JasonGulenchin In reply to GGSTUDIO [2012-01-25 23:19:15 +0000 UTC]

NP - like the cover work getting posted!

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JasonGulenchin In reply to Player-Designer [2011-11-22 15:17:01 +0000 UTC]

Thank You!

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JasonGulenchin In reply to IanStruckhoff [2011-11-04 15:58:45 +0000 UTC]

You have some great projects - worth the watch

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JasonGulenchin In reply to Mitia-Arcturus [2011-04-22 12:00:34 +0000 UTC]

you have a great page and lots of nice work. and thank you right back!

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JasonGulenchin In reply to mikeljanin [2011-02-23 23:18:53 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for the reply. I'm trying to learn as much as I can from some very good artists such as yourself. I'd like to ask lots of questions about your work and the business side of comics, but I know you must be very busy right now. Mind if I ask? Or is there a better forum for that?

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mikeljanin In reply to JasonGulenchin [2011-02-24 09:04:10 +0000 UTC]

Spit your questions!

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JasonGulenchin In reply to mikeljanin [2011-02-24 17:39:05 +0000 UTC]

Ha!
About your work:
1. How long have you been drawing comic style art?
2. Is this work the ultimate goal for you creatively?
3. Do you work directly onto the final board, or do you start with roughs, do development sketches of figures and values, draw perspective grids, transfer with tracing?
4. Do you use reference for some full figures, or some small details, like a facial expression, or is your work mostly memory?
5. Are you more naturally a clean, technical drawer, or looser, more expressive one?
6. Do Marvel/DC expect a clean and finished pencil for their inkers, or is a loose pencil accepted for some inkers, and ok on some books?
7. You had mentioned 10-14hrs on pages and sometimes much less. You are putting that all in 1 day, maybe in a couple shifts?
8. How often do you abandon or restart panels/pages, or do you dig deep to save each one, or beacuse of the time just pick your battles and let a few sail through with some dissatisfaction?

BTW, your work is very clean and tight, beautiful and has a feel of a well-developed illustration.

About the business:
9. You were doing cover-style commissions for $260us. I had read somewhere the $100-200 per page pencils was a standard rate. What can you reveal (without getting into trouble)about your page rate, or a contract, or past works. 14 hours on a page for $100 like some you have posted (even $260, which would be $19/hr) is more of a job you do for the love of it, or to be published by a larger company and become a recognized name. (I realize you just started with DC, but am wondering if pencilling 1 book is enough to make a living off of, and if there is any other time in your life for other things).
10. What time frame or deadline schedule do you have for a page or project, if you know yet, and are you scared a bit?
11. For submissions, do you aim for a specific book to start, perhaps one with a lower readership or one you feel you can improve or match better, or are you tailoring your style to the demands of the book, or just try to to blow them away with whatever is your best?

I'll start with these
Jason

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mikeljanin In reply to JasonGulenchin [2011-02-26 17:12:17 +0000 UTC]

1. All my life (37).
2. Not sure.
3. Roughs, sketches and a lot of work before doing the final art.
4. Yeah, I use references of photographs and 3d models.
5. Should I answer this?
6. Marvel and DC don't expect anything about artists. There are not "their" inkers. Inkers are full artists, as well as colorists or pencilers. But answering your question, Marvel or DC are not going to accept pencils that must be corrected by inkers. Pencilers must do good art by their own. However there are artists of all kind doing their job at Marvel or DC. Check the comics and you will see lots of different kinds of artists, some with loosen pencils.
7. I try to do a page per day. My normal day is 8-14 hours drawing. Saturdays and Sundays too. But I like having a break sometimes.
8. I try to do my best in every page. A lot of work is done before I'm happy enough to go with the final art.

Thanks for your kind words.

9. Comissions for $260? Not me, you're wrong. You should learn social skills to break in comics too. Is not fair to ask people how much they make. I understand you're curious about, but you don't ask these questions in a public medium. Nor in the internet. This is kinda confidential info, don't you think so? Anyway, some artists can make a living from it. Is not easy, however. If you want to make money I reccommend to do other thing than drawing comics to achieve more easily your goals. There's not a lot of free time, also.
10. Usually you're given one page per day. You need to draw a page per day to pencil, or two pages per day inking or coloring. There are slower artists working, but they are damnly good. No, not scared at all.
11. For submissions always you have to show your best. Choose the pages that can better show your skills and do your best, to try popping out the hundreds of submissions.

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JasonGulenchin In reply to mikeljanin [2011-02-27 00:56:28 +0000 UTC]

Thank you for the in-depth reply! I apologize if you feel I was digging too deep into things that are not my business. I do not mean to offend you. As for the commission work, I was reading another artist's journal at the same time as yours and confusing you both.

I don't feel so personal about money - I've been a business owner for 17 years - every day was about making a deal, watching the bottom line, save a buck here, make a buck there. This is why I would like to know if the effort to appeal to a large publishing company is worth it for me. As you say, there are many other things to do in this world, including self-publish, or smaller independant publishers, or not do comics at all.

I worked for a digital coloring company in the '90's for a short while, and I don't think the page rate has changed much since then. But I guess it depends on who does the work, how many books are sold, what the buyer expects. I think you sort-of answered my question by saying that 'some artists can make a living from it'. I might interpret this as 50% or less can make a living at it and they probably are working 60-80 hours per week, and can produce a consistent quality. And perhaps a few of the stars exceed making a living, because they sell more books, and have a bigger name in the industry, and are able to negotiate a better rate.

I don't really expect for you to tell me what you make per page, I wondered if there was a standard (and maybe there isn't), and if it all lies in the ability to negotiate (hence having an agent), and if I have to work for next to nothing, or back-ends, or live off of savings until I've sold myself big enough to have someone phone me up and offer me the deal that makes it pay back. But in the meantime I should do it because I love it, and just want to keep getting better.

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mikeljanin In reply to JasonGulenchin [2011-02-28 10:16:54 +0000 UTC]

Yeah you're right.
About 50% making a living, I think is much less. Marvel and DC have about 200 comic-books each month. That means they have 400-600 artists working for them each month. A lot of them don't work each month, but are doing fill-ins or never work again. So maybe there are 300 artists making their live working for these two companies. Of course there are more companies and markets, but these are usually lower paid, and are more difficult to make a living from them.

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mikeljanin In reply to mikeljanin [2011-02-24 09:07:54 +0000 UTC]

Anyway, check point 6 on Tim Townsend FAQ: [link]

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JasonGulenchin In reply to RolandBoyce [2011-02-20 20:34:08 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! - just getting around here, there's so much to look at- lots of inspiring stuff.

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RolandBoyce In reply to JasonGulenchin [2011-02-21 03:52:14 +0000 UTC]

Yes there is a lot to look at and if your looking for inspiration this is a good place to find it .If you have any questions about anything let me no and I'll see what I can do to help .

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