The last time he was at that show, I was lucky to not only be on some panels with him but even got to share a table with him. I’ve heard many other artists say the same thing about how much he helped them. He’s just a great guy. Anyways, I just ran across some old photos of him doing a painting demonstration the last time he was at Aggiecon in 2006. I have photos from previous years, but I think I’ll have to find the originals and scan them in. I learned more from being able to watch him work. Which is why I always do demonstrations whenever I work with new artists. I feel very fortunate, looking back now, that I was able to cross paths with him. Maybe one of these days it’ll happen again, lol.
[Gallery not found]

I was asked to do an email interview by some high school kids wanting to do cartooning for a living.  I decided to post the responses here, just in case there were some other young cartoonists out there seeking answers to the same kinds of questions.  Hope its helpful…

Cartoonist/Comic book artist

1. Do you work in a building or at your house?

I work in a studio space with several other comic book artists, which helps us keep each other motivated, and stay on track with deadlines.

2. How can you cope with a creative block?

I can’t afford to not work, so I usually have to make myself sit down and work anyways.  I give myself permission to do some terrible sketches to get started, but before too long i’m back to being creative.  The hard part is making yourself sit down and not fall victim to distractions.  Success is 10% talent, and 90% staying off the internet.  Just remember, you can’t work with nothing – so even doing a bad sketch, can get you moving.

3. Do you have people who help you come up with ideas?

I have several people in the studio that help me develop ideas.  I also have other artists that I’ve met over the years that also do this for a living, that I call when I’m really stuck.

4. How long does it take to complete the newspaper comic drawing process?

It takes a few days to come up with the idea/layout sometimes, but it rarely takes more than a few hours to actually draw it.  Most of what drawing is, is problem solving.  Once you’ve figured out the solutions to your problems, everything else is easy.

5. How many work hours do you work?

When i am working on a book, I’ve been known to work more than 80 hours a week.  But I usually work 40 hours without even thinking about it.  When you do what you love, you don’t think about how many hours it takes, especially when you’re having fun doing it.

6. How long are your hiatuses?

Hiatusus?  I’m not sure what that is in regards to?   If you mean times between projects, its not usually very long.  I always have somebody waiting to work with me on a project for them.  The trick is to keep moving quickly so no one gets frustrated.

7. Can you make comics for more than one newspaper?

I don’t actually make comics for newspapers.  I make my own webcomic, which can be carried in newspapers.  But for the most part I work for publishers that contract me to do a series of books for them.  Usually somewhere between 3 issues and 7.

8. Were all your years of school worth it?

Not for me.  I went to some schools that were a waste of time and money; and I went to some that completely changed my life.  The trick is to get into the right school for YOU.  Finding the right school can save you decades of learning, and can also help you get work.  The wrong school can cost you tons of money and leave you without a career.  I recommend talking to 5 people that are already doing what you want to do for a living, and ask them what schools THEY went to, and what it took for them to succeed.  Also remember, just because a school claims to be good, and charges a lot, doesn’t mean they’re a good school.  Talk to people that have already been there to find out.

9. How much could I make?

You can make as much as you decide to make.  There are no limits, other than the ones in your head.  As long as you are patient, focus on creating value for others, treat people right, and work harder than you ever have at anything, you can make really good money.

10.What knowledge does it take?

It takes a lot more than I could put into an email.  Just assume, that you will never stop learning, never stop being a student, and get started right away, and you should be ok.

11. Why did you decide to be a cartoonist?

I was always passionate about creating stories.  I didn’t have the talent when i started, but I had the passion, and I knew if I worked hard enough, eventually I would have the skills too.

12. How hard is this career?

Its very hard.  The amount of work it takes, not only to learn the skills you will need, but to build your body of experience, and make connections – cannot be overstated.  It is a lot of work.  But so is anything worth doing.  To get good at anything takes 10,000+ hours of hard work.  The trick is learning to enjoy the process.

13. Does it require money to make a comic?

yes.

14. Are there any interesting points about this career?

I love what I do.  Every day I get paid to draw.  My worst day at this job is still better than my best day was doing anything else.  And it just keeps getting better and better.

15. How often do you get days off?

I work a lot, but I have freedom.  If I’m having a monday, I can make it a friday.  If I’m tired of working in the office I can work at a coffee shop, or on the beach, or wherever.  Just so long as the work gets done on time.  If it doesn’t get done, my reputation suffers, and clients won’t want to hire me or recommend me again.

My biggest influence when I first started my forray into making comics was Dave Sim and his absolutely amazing Cerebus’ guide to self-publishing.  It was immensely informative and it got me started self-publishing and going to comic conventions.  But it was Jeff Smith that made the dream come to life for me.  Because it was his passion, personality and way with people that I connected with.  I knew it was possible to be a nice guy and make comics you were passionate about. The more I’ve done comics though the more I’ve come to admire him and what he has done not only for himself but for the industry.  He’s changed the way comics are made and read.  He and his wife nearly single-handeldly drove us from the collectors market to the book market with his push to keep stories in print and in graphic novel format, something that is common sense now.  He even pushed Comic-con in the late 90′s to create an area for independant creators, something I greatly benefited from when I exhibited for the first time in 2000.  But he did it all his own way, with passion and vision and a burning desire from within.

The closer I get to beginning my own story, the more I’ve wanted to learn about how he made that transition.  Where he developed his skills and his discipline, what drove him to do things the way he did.  Its the same kind of study I’ve done with Chuck Jones and Charles Schultz, except Jeff is still alive and working.  Last year I flew to Columbus Ohio on the spur of the moment to see his art show at the Wexner center at Ohio State just before it closed.  I used almost every buck I had saved just to see it and ended up walking 20 something miles the entire weekend because I could barely afford to rent a cab.  It was worth it though.   It helped me break through a lot of my own roadblocks.  Mostly it helped to see that there is no magic there.  Just a lot of hard work.

SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON

The first time I actually met Jeff was at San Diego comic-con in 1997 during his infamous Trilogy tour with Charles Vess and Linda Medley.  Seeing the giant tree and life-size characters from these stories just captured my imagination.  And the thousands of people with wads of cash trying to buy a tiny little piece of it.  I was too shy at the time, and intimdated by the crowds to actually talk to him.  And ever since the crowds have been just as insane the dozen or so times I’ve seen him at shows.

But for whatever reason, this year at Comic-con, I just happened to walk past on preview night when no one was in line.  I feel embarrassed to admit this publicly, but I actually started to shake, lol.  I have not had a fanboy moment like this in my entire 13 years of going to comic conventions.  Not when I met Jim Lee, or shared a table with Brian Stelfreeze or Matt Wagner, or when the Pini’s invited me to afterhours, not even when I got to go to dinner with Alex Ross.  But I was shaking like a leaf this time.  And I am thankful Amber had the thought to take pictures of the moment, because I hardly remember any of it.  I thanked him for all the things you thank someone that helped shape your career, I babbled a little about my comic I’m working on and gave him a preview copy.  He liked the art a lot, and gave some very flattering compliments, and even asked me to sign it.

That was ten minutes into preview night… I was ready to go home after that.

COMIC-CON PANELS

Jeff Smith’s first Panel was a discussion with Terry Moore, where Terry announced ECHO being sold as a movie, and Jeff announced 3 new Bone stories drawn by him and written by Tom Sniegoski, who wrote  Stupid Stupid Rat-tails.  It was a fascinating panel in that it was mostly the two creators interviewing each other.  I wish I had a recording of the entire thing because it was so packed full of insight and humor.  I kept wanting to ask questions throughout the discussion, but I couldn’t think of anything I hadn’t already heard from the hundreds of interviews, panels  and articles I’ve seen about the two.  Finally I asked what their top three moments were in their career.   I’ve had a lot of awesome moments in my career so far, and I’ve been blessed in that those big moments are constanlty getting bumped off the list by even bigger one’s, I can only imagine what would make their top list. The answers were very surprising.  So small but meaningful.  I guess those are the things that matter most.

The second panel Jeff did was a CBLDF class on the creation of a comic book page.  He went through step by step the creation of a gag and a comic page, as well as all the tools he uses.  It was very informative, especially on the crafting of a joke.

“How a character starts a scene should be the opposite of how they end the scene.” If a character starts a scene happy, he should end it very upset.  Etc…

“Simplicity is crucial in telling a good story.  You don’t want to complicate anything.”

The discussion reminded me of something I read in one of Chuck Jones’ biographies where he talked about “Its not about opening a funny door… its opening a door funny.” The best comedians keep it very simple and know how to draw it out humorously.

On Writing stories….  “I think in words and pictures so I write in words and pictures.” This is so helpful.  Artists who write stories should not be tied strictly to a script.  When I was in Columbus for the art show at the Wexner center I sat on a couch in the lobby to rest from all the walking, and found an article cut out of the local newspaper where he mentioned writing all of his stories in thumbnails.  Little gestures with the scripts in word-balloons.  I think I had seen a process tutorial like that years ago too.  But I lost that little lesson somewhere in my years trying to collaborate (and failing miserably) with other writers on a comic.  Writing in script format has never felt comfortable to me.  And since I switched back to writing in pictures its been so much easier.

the TOOLS

2-ply Bristol plate – smooth finish
Windsor Newton Series 7 sable hair brush Size #1
Pelican Black ink
White Cel vinyl paint (acrylic based paint for animation)

Always front loads the brush – Keep ink towards the tip, never on the barrel.
Starts off by Loading ink onto the brush on a separate piece of paper

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So that’s my Jeff Smith Experience from San Diego comic-con 2009.  I went to about 15 panels over the entire weekend.  Most of which were about writing or making comics.  Its been a long time since I did panels, and I’m feeling really inspired from the experience.  I can’t wait to get back to work!

-Will

Back in February, I think, I went to do a store signing in Abilene, mostly to network with some artists down there and introduce myself to the store owner. Being in West Texas, there aren’t a lot of opportunities for that sort of thing. There’s only one store in my town for example. While there I picked up a little book called “How to make webcomics” by the 4 guys of www.halfpixel.com, Dave Kellett, Brad Guigar, Kris Straub and Scott Kurtz. I’ve met Scott a few times at shows here and there, and I’ve bought several issues of his book PVP. I always remember Scott at conventions telling stories so funny it left the entire room in tears. But I hadn’t yet heard much about the other guys.  Mostly I picked up the webcomics book because an artist in my sketchclub told me I needed to start thinking about doing webcomics. But honestly, I wasn’t that interested, and I let the book sit there for nearly 4 months without even glancing through it.

Fast forward to about 2 months ago, one of the girls in my comic book studio asks if she can play one of the episodes from the Half-pixel webcomics weekly podcast. Anyone that knows me knows I can’t stand talkshows when I’m trying to work, but for some reason, hearing their banter and everything they had to say made me feel like I was actually in a studio with them, and hearing all the advice and experience coming from them put a fire back into my heart. In just a couple weeks I devoured every single podcast I could download from them (63 in all!) and read the webcomics book front to back a couple of times. I’ve since been reading articles and interviews, and regularly subscribing to dozens of webcomics I’ve found that I like. Basically… I have my passion back, thanks to these guys.

So I wanted to go to comic-con to meet them in person. To thank them and to see if they’re just as nice in person as they were in print and in the podthingies. I was very glad that I did. They were even more friendly and warm than I had expected, especially with how busy they were at the show. I gave them each some of the Zebra brush pens I got from my friend in Japan, and I gave them copies of my SuperZeroes preview book, and got overwhelming response from all of them and I feel encouraged to keep moving forward. Hopefully I’ll run into them again at a show, but I’ll be on the other side of the table.

By the time I made it to their webcomics panel, Amber and I were pretty much wiped out. We were out till 3 in the morning for the Mighty boosh concert, and up really early so she could catch the Spongebob panel, and the webcomics panel was the last for the day for us before driving back to Texas. It was very funny, and awesome to see them doing the banter live. But I’m glad to be back home now. It was a great show, and an amazing week.

-Will

]]> http://willterrell.com/2009/08/06/san-diego-comic-con-half-pixel-webcomics/feed/ 0 http://willterrell.com/2009/08/05/san-diego-comic-con-brian-talbot-sketch/ http://willterrell.com/2009/08/05/san-diego-comic-con-brian-talbot-sketch/#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:46:47 +0000 admin http://willterrell.com/?p=773 This is artist/writer Brian Talbot… (the one with the long hair, not the guy eating the fish taco.  That was just some guy at the restaurant earlier that day.)

Brian Talbot has done a lot of work in his career, but the book that always stood out to me was “A tale of one bad rat.” It was a very powerful story that helped me personally heal from a lot of emotional pain, and its something I’ve bought for many friends to help them.  It was cool getting to meet him and tell him in person, although I’m certain he gets it all too often  There were quite a few other artists on the panel.  I believe it was called “After the first 1,000 pages.” Referring to the fact that it takes a person 10,000 hours to get prolific at any one thing.  Which breaks down to roughly 1,000 pages in comic book terms.  I figure I am close to that in my own career. Although its hard to tell these things.

I tried doing sketches of Gene Colan and a few other people on the panel but none really turned out.  I think it could have been a really amazing discussion, but the moderator was frustratingly passive and hardly asked any questions, most of which were not all that engaging and didn’t really get artists talking to each other.  He even ended the panel early.  These things happen I guess.

The thing that came up over and over from the artists is the love for doing what you’re doing.  Not doing it for credit, or for fame or anything outside of yourself.  But drawing because you absolutely love to draw and creating stories that you want to read.  Like the Straczynski panel, talking about a fire that burns from within you, and not based on any external motivation.  This is the thing that sets highly successful creators apart from the rest.

-Will

]]> http://willterrell.com/2009/08/05/san-diego-comic-con-brian-talbot-sketch/feed/ 0 http://willterrell.com/2009/08/04/san-diego-comic-con-sketches-j-michael-strazynski/ http://willterrell.com/2009/08/04/san-diego-comic-con-sketches-j-michael-strazynski/#comments Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:39:56 +0000 admin http://willterrell.com/?p=769 I sat in on the J. Michael Straczynski panel mostly because my feet were killing me and I didn’t want to have to wait in line for the next panel.  I’m really glad I did though, he was very funny and had great advice for writing that only comes from decades of doing the work.  I love his outlook on things and he takes no excuses from people.  This sketch didn’t turn out great, I was too busy taking notes, and he was also very animated and hard to pin-down.

From the Notes:

“You have to be willing to fail to succeed.  Otherwise you are only guaranteed to fail.”

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On starting stories…

“First you write a scene using everything you have to say about a scene, then everything you want to say about a scene, then everything you NEED to say about a scene.”

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“If you’re having problems with a scene, it probably has to do with how you set it up in the previous scenes. ”

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“Real quality work shines in the dark.  What you have to decide is what burns inside you.  If it burns inside, people WILL see that and give you a chance.  The moment you look outiside yourself… you’re screwed.

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On worrying people will steal your ideas…
“Don’t worry about your ideas.  Worry about excuting them… NOT assassinating them.”

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Writers block comes from three things…
Performance anxiety.  Thinking too much about being good enough or not.
Not trusting your characters, trying to shove a story down a characters throat that does not fit them.
Fear – I have to make a living / will people like this?

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THE BARN AND THE COW:  When a writer is working with an artist, they often have a certain problem.  You ask an artist to draw a barn.  He wants to draw a cow next to the barn, so you say go ahead, draw a cow next to the barn.  But it ends up being a drawing of a cow that happens to have a barn in the background.

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The quote that really stuck out to me was this…

“There is trying to write… and then there is writing.”

]]> http://willterrell.com/2009/08/04/san-diego-comic-con-sketches-j-michael-strazynski/feed/ 0 http://willterrell.com/2009/07/31/san-diego-comic-con-dave-gibbons-sketch/ http://willterrell.com/2009/07/31/san-diego-comic-con-dave-gibbons-sketch/#comments Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:25:34 +0000 admin http://willterrell.com/?p=767 Its been nearly a week since the con and I am still exhausted.  I’ve been busy this week with a lot of business stuff so I’m not quite back into the art swing, but I have several sketches I did of comic book creators at the convention.  After the first couple days of walking around the convention center I started looking for panels to sit in on.  Its been years since I went from panel because I’m usually stuck in a booth somewhere.  I forgot just how informative and inspirational these panels could be.  Some were particularly surprising, I will try to write a little bit about each one the next few days.  One that really struck me was the CBLDF class on figure drawing with Dave Gibbons, the artist on Watchmen and tons of other stuff.  He has some very helpful tips that I tried to scribble down as they flew at us.

Never show action in the middle, but in the beginning or the end of an action.

“Gesture: Not what a thing IS… but what a thing is doing.”

For drawing hands use the big shapes first to get the form (like a mitten) then divide into halves and break down the smaller shapes.

There were quite a few others, but I’m tired and need to get to sleep.  I’ll post more Monday.

-Will

This is a quick drawing I did to give someone as a gift. I really love Uncle Scrooge. Ducktales was my absolute favorite show when I was a kid, and as I got older the Uncle Scrooge comics were the first comics I started buying myself, which led to Spiderman and everything else. It wasn’t till a few years ago that I started to learn about Carl Barks, but I have become a huge fan. He was such an amazing writer. He could start in any innocuous situation and it would quickly grow into incredible wild adventures, like no other. I’m not alone in adoring Carl Bark’s work, I’d read recently that Bark’s Scrooge stories were a partial inspiration for George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg creating Indiana Jones. Reading the classic Scrooge stories, you can clearly see why.

-Will

-Will