From: [i--ru--r] at [cats.ucsc.edu] (Isaac Truder) Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.info Subject: Rob Davis Comics Career Article 7 of 9 Date: 3 Sep 92 11:16:27 GMT A Mr. Rob Davis, comics aritst, has written a number of articles on the subject of breaking into the comics business and conducting your business once you're in. He has recently personally given me permission to disseminate his articles to the Internet (they were previously available on CompuServe). These articles originally came from a publication called the Comics Career Newsletter. This seventh article gives an example of the process of breaking into the business and getting work. RULEBOOK TWO By Rob Davis Okay. You've read my PENCILER'S RULEBOOK article, right? You've got some of the ground rules etched forever on your forehead in reverse type so you'll see them every morning when you brush your teeth, right? Now all it's going to take is cornering an editor or publisher at a convention and convincing him you're the next Frank Miller (Bill Siekiewicz, John Byrne, etc.), right? Wrong. Sorry, boys and girls, it ain't that easy. Even if you've gotten all the ground rules going for you it's going to take patience and persistence and most probably a number of years to get that first job at one of the big guys. Five years ago I was an assistant manager at a mall shoe store. I was miserable and frustrated. Ever since I'd picked up my first Jack Kirby comic book I knew that I wanted to be a comics artist but was convinced that it was beyond my ability to reach. In response to that U was settling for uninteresting, unsatisfying, dead-end jobs. Finally, so fed up I was a terror to be around, I decided to give everything I had to becoming a comics artist. I lost my job at the shoe store (it was only a matter of time), got another job pushing records and proceeded to spend every non-working hour in perfecting my art. One day at the local comics shop the manager (a good friend and best man at my wedding) pointed out a slip of paper posted on the shop's bulletin board. A local writer was looking for an artist to illustrate a story he had half-sold to Archie Goodwin at Epic Comics. I called the guy, met with him at his house, showed him my portfolio and promptly made a new friend and ally in the fight to get published. That guy was Steve Miller (who has since written Rust for NOW Comics and was featured writer in a DC bonus book featuring the Doom Patrol). Unfortunately the deal with Archie Goodwin fell through, but with Steve Miller's scripts I finally had some stories to illustrate (I'm not a writer) and some pages to show. Again at the comics shop Steve and I saw a flyer for a comic book convention some 200 miles away. At that convention would be Dick Giordano of DC Comics and then-managing editor of First Comics Mike Gold. At the convention Steve and I exuded confidence and boldness by cornering Mr. Gold and stuffing our work in front of him. He patiently looked over the pages we had and kindly told us we had potential but we needed to work on it. Over the past 5 years both Steve and I have continued (together and separately) to have contact with Mike Gold right through his move to DC. As a result, just recently Mr. Gold has told both of us (separately) that we're on the verge of making the jump to being published at DC. Okay, we've covered how actions taken five years ago have worked into possible work tomorrow, now let's move ahead a little. After the trek to see Mike Gold a couple of years went by. I was attending my second Chicago Comicon and waiting in a long line outside the door to the portfolio room. A very nice (and very pregnant!) lady walked past. She said she worked for Mayfair Games, the DC Heroes role-playing game people, and was looking for artists. I promptly jumped up, shoved my portfolio in her direction and said, "Here, look at my stuff!!" She slowly lowered herself to the floor (remember, she's real pregnant) and quietly paged through my portfolio. When she was through, naturally everyone else in line shoved their portfolios at her. When she was finished with everyone else she walked over to me, handed me her business card and said, "I think we can work together." That contact became my first real professional job and, added to my resume, helped me to get other work. A couple of years later, when Iron Crown Enterprises (the Champions role-playing game people) were trying to track me down (they were answering a submission I had sent several months earlier and then unexpectedly moved in the meantime) the same lady (now no longer pregnant) gave them my address and telephone number. Remember -- cultivate good relations with every contact you make. Thanks to my work with Mayfair I felt confident in asking the Kansas City MO-Kan Festival people to allow me to be a guest at their bi-annual convention. They said yes. The first convention was that fall. It has turned out to be the most productive convention I have ever been to. There I met Tony Caputo of NOW Comics -- I did a lot of work for him; penciling, lettering, inking. I also met R.A. Jones at that convention -- I'm presently penciling two different books for him! I met Steve Erwin (DC's Checkmate penciler), who has been very helpful to me at different times with advice and tips. That was Fall, the next Spring I pleaded my way to a small science fiction convention that was being conducted in my area. At that convention I met Kirk Chritton, the (then) future publisher of Comics Career Newsletter. Through that contact I gained another ally and friend. When the regular writer on DAI KAMIKAZE! (the NOW Comics publication I was illustrating) left unexpectedly, I enlisted Kirk as the new writer. Kirk has since moved on to self-publishing CCN, where I now work for him. I could go on about how I met Paul Kupperberg at the Chicagocon later that year. Since I wasn't in total, tongue-numbing awe when he came over to speak to me and I talked to him like an old friend, he's actively interested in working with me in the future. By now you should be getting the picture. You should get the two points that this story indicates. Be aggressive! Take advantage of every opportunity given you to make new contacts even if they seem insignificant to you at the time. Keep the contact going on good terms. That meeting that was so helpful to Kirk has turned into Comic Career Newsletter and an opportunity for me to keep my name in front of a lot of editors, one of whom may be my boss some day. Just remember to help out the other guy when you can. As it turns out with Kirk, I've gained a friend and ally in breaking through the wall separating the amateurs from the professionals, and so has he. I don't want to leave out the most important contact of my life -- my wife. If everyone reading this had spouses as supportive and understanding as Kirk and I have then they would have the battle hald won. If it weren't for the underlying faith my wife had in me there probably would have been several times where I'd have been tempted to give up. Thanks Theresa! So find a spouse ot close friend who can give you the support you'll need through the long, hard journey you'r on. You'll need 'em. Go get 'em!! +---------------------------------------------------------------------- | This article is Copyright (c) 1992 by Rob Davis. The author is a | feelance artist whose work has been seen under a number of different | company logos. His professional comics career started with SYPHONS | #7 from NOW Comics, as a letterer. He also lettered RUST #'s 1 and | 2 and penciled, lettered and inked DAI KAMIKAZE!. At Malibu | Graphics Rob has penciled and inked several projects. Among those | were SCIMIDAR and MERLIN. For Innovation Rob penciled STRAW MEN, | MAZE AGENCY, and QUANTUM LEAP. At Rip-Off Press Rob penciled, | lettered and inked THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN NEMO. At Marvel Comics | Rob penciled theee issues of Hanna Barbera's PIRATES OF DARK WATER. | At DC Comics Rob has penciled STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, and | STAR TREK (one issue each as fill-in, so far). All this as of | September, 1992. -- -Hades (Brian V. Hughes) "Egads! These look like a women's fingerprints" -- Durlock Holmes