June 2013
5 posts
May 2013
14 posts
What is your best advice on how to 1) find and then 2) choose an artist for a graphic novel based on a sci-fi screenplay?
First - sorry to the many, many people whose questions I haven’t answered. I’ve had a lot of work, which I’m thankful for, but if I have to cut back on something it’s going to be posting on tumblr.
Anyway - to your questions.
1) How to find an artist. There’s no simple answer to this. Almost every artist I’ve worked with I’d gotten to know personally from being around the comics scene.
The Internet can be a great place to find artists, as can comic conventions. Find someone you like, tell them you admire your work and politely inquire whether they’d be interested in working with you.
2) Choosing an artist - a lot of that comes down to personal taste and what you think would fit your particular story. A couple things you should look for are - a) can the artist draw sequential pages and tell a story, as opposed to just producing flashy pin-ups? and b) how fast are they?
But before you approach any artist, you should ask yourself the following:
1) Are you prepared to pay an artist up front? No matter how great your story is, or how likely you think it is that your screenplay will become a movie…most artists are going to need to be paid a page rate instead of or in addition to whatever back end there might be. That’s something you’ll negotiate with the artist, but understand it takes a hell of a lot longer for an artist to draw a page than for us writers to write one. They need to be compensated for that time.
2) Is your story 100% ready? The biggest mistake a writer can make is showing someone - whether it’s an artist, an agent, a producer, and editor etc. - a script that isn’t ready. You usually get one chance per reader, so make sure you make it count.
3) Along those same lines…have you adapted your story into a comics script? You can’t just hand an artist a screenplay and expect them to adapt it into a comic. I’ve adapted a couple of screenplays into comics, and I was just hired to adapt one of my comics into a screenplay. And although they are both visual narrative media, they are very different forms, and it’s important to understand that.
Hope that was helpful. I wish you the best of luck in finding someone who will bring your story to life.
Alpha and Omega
The beginning and the end.
Colorist John Rauch just joined tumblr. Follow him!
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“THE DAILY DEAD: Is there any feedback in particular that surprised you? What have you found that readers are taking away from this story?
MARK SABLE: San Diego has a large military community, and when we debuted the book at Comic-Con we had a lot of veterans and active duty service members come up to us. If there’s one thing members of the military and comic fans have in common it’s that they aren’t afraid to speak their mind, so I braced myself for the worst. I could have imagined them pissed at us for trivializing their experiences.
Instead, they thanked us for calling attention to the fact there’s a war going on, something you might not know from walking around the U.S. right now. And they shared their stories, which were heartbreaking.
For me, the most moving reaction was a request from a vet who wanted to use Paul’s cover from the first issue – a helmeted skull with a poppy plant running through it – as a tattoo. He wanted to ink the names of his fallen comrades in the roots. To this day that remains the best interaction I’ve ever had with a reader.
So it’s been particularly rewarding that people who served in Iraq or Afghanistan were not only okay with what we were doing but felt we did a good job of capturing what they’d experienced.
No word from the zombies yet, though.”
” —- from Tamika Jones’ THE DAILY DEAD interview with myself and Paul Azaceta about the GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES TPB, which is available in stores now.
The collections not only features tons of exclusive extras, but a brand new story written and drawn by Paul (his comics writing debut). And if you want to check out the first issue/chapter, you can can do so for free at Comixology here.
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“…It’s cliche to say something like, “this is not your classic zombie story,” especially in the post-Walking Dead world we inhabit. However, very much like Kirkman’s opus, this does feel different. Much of that has to do with Graveyard’s treatment of characters and the messy politics of war; in this case, both with the undead and, more terrifyingly, with ideas….Azaceta’s art accomplishes the admirable task of being expressive without being overly detailed, and pairs gorgeously with the story.”
SCORE: 5/5
-from Steven E. Paugh’s review of THE GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES TPB on ComicBastards.com
” —An excerpt from @StevilEmpire’s @ComicBastards AMAZING review of GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES, which you can (and should) read in its entirety here. It’s maybe my favorite review of anything I’ve written ever, not just because it was given a perfect score, but because it’s incredibly informed, thoughtful and well written. That someone even took the time to engage with the comic I’m most proud of this deeply means a tremendous amount.
(Edited to include a working link and a quote about Paul’s art).
