After college when I decided to get into the comic industry. I sent off my portfolio to get a job freelancing as a color artist. Some days I’d open my email with baited breath to see if any publishers wrote. And then finally it happened. I landed a gig!
It was a small publisher but the editor said I caught them at a great time because not only did they need a colorist for some new projects but the were colorizing some of their old titles too. It was a match made in heaven. I wanted a job and they had plenty of work to give me.
I had NO idea back then the kinds of books I was going to be working on, I was just happy to have a gig. I was green, I was the new guy. I was super happy working with them…until I wasn’t. Most of the books I worked were full of violence (think Conan the Barbarian) and I didn’t enjoy showing them around.
When I was out with my friends they would tell their co-workers or family that I was a comic artist and they’d ask what books I was working on. I didn’t want to tell them. I acted like I was in a witness protection program or something. I didn’t mind the content I was working on I just wasn’t glowingly proud to show it to other people. I eventually just started going thru the motions with every title I worked on. And then it happened.
Me and my editor had ‘a talk’. I wasn’t happy and he could see it my work. In the end I wasn’t a good fit and we went in different directions. I still thought he was being a little melodramatic though.
I looked back at all the work that I did for the publisher and… Well, he was right. My initial work was so much stronger. My styles, color palettes, everything! The most recent work I did had NONE of the creativity and NONE of the juice that my earlier work had. It was embarrassing. That was my first gig though so it was a great learning experience for me.
Author and marketing expert Sally Hogshead tells a story about going on an amusement park ride and being offered a green or an orange ticket version of a ride she wanted to go on. The green ticket is the easy and safe version of the ride. The orange ticket is the more adventurous version, complete with safety disclaimers. She took the orange ticket and loved the ride. She went back thru the line and took the green ticket version and learned it was basically the same ride.
What blew her mind though is that everyone with orange tickets left the ride excited, amped up, and talking about the experience. The green ticket holders were no where nearly as cheerful. We could talk about expectations and why this happens but here’s the rub…
My first comic book freelancing gig taught me that life is full of green tickets. And when you get one, it’s YOUR job to change it to an orange ticket and enjoy the ride.
Adam