CBR: Where The Hell Am I - Jun 15, 2011

[CBR News]

This week, Jason Aaron fills readers in on a secret that should be obvious to all aspiring comics creators, yet manages to slip by some of them nonetheless in their quest to become pros.


Full article here.

[jamesarranhendry]

any advice on how to Submit? (please dont mention San Diego.)

[Another Aaron]

Great. Now that Grant Morrison knows he can get away with it, he'll probably be smacking editors around with a baseball bat by the end of the week. I mean, if you had that knowledge, wouldn't you? :)

[jamesarranhendry]

No, Im not going to take your advice. For one thing I think Grant Morrison sucks; for another thing I KNOW that the business is ENTIRELY who you know- and WHERE you live. Anybody who doesn't admit that, or simply tell the truth, is an OVERprivileged TOOL. So i'll go down as Rimbaud as the greatest thing to NEVER happen to Marvel. Because they never asked.

[Arkady Rossovich]

No, Im not going to take your advice. For one thing I think Grant Morrison sucks; for another thing I KNOW that the business is ENTIRELY who you know- and WHERE you live. Anybody who doesn't admit that, or simply tell the truth, is an OVERprivileged TOOL. So i'll go down as Rimbaud as the greatest thing to NEVER happen to Marvel. Because they never asked.

Well said. With an imagination like that, Marvel is really missing out by not giving you work.

[Alex6166]

Wow, this is me. I met C.B. Cebulski like I did last year and I showed him stuff I wasn't happy with but he felt was alright overall and gave me a couple things to improve on. I was surprised, because I knew it needed work and I'm sure he did, too. How do I know it's not good enough. I guess it never is, as long as you improve.

IT's funny, I was drawing a sample page last night that was way better than the stuff I was doing a couple weeks ago. I think I'm finally getting a style down. But I bet I'll look at it today and not be happy with it. I'll be drawing a couple more pages and send it to Marvel I hope that gets me the job finally. It's just tough, because you have to sit there and focus. But once things start to get better as they have you gain more confidence and it's easier to sit there.

I still go by the pro's description of how they got their first job and I hope that's what happens to me this time.

[jamesarranhendry]

imagination... huh? the underlain defensive posture of your comments makes me feel it necessary to elaborate on my position. Nobody would, with any sort of ego, take my comments as critical. "Grant Morrison" is indicative of "branding," which occurs prevalently in every field of media/entertainment. If you are arguing that he doesn't suck, well, I dunno what to tell you, nobody reads DC anyway (yes im not counting Vertigo even tho DC owns them). Now, Jason Aaron is a good writer, the only series i own by him is "The Other Side," I liked it very much, i bought every issue. This article he wrote feels to me like something he was commissioned- or simply "told" to write, more than likely in response to his work on "Uncanny." If he feels it unnecessary to acknowledge the process of gaining interviews out of college, then fine, but anybody reading this should certainly understand that he is leaving the entire "PROCESS" of getting into comics out.

[Jackraow21]

Jason Aaron doesn't write Uncanny, first of all. Secondly, I think you are exactly the type of person he was referring to in this article. You just refuse to believe it.

[jamesarranhendry]

he wrote schism, he is causing the restart of Uncanny. If you didnt understand what i meant, I guess im sorry?

[Reptisaurus!]

No, Im not going to take your advice. For one thing I think Grant Morrison sucks; for another thing I KNOW that the business is ENTIRELY who you know- and WHERE you live. Anybody who doesn't admit that, or simply tell the truth, is an OVERprivileged TOOL. So i'll go down as Rimbaud as the greatest thing to NEVER happen to Marvel. Because they never asked.

So the point is: If you want to work in comics, don't be this guy.

[jamesarranhendry]

I am comics.

[Bedlam66]

Remember Folks. Keep your hands out of the cage and Don't Feed the Troll

[korubin]

So the point is: If you want to work in comics, don't be this guy.

But he's got a point. If you're trying to work for DC or Marvel, there's only a handful of jobs available every year. You pretty much have to know somebody working at the companies to get in unless they seek you out, which is pretty unlikely.

The improvement thing is totally different. You should always challenge yourself. Not for the sake of a job you'll never get, but because you should want to improve your skills. You never know what you can or can't do unless you try it, and just because you can't do it now doesn't mean you can't learn to do it.

Will it get you work? Probably not. This is a pretty closed door industry and editors want bankable talent. If you're not a name or at least have a great resume inside or outside the industry, they ain't hiring you.

[jamesarranhendry]

THANK YOU, Thank you sir you have totally restored my faith in humanity and this is not at all sarcastic I swear by my life. I mean of course Jason is right when he says "keep your mouth shut and you might get a job" and im just saying im not gonna keep my mouth shut.

[Steve Broome]

The biggest improvements in my art and writing have come since I stopped focusing on anything except improvement in my work. And it's art, so it's not like you ever run out of things to work on. It's amazing how bad you end up thinking your previous work (Which you loved at the time) really was. And even if you never get big mainstream work, etc. you end up a much better artist and writer, which is a great reward in and of itself. There are of course a lot of politics and networking involved, but a large percentage of ALL jobs are gotten through networking and personal relationships, so there's no reason to think this would be so different.