Tips for working with a with a comic artist
March 6, 2013 6:00 AM Subscribe
I have an econ blog and asked a friend of mine to help illustrate some posts with comics. He agreed! Have you been on either side of a comparable collaboration? Could you offer some tips?
I want to give him creative freedom and keep it fun for him, but I also have some ideas about what I'm looking for and not looking for. Help me honestly engage him and balance these factors with creative/collaborative processes you've used, or stories or advice you may have from your own experience. I really don't want to come across to him as some cliched jerk: "well, that looks great, but what if we did this instead..."
It's entirely amateur and nobody has any expectations of making any money.
To describe more what we are working on:
My econ posts are generally long-winded, confusing theoretical essays, which I attempt to write for a general audience. My main goal for the comics is to make the writing more accessible and memorable and less intimidating, and I'm open to him doing whatever so long as it is on the same wavelength as the post. It can be somewhat hard to get the correct wavelength though, since posts tend to evolve a bit as I'm writing them and, like I said, they are pretty long and theoretical (and my friend doesn't have a background in econ).
I want to give him creative freedom and keep it fun for him, but I also have some ideas about what I'm looking for and not looking for. Help me honestly engage him and balance these factors with creative/collaborative processes you've used, or stories or advice you may have from your own experience. I really don't want to come across to him as some cliched jerk: "well, that looks great, but what if we did this instead..."
It's entirely amateur and nobody has any expectations of making any money.
To describe more what we are working on:
My econ posts are generally long-winded, confusing theoretical essays, which I attempt to write for a general audience. My main goal for the comics is to make the writing more accessible and memorable and less intimidating, and I'm open to him doing whatever so long as it is on the same wavelength as the post. It can be somewhat hard to get the correct wavelength though, since posts tend to evolve a bit as I'm writing them and, like I said, they are pretty long and theoretical (and my friend doesn't have a background in econ).
Tom-B hits the biggest problem point. All too often, the person hiring the artist assumes the position of creative director and starts micro-managing the form. They have a rough image in their head and start using the artist merely as a tool for getting that image on screen/paper. This ends up being very frustrating for the artist, and can ultimately lead them to not give a damn about the project and only doing exactly what the non-artist says.
Best to give the artist a high-level outline of what concept you're wanting to convey, and see what they come up with. Proceed from there.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:48 AM on March 6, 2013 [3 favorites]
Best to give the artist a high-level outline of what concept you're wanting to convey, and see what they come up with. Proceed from there.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:48 AM on March 6, 2013 [3 favorites]
Non-artists also often don't understand how long it takes to make a piece of artwork. So they think it's no biggie to repeatedly ask for "small" alterations that A) aren't small AT ALL and B) discount all the time and effort already put into the current design. Also, don't press for immediate turnaround - he's doing it for free and again, it often takes far longer than you might think.
All the frustration about edits and micromanaging also intensifies like crazy when you're doing it for free. I cartooned for a newspaper for years for free because they just sent me the article and happily printed what I sent back; I cartooned for a magazine for a couple months for free and then stopped because they did the above. If someone wants to remove my artistic license and fun and is just generally a bit of a pain to work with - they can pay me and it'll be a commission as opposed to a collaboration.
posted by vegartanipla at 9:17 AM on March 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
All the frustration about edits and micromanaging also intensifies like crazy when you're doing it for free. I cartooned for a newspaper for years for free because they just sent me the article and happily printed what I sent back; I cartooned for a magazine for a couple months for free and then stopped because they did the above. If someone wants to remove my artistic license and fun and is just generally a bit of a pain to work with - they can pay me and it'll be a commission as opposed to a collaboration.
posted by vegartanipla at 9:17 AM on March 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
On a more tactical level - be sure you've seen and approved of the work while it's still in pencil/sketch form. Sometimes there will be two or even three iterations, and they'll often get "tighter" each time. (Of course, follow the advice above about not getting too picky, but both of you should have an interest in getting it "right." Be flexible stylistically, but make sure the essential point or angle is being accurately communicated to your readers.) The final step is when the cartoon is inked, and by that time there should be no surprises for you.
I'd also suggest that you try to pay your friend, even if it's only $50 or whatever you can afford. If your friend is anything like me, they will likely end up putting more effort into this than they originally planned! : ) And a sort of resentment could be left over for doing all that work for free..
posted by see_change at 9:57 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'd also suggest that you try to pay your friend, even if it's only $50 or whatever you can afford. If your friend is anything like me, they will likely end up putting more effort into this than they originally planned! : ) And a sort of resentment could be left over for doing all that work for free..
posted by see_change at 9:57 AM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: (I added my blog link to my profile page in case anyone besides Tom-B is interested.)
Thanks for the advice so far!
posted by ropeladder at 2:04 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Thanks for the advice so far!
posted by ropeladder at 2:04 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
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For me, the main frustration when collaborating is when people fail to distinguish between form and content. People get hung up too early on form (a rich guy riding on the back of a poor guy!) and fail to discuss content (income inequality). Focus the discussion on content, and let the form emerge spontaneously from the work of the artist, once it's there you discuss it, critique etc. but first you gotta leave some space for unexpected solutions to emerge.
I love this kind of overlap btw, and have done some work like this myself (self-link), what's your blog?
posted by Tom-B at 6:21 AM on March 6, 2013 [3 favorites]