got picked up, I was just a hired gun on this one.
- Unnamed Alter-Cody pitch
I can't even really remember what this was, Grant and I shot around so many ideas. Probably no art ever done for it.

January 2007
- Launch Top-Secret web-comic - I did launch a very short lived web-comic called Coral City Aeronauts but I burned out on it. I plan to go back to it someday as a series of short stories.

Projects waiting to hear back from publishers -

Empty Glasses – Written by me, Art by Federico Milella
This one had legs. A couple US publishers liked it and an Italian publisher was interested as well. The artist got bogged down by work and it sort of lumbered off into limbo. It was shame.

The Society of Modern Vengeance – by myself and others, tentatively scheduled for a 2008 release. Again, I had a publisher interested initially but it never really took off, still an idea I like and a title I LOVE. Developed with Adam Cogan, the writer of Villains.

So this just goes to show how often projects fall through, that why I have learned not to talk about them too much until I can see a realistic release date. With that said, I just wrapped a new pitch that I think has a good shot and I'm about to move on to illustrating a new graphic novel for a small publisher, but one with an established fan base so hopefully that all works out accordingly. Don't forget to check out My Daily Sketchjam for all my daily sketches, I've recently posted a few teasers, some Legionnaires and a bunch more.

Thanks!

So I got a big spike in visits yesterday and some new followers to the blog, I assume many of you found your way over here thanks to Dark Horse comics re-tweeting (what an odd world we live in that I just typed that) my B.P.R.D piece I did yesterday. Anyone that knows me has heard me say that Hellboy is one book I would probably draw for free. I think Mignola created the best character since the golden age and it's no surprise that he has been around almost 20 years and is still insanely popular among fans and creators alike. He just works, design wise and story wise. The B.P.R.D. is just as great and I hope someday I get to work on those characters in some capacity so if any of you have any pull with Scott Allie, you know I will appreciate it. Here is that BPRD piece and some random Hellboy sketches I have done over the last couple years.

My Favorite Artists

Every once in a while I like to write about things that I like. Chicken katsu, Irish car bombs (the beverage, not the terrorist act), beer, things like that. I also occasionally write about artists that I am currently in love with. I love their art I mean, although many of them are fine upstanding citizens, no doubt about that. I rarely, if ever, buy comics anymore and haven't in a while but I will buy certain comics because of the artist involved. Today's artist is someone I am lucky enough to call a friend, but don't let that turn you off, he's the real deal. Scott Godlewski is the shit, the bees knees, one of the best of the new guys. His work is mainstream enough to fit any DC or Marvel book without being a carbon copy "house" style ripoff. He is realistic enough that his characters and settings all look real without being so realistic that it looks flat. Most of all, his stuff is exciting. He's currently in the middle of a series for BOOM! comics called Codebreakers and then he's moving onto their new ongoing Dracula book this fall. I would otherwise never read or buy a comic about Dracula. Check out his gallery on deviantArt.com or his website.



If this kid isn't on an X-Men, Avengers or Batman book within 2 years I will have lost all faith in comic editors and fans. He is part of what is good about the new wave of artists.