Professional Quotables: G-L
Dave Gibbons
"I got involved because I loved comics ever since I could read; in fact, they may have been the reason that I WANTED to read! I started by doing fanzine work, then lettering, then drawing and, lately, writing.
"I don't think comics are a thing you go into to make money. Some people do okay, a very few do very well and many don't break even. I can tell you that the big companies pay around three or four hundred dollars a page on average, with a further royalty based on sales, if they're high enough (unlikely these days). The page rate usually breaks down in a 5:3 proportion between penciller and inker ($250 and $150 for a $400 rate). Lettering pays around $20-$30 per page.
"As for small press, I guess that depends on the difference between expenses and receipts. I was happy to draw my early fanzine stuff just for the thrill of seeing it in print..."
Mick Gray
"I got involved in comics thru Dan Vado's Slave Labor comics here in San Jose, CA. I went down to meet him one day about 10 years ago after a friend told me that Dan needed some help with background inks on a book called Hero Sandwich. I had my own tech illustration business at the time and was getting pretty bored. So he hired me because of all the tech illustration experience I had and I when on to do backgrounds on The Griffin, One-fisted Tales and Bloodlust for Slave Labor.
"Then The Griffin got sold to DC and the new inker, Mark McKenna, hired me as his assistant. I when on to Co-ink with him for about 8 years while assisting Randy Emberlin on Amazing Spiderman and Ian Aiken on Darkhawk. But my mentor truly was McKenna. He taught me most of what I know and got me started on my own. Then I met J.H. Williams III and I have been with him ever since. I also ink Frank Cirocco on commercial projects.
"Rates are VERY subjective. I started doing background inks for $10 per page and went up to as much as $60 just for backgrounds. But my first full inks were $45 per page at an independent publisher. As I climbed I would take what ever I could get if I really wanted the job. Hope this info helps."
Roberta Gregory
"I got involved in comics because I read them all my life and was already drawing my own as a small child. My father wrote stories for Disney which meant we always had comic books around the house.
"I have little idea what other people get paid. But then you do get more when [a comic book] gets translated into another language or made into a trade paperback. At least you own the work and can use it when you want, or try to sell pages of art, etc. You sure do not go into this for the money!"
Dean Haspiel
"I get a small percentage from sales. Since the comics I work on barely sell, I rarely see a dime. Point is; most indy cartoonists don't make much paper drawing comix."
Marc Hemperl
"I started getting published in "fanzines" back in the late '70's, then Mark Wheatley started showing my stuff around NYC and I went pro in '78, doing comics and full color magazine illustration (not full time, as I was still in college). After I graduated, I moved to Baltimore to share a studio with Mark, and have been surviving as a freelancer ever since.
"Back in the early '80's Epic Illustrated (Marvel) paid me for story, lettering, and fully painted art; more recently, Vertigo has been paying me for only pencils and inks. I don't know what other creators are getting.
"Anyone starting out in small press or self-publishing should expect to sell very few copies, and therefore not earn any money. You may even find yourself "in the hole" if you have to pay for printing. This is especially true for a creator who is not well known. The BEST-selling indies are only selling 4000-10,000 copies -- with most selling a few hundred or barely edging into the 4 figures at a $2.95 cover price.
"Nonetheless, good luck. If you love comics, you should keep drawing -- but keep your expectations low if you're just starting to get published..."
Chris Hicks
"I knew I either wanted to do animation, or comics. If I did animation, I'd always be animating someone else's vision, and that sounded like hell. So comics it was!
"Pay schedule? Ho ho ho! You have much to learn of the small press. If I quit comics, and got a job in a sweat shop, it would move me into a higher tax bracket. Creator-owned books usually don't bring in much money, but on the bright side, you retain all rights. So if you sell the TV or movie rights, you get a big fat check, and possibly a chance to develop it further.
"If you sign on to work on someone else's book, they will either pay you a cut of the profits (if any) or a flat page rate. I've heard of people getting anything from $15-50 per page. Marvel and DC usually start at $100-$125. It's pittance, I know. Personally, I'd rather bust my hump for nothing on my own ideas than for next-to-nothing on someone else's ideas.
"My advice is to find a publisher. They take on the financial risk of printing and all that, so you don't risk any money, plus they already have contacts with printers, TV, and movie companies. You do share a portion of the profit with them, but it well out-weighs the incredible cost of self-publishing. Besides, they earn that cut with promotional help and the numbers your book gets--purely on their reputation."
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Dennis Janke
"I'm not really current on pay scales for the different aspects of comic art. Obviously it varies from artist to artist depending on how much demand there is for your work and how popular you are with the fans. A guy like Jim Lee might have received as much as a million dollars to come work for DC. It's just rumors that I hear, as I have no direct access to information.
"When I started out at Marvel in the early 1980's I got $40 to ink a page, $50 or $60 to pencil. Average rates have probably doubled since then and if royalties kick in it could add considerably to your monthly income. I've heard that some artist's working for independent companies might still only get around $40 to ink a page today. Working for the big companies pay's better but you lose your rights. Self-publishing at least gives you the chance to get in Jim Lee's class. Of course you have to take all the risks then and for every Jim Lee there are scores of wannabe's.
"If you want to figure out what your work might be worth maybe think of it this way; How can you put a fair price on an original idea? Look what Superman has been worth. Of course your idea might be Tubby the Bouncing Boy so go figure. Then add that to the hours you put into doing a page. How much do you want an hour? If you put in four hours on average a page and get $80--that's $20 dollars a page....that's just an example.
"I always loved drawing comics and never thought about entering the field to make any money. Those days were just before the feasibility of self-publishing. That changed with the direct market. Had I had access to a direct market system back then I probably would be self-publishing now. You can go through a lot of years of rejections in the beginning before you get work as I did.
"Self-publishing is faster and a lot more fun. I have my own plans of getting into it. Having access to a direct market distribution really changes the game and now with the internet who knows what will happen next. I think now the possibilities are as open as the amount of drive, discipline and ambition you have. If you love what you are doing you will do it even when the money isn't there. If it is just the money that is important, the stock market would be the better bet. If you know what you are doing it can be made a lot faster there.
"Obviously we love doing comics, why else would we spend all those long hours alone at the drawing table? So here's to the future, good luck to you, may yours be bright!"
Phil Jimenez
"I got into comics by submission samples; it took me about two years, but I finally got picked up. I've been working nonstop ever since. You should probably be paid anywhere from $130-$170 as a starting rate, probably closer to $150. Sadly, I have no idea how much an independent artist should be making."
Rafael Kayanan
"I became involved in the comic book industry when I went to a convention is Tampa FL while attending art school (1983). I did a sample twenty-three page comic. I didn't have a clue as how it was done back then (pre-internet and I was kid, way out of the NY loop).
"Marv Wolfman saw the stuff and gave me great encouragement--a dealer at the con saw it too and got a hold of Pat Broderick who was looking to leave Firestorm. To make a long story short...several weeks later I get a call in my dorm from a "Dick Giordano" which was surreal in itself. DC flew me up to NYC for a few days and I came back with a job.
"Once they are guaranteed to get paid they are professional.
You have to be up front with the realities of your budget to these artists and stick to it. I can't give you an estimate because that is for you the publisher to decide."
Terry LaBan
"I became involved in comics by publishing my own stuff in minicomics form; eventually Fantagraphics said they'd publish my stuff. I never really made any money on it; unless your book sells over 5,000 if you publish it yourself or over 10,000 if someone else does, neither will you. Drawing independent comics on a small scale is a labor of love. Don't expect to do more with the proceeds than cover a couple splurges at McDonalds.
"More to the point--there is no "fair rate" of pay for people who do this kind of stuff, and many of them make nothing at all. As for working for hire for the big companies--well, I'm a writer, not an artist in that respect, but I hear rates of $250 or so for pencilling is pretty standard. Take care, and if you want to make money, invent software."
Roger Langridge
"The pay scales for pencillers, inkers, and letterers varies wildly from publisher to publisher, and even within the same company in different departments. My work at Fantagraphics was done on a royalty basis, with no up-front page rate.
"There are other publishers like Dark Horse, DC and Marvel that range from, say, $180 per page (for pencils, inks and lettering) to $300-ish (letterers may get around $25 per page and the rest is split about 60%-40% between the penciller and inker respectively). The pay scale seemsto depend on a variety of factors, most of which aren't divulged to the artist -- things like what you were getting from your last job, what they expect the sales to be... what they think they can get away with, basically.
"I decided to be a cartoonist when I was six years old and set about becoming one with sheer bloody-minded persistence. I just drew my arse off for fifteen years and, when I felt ready, started putting out my own photocopied comics; sent a few to Gary Groth, who liked 'em enough to offer me a book [and] sending copies out to whoever I could think of who might be interested. The paying work allowed me to continue doing what I consider my "real" work (i.e. the Fantagraphics stuff) for no money, which I continue to do to this day. My comics are purely for love right now.
"To the artist: I know this sounds pretty shitty, but you should be prepared to do a fair amount of work for no money whatsoever. In my experience, you need that leverage of a published body of work in order to get your first paying assignment -- it shows your prospective employer that you can meet deadlines, work to a professional standard, understand what works in print and what doesn't, and generally that you didn't just fall off a passing hay truck.
"To the publisher: You should be wary of overreaching yourself financially, especially in today's market. Many publishers who offer little or no money (a small royalty percentage, say 5%-10% of net profit, is the usual deal)have something else going for them which compensates for the lack of a decent page rate. For many, it's simply that you have a better chance of getting "real" work later on."
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