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Post by G on May 4, 2011 23:09:45 GMT -5
I like the picture myself Mike. It's pretty solid. My only negative comment is something is bothering me about the head area and the way it fits onto the shoulders of the body. Individually both good, but together something a bit odd. Just me. It almost looks like it isn't centered onto the body quite right. Just slightly off to my eyes. Other than that, I think it's pretty tight!
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Post by defiant1 on May 5, 2011 22:54:22 GMT -5
Thanks Mike. After seeing your picture, I had a dream that I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. I was so fed up I got out of my truck, lifted it above my head and walked past all the cars just sitting still.
df1
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Post by bigw1966 on May 6, 2011 6:37:52 GMT -5
LOL, glad I could be of help defiant. Your right about the car. I made it a bit squat from front to back, and I think the width is a bit off also. IT was a fun piece. Think Action Comics #1 which is where my head was at. Probably could have worked on her grip a bit more also. I just want to see it colored.
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Post by bigw1966 on Jul 8, 2011 12:03:48 GMT -5
So, I just got a call a couple of days ago from the guy that wrote Moons of Maleva. That werewolf story I have posted. The group he is involved with told him to offer me $10 a page. He said there would be a sleight royalty from digital downloads also, but my story would be offered for free download so... I said that wouldn't work for me, but since I am a nobody, just like him and this was an indy project, I would gladly accept $25 a page which I pointed out was far below industry minimums. I went on to explain that if this work was many, many hours of time designing, drawing and then inking. In my shop I would get about $150 for a really detailed drawing so with that in mind I felt the price was fair.
He had to get back to me. A week later I get a call, and he tells me the people that he is involved with decided not to use the story. They said that the artwork was not up to the quality standards that they required. I found this shocking since I had gotten a number of compliments from the people he is involved withregrding the storytelling and how much better the inked pages looked with the added detail. This is also after I complied with redrawing a number of panels to their satisfaction. I pointed this out to him and asked what they expected? He replied, that they wanted them painted. I laughed and said fine, $200 a page. I paint daily, professionally, If I have to stop working my job to PAINT pages, you will pay the minimum fee that I require to miss that much work. He apologised profusely saying that he personally had no problems with the work I had done and felt that I matched the script, verbatum.
I say to him, I don't think it was my art that was the problem. I think that it is more about them not wanting to pay a whopping $300 for the work I have done. They only had to pay half of it up front on delivery and the balance AFTER they published it. He agreed that it was mainly the money. I say, well they could have just said that. I would have obviously been dissappointed, but would have accepted that. But this bullshit just pisses me off as well as disappoints me.
So, the comic I worked hard on to make will not be coming out because they were to cheap to fucking pay $300 for 12 pages of inked comic work.
Courtney was disappointed as well because she knew how hard I worked on that story, all while doing all of my other work.
The only positive, is that Mike sent $150 dollars out of his own pocket to my paypal as a closeout payment, which is pretty stand-up of him to do and that gets my respect.
However, as disappointed as I am, I will not let it beat me down. So, I am now working on my OZ based comic that I wrote and have the first issue fully laid out and the first few pages are drawn up and are far superior to the Maleva story.
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Post by G on Jul 8, 2011 19:31:00 GMT -5
I think that although this was a bad experience for you, the more important piece of it is you have a COMPLETED PROJECT in the can and you can actually shop it around to future would be comic publishers that this is already ready to go. If you complete another project you can just present both and have a portfolio of completed projects to show to perspective clients. Sure there is a negative in having this deal turn sour....the fact remains no one can take the work from you. It's still work. I know its still a pipe-dream, but if I ever get comics out, I could find myself interested in it. Its far more valuable to me done than it would be as a work in progress.
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Post by defiant1 on Jul 8, 2011 20:51:48 GMT -5
Very few people are making money in comics. In all honesty, you are better off just quoting a full page rate and weeding out all the clients that are going to waste your time. If you quoted $100-$150 a page you could afford to let them whittle you down a little as part of the negotiation. When you start off well below industry standards, you are already giving away your work and encouraging the cheapskates to look for a lower price.
df1
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Post by bigw1966 on Jul 9, 2011 10:01:47 GMT -5
Both of you make good points. I have the completed project, but the story still belongs to the writer, so I cannot do much other than show pages.
As for page rate, I was originally offered $100 per page. Then mikes wife filed for divorce and left him with their daughter who is 2 and his money got really tight. After that I told him that I didn't feel confident enough in my coloring abilities so I would work lower priced o he could hire a colorist.
Then he got involved with these other people, and the book it was supposed to be in got cancelled and the stuff was rolled into a project that t they were building up, so they got control of the financial part and had no intention of paying anyone a reasonable rate.
It pisses me off, because I felt I delivered exactly what the story asked for. I am going to letter all of the pages and post them on my deviantart page. At least that way it will be seen.
I am now working on my epic Wizard of OZ meets Buffy mashup style comic I will post some pages here at some point. The work is stronger than the moons pages anyway.
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Post by defiant1 on Jul 9, 2011 13:10:32 GMT -5
Both of you make good points. I have the completed project, but the story still belongs to the writer, so I cannot do much other than show pages. As for page rate, I was originally offered $100 per page. Then mikes wife filed for divorce and left him with their daughter who is 2 and his money got really tight. After that I told him that I didn't feel confident enough in my coloring abilities so I would work lower priced o he could hire a colorist. Then he got involved with these other people, and the book it was supposed to be in got cancelled and the stuff was rolled into a project that t they were building up, so they got control of the financial part and had no intention of paying anyone a reasonable rate. It pisses me off, because I felt I delivered exactly what the story asked for. I am going to letter all of the pages and post them on my deviantart page. At least that way it will be seen. I am now working on my epic Wizard of OZ meets Buffy mashup style comic I will post some pages here at some point. The work is stronger than the moons pages anyway. I would write a completely different story around the art pages. If it takes place on another planet, change the setting to Earth in the future. If it was horror based upon werewolves, change it to a sci-fi story with genetically engineering dog/human hybrids. Whatever angle was in the story, switch it up entirely. As far as the negotiations for rate, get rid of the emotion. Quote a price for inked art and leave it at that. Let him worry about who colors it or whether the coloring is "good enough". Make it clear that the quality is subjective and the rate doesn't change because he likes your style or not. The amount of work involved to draw the page is the same whether he likes your style or not. Remind future clients that some cover artists charge $1,000 a page for cover art. Neal Adams charges $500 for a sketch on his web site. He just needs to know that $100 is a discounted rate and when your skills get better, the rate will be higher. Don't view this as doing him a favor. It is a job. People deserve to get paid fairly for the work they are asked to do. df1
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Post by G on Jul 9, 2011 13:20:23 GMT -5
Both of you make good points. I have the completed project, but the story still belongs to the writer, so I cannot do much other than show pages. As for page rate, I was originally offered $100 per page. Then mikes wife filed for divorce and left him with their daughter who is 2 and his money got really tight. After that I told him that I didn't feel confident enough in my coloring abilities so I would work lower priced o he could hire a colorist. Then he got involved with these other people, and the book it was supposed to be in got cancelled and the stuff was rolled into a project that t they were building up, so they got control of the financial part and had no intention of paying anyone a reasonable rate. It pisses me off, because I felt I delivered exactly what the story asked for. I am going to letter all of the pages and post them on my deviantart page. At least that way it will be seen. I am now working on my epic Wizard of OZ meets Buffy mashup style comic I will post some pages here at some point. The work is stronger than the moons pages anyway. I would write a completely different story around the art pages. If it takes place on another planet, change the setting to Earth in the future. If it was horror based upon werewolves, change it to a sci-fi story with genetically engineering dog/human hybrids. Whatever angle was in the story, switch it up entirely. df1 Yeah.... Make it yours. The deal fell through. All bets are off. Own that puppy.
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Post by defiant1 on Jul 9, 2011 13:21:45 GMT -5
I added to my post...
df1
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