Sorry I haven’t done any direct blogging in a while—it’s not that I’m avoiding you!  Indeed, I’ve missed this.

This Friday is the last episode of Johnny Saturn no. 9!  After this, we’ll be moving into the realm of double digit issues!  Benita and I have been hard at work on writing issue 10, and I can promise that it delivers.  Big action, big reveals, big shockers—its all there!  This is not me trying to be a circus announcer, promising things that may or may not be true to bring the crowds in.  Issue 10 will deliver the goods!

Issues 7 and 8 of Johnny Saturn have arrived from the printer, and they look gorgeous!  I will let you know when I put them up in the store.  With issue 9 essentially done, we may well have it printed in time for Wizard World Chicago this year.  I still have a few mistakes to correct, and a cover to paint, but otherwise it’s done.

Inside the Book, our long-running behind-the-scenes feature, will begin with a new phase of material next week.  It’s cool!

Scott Austin, creator of Heroes Inc., one of my favorite webcomics ever, made an interesting ad—this kid has great reading taste!  If you have not read Heroes Inc., I fully endorse it.  Tough as nails action, old superheroes, it’s all right down my alley.  In other words, if you like Johnny Saturn, it is very likely that you will also enjoy Heroes Inc.

This piece was created in Sketchup by my new friend, Joe Singleton.  I took and immediate liking to Joe, because he’s around my age and we share a lot of the same references.  Joe is also an excellent cartoonist, and has created a thrilling webcomic, Ad Astra.  Ad Astra is unique among the strips I’ve read in that it comes with a long, highly developed history, giving its world a sense of substance and realness.  I’ve added Ad Astra to my RSS feed, and you should too.

Scott.

We are proud to announce that we’ve joined ComicsXP, and that Story Studios’ publications will be available in digital format there. Furthermore, we are happy to be featured on their site in the Publisher Spotlight. ComicsXP is unique among digital retailers, offering an elegantly functional comic reader that is intuitive in its use, and plans to expand their service into a magazine, gift cards, and a wide array of features that will bridge the gap between traditional and digital fan bases.

I rarely do book reviews, but I would like to suggest that anyone interested in a career in comics get Andy Schmidt’s “The Insider’s Guide to Creating Comics and Graphic Novels,” published by Impact books. Most how-to books written for comics cover the same, well-trodden tracks and fail to impart anything new or interesting. In fact, it seems the common approach is divide comic how-to books up by genre, not by technique. So, you can find books how to draw cartoon superheroes, or zombies, or crime noir, or what have you, and they all essentially pedal the same information but couched in terms of individual genres. Schmidt’s book doesn’t do this.

Furthermore, Andy Schmidt’s book is written from an editor’s perspective, which is different than that of the penciler, inker, colorist, and/or letterer. The concerns he lays out are part of the whole storytelling experience, making for a sort of holistic approach to creating sequential art. He covers composition and staging quite well, and some of his opinions were illuminating even to me, after all the years I’ve done this. Then, he goes on to inking, coloring, and lettering, and the inevitable “breaking in” chapter.

This is not a “how to draw” book, but I do see it as potentially informative for cartoonists of just about any skill level. Schmidt’s writing is refreshingly straight forward and concise, and he has a way of making even complex topics clear. I give “The Insider’s Guide to Creating Comics and Graphic Novels” an A.

Good Morning, Folks!

Something occurred to me Saturday night-on the web, the distinction between the comic strip cartoonist and the long-form comic artist has just about faded away. It feels like we’re all in the same boat again, and two disciplines that broke apart decades ago are finally spiraling back together. On the web, cartoonists produce sequential art to be distributed one episode at a time. Some comics are funny, some are individual story beats in a greater tale; some have continuity and character development, and some don’t. I for one think this is all tremendously cool.

Thirteen years ago, I labeled myself a “comic book penciler,” or more simply “penciler” to those inside the community of comic enthusiasts. Now I call myself a cartoonist. I once heard John Byrne refer to himself as a cartoonist, and it caught me off guard, because that wasn’t the title I figured he would bestow on himself. He’s a legendary comic artist, right? Well, he’s also a writer and inker and letterer, and he’s capable of delivering everything but color. (Actually, he might color, but I’ve never seen an example of that, so…) Then, there where the John Byrne guest strips in Funky Winkerbean. So, if “cartoonist” is good enough for John Byrne, it’s good enough for me.

I don’t call myself a webcartoonist (or webcomicker, etc.). The comics I make also get printed on paper. At this point in time, I don’t feel that printed comics are any more valid than webcomics, or less valid. A comic is a comic, and the medium of delivery shouldn’t enter into it. The web is an outstanding form of distribution, with lots of great opportunities to get the work out (RSS, email, iPhones, and so forth), but in the end it is still a form of distribution.

I don’t want to ignore the role the web has had on content, though. Print comics tend to be orientated around superheroes, horror, fantasy, and a few other genres. Web comics have been able to explore far wider subject matter, often wildly mixing genres, and free from many of the print format limitations. There are lots of reasons for this. For one, since it is relatively cheap to put out a webcomic, cartoonists can really experiment with all sorts of subject matter that wouldn’t fit into mainstream print comics. Another reason is that younger cartoonists have been attracted to the web, and these people aren’t hobbled by preconceived notions of what comics are and how they should or shouldn’t be presented.

For a short while, it appeared gimmicks might swallow webcomics. Partial or full animation, sound tracks, infinite canvas, these all proved to be more annoyances than advances in sequential art and storytelling.

Superheroes came to the web with comics, but they are a rarity in webcomics. Most superhero webcomics are parodies of print comics, and few are drawn in the same style they are presented in mainstream comics. I’d like to think “Johnny Saturn” stands out because of this.

So, there you go. In a decade of participating in the indy comic scene, I never had even a tenth as much fun or satisfaction as I have in the webcomic scene.

Scott.

Hi, Folks:

Consider this particular blog more a production blog, because I’ve got a lot of plates in the air at the moment.

Item: I’m working on next month’s big sale, which will involve new merchandise, digital downloads, and some free stuff.  I had some technical issues to overcome, but now I’ve done so—Yay, me.

Item: The cover to issue seven is quite haunting—it surprises even me, and I drew it.  Benita came up with the original concept, and then I took a symbolic twist on it.  You know, I didn’t leave a space in the online archives for it!  I’m not sure how I’m going to integrate it into the collected web strip…

Item: I’m working on a cover for a future Coscom book about zombies, and it’s coming along very well.  I’m not sure if I’m going to show it off here or not, because I haven’t asked the editor/publisher for permission to do so yet.  Maybe I will.

Scott at the Indianapolis Art Center

Item: The other night, I watched the animated “Batman: Gotham Knight” movie.  It’s gritty and progressive in a way that reminded me of that animated Matrix movie.  I was appropriately diverted, but at the same time I don’t feel the urge to go purchase a copy of my own.  I still maintain that one the best Batman movies ever was the animated “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.”  I also like the Director’s cut “Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.” 

Item: Remember, I’m on Twitter now, and you can follow me at http://twitter.com/SStory.  Twitter has been helpful in keeping track of people I know throughout the comic industry, and beyond, the way Myspace used to.  I still have my Myspace page, but I think I’m going to repurpose it.

Most cartoonists, and artists in general, would prefer to just sit and draw and cartoon.  I’ve often been in the position, when engulfed in website work and business, that all I really wanted to become a cartoonist for was to draw.  A great many artists are naturally shy, are a bit introverted, and have rich inner lives.  I know what this is like, because all this describes me.  Over the years, in the indie comic world and the webcomic world, I’ve met a great number of folks who are just like me in this regard.  (Indeed, it’s shocking how man pudgy, balding guys with facial hair and glasses I’ve met who do the exact same thing I do!)

Being introverted is just fine, especially if you are drawing for your own amusement and nothing else.  Being a cartoonist, especially a webcartoonist, means that you have to break out of your shell and learn how to be a salesman and community builder.

If you are a natural salesman, and a real people person, then good for you!  This is not written for you, and you can stop reading now.  If you are a member of the “everyone else” subset of people, then take heart—you can learn to be a salesman, and to wear many hats.

Hats are as good an analogy as any for all the roles you will have to fill as a webcartoonist.  Not only do you have to cartoon, but you have to be a webmaster, a salesman, a promoter, a community builder, and a business person all wrapped into one person. 

What I’m not writing about here is how to close a sale, or how to write a press release, or how to do a book signing, or any of that.  There are great guides available for these things on the web and in bookstores.  No, what I’m referring to is changing your attitude and learning to step out of your comfortable shell and put on the promoter’s hat.  You have to promote yourself, because it’s unlikely anyone will do it for you.

First up, you have to put aside any distaste you might have of salesmanship, merchandising, and becoming commercial.  In the beginning you may well feel that you are an ‘Artist’ with a capital ‘A,’ and that commerce and sales are somehow beneath you.  Maybe you’ve never actually expressed this, but you may well feel it subconsciously, as if becoming commercial were ‘selling out.’  I won’t address the whole issue of ‘selling out’; if you have issues with it, get out in the commercial world for a few years, earn a living, pay your bills, and see art for what it is: A product.  You are a producer, and your art is a product, and as such it has a value.  If you can’t deal with this, then you may well enjoy a long career as a fine artist, and maybe your work will become quite valuable after you die.

Next, learn to tell everyone about your work.  Tell family, friends, acquaintances, perfect strangers, everyone!  Learn to mingle with crowds and introduce people to your work!  Learn public speaking, and spread the word!  Pass out business cards everywhere you go to everyone you meet!  (My webcomic has its own business card, for example.)  Wear shirts with your characters and URL whenever it is socially acceptable to do so.  Comics are meant to be shared! 

Have confidence.  You have to believe that your webcomic is simply the coolest thing ever, that you are doing people a favor by telling them about it.  Do you feel uncomfortable taking money for your product?  Do you routinely cut special deals for people you like or feel sorry for?  Stop It!  Find the right price and stick to it!  If people want your art, and they have the money for it, they’ll buy it!  If they want it, and they don’t have the money, they won’t!  (But, maybe later, when they do have the money, they’ll be back.)  That’s just basic marketing—it’s not personal, it’s business!

Don’t be a Luddite.  I’ve met so many art school students who ‘don’t do the computer thing,’ or just aren’t interested in the internet.  This astounds me whenever I hear it—there was no internet to speak of when I went to high school and college!  I have avidly watched for and usually adopted every new technological advance or internet trend that has come along!  Some younger people may believe that being aloof from the net makes them cool, or rebellious, or different, or whatever.  It doesn’t.  It makes them turtles in the age of hares. 

So, if you learn to sell, have confidence in your work, learn to casually talk with everyone, and use the computer for all it’s worth, you are well on your way to becoming a promoter!