05-18-2024, 02:24 PM
Here are some stuff that's very different. Really old comic book stuff from the early to mid-90s.
These are from my own series, which I created/wrote/illustrated for a few years (during my early 20s) as my full-time job. And of course it's all analog since digital wasn't really a thing yet back then (unless you count the primitive pixellated stuff like D-Paint on the Amiga):
The series started as blackk and white ink art because the publisher wanted to see if it would become popular enough to justify the higher color printing cost, and when it did, we went full color and started painting all the interior pages.
Comics was always a huge part of my formative years as an artist. Here's a page from when I was about 14:
And when I was about 17:
And here are some other pencil pages I did for submissions and tests to different publishers. and none of them ever result in gigs:
I remember standing in line at Comic Con to get my portfolio reviewed by the editors at Marvel, DC, and Darkhorse, and at that point I'd already been working full-time in comics for a few years and wanted to get higher profile clients. They would all tell me I had nice work and even asked me to submit official art tests based on their sample scripts, but I never got hired. Then one time, an editor said to me, "Your work is good, but I can tell your heart is not in it. You're not a superhero mainstream guy." Then he pointed to a couple of sample pages I had done of my own creation, and said, "I mean look at that. That is REALLY nice and I can tell you put your heart and soul into that, and its YOUR style that you enjoy working in instead of trying to fit the mainstream market's style. Unfortunately, as much as I love that, it's not a style we can use, but I urge you to shop it around with the smaller publishers because I think someone will want to publish that."
These were the two pages he was talking about:
Those two were early sample pages for the Enchanted series that kicked off this post, and I did indeed find a publisher who loved the style and signed me on as their new creator, and that's how I ended up working on my own series for a few years.
What that editor told me had proven to be true more than once in my creative career, and I think it was an important lesson for me. Do what you're passionate about and focus on what makes you special instead of trying to fit in, because people can tell where your heart is from just looking at your work.
BTW, the very first professional work I did was the art for a vampire series called Avene X. I had just graduated from high school and sent out my portfolio to various publishers, and a couple of companies hired me and thus began my journey as a professional artist. I had used screentone for that first book I did, and it was just a PITA that I never wanted to touch the stuff again:
I also did a bunch of these Robotech cover paintings:
If I didn't show these, I think most people couldn't have imagined I did all the stuff that was so different from the kind of work I do now. They really feel like a lifetime ago.
These are from my own series, which I created/wrote/illustrated for a few years (during my early 20s) as my full-time job. And of course it's all analog since digital wasn't really a thing yet back then (unless you count the primitive pixellated stuff like D-Paint on the Amiga):
The series started as blackk and white ink art because the publisher wanted to see if it would become popular enough to justify the higher color printing cost, and when it did, we went full color and started painting all the interior pages.
Comics was always a huge part of my formative years as an artist. Here's a page from when I was about 14:
And when I was about 17:
And here are some other pencil pages I did for submissions and tests to different publishers. and none of them ever result in gigs:
I remember standing in line at Comic Con to get my portfolio reviewed by the editors at Marvel, DC, and Darkhorse, and at that point I'd already been working full-time in comics for a few years and wanted to get higher profile clients. They would all tell me I had nice work and even asked me to submit official art tests based on their sample scripts, but I never got hired. Then one time, an editor said to me, "Your work is good, but I can tell your heart is not in it. You're not a superhero mainstream guy." Then he pointed to a couple of sample pages I had done of my own creation, and said, "I mean look at that. That is REALLY nice and I can tell you put your heart and soul into that, and its YOUR style that you enjoy working in instead of trying to fit the mainstream market's style. Unfortunately, as much as I love that, it's not a style we can use, but I urge you to shop it around with the smaller publishers because I think someone will want to publish that."
These were the two pages he was talking about:
Those two were early sample pages for the Enchanted series that kicked off this post, and I did indeed find a publisher who loved the style and signed me on as their new creator, and that's how I ended up working on my own series for a few years.
What that editor told me had proven to be true more than once in my creative career, and I think it was an important lesson for me. Do what you're passionate about and focus on what makes you special instead of trying to fit in, because people can tell where your heart is from just looking at your work.
BTW, the very first professional work I did was the art for a vampire series called Avene X. I had just graduated from high school and sent out my portfolio to various publishers, and a couple of companies hired me and thus began my journey as a professional artist. I had used screentone for that first book I did, and it was just a PITA that I never wanted to touch the stuff again:
I also did a bunch of these Robotech cover paintings:
If I didn't show these, I think most people couldn't have imagined I did all the stuff that was so different from the kind of work I do now. They really feel like a lifetime ago.