Throwing the Pitch!

Wave Re-design- By: Christopher Taylor

I'm currently hanging out in my kitchen now after one cool weekend. I was in Dussledorf and ate some awesome Okonomiaki with friends of mine. I will be doing some new artwork soon, just gotta get it prepped and ready for colors. Adjusting to MAC versions of everything have been a bit of a battle, but hopefully the fruits of my labor have been worth it. Perhaps it will continue to aid me well. We'll see. Look out for some new work soon, and if you have the time, make sure to stop by DRUNKDUCK and check out the web comic SCHOOL OF ART: TRILLIUM. I do the pencils for this comic ( Now I get to do color for the next chapters), and Chapter 2 is going to go live soon, where it gets to the nitty gritty of the story.

You can check it out here: TRILLIUM-School of the Art

Otherwise my plans for this year are as follows:

I've got three comics that haven't really seen light, and I plan on getting all of their first chapters finished in order to pitch, pitch, pitch! Pitching is HARD!! I think I'll throw up my process for writing those here also, because there are a lot of talks online about how to write the perfect pitch, or how to sell and format it...but really, my biggest problem....is the one liner.

I'm too much a talker, so having a page or three to talk about my story or ideas is wonderful. In person I think I could talk up a storm on given topics, but its very important to be able to catch your readers (and editors) attention immediately. There is the true glory of the one liner...you really need to know what your comic is about, and what it is trying to tell. The good thing is, I definitely know that. I came up with about 3-6 for each of the 3 comics I want to pitch. Which is what I was afraid I wouldn't know how/what to do.

The bad thing...it just made me realize how uncut for professional comics I was when I self-published NEO|ARK years ago.

One day...I will remake that correctly and honorably. It is my first story and I will release it. But for now, I will wait while I have three in my hand that could hopefully change my fate as a Indie Comic Artist.

Rant-er's Box...

I've been saying it time and time again....


THERE HAS GOT TO BE A OPEN COMIC CONVENTION FOR INDIE COMIC ARTIST IN EVERY COUNTRY!!!

I've been saying it time and time again, and seriously something needs to take place. Artist out there cannot get that support from big time, small time, heck even themselves sometimes, and sometimes I really think that having a convention annually or whatever, where ever, could not only put a nice amount of money in their pockets....but maybe, just maybe, give some people the confidence they want or need in themselves to keep on pushing. To let them know that there are people out there that want to read their stuff, or look at their artwork. I always relate back to the manga and anime of COMIC PARTY. I love it. Not only because I relate to the main character like we are the same person (cept I be black, he be Japanisch!) but because he is so lucky to have the chance, the place to showcase his work.


Something needs to be done.

............I need more bread :(

Schlecht dinges von Freiburo Arbeit

I like working on projects and with people. But some people amaze me. Especially when you see the kind of person you COULD of been working with on a project, but didnt get the job.


So, a few days ago I do my normal search of the Deviantart Forum to look for work I can snag. Along comes this post:

Cover Artist Needed for 2nd Novel

~spirit86 Mar 23, 2008, 3:45:01 PM

Hey everyone! I'm going to be in need of a cover artist within the next few months. I'm finishing up a novel, sending it to the editor, and I'll need the cover finished by the time that everything is finished. I'd rather find someone on here than use one of the artists the publisher provides - simply because I'd rather pay someone on my own and get someone's name out there.

The book revolves around the lives of group of vampire hunters belonging to a sort of company that specializes in killing supernatural things... I'm completely unsure of what I want on the cover and there currently is not a title.

When you contact me include the following:
+ your real name
+ samples of your work
+ your price
+ any questions you may have or additional information you may need

I'm accepting traditional media, digital media, photography, and photo manips.

Stylized is fine, but no anime.



No Anime...fine. I do other styles then anime. So I when ahead and sent a note out with the proper information. And in a few days I get a note back from them, tell me that the job is taken, and that I need to learn to read the boards.
Ok...given, DArt doesn't have a update post feature for the post, so probably they are right on that. But I'm not gonna let something like that stop me from getting in on a possible job oppertunity. I see work, I go for work. Its a first come, first go society and if I'm not fast and the best then I'm not getting the job. I was like fine, deleted the note and decided to move on with my life.


Untill today, I wake up to check DArt messages and boom! Another message from that user tell me to "READ UP"...

...Read up what?

I go back to he forum to see if something change or what...but all was the same. Then I go to the users main page...

I find this:

~spirit86

Elizabeth

ProfileGalleryFavesJournal

DO NOT SEND ME A NOTE ABOUT THE BOOK COVER

Journal Entry: Fri May 9, 2008, 11:43 AM

• Mood: Irritated

THE JOB IS TAKEN AND FINISHED. STOP SENDING ME NOTES ABOUT IT. IF YOU CAN'T READ THROUGH FOR THE DETAILS ENOUGH TO SEE THAT IT IS FINISHED YOU DON'T DESERVE THE JOB ANYWAY

`iggygirl 2 hours 14 minutes ago

About 99.9999...... percent of artists here don't read or follow instructions properly. For example in my book of art job offer I asked for email addresses, only a couple people actually gave me an email address.
It's a bad habit to get into, it's unprofessional and can be annoying to the client/employer. I'm laid back about it but many employers just throw out an application if the artists failed to follow instruction and the employer has every right to do that. An employer that gets hundreds of applications doesn't want an artist that can't follow the simplest of instructions.

--
Commission Contract Template free to use [link]

Reply

~spirit86 59 minutes 10 seconds ago

you know I went through your whole forum post to be sure I hadn't done that at some point. I'm normally very careful but everyone has slipups XD

Yeah, most of the applications I've gotten for the position with my book cover never sent me ANYTHING I asked for. I got more applications involving cartoon styles and anime than anything else (when I asked specifically for anyone with that style to not apply, it's not what I'm looking for) and other people cursed me out because they didn't read the entire thing and got a polite denial.

Now I'm just sick of it though. To get this many messages (and all of them half-hearted) months after I announced that the position is filled is just... bad.

Wow.....how professional.

I makes me glad I didn't have to work with them...really if its that bad, just delete the message and move on with your life, but you gotta write out something like that for the public to see? A polite denial isn't "READ UP" or "Learn to read".
But, you make your judgement. I for one think this is just ....bleh.

Ich werde wirklich erschrocken... (this is a big rant guys)

"The Goddess of the Crescent Moon" -By: Christopher Taylor
"Glenn Sueznin-2008" -By: Christopher Taylor
"Point-and-Shoot" -By: Christopher Taylor
(Note: I realize his body is outta proportion. I'll probably fix if its colored)

"Nyomi- Relic Hunting Days" By- Christopher Taylor







I guess when it all comes down to it, figuring out if your really going to make it in life with what you want to do or your passion, is a hard realization. Ever since stopping NEO|ARK, because of bad reviews, mixed messages, and as I can't forget the total ham and cheese sandwich handing of a critique I recieved at the Phoenix Anime Convention in November 2006 by some of TOKYOPOP's editors, I've had this small voice inside telling me "You'll never get anywhere, you'll fail, fly back to New Jersey where you'll stay for the rest of your life serving the youth of tomorrow in their drug infested, kicking over trash cans, robbing and beating elderly people, lighting and blowing things up for "fun", sitting at their mom's house doing nothing for the rest of our lives lifestyle while working at whatever rat infested grocery store or Best Buy or Staples they decide to put up next. And I've fought hard against this thinking. I've thrown myself at any or every job whether or not I've had experience or not, or if I know the program like the back of my hand or whether a bit of training would help me become better. However every company seems to think I'm not worth it. I've spent countless of days and times searching for work, applying, practicing so that I'll be ready for whatever they try to hit me with, going in there and talking with them, explaining to them that despite what handicaps I might face, I want the job and I will learn and grow with the job. But still...nadda. Nothing to call for except some extra art, some 3D work that ranges from bad crap to O.K. animation, and things like that. I want in something. Drawing is life for me. Even forcing myself to stop, somehow I'll always find a way of picking up a pencil and sketching down things. I cannot see myself doing anything else. Anything, not customer service (not anymore), or computers and electronics (tho I probably wouldn't mind for a middle job or something), not food services (never again). I don't know what or how to get this across to the people not hiring me or giving me a shot, because I'll say it now. I am a force to be reckoned with. I've been push down before many time, and gawd-damn it, I'll rise again. So you can throw bills at me for stupid crap, past employers can continue being dicks to me for no reason and trying to weasel money outta me for no good agenda because some way I'll earn money and one day I'll be able to hold onto it instead of paying on loans or whatever stupid ish pops up, Ex-girlfriends that suck, STILL SUCK, because present girlfriend is hella better in so many ways. Friends that run off that I thought had a close bond, don't have to contact me, its ok, because my real friends have stuck with me through everything, and are still here with me now, tho 4000 miles away, and for whatever reason ever, I'll always have my Family, tho sometimes I might come off as a failure in some ways, I know that my determination shines through, and make them proud.


I hate bad dreams.....I hate jobs that don't tell you why your not being hired, or what's wrong with certain submissions handed into them. If they have the time to review it, they have the time to tell you what's wrong so that you can improve. I hate people who say they're there for you, but then just go away, tho the varrious forms of communication in this day and age, and I hate girls that cheat on guys, or treat the good guys like crap for no good damn reason, then try to keep them on a leash to statisfy their own selfish emotions only to drop them like their nothing, like a mom leaving her newborn baby in the trash. Seriously...life today...what is wrong with you people.