So, last week I waffled a bit about monetization. I didn’t really mean to but it kinda came up while I was thinking about the bigger picture of motivation and as we all know money is the prime motivator for a lot of people – especially those who haven’t got it! I didn’t see many (any) answers – which is worrying – if only for the reason that there may be no easy answers for anyone to give on that question. What I’m asking today though is: why would anyone want to make webcomics, or print comics for that matter, if not for monetary reward?
Because there have been no easy answers (or even very compelling difficult ones) it leaves the entire web to slowly replace what was previously called the small press. They may be some discrepancies between what you and I call the small press but basically I mean people making comics for fun and trying to recoup costs to keep their hobby’s expenses to a minimum. Now it remains true that you can still find a hard-core of paper-obsessed geeks who will not surrender to the web, but the fact remains that the internet has become the ubiquitous device for delivering rich content very cheaply and that there is small hope of monetary return since everyone has gotten used to the idea that everything on the net is FREE.
At any rate, whether doggedly on paper or hopefully on the web, the point I’m getting at is that there are two kinds of people making comics – those doing it because they want to and because they love to do it and those who are trying to make a living and sell their product or their services down whatever paying avenues they can find. When I started talking about and reviewing webcomics only two years ago the mistake I made was to confuse these two groups of people. There are people who are professional alongside those who aspire to be professional AND there are those who are happy hobbyists – sometimes with outstanding talent, sometimes with none – but happy to do what they do for themselves and whatever audience may come.
Although sometimes I’d like to think I’m only interested in those with professional ambitions – I’m not. There is some truly outstanding work out there being done by happy amateurs. It may be naively done. It may have flaws easily remedied by a professional eye. But by the same token it’s also honest and may find itself crushed by the application of those same professional touches.
I don’t really have any statement to make here, except that I must recognise the difference between these twin motivations and the overlap that might occur. As you move about the world of webcomics I think you’ll find the same evidence I have. All I say is that we should have an appreciation of these motivations when we look at any webcomic and perhaps be a little forgiving and a little less ruthless. It is in all our interests for comics to be as broad a church as possible and if we eventually have to do it for the love rather than the money – would that be a bad thing?
Last week’s question still hangs in the air though. Can we do it for the money at all?
Tough questions indeed Rob. Here’s my theory and it’s one we’ve all heard a million times. ‘Pay Your Dues.” But I think it’s really true. Look at every successful comic book professional who is able to make money doing the projects they love. Every one of them toiled for years on other people’s projects, working for companies, doing all kinds of freelance, gathering a name and a reputation, an audience, until finally they were able to focus on their own project. Guy Davis and his “Marquis” is a good example. I don’t think the world of webcomics will be any different. We all need to spend some years in the trenches until we can get paid to sing the songs we love.
Howdy, Gabe!
Actually, that post came from Michael and not me, but I do ask myself a lot of the same questions he does quite a bit.
While I’ve been a working studio artist for a couple of decades now, I’ve only just begun to get my feet wet in the icy waters of webcomix. It differs greatly from being and painter, but I think it still thrives the drive and commitment of people with a fine arts background than on the “make a name for yourself first” approach found often in commercial arts programs.
Michael’s points about the involvement energy of self-publishing and small press are particularly good in this regard. There are numerous good writers and poets publishing in chapbooks, small academic lit anthologies and local poetry reviews in this country. They’ve found outlets that allow them to do the kind of work they want to do, even if they have to publish the magazines and books that serve as that outlet at their own cost. This is the kind of attitude that led Spiegelman and Mouly to create RAW Magazine in 1980 after all. While some of the material produced by people with this kind of spirit might never see it’s way to the bestseller’s list, I’d imagine it comes a lot closer than the work produced by people who write greeting cards and info-mmercials for a living.
In comix we make stories and, when they’re at their best, stories are a very personal form of art. I don’t think authors should have to “pay their dues” in order to write fiction, so why should we demand that of comic artists, or of any artists in fact?
As a painter, I always despised other painters who felt that “gathering a name and a reputation” meant anything about the value of their work. In painting (or sculpture or comix or any of the plastic arts) the work is the thing. We’re not performers. We make things for people to experience long after each of us has left the room. At what point does having a reputation play into this? The work is the work, the rest is just aspects of history.
Guy Davis is actually a great example of my point. Like myself, Guy grew up in the Detroit area and studied painting. He went into comix when the small press explosion of the late 80’s made it possible for creators to own and control their own work. His BAKER STREET comic series for Caliber Comics led directly to him working on SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATER for DC. Very few people had heard of him when that series hit the stands. He did some role-playing game artwork if I remember (hell, we all did back then!), but for the most part Guy came on right out of the box making strong, personal comix that had a unique visual style. guy comes from a background as a painter and, I think, still shows occasionally with C-POP Gallery back in Detroit.
The trenches are just our own messy studios, Gabe. No one gives us medals or accreditation there. You just go in each day, slog your way forward and, before long you’ve made a comic. If the comic each of us, as artists, wants to make is already on the drawing table, why leave it to build a reputation. Build the work and let it build it’s own reputation.
Trick is getting it seen.
-Rob
Good points Rob, But I fear you misunderstand me. We can all make whatever we want to make. Fiction writers, poets, painters, etc. can all do whatever they want. “Paying Your Dues” should never stop anyone from making what they want. My point is that, in order to make a living at it, an artist has to have a reputation. Without a reputation or an audience, you can’t afford to pay the bills. That’s why so many great artists out there have to have a day job too. Guy Davis slogged through the small press so that, twenty years later, and a variety of projects and companies later, he was able to arrive at a place where he can only do ‘Marquis” if he wants. Because of his reputation and popularity, Dark Horse hands him a contract to do whatever he wants. His reputation is the trick to getting his work seen too.
Another example is Jeffrey Brown. I’m not sure what he’s up to now, but I remember a few years ago, reading an interview where he said that he still was a manager at a Barnes & Noble. This was after having 3 or 4 books out there. Maybe now he’s able to solely work on his graphic novels because he’s released enough and made enough of a name for himself, but for many years he had to keep that day job in order to eat.
But maybe we’re off on tangents. How do we earn a living making webcomics?
(crickets chirping)
Maybe the medium has to go through some major overhauls. I don’t know.
Funny thing about all of this, Gabe, is that webcomix do need a major overhaul. It seems to me that won’t really happen until someone somewhere makes some serious money at it. But when they do…
Currently (and historically) there’s not a lot of big money to be found in being a comic artist. The money comes in the ownership or management of licensed properties that break through into the gaming, film and television industry. Even WATCHMEN, the best-selling graphic novel of all time and a book made twenty years ago, felt the rush of success from the cross-over market and DC is reported to have print a million copies last year in preparation for that movies release. But that number pales when compared to enormous sales and print-run numbers done by TWILIGHT or any of the HARRY POTTER books. it actually pales when compared to the number of dvd sales for WATCHMEN as well. Point is, even when we do cross-over not that many people read comix.
So, ironically, some of the best comic artist steer clear of the self-publishing of web-based media and take their work to larger companies in the hopes of getting that kind of cross-over market placement. That probably won’t change until some webcomic gets optioned for a big Hollywood paycheck. then people will start thinking, “hey, you mean I could do this myself!?!”
-R