My Comics Failure
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ส.ค. 2024
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In this special episode, I talk about a time I failed to make a comic and how it all fell apart. I explain the mistakes that were made and what I believe it takes for people to be successful in any creative endeavor.
What comic fan hasn't tried his hand at putting out his own comic. You took it further than most of us. Thanks for sharing the lessons!
Which comic fan? Those of us with zero artistic drive.
I love music but except singing in the car I have no music output
I’m actually working on a WEBTOON, I’m not too good at Art, but I’ve gotten better, I’m gonna post it on WEBTOON and the stories based on InFamous and superhero comics, I posted it before but it was super crappy but I’m making a better one
I have a project that for over 25 years has been a hobby. Its a series of novels that are unpublished, but I loved the universe and characters I created and its just something I have continuously worked on since high school, but felt too afraid to let out into the world. This was great to listen to Chris.
If you haven't already, I seriously hope you at least consider posting your content online someday.
Post it bruh
Oh! So I'm not the only one!
Only been working on it about a year now but it's a comic that's basically my little sandbox. Play in it, write some stories, create see new characters in the universe, basically a living town and world I just sorta draw out. No intentions to publish though, it's just fun! Glad to see I could continue to do this for long long time!
can we read it?
#ReleasetheSergioruizCut
I feel you in this one. I had dreams of working in the film industry but had a hard time going. So I knuckled down and made some changes. I joined a local amateur filmmaker group and that helped a lot. It went from just me to having an entire production staff and talent. I put a story, script, and storyboard together and put out a call for real estate agencies that would help me with locations. Lo and behold, I lucked out and got permission to shoot at some excellent spots. Then I put out a call for a cop car and I actually got one. A production house in NYC saw my call and they gave me a cop car AND an observer. I got a call from a famous actor who told me this was my shot.
The whole thing went well and the observer liked what he saw in me. My film went on to compete in a little short film competition.
I didn't win anything, but that wasn't my downfall.
I had things happen in life that pulled me away from my dream, personal stuff that couldn't be ignored. By the time I got back on track my chance was gone.
At least I made that movie though. It was a haunted house story and my "giant floating eyeball that chases the tortured soul through the house" effects went over well with the judges. They also didn't realize I had used 3 buildings for the haunted house. I cut it all together so well it looked like one place.
Your emphasis on reliability hits the nail in the head. If you aren't able to fully devote yourself to your professionalism and your art, you'll always be a hobbyist. There's nothing wrong with being a hobbyist, just don't expect to make it big.
Why is your chance gone?
Reliability only works if you get somewhere. Writers can draft up and write consistent pieces of work but along comes one social media drainage pipe of a human being with assets in all the right places and suddenly all that apparent hard work you need to show to even be looked at is gone in an instant. And don't even think about taking matters into your own hands which is a time consuming, expensive and frustrating process all on it's own. "Oh you self published? Were we not good enough for that one? Wait, you self published what? Why would you do that when we told you it wasn't good enough? Why should we work with you again? Why should anyone? Are you serious about this? Do you even care?" As if I am somehow not trying when some stinker written in two weeks or over someone's holidays is better because of assets.
What actor?
sounds like an awesome horror short, do you still have the footage?
damn...this hit a nigga hard
It isn't really a failure, if you recognize your mistake, now it's just a lesson, great video, Great channel, and I'd imagine that you'd be a delight to work with, look forward to next week's installment
My goal is to push out a comic before I get my bachelor's degree. I've always wanted to since I was reading Captain Underpants in elementary.
I think the biggest failure is never trying in the first place.
I love Captain underpants too. Flip-o-Rama was awesome
"You can't fail if you never try" is an adage I've lived with, with great regret. Trying is the first step, and sometimes the biggest.
@@RickReasonnz I'm going to try to make my own comic, after writing a 3 episode drama series and 2 hour feature film that has gone nowhere (yet). I'm currently reading Robert Kirkman's Outcast after picking up the complete compendium and I'm loving it!
I feel like Captain Underpants was a lot of creative kids clicking moment where they realized that they could create their own comics
Your story is very similar to mine. In the late 90's I was part of a 'comic book studio' (I use that term loosely) out of Toronto, with a bunch of young, hungry to get into the business, talented guys. Many of them have gone on to be very successful in the comic book industry, people like writer Jay Torres, artist J Bone, Francis Manapul, and several others. We would hit the comic conventions with our portfolios to try to get work. There were lots of failures, but persistence, determination, a positive attitude, and doing the hard work paid off for some of us. My brother and I, who were both at that studio, ended up getting into the animation industry, which was our goal all along. Hard to believe we made careers that have lasted more than 23 years, and going strong.
I wouldn't consider your comic attempt to be a failure. It's just part of the learning process. Just like when a first time writer 'trunks' his first work. Whenever a person that wants to be a writer finishes his first piece of work, a completed 115 page screenplay, or a 500 page novel, or a graphic novel, or whatever, he should 'trunk' it. Open up a proverbial trunk, toss the completed work in there, and close the trunk for all eternity, because it's the first thing you wrote. It won't be as good as your next thing. It was just part of the learning process.
"I wouldn't consider your comic attempt to be a failure."
I would call it a failure, but put emphasis on how the majority of western culture has a horrible understanding/perception of the concept of failing. The problem isn't the failing. The problem is the foolish stigma attached to it.
As humans, we learn most efficiently by making mistakes. The brain creates the strongest pillars of insight/awareness when we do wrong and comprehend the reason. Making mistakes is one of the most important aspects of learning. We should learn to honor that, rather than to associate shame with it.
It's the shame that's causing the damage, a lot of the times.
@@Kijinn You often get fucked over hard for mistakes. The risk ends up not being worth it for most.
@@Kijinn We're saying the same thing, learn from your mistakes, making mistakes is just a part of learning, and there is no shame in failure, only shame in not trying at all. The only place we differ is whether to call it failure or not. If you have a positive perception of failure, then by all means call it failure. If you have a negative connotation of failure, then don' call it that, call it a learning experience.
Loved this video, I know it's not always easy to talk about missed opportunities, but it is so valuable.
You got way, WAY farther than most of us have ever gotten to getting printed. Just finishing writing an issue is an accomplishment in and of itself.
It’s always interesting to hear when somebody gets thier foot in the door, I feel most people have the dream but it’s intimidating after you need to get the dream out to a big company. Thank you for showing everyone how they can do it, I would love to hear more stories like this, I would also love to hear the further adventures of this intergalactic bounty hunter :)
I am 60 years old and have been either an art student or a graphic design professor/teacher most of my life. I have seen quite a few very talented artists fail over the years because they did not have the discipline to further their artistic education and sell their talents. They ended up either employed at low level jobs or street artists. I always say I "am in the habit of making things, not money" although I have achieved a fantastic career.
Failure is something everyone experiences. Few however are willing to want to discuss it so openly. Thank you for sharing this.
One big failure I had in comics was attempting to change genres. I started out doing a semi popular video game fan comic in high school that I started to become ashamed of in my last years of college. I want to make that breakout story that would rebrand me as a serious comic artist. I decided to make a supernatural action comic with demons, mythology and teen angst. There were fight scenes, weird inter dimensional travel, mixed media between ink and painted pages… and when I tried to self publish it, it was dead in the water. It was criticized for poor pacing, rushed artwork and haphazard world building. People didn’t gravitate to it and I basically had to beg them to buy it at conventions. It was a painful hit to my confidence but it taught me something very important.
Action comics are my weakest genre. And my writing skills were lacking.
I enjoy videos like this because it helps me relate to others in the field. Comics are essentially a string of trail and error and more often than not, we like to hear the success stories over the hard lessons. But the hard lessons are where most of us grow. Thanks for this insightful video!
Thank you so much Chris! This type of open, raw, and honest reflection on personal "failures" is exactly what artists of all walks need to hear. It's not all roses and it's not all wins. Picking yourself back up and working on the areas that you identify as what went wrong can only lead to growth.
Thanks for all your great content over the years, it's not only rekindled my passion for comics, but made me want to create my own content.
“Lean into what makes you unique.” Love it. Couldn’t agree more.
You got us excited it's not too late to finish and publish it ✨
Learning is a process, failure is a part of it, speaks about one's character in whether or not they take ownership of those failures. Keep making videos and never give up...much respect
Well said.
I've self-published a comic series that was five issues at a few hundred pages total, but despite my best efforts to make it successful, such as securing a shoutout from a known comic author, getting a front page article in the county newspaper, and promoting it where I could like online and at conventions, I just couldn't garner any interest in it and barely sold any copies. It was a failure, just like most of my other projects. Even my TH-cam videos (over 100 videos from over 10 years) haven't earned me any money and hardly any views recently, and still less than 1000 subscribers. I've met some friendly people from it, which is great, but the comparative shortcoming of it all is still disheartening.
As a self-published author still trying to break out, this is honestly resonant and motivational. Looking forward to seeing one of your books on my shelf one day!
Don't self pub too much, or you'll never be looked at professionally. Not my experience explicitly but that's what the ear to the ground says. Me? Seems I blew it by self publishing at all.
I am working on various projects, been doing it since 2018, failing over and over learning a lot about myself and the way I can work. I just submitted a 19 page work to a small editorial in my country, meeting a deadline and working faster than ever, if that doesn't go well, I'm 100% sure that the next one will.
Good luck budy
This is such an inspiration honestly. As an artist currently at art school, listening to your story and advice is really nice. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in my art so far is to finish things. I used to have sketchbooks full of half finished art that I stopped working on because I didn’t like it. But when I kept at the things I didn’t like, sometimes I’d find that I liked a different aspect of what I made. For example, if I’m drawing a person and I don’t like the face or body, maybe I’ll like the way I did the hands or feet. Or maybe I’ll like the amount of detail I was able to put into the clothing. Or if I’m not satisfied with any of it, at least I can say it’s a completed work and I can learn from it going forward. I’ve found with anything, whether that be art, playing guitar and bass, or even video games, a lot of the time it takes being bad at something for a really long time to get remotely good. I’m 20, ive been drawing for as long as I can remember so over 10 years at least, and I’m still not what I’d consider a great artist. But it is satisfying to look back and see how much ive improved. Even from the time I was in highschool till now ive made some major improvements. I’m coming to terms with being ok with failure, because I know that if I keep failing for long enough eventually I’m not gonna fail. All it takes is one amazing painting or illustration to become what could be considered a successful artist, and from there I can keep improving. Thanks for the inspiration Chris :) hope all is well!!
Hey Chris, I have been a long time viewer and patreon subscriber. I'm currently trying to write my own comics (just put my first one on Tapas) and I watch a lot of your videos to learn the history of the art form. This video helped me a lot in what I should not do with my collaborators. Thanks a ton, Chris.
Good Luck with the comic series :)
"LiL'JpD."
What is the name of your webtoon? I'd like to check it out and support. How long do the process take to get it completed?
Hey dude. I'm working on a comic myself (well, more a webcomic for now), and seeing this video has helped me motivate myself to focus on it more. It's been difficult since I'm much more of a writing and concept guy, but I'm too nervous about asking for anyone to collaborate on drawing, so I've taken up both writing and drawing myself, and I've got a hell of a long way to go before I could ever do them professionally.
Again, thank you so much for sharing your story, it's inspiring to me.
Pros and Cons laid bare that you're no slouch at artwork, but an Eisner nomination?? You're quite a renaissance man, Chris.
Hey Chris, I just wanted to reiterate how much I love when you do this style of video about your history. You have such introspection and honesty, it really feels more like having a conversation with a friend than watching a video. Thanks for sharing this with us all.
Thank you for sharing your personal experience. I can imagine that it's not easy to revisit some of these memories. To openly share your failures and mistakes shows a great deal of character and backbone.
This was a great video. I can relate to the story of having a comic/graphic novel idea and building some momentum to self publish. It was all very much a one man show as hiring assistants in an ongoing capacity was unapproachable and I didn’t know how to get in touch with comic stores or how to copyright it. I was doing it alongside art school and a part time job which became my full time job until I left that to learn a trade. And that’s when I lost momentum. I’ve been working on the story, developing ideas and evolving what I already had. But it’s been so long now that sometimes I wonder how much holds up now compared to what I thought might work twenty years ago
But still there is a part of me that would like to release L Badass no Densetsu into the world
I always appreciate a creative's personal journey story--even if the term is a bit cringe. It's always worthwhile hearing from other people even if it is to only learn from their mistakes. In fact, it's probably more valuable than hearing a success story because those stories can be vague, cherry-picked, and difficult if not impossible to recreate. Kudos on the video.
Totally. As an entertainer, I've seen it happen time and time again: very talented people can be prima donnas, and work horses who are easy to work with tend to get more gigs. I used to complain about it, and then I became easier to work with.
Important lessons to learn. Thanks for sharing!
I dug listening to your story. It's interesting to hear about other people's failures, successes and how they learned from it. I just completed a children's book with my friend from high school and it is the best feeling in the world to see it done and out there for the world to discover. The first book is part of a trilogy and I am working on the second part now, which will be out in a couple of months. It is never too late!
I drew a single issue of a six-issue miniseries, took me two months instead of the requested one month. Wasn't paid, wasn't asked to do any more. This was before most people had internet for reference images - mid 90s.
Also best video by far.
That was very valuable to hear Chris, thank you. That was also clearly a bit painful, which made it all the more meaningful. You are a talented man and very good host. Thanks for the insights. I definitely took some things to heart here
As someone who has worked in IT my entire life (pretty different from creative fields like comic creation) The trifecta of reliable, talented, likeable is appreciated in any field. Do you show up? Do you know what you're doing? Do you make the project better for the others you're working with? You'll go far. Loose one or more of those attributes and you're lucky if you even keep your position at all.
I have a failed comic book stories myself. Would love another try before I am retired and regrets. Love art and drawing and love failure. Success always leads with failures first!
Owning up to your mistakes and being willing to share your failures like this, makes this probably one of the most important videos you've done!!
I worked with Paul Maybury back when we were high schoolers (I was really into the X-titles and Blaylock's GI Joe Run at the time while he was more into Green Lantern). Really nice guy.
While I've had alot of big ideas and Patreon runs, buy the closest that I came to pro work was in college. I had a weekly b&w weekly comic in an associated SUNY school's newspaper for 3 years, I was brought into illustrate for some university zines, and my university's official school newspaper (the Daily Orange offered to reprint my series in color).
So at the height of things, I was taking on my coursework, creating weekly installments for the first newspaper (with a grayscale approach similar to Viz Media's manga), and reformatting the older work for in-color syndication in the DO. My senior year, I got dropped from the DO. They got a new art editor who personally wanted to create every comic and illustration used for the paper. The next semester, he was in one of my studio courses, and was such a narcissistic douche. I continued with that first paper through the rest of of my college career. And have worked some non-art jobs while licensing designs for printed commodities. It was an uphill climb getting out of retail since the company was privileges some people with necessary experience opportunities for sign art while telling me that corporate doesn't allow. I was like "These two part time positions are literally available because my competition for another position won out, and now you're telling me that the opportunity that gave her the differential that won the promotion IS NOT ALLOWED by the company?". I was already also trying to get administrative jobs because gym discounts and employee discounts can't directly be converted to rent money, or be deposited into a savings account. I ended up leaving the company and got administrative training at a nonprofit group, and now work at hospital whilebpeople ask why I'm behind a desk and not a professional artist.
I do wonder if in college, I (an undiagnosed Aspie with gender dysphoria) could've more quickly found my voice and ability to find like minded friends in art school.... if then, I could've had the connections to get agency representation as I was getting out of school. Because when potential employers saw the "BFA" on my resume, they always said that I was either underqualified or overqualified.
As an artist, I've had a lot of failures. Trying to find my way back in, but not having a lot success. I listened to a photographer who said exactly what my failure was: not sorting out the business end. Not of afraid of trying again, just more at stake now (family, kids) than ever.
Dude, I don't believe in talent, if talent exists I'm sure a few people in the world have it the rest of us humans just know failure and are learning that way (and it's full of successful people who did it that way) and if you don't succeed the first time the only way to convince your team to keep the conviction is to just turn the page and start a new project, something that shows them that the end was not just to publish a comic, but that this was the beginning of something, I learned a lot from this. Now that I'm in college, I don't have time to regret my failures because of a bad grade because the next day I have to get back up and continue being productive with the rest of my career, I have my girlfriend who is very supportive, I do it for her, for my family and I do it for me. It's all in oneself , mistakes are there for us to learn from them, your video on how you reflected on it makes me think that there are necessary mistakes at certain points in our lives and overcoming them or not will define the type of person we will be. Regards 🤗💪
i love the mustache, looking good Mr. Tropes
Yeah, I totally can relate to this. Unfornately my health had always made it difficult to be "fast" and "good enough" by the same time- even when I had some great oppotunities in my life (and as you did *some* stuff) I messed a lot through perfectionism and stuff.
Still loving comics after all these years :) Still kinda doing some stuff.
I had two shorts I wrote and lettered published in the 11:00 comics podcast anthologies a few years ago . It felt good, I need to get back to it, sometimes life gets in the way and you just can't focus.
A friend from school just finished and released his independent comic Wabi-Sabi on Kickstarter in 2021 for $5k. Enough time may have passed that would allow you and your artist to move through life to get through any personal issues and are all ready to get back at what they love doing. For those that haven't seen Spartacus it would still be a fresh story, and those that have wouldn't necessarily consider it a derivative since most stories are a collection of tropes that re-tell the Joseph Campbell Hero's Journey.
I really appreciate you sharing this failure that clearly looms large in your adult life. I can very much relate in my own life with some of my own recurring personal and professional failures, which I still carry a deep regret about to this day. I love my life, but I always think about where I could have done better, and how I could have sidestepped some of my biggest failures. It is really cathartic to come to terms with these and to share them publicly is very brave, and I hope it was somewhat healing to share this with your fans.
This was indeed A very insightful view on comics-biz, I appreciate it. I'm currently starting out on comic-(art)making, figuring out how things work, so far Its been a solo-thing but I aspire to make/find a good team with good communication someday.
Thanks for this video, i kinda of needed it right now.
I like videos like this that give the feel of hanging out with a buddy talking about shared interests like comic books. The best channels IMO center on a likeable creator with a passion for something. Those are the channels I watch faithfully, even if I'm not particularly interested in the topic, because I like just "hanging out" with that creator. I do have family and many friends, but they don't share all my interests, so it's so nice to have TH-cam "friends" that provide at least a little of that vibe.
As an aspiring graphic novelist this is very insightful. Thank you for sharing your experience. ❤
Great video, and thank you for talking about it. It reminds me how some writers will write 5 pages of a book (literary) and then send it to agents and then the agents want to see a partial or full manuscript and then the writer has to write the rest of the book. By the time they are done, the moment has passed. When really it has to be completed and then shopped out. Although I have written several books completely, shopped them out and they never got picked up. A part of mess wishes I didn't spend so much time on writing those books. However, I've learned something after each one. talented/reliable/personality ---absolutely true in all of the entertainment industry
Nice off the cuff video, and also an inspiring story. I like this format as well as your more produced videos. Keep writing comics!
I avoided this video at first because I thought it would discourage me. I'm actually glad that I watched it, you really made things more clear and I'm more comfortable in my ability. Thank you.
6:10 Love the Spartacus Theme! Never gets Old! Rollerball style!
9:03 Taking to long. Got that. Charlie Adlard got that right - not the prettiest, but he got the Job done.
11:55 What you need:
1.) Have the Talent - The Chops, the Needed Skills or at least entry skills
2.) Be Reliable - Sustainable - The ability to do this over a long period of time
3.) Friendly or Fun to work with...
Without Failure there is no learning.
I completed a few comics, But I got back to fundamentals and kinda Restarting.
Finishing Stuff and coming out with new stuff.
I understand, me boyo. I had a whole novel, 3 treatments adapting that novel into a cartoon, ready to go and friends in Nickelodeon, AND had the art in different styles: 2d and 3d.....Then the 2nd writers strike happened (2007-ish) and people from studios and positions got shuffled. Some of my friends/contacts didn't even work for the same studios and my project was forgotten as a "greenlit project" within weeks. I dropped the ball in not having more of a digital portfolio ready and waiting after that, so that a year or so later, some of my hollywood contacts wanted me to get involved in some projects and yeah.....I lost more projects I had lined up.
Still working on it. I've developed a lot since then and have better products since then. I'm actually glad I didn't move forward previously. Tis Ne'er too late! :D Will keep you all up to date on my movement as I anticipate your movement forward and observing with a smile. :D
Good luck in your endeavors!
Can't wait to see it!
I recently finished my first self published comic and its on kickstarter now while i work on a new comic! Haha i have to say you learn so much everytime you create a new comic, always more to learn!
I've been thinking about how important failure is in our lives. It teaches us what can work, what doesn't and helps us find our way forward. Thank you so much for being vulnerable by sharing your "failure" and thank you so much for what you do. My Sunday mornings are always brighter when I can I watch a new Comic Tropes episode.
It took me twenty years to get the Reliable portion of my comics skillset. I'm finally breaking into the industry in my 40s. Is it late? Yeah, but it's happening. I'm still learning new things, still honing my craft.
Would I call my early attempts to get in a failure? Yes, but I also learned that I needed time to grow. And sometimes, breaking in young just isn't the best idea, as you haven't grown yet. Grow, gain experience in life. Your calling will come when it's most appropriate for you
I should also say, one of the former Wizard staffers started his own Comic Book School anthology (also on TH-cam) for creatives to get their feet wet. For the last couple of years their community have produced "eight page comic challenge" publications that are actually kind of fun to read, if you ever get a chance to check them out.
I’m glad you spoke about this because there is a chance so many of us aspiring comic book creators would have made these same mistakes. Including myself.
As someone who is in the early stages of creating their own webcomic, this was a great and informative video! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Agree with you so much on those 3 criteria. As an art commissioner, I'd say not only the artist needs to meet the 3, but also the commissioner need at least 2 or the final work of your commissioned artist will be effected in some negative way. As always, great video man.
Out of all your videos, I found this most useful to me. I've been sitting on a story and comic pages for years, afraid to wrap it up. You need a product first. Sad part is I'm the do it all guy on the project because of finances. But I need to see it through.
Penciljack back in the day was awesome. Just loads of creative people
Great lessons learned here. These are so applicable to any type of startup effort. I think particularly understanding that trying not to spit the finished product out right away is important. It would probably have experienced editorial changes if picked up that would have nullified those initial effort to get things finished.
I, like (I would guess) many of the folks who subscribe to your channel, am sitting on 3-4 half-finished projects of my own. Maybe someday.
Side note: I didn't realize you were in Trickster. great book!
French artist here Really heertbreaking story with many lessons in! Thank you for the share!
This is a fantastic video, I'm in the midst of a comic project myself so hearing a story like this is very helpful. Thanks Chris!
Fun video and it brings back memories of myself trying to create a comic page I still have some where. Nothing professional at all, but brings a smile to my face whenever I look at it. Just like you said now it’s easier to create on your own because you have more resources. I say keep going, if you still have the passion to write a comic, go all out this life with a bang .
I love ALL your vídeos, Chris. They help me, they inform me, entertain me, and I have fun with them. But this help me just when I needed it most. I'm a cómic book artist. Thank you very much. Muchas gracias.
Great show Chris ! If you learned from your experience, I feel that is not a failure but a learning experience. I hope we all get a chance to see your project in print sometime soon! I self-published several comics in the 90's and it was an incredible amount of work that requires full-time dedication.
Comictropes has been an invaluable asset in my continued comic learning. I’ve been working on a comic of my own for the past 2 years and its basically my only aspiration to self publish it. I’m not trained in any capacity so I’ve had to learn everything myself, but I really want to stick with it until I’m skilled enough to have it work
Thanks for sharing, great self reflection, my favorite episode.
Dude just the fact you put the work in & got pages made is an accomplishment in itself.
*An interesting & honest assessment of issues.* 🤔
*WHAT was nominated for an Eisner?*
Trickster was nominated in the “Best Anthology” category of this prestigious comics and graphic novel industry award.
One can really feel how serious a topic this is to you and how it still hurts and moves you. Thanks a lot for sharing this interesting insight into an aspiring comic writer. I really hope that your dream will come true one day!
Your concept literally is the plot of the predators movie that was made. I think you had the idea first and it was a good idea. Thank you for sharing your insight!
My favorite TH-camr. Awesome life lessons Chris. Thanks for being you.
Hah, this is kinda funny. I attended one of Kirkman's QnA panels at my local Comicdom con and he was asked what were the most appreciated qualities of a comic book artist in the industry. One of the things he said (paraphrasing) that it was consistency and punctuality. You work on what you're given and you give progress reports so the publishers know you're on track. Stuck with me and I try to live by this advice as an artist/designer.
This was an especially interesting episode as I can appreciate how much work goes into making comics. I myself have found it difficult to balance my everyday work life and trying to get my own idea off the ground. I've also been working on pages for the Top Cow talent hunt this year and, being more used to doing paintings these days, have been having trouble getting through those pages in a timely fashion. It's admirable that you can recognize where you went wrong in your experience and have learned from it.
5:54 That idea reminds me a little of the fate series, especially Fate grand order.
thank you so much for sharing your own adventure through the industry. it's great to hear about legends and how they came into their name, but theres something intimate about hearing a regular guy's story
This is very inspiring. Eventhough you “failed” as a wannabe artist (in many fields) hearing your story inspires me
Great take. This video was fun and inspiring.
I value how you mention at 12:50 that you didn't have what was needed for that particular project. I think as creatives it's easy to fall into a really destructive trap of feeling like we don't have what's needed for success ever, period. Although you call it a failure, it sounds like it successfully taught you so much about the realities of making a dream an actual collaborative and professional finished work. We all have to learn somehow and I applaud you for trying. It takes good faith and bravery to take the first step and face the many failures needed to learn. You have such an expansive knowledge and appreciation for storytelling through comics, I would love to see what older and wiser Chris would be passionate about and how you would tell a story now.
Wow! You're absolutely right, as an artist putting in a ton of hours, I needed the writer to communicate with me, but he had just had his world shook by his fiance to the point where he could not stay focused or in touch. I had other projects that wooed me away, some that paid. So it's like you really have to have your act together when you're collaborating with someone, don't expect someone to take your dream and make it happen without you helping it grow! I am proud of you for standing in your shit without placing blame on others.
Thank you for sharing. I recently got hacked on instagram and I had lost my following I had been building up since 2014. I have self published the first 3 issues of my series, but the hardest part is growing a following. That and my art is very detailed and takes forver for me to draw. This video couldn't have come out at a better time cuz I've just really been feeling like I haven't gotten any breaks. Thanks for keeping your chanel alive and sharing your experience!
Making a comic is hard, finishing a comic is even harder. Trying to juggle that with a collaborative team, you're going to make mistakes.
People don't always speak up when they're feeling slighted, sometimes it's hard to be receptive to their needs, I have definitely been there on both ends of that Spectrum.
Everyone needs a reminder to be reliable. Reliable results beat talent every time. I often forget that.
Thank you for your honesty, you have no idea how inspiring this is to hear. I am going look to talk to an artist tomorrow about my script and push to get this thing done. Thank you.
Wow - really appreciate your candor and walking the viewer through your personal story. There's a lot of nuggets of wisdom you have given us. Thank you.
Fantastic episode, we often learn far more about something through failure.
love your personal story videos
Love hearing about this kind of thing! I can totally relate to how hard it is to follow through a creative project to completion.
I feel you bro...I think the newest challenges that these creators have are that each and one of us will always have the creative differences. It's one possible why such a lack of cooperation in the industry or a team of turmoil can crumble among themselves to be unsuccessful, or perhaps a lack of creative direction, maybe this artist want it to be this way but is afraid to express it because he'll/she'll probably get an unwanted backlash or the other way around, the director wanted this kind of way but the creators objected it because insert problem here*
and you know what, I felt these kind of things when i was in college and my friend who is an artist himself, told me these stories out of frustration when going on certain industries + all the creative criticism they've get and it all depends on what can of environment you are leaving in too. and I've also learned that from many succession stories. it's either you set aside your differences or much like James Cameron's past it'll be an all or nothing scenario despite how bad your job is now..
I really like these video,s where you tell a more personal story. Reminds me off the video you did about your time as Omega. You might have failed publishing your own comic but you tried.
And remember.
Failure is worlds greatest teacher.
I'm just about to complete my second crowdfunded project and by putting it on Kickstarter I've doubled my usual audience. The stuff I make won't get picked up by a major publisher - I'm fully comfortable with that, it's pretty much by choice now. But it's worth doing just becasue it's fun, I mostly love making this stuff and getting it out into the world.
Videos like this are so important. It's vital for peoples' mental health to understand that for every 1 success story, there are 100 stories of frustration and disappointment. People can lose their minds thinking that everyone else is winning except them.
Def easily one of my most fav channels. Thank you for everything! And great work! Damn.. lol my sad attempt at my own comics in middle school didn't even come close to what you did. An Eisner?!?! That's awesome!
Please get it done, sir. You inspire me and after you got sick and better, you must bring out the story you were put on this planet to make. Failures are necessary to realize our mistakes and to learn from them. We as individuals won't last forever but or work; our very legacy- no matter book, film, etc will last as long as humanity does. You never know who you will inspire from your work in the next decade or century.
finally finished a project it was for the call to action webtoon contest.
If more pros had this level of introspection, the industry wouldn't be as bad off as it is right now. Also, its hard to see this a failure and more as a dodged bullet. Imagine getting a full green light to do a mini series and THEN your artist decided to not do it. That's a huge mess you didn't even have to deal with.
What a great motivating episode this was. This channel is as good if not better in teaching than some of the classes I took in college.
I finished the story on my webcomic. I finished it a year and a half ago or so and now I still make comics but at a slower rate, and just "whatever comes to mind". I counted them up a few weeks ago and realized I had made over 800 pages of completed webcomics. I had no idea I had made so many. Now, I am starting to put them into book form to sell at conventions.
I appreciate this story. I'm been working on trying to do a comic completely on my own for about two years ago, though hit a massive drop in motivation after a couple rejections from publishers. I've scripted all six issues and worked hard to improve my art skills and produce 5 self drawn, inked, and lettered pages. Sadly my coloring and logo design skills being near non-existent I think severely hurt my pitch. Slowly now building up the motivation again to start work on the project again, redesigning character, reworking the first 5 pages I did, etc. Focusing on my art on- as you said- when makes my style unique instead of what I thought my book needed to look like I believe will help strengthen it for a new pitch- that and hopefully being able to afford a colorist.
Good luck! Picking yourself up after rejections and continuing is the hardest thing. Fingers crossed