The Penguin

Photo by  bruce mars  on  Unsplash (No, this probably isn't the 637th of these things...but who cares? It looks impressive. Roll Tape!) If you're a creator, at some point you're going to face critique. If you're a creator for money, you're going to definitely face critique...from people with far less imagination than you, who don't get your vision/sense of humor, and - let's face it - you don't particularly like. These could be bosses, coworkers, clients, friends, family, neighbors, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, partridges in or out of pear trees. Anybody. All of these people have vastly different priorities than you, they're looking at the project from a certain budget and time frame, and it often seems like they just don't care that much about artistic merit at all. I'm going to tell you, as a creator for money in both my day job and my side job, that your assumptions about the lack of imagination and creative merit...

That's right, Furious Reader: it's that time again. Time for Rick's Tips for Comic Book Creators. Below are some thoughts I've scraped together over the years I've been slugging away at this whole comics thing: 1. Draw, you fool. Feeling guilty that you drew something unrelated to your comic? That's because you're stuck in "comics rut". Break out. Draw whatever you want. Draw something abstract, something weird, something normal, something everyday. Do some life-drawings of your attractive friends, or better yet, your unattractive friends. Draw outside, draw inside. Sketch the DMV. Doodle in the margins of legal documents (birth certificates are a particular favorite). Draw with paint: this revolutionary new concept is called, "painting". Sculpt something; it ain't drawing, but who cares? Make music, animate, write, read. But most of all draw. The sketchbook is the single most cobwebbed tool in any comic book creators' ars...