Dude, this is my third BLOG entry tonight. And it really doesn't follow any "what I did this day, that day" type of feel. Thats below. This is more just my random thoughts, spewed out from my large flabby head to my stubby fingers, to the great internet for you to read. Enjoy:
I need to start drinking coffee again. Seriously. I never ate alot when I drank coffee. Perhaps, I can eliminate eating completely and just survive on coffee and bagels. Its been done. I believe its called the "hippie method." Only I would avoid the weed infested brownies.
I was just looking up journal entries and pics on one of my favorite comic book creators. Man, he has a great life. No big Marvel or DC exclusive deal, but a loyal cult fanbase following, he travels alot, sees and meets all sorts of cool people, and is able to live comfortably on what he makes with his art. Its so fucking unreal to see this evidence. You CAN do what you want for a living.
I bought Dream Theater's new music DVD this weekend. On the disc is a documentary about the band and how they started from nothing, into the prog masters they are today. Well loved and received by a loyal fanbase. Something Mike Portnoy the drummer said on the end of it stuck with me. "Don't ever stop following your dream. Don't let anyone say you can't do your dream. You gotta make it happen." Something akin to that and the message is clear. Its my greatest fear that I will not ever be able to do what I want to do. Drawing comics is a part of that, but being able to sustain my family financially on just my artwork.... man, thats something. How I long for that to happen.
When I shopped at TARGET this past weekend, I noticed that in thier DVD section, they got a INDIE section now. Funny enough, all the movies in that section are award winners. Capote, Boys Don't Cry, Being John Malkovich, etc. Wheras, all those in the regular section (Dude, Where's My Car, Clueless, American Pie) didn't win anything. But, they made TONS of money. I had a similar vibe at the past Chicago show. Not to butter myself up or anything, but I do the kinds of books that are award winning type of books. Slice of life type of things. I don't make alot of sales, wheras any book that follows a trend, will. Case in point, this past show it was ZOMBIES! Every book that had a zombie in it, sold. And there were hundreds of these books man. Hundreds. In a way, it was disheartening. But again, I was at WIZARD WORLD COMIC CON. WIZARD magazine is the rag that tells people what is and isn't cool, and usually it caters to the big "two". No where will you find the books that I read in that mag. But, do they cover the Ignatz Awards? The Harveys? Not at all. But whatever is hot, next and babalicious.
Despite the constant worry about me never making money doing what I love doing, I never worry about it. Why? Cause I LOVE DOING IT! Let me tell you a story....
I was sitting on campus sorting through copied pages from my upcoming TRADEBOOK #1 release. I was looking at all this old art, wondering if I should even bother. "why am I doing this? I never make money doing this. What makes me so special? I am one in a million artists doing this. I just need to stop, cause I am gonna get no where." Trust me, if you are an artist, you know this self imposed torturious speach. But just as I was thinking that, a man walked up to me and said:
"Hey, You're Adam Talley right?"
I said, "Yeah."
"Man, I love, LOVE your comics. They are so funny and so deep man. I can see myself in your comics. Absolutely. I love them."
"thanks man. Right on."
"It must be really hard to do this self published work on your own. I mean, you got no financial backing. You gotta support it all yourself. Its hard ain't it?"
I said,. "It can be sometimes."
He said, "But man,it really is worth it. I totally get what you are doing and its good. We need your kind of creativity in the world. Those that really care are out there and I'm glad to see you are a part of that. Keep up the good work man." and then he left.
Immediately, I put the pages away and started sketching the next few thumbnails of a script I had written for the next Tradebook. Ever since that day, I haven't doubted myself, or my destiny. Not once. What I DO worry about though, is HOW and WHEN it will happen. There is no doubt in my mind that everyone around will hear about my work. Its just, WHEN and HOW it will come to pass that frustrates me. I may not be the best artist in the world, but I know that I got something special going on. Its something I will never give up on. And if its one fan, or one hundred million fans, Wizard fan awards or Harveys... it doesn't matter to me. What matters is the printed page that I create. The world in the pages that I create for people to escape the pain of the world around them. Even for a brief moment, its an escape.
thanks for listening to me.
T
No comments:
Post a Comment