Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics, Image, Marvel Comics | Tagged: invincible, ryan ottley

The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Comic Book Artist

The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Comic Book Artist... from Ryan Ottley to Rob Liefeld

With the new Invincible series hitting, penciller Ryan Ottley recently took to social media to answer questions. One such from reader Jason Seibel sparked a furious debate, asking "Why does it seem so hard for a lot of mainstream pencillers to maintain a monthly deadline on their books?" Ryan Ottley replied;

"Because quality monthly comics is almost impossible. It's grueling. Especially for a long time. Any time off, sickness, vacation, means you will be late unless you draw extra fast for a lot of days which means possible less quality. Also when a writer is late, no one knows it. An artist has to then rush even faster to try to make up for lost time. An artist has to give up all other career prospects for one title, then they need to give up a lot of their life to keep this book on time, and find a style that can look good and be fast at the same time. Remember, the artist is the only full time person on a monthly book. They put their all into it. Very few recognize this fact. Long runs don't happen too often anymore for many factors. I'm glad I did it. But Invincible is the longest run I will have in my career for sure.

Jim Lee's inker Scott Williams added, "Age is a factor too. I could handle the mental and physical toll that a monthly schedule inflicted while in my 20's and 30's and at the height of ambition and career. Not so much after that." To Ryan Ottley's response, "Absolutely! I was on Invincible full time from my 20's to my 40's. That's not something I could ever do again." But it was Montreal-based comic artist and wrestler of Southern Cross and Kill Shakespeare Andy Belanger who expounded at length;

"The thing is the process of monthly comics changed based on the money and lack of royalties. I can Pencil 20 pages in two or three weeks but the term Penciler is extinct. We all pencil, ink and tone now and 20 percent color their own work. There is no more assembly line process. Why …. Because the money is GARBAGE. back in the 90's we got page rates but it came with massive royalties. Royalties are all but gone and the biz of drawing comics rarely pays minimum wage even from marvel and DC. Any of the smaller publishers aren't paying minimum wage at all and they rely on new kids trying to break in to make their "content" they take advantage of them being green and often just burn them out. I went through it. I have turned down projects from publishers like Dark Horse who were offering less than half my usual rates on pencils and inks and working in full Color into that horrible budget. Basically 5 bucks an hour. This is common for all mid tier and lower tier publishers right now. That's what's up, the money isn't there. I always tell these publishers in meetings if you can't pay minimum wage to the artists don't make the books."

"That being said some publishers are treating the talent well. Penciling and inking needs to pay 300-500 a page for the book to be in the minimum wage zone. And most have dropped to 100-200. That's the reality, most of us have to be on 5gigs just to pay our bills. For modern quality it takes me two days a page but even at a page a day say you make 200 a page, thats 48k a year minus tax ect you're around 35-38k a year. That's just over the poverty line by a hair. My bills in this economy with a family run over 4K a month and that's living pay check to pay check. If all I was doing was penciling a book I'd only take home 2-2.5k a month. That's why it is hard to keep a monthly schedule and why the term penciler is extinct."

"We need to change our brains on how we make comics and our expectations of how they make it to the shelves now as readers. It's just the nature of comics. Crowd funding is rough but a god send for those who want to make the work they want to produce, but you have to wear even more hats!"

And Rob Liefeld added his own take;

"So many opinions on the monthly comic book gig as viable. Financially, it's better for you to do Conventions, Covers & Commissions. It's not even close. For long term impact, a memorable storyline or run will outlast you and your career. I enjoy covers and recognize their importance, but I love telling stories, choreographing and blocking a scene. Producing moments. It's much more work for certain. It just comes down to what you prefer. Doing 7 issues a year, I can't travel which is why I don't attend conventions and haven't for years. That can also be extremely rewarding, but it takes its toll and the time away kills the process of actually making comics. Many choices, many options. Do what's right for your wants and needs."

Everyone has their level it seems…

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