Animation - Marsupilami

I explained before how I chose to work on Marsupilami as a character designer.

In retrospect.... it probably was a mistake.

Why??

Well there are probably some reasons that I will forget to mention, but for starter...... the very first second that I started working on the show...... I was already 2 weeks late.

That is something that happens wayyyy too often in animation.

They get you started on a project that is already late..... and it is expected that you will work nights and week-ends to deliver the show on time. To get the project back on schedule.

And even when you do so..... gratitude is NOT something you should expect in return.

Heck I mentioned before how the people that almost lost the Papyrus contract were the ones chosen to work on Pirate, the next project after Papyrus. That was a great example that you should not expect any gratitude from a studio.

Most studios do not remember that thanks to you... the show was delivered on time, or that they did not lose a contract thanks to you.

But they sure as hell remember when you came to work 5 minutes late or something like that though.

But that is to be expected.... it usually is how it works.

Do whatever it takes to get the show on time... and don't expect anything in return.... other then your paycheck that is. ;)

In the case of Marsupilami.... to make matters even worse..... I had never worked/drawn in such a style.

So not only did I have to put the show back on track.... but I had to learn to draw like the artist that created Marsupilami.

It was not easy.

And to make matters even worse..... one of the designers was under the illusion that he was the art director of the show or something and kept on insisting for revisions/changes to be made.

And to make matter even more worse.... yes it is always possible to be worse.... the director left the project and was replaced by some "Big Shot" who would keep on bragging that "he would turn this crappy show into a great one".... or something like that. So once again... the "Big Shot" would also ask for a truckload of revisions to "improve" the quality of the show.

But despite all the bragging in the world..... what he ended up doing was as "crappy" as what was done before he was there..... heck maybe even more crappy for various reasons.

It happens.

There often are some big egos who think they can do a better job then everyone else.

And when it turns out that what they did is no better then what was done before, then they come up with a laundry list of excuses as to why it is not their fault.

And to make things again once more even worse.... yes again it can always get worse.... working on design pay by the week. So working on Marsupilami paid something like $900 per week... no matter if I was working 40 hours or 90 hours per week..... it still was $900.

Which is fine since it is how it usually works..... but when I was offered the job.... no one told me that I would be 2 weeks behind schedule right from the start.

Already for someone like me.... being paid per week at the time usually meant taking a pay cut. And it is even worse if I have to work 90 hours per week instead of 40 hours per week to catch up with the crazy deadline.

I was offered to work on layout and posing on various other projects which paid for each scene that you make.... on any of those.... I would have made about $1200 per week for about 40 hours of work. Heck if I had worked nights and week-ends like I did the first month or two on Marsupilami I could have made $2000 per week or more.

So at the time, for me, I was making more money when I was paid per scene as opposed to when I was paid per week??

Why??

Was I such a fast artist??

Not really.

But I had developed some working habits that allowed me to be as effective as I can be.

The first time I was being paid per scene.... it was when I was working on Bob Morane. I tried to work during the day the same as when I was part of the design team.

Not a good idea.

During the day in the studio.... you often get interrupted. For example there are always people who are eager to chat.

So if you take an hour to chat with a buddy..... then you end up having to work one more hour at night since you were not paid for the hour you were talking.

So it quickly was obvious that if I wanted to get my work done... I had to take certain steps to maximise my production.

So what I did is that when working on layout & posing, I started working at the studio from 8PM to around 6AM or 8 AM.

Just doing that allowed me to greatly increase my productivity. So I was able to make a lot of scenes per week.... and heck I often was able to make my workload in 3 and a half or 4 days. So I would end up with a longer week-end..... or I could do some extra work for a bigger paycheck.

Sure it was a little drastic, but it was the best way to avoid any distractions and be 1000% (not a typo... I really mean 1000%) focused on my work.

It allowed me to not only do a lot of work.... but some damn good work as well.... if I can say so myself. ;)

Heck at some point I started working during the week-end instead and would take my week-end off during the week.

On a great week.... I would come to work on Friday around 8PM, and I would stay at the studio and work until the following Monday morning (I would get some sleep and eat when I would need to) around 6AM or 8AM.

And often my work would be done and I would be off until the following Friday.

Ahhhh....... how I miss those days.

Although that is something that you can do when you have no obligations. I can't imagine someone with 3 kids working with that kind of schedule.

But sadly when you work on design that is not an option. Even if you work at night or during the week-end, you HAVE to be at the studio from 9AM to 5PM.

Why??

There are always people who will need you around to answer whatever questions they might have concerning the designs.

Heck there are times when all you do is answer poeple's questions from 10AM to 4:30PM. So sometimes the only time you can actually do your work is before 10AM and after 4:30PM.

So while I was on Marsupilami..... I had many reasons not to be very happy to be working on that project. And I am sure that I forgot to mention another reason or two.

At some point, the contract of the other character designer on Marsupilami was almost finished. So I was expected to finish the production being the only character designer.

It was not going to happen.

I called in a meeting and asked that they keep the other guy and that they let me go instead.

I had been offered to go work on the Arthur Christmas Special and had decided to accept that offer.

Despite being up-front with the studio and leaving them in the good hands of the other designer who was drawing in the Marsupilami style much better then I did, and although the studio said that everything was fine, it was the last time I worked for them. I got the impression that they really weren't happy that I did not stay on Marsupilami until the end.

But I may be mistaken.

So at long last.... working on Marsupilami was behind me.

And that was good.

Until next time.

Mister Crimson Episode 25

Mister Crimson Episode 25
In which a new player joins the cast...
Read it here .:

Free Comics Monday: Alias The Spider

There were many archer characters during the Golden Age, but one of the more interesting was Quality's Alias the Spider. Below is Pierre's version of the character.

From Wikipedia:

The Spider was, in reality, playboy Tom Hallaway. Hallaway had tired of seeing criminals have their own way harassing and murdering honest citizens, so he adopted the guise of The Spider to settle the score. The Spider fought crime in a yellow shirt and blue shorts. He was armed with a fairly ordinary bow and arrows, a special car known as The Black Widow, and the assistance of his valet Chuck (who helped out Hallaway in both of his identities without anyone making any sort of connection). He also had a special arrow he called the "Spider's Seal", which had a flat disc on the end he shot at thugs' hands to disarm them.

[ Crack Comics 6 ]

Only one adventure of the Spider has ever been reprinted by DC Comics (which acquired the Quality Comics stable of characters when the company went out of business in 1956), the story from Crack Comics #25, which saw print in Detective Comics #441.

The Spider later showed up a few times in the pages of All-Star Squadron and The Young All-Stars, though only in a cameo role. As a Quality Comics character, he was one of the heroes who went with Uncle Sam to protect Earth-X during World War II, becoming part of the Freedom Fighters. This was the fulfillment of a storyline that began in Justice League of America #107 - 108, which introduced most of the Quality Comics' characters to the DC Universe (previously only Plastic Man and Blackhawk had been used). - wikipeida

[ Crack Comics 11 ]

Enjoy!

PCDW Now and Future Ad Revenue

Wow, there is talk all over the Internet concerning Diamond's distribution [they distribute comic books] raising their thresholds [the amount of books a publisher must sell each month in order for Diamond to distribute them], and Marvel comic books raising their cover price to 3.99 a book.

These are both very large revelations, the effects of either one could easily be debated indefinitely [and probably will be for some time]. That also means each event's Paper Comics Death Watch score would be very high indeed. You might say, and I'm going too, their scores would be incalculable [particularly since the entire scoring process is completely made up].

PCDW Score: ∞

With prices and thresholds going up at the same time, digital comic books are looking like a better and better alternative to all sorts of publishers...

Ads/Ad revenue

Ad revenue is largely believed to be the primary revenue source comic book companies use to make money. The more comics they sell, the larger an audience they can offer to their advertisers for which the publisher can demand a higher price for the space to advertise in the comics themselves.

Ads are becoming more and more frequent in comics and have been for years. Lets look at two similar comics for comparison:

In July 1984's Tales of the Teen Titans there are 25 story pages and 6 ad pages [not including the inside front and back cover].


In March 2009's Titans there are 22 story pages and 9 ad pages [again not counting the inside front and back cover]. That's an increase of thirty percent non-story pages for the consumer who's now getting less product for more money.

PCDW Score: 1000

Both issues have one single "info page" [weren't they doing letter pages in '84?] as their last printed page before the cover.

In the '09 Titans 8 of the 9 ad pages were for "in house" products [products that either directly or indirectly sold DC/Warner Bros. items that are related to comic books] and the 9th one is an ad for the movie "Push" which may still be linked to Warner Bros in some manner not advertised on the page it self.
In the '84 Titans only 2 of the 6 pages are "in house" ads. Others include ads for Nabisco and Kmart among others.

Now why would DC do that? Do you think they stopped selling ad space to Nabisco and Kmart? Not likely. Do you think Nabisco and Kmart [or any other advertiser] have pulled out of advertising in comics for some reason? More likely.

In either event why then would DC fill the ad pages with "in house" products? Why not take the opportunity to pull those pages from their books so they could print fewer pages, lower postage costs to the retailer, and make more money on each issue?

PCDW Score: 5000

Digital Comics fixes all of these problems.

With digital comics you could put any combination [within a tolerable limit] of extra ads into each issue of each comic book at little or no cost to the consumer or retailer. This is free money being thrown down the drain or left on the table as they say. Companies are all ready producing digital advertising for them selves and other retailers.

It would cost Kmart and Nabisco absolutely nothing to email over 10 pdfs to Warner Bros. instead of just one pdf to be placed in the digital comic book.

PCDW Score: 6000

And the hits just keep on coming. With web2.0, nu media, and social networking it would not be difficult at all for a comic book publishing company to interview you as the subscriber and fill your digital downloaded comic book with advertising that pertains specifically to you.

Your taste. Your gender. You're age group.

PCDW Score: 7000

I could go on here with eliminating the cost of paper from publishing comic books all together [the green way to go].

There's also the added benefit of a permanent archived library of every comic book published digitally. No more second printing, back orders, or purchasing on Ebay.

If say, in thirty years, someone wants to download Judd Winick's run on Titans they can do so from the publishing company just as if it were the same day it was released. The consumer doesn't have to worry about quality, clarity, or loss of value since its pristine kept digitally forever.

PCDW Score: 8000

Have a nice weekend


~Caine

Pierre Speaks: Putting Things in Perspective

While I was re-reading my last few blogs to try to decide what my next one would be about.... I could not help but think that some of my past blogs might give the impression that I am a bitter old fart who hates certain creators.

I don't hate certain creators.

But it can happen that I hate some of their work. I don't hate Brian Bendis, Jeff Loeb.... heck even Joe Q just to name a few. ;)

But I do hate some of their work. It's nothing personal.... since I never even met those guys. They could be great guys as far as I know.

But I hated/was not too crazy with the work they did for Hush, Batman/Superman: Public Enemies, House of M, Secret Invasion.... and of course.... One More Day. ;)

But I loved some of their work as well.

I loved Batman; the Long Halloween.

Batman/Superman; Vengeance (Batzarro was priceless), Sam & Twitch, Powers: Who killed Retro Girl,

and Sword of Azrael. ;)

I know that it is sometimes difficult for people to separate the man from the work.

And it is sometimes even harder for the creators to do so.

When someone says to a creator that his work suxxor, it is very difficult for most creators not to take it personally.

When you have spent countless hours behind your desk/drawing table trying to do the best possible work you can under the circumstances... it is difficult for some when all those hours spent end up with a crappy result.

It is even worse when the creator THINKS he did a great job.

Most have a tough time being objective when it comes to their own work, but I will stick with the artistic side since it is what I know best. Why is it so hard being objective??

It would probably take me a dozen blogs trying to come up with an answer to that one..... so I won't even try to.

But one trick I have picked up through the years is to look at the work of someone who you think is about at the same skill level as you are. Looking at his work objectively.... look at what he does well.... and look at the mistakes that he makes as well... then turn around and approach your own work keeping in mind the analysis you just made of someone else's work.

It does help to put things in perspective.

Sometimes it will help you spot in your work the same mistakes you just saw in his work.

I learned that while I was working on Bob Morane.

When I was working on Bob.... one of the many things I ended up doing was "fix" other people’s drawings.

So one day.... one of the main designer with who I was friendly came to my desk and we started chatting. As we were talking, he picked up the latest design pack from my desk and started looking through it.

And as he was flipping through it, he could see some of the changes we had made to the various designs. As he was looking through the design pack, he kept on saying how the changes were fair, justified, necessary, even a huge improvement over the original design.

But that was as he was seeing the changes that was done to the work of the other designers.

His designs were at the bottom of the design pack.

It was an illumination to see his face as he turned the page and saw the first of his designs.

He was not happy.

Not happy at all.

And the more he kept on looking through the pack, the less happy he was, and the more he was literally swearing as he turned each pages.

We did nothing different in the case of his designs. We did the same changes/modifications/"improvements" no matter who the designer was.

And he thought we had done the right thing..... with everyone else’s work.... but not when it came to his work.

In his mind.... what he was doing was EXACTLY what was needed.

Every line was perfect and should not have been changed for any reason.

Although he could SEE how the work of the other designers had been "improved".... he could not turn this around and apply it to his own work.

But it sure helped me realize that I could look at my own work through the work of others.

Although I can understand some of his surprise.

A few weeks before, he was telling me how, unlike some of the other designers, he was never getting ANY revisions. He was telling me how his designs were always right from the start and how even some of the designers were following his lead.

But what he did not know was that he was not given any revisions because somebody else was doing the revisions for him.

So it gave him the ILLUSION that his work was perfect.

On some projects, some of the artists are not receptive to making changes to their artwork. So sometimes the supervisor/art director/director does not ask them to make revisions to the artwork. The supervisor/art director/director would either make the revisions themselves, or ask someone else to make the revisions.

Why?

It is sometimes easier that way.

When faced with an artist that does great work, but that will fight you every inch of the way if you ask them to make changes to their work, it sometimes will be decided to just let the designer do what he does as long as he produces great work, and have someone else fix the work.

So with that in mind, the last thing he expected was to have some changes made to his designs.

Heck, sometimes it was not even changes, it was just making the drawing tighter as we were cleaning it.

I have been put in the position of fixing someone else's work wayyyy too often.

It can be awkward sometimes.

Once also on Bob, as the director was telling me what needed to be fixed on a design, he had not seen that the designer was standing just 3 feet away from us.

When he turned around and saw the designer it was a little awkward.

Although in that case the designer did not know why the director did not simply ask him to fix the design since he would have happily done so.

But sometimes, it is not a matter of not wanting to make the changes.

In that case, the director felt that the designer would not be able to make what he wanted even if he asked him. Or he might be able to, but would need to change it and change it a dozen times to finally get it right.

So once again.... it was easier/quicker just to ask me to fix it.

That too is something that I can turn around to gain a new perspective.

Everyone has their work changed.... even me. ;)

Heck even Kirby had changes made to his work by the truckload.

But whenever I see the changes made to Kirby's work.... I can turn around and look at my own work and not be devastated if it ends up being changed.

Heck if the work of the "King" was "fixed"..... then so can mine. ;)

But also while fixing the work of many others though the years..... I would not think less of them just because I had to "fix" their work. I was not thinking that they were any less talented because I was changing their work.

But sometimes it did not match with the style of the project we were working on... or heck sometimes the drawing was fine but just did not match with the vision that the director had in mind (will have to make a blog about that one day).

It happens.

So using that, I can turn it around and apply it to me. I can use that to cut myself a little slack if my work gets changed/fixed.

To get back to the creator's I mentioned.... that too is something I can turn around to gain a new perspective.

If I can hate some of their work.... but not think less of them because of it. When someone hates my work.... I can also use that not to think less of me. ;)

I can use that to put things in perspective and not take it personally.

Until next time.

Mister Crimison: Episode 24

Mister Crimson Episode 24
In which we get a hint at the Mayor's plans...
Read it here .:

Free Comics Monday: Pierre's Airboy and The Heap

As with last week, today I will preview two more characters that will be making cameo appearances in our Trial of the Red Death comic.

First here's Pierre's Airboy using what we call his Bob Morane style...

And an issue of Airboy Comics featuring Airboy.

[ Airboy Comics vol 4, number 11 ]

And here is Pierre's The Heap. By the way, when I say cameos, I really want to stress the fact that these will be minor appearances in our comic. (So, don't go getting all lawyered up yet McFarlane.)

And here is an issue of Airboy Comics featuring The Heap.

[ Airbody comics vol 9, number 7 ]

Enjoy!