Professional Quotables: A-F
Gerry Alanguilan
"For independent comics, try to get as much paying jobs as you can and do them well. Try to build a reputation for being dependable and doing your job well and on time. This is what is important. Try not to think too much of pay at this stage. That will come later when you have the reputation to demand it."
Doug Anderson
"I didn't read comics as a kid, but as a grownup, I became fascinated by the possibilities of the medium, after reading Maus, Watchmen, Tales of the Beanworld, Zot, and Sandman, among others. I had been writing fiction and painting pictures for several years; I thought comics would let me combine both interests. I hardly consider myself part of the industry; I'm just a guy who draws funnybooks.
"I think you should know that nobody makes any money in independent publishing these days. Even established publishers are struggling. If it wasn't for toys, TV shows, and movies, even Marvel would probably be out of business. The only way you will ever make any real money from self-publishing is if someone buys the movie or TV rights to your comic.
"I'm not trying to discourage you from getting into comics, but you should know that the financial situation is very tough these days for publishers; if making money is part of your incentive, you will be disappointed. Ask yourself if you can accept that financial reality, and still enjoy making comics. There is no shame in making comics and not publishing them; you will still find an appreciative audience among your family, friends, and other comics fans. My advice is to do it because you love it."
Donna Barr
"Since you ask, I work for myself, I own everything I do, I publish myself, and this year [1997] the IRS is going to kill me."
Dan Berger
"I'm a self-publisher, so I haven't got a clue what the current industry rates are for any of this. I was doing some inking for Caliber a few years back to try to get my name "out there" at a rate of $10 per page. Many small indy publishers do not pay any kind of page rate, they only offer a cut of the potential profits (there are rarely profits these days, sadly enough). This is why I decided to self-publish. =O"
Howard Cruse
"Unfortunately, the questions you ask about payment norms are impossible to answer briefly in any details because, basically, there aren't many "norms". Once you move out of the orbit of the big companies like DC and Marvel -- and since I've had very limited experience with those major mainstream publishers, I don't have much information to impart.
"Over my career I've drawn comics for everything from $25/page to $1,500/page, and the only generalization I can make is that it's pretty easy to get published at the lower end of that range (but you won't get very far in paying your bills on that kind of money) and tough as nails to get comics work at the high end of that range (unless somebody somewhere is both rich and believes that he'll get even richer by paying artists grandly to work for him -- and there aren't many of those guys around).
"Basically, life for most artists consists of a long struggle to get decent pay for good work, and it's rare, in one's early years, to be able to live on what the comics field pays unless you can crack the big publishers who have the resources to treat artists fairly. If you're lucky, in time you get to quit your "day job" and draw comics full-time. But it usually takes a while. The main thing is to keep drawing and get in print however you can."
Larry Dempsey
"Pay what you can afford and then choose the highest quality artists who are willing to accept that amount. If you self-published the comic, you would have to pay the artists. But if it's published by someone else, then they would have to pay the artists."
Pierre-Andre Dery
"I became involved in the comic book industry by sending submissions to just about every publisher and editor out there. Also by attending comic conventions like [those in] Chicago and San Diego. In those cons, you can meet tons of pros, publishers and editors. I hope my answers will help you out bringing to life your own comics..."
Evan Dorkin
"I always wanted to do comics but didn't have enough confidence to actually send my samples in to the publishers or go on interviews. While I was working in a comic store I became friendly with a guy who was getting some beginning scripting work at Marvel and DC. He dragged me to some meetings to try and find some work as a writer/artist team, with me being the supposed "artist".
"Somehow we got a 13 page story for DC's New Talent Showcase book, which was never published, but it was my first paying gig. Afterward I designed some characters for a series this guy had come up with called Phigments, which he then managed to get published by one of the small b&w publishers cropping up in the wake of the Mutant Turtles success. I pencilled two issues before the writer basically flaked and took off on his own project.
"But it turned out well for me in the end, because when we were showing Phigments around, some editors at a small publisher saw my notes and sketches for my own series -- called Pirate Corp$! -- and when they started their own publishing company they contacted me and asked me to do the book. So I got to write and draw Pirate Corp$!, which got me other writing and pencilling work, and eventually the series ended up at Slave Labor Graphics. They also published my Milk and Cheese comics, which did well and ended up getting me even more work, including scripting jobs for TV animation.
"I didn't become a full-time comics creator until I got a job pencilling a four-issue Predator series for DHC in 1991. Nowadays I still do work that makes little or no money, because generally the work I care most about is my own small press work, which usually pays much less than working for a large publisher for a page rate.
"In general, there is NO pay schedule in the small press. You get paid only if the book turns a profit, and that's rare in the small press. That's why most small press creator's have day jobs, or do mainstream comics or commercial work on the side."
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