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creative decisions

Whatever Works

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

In art, two plus two doesn’t always equal four. Using the same method or the same pen as Stephen King will not make you Stephen King. You need to find out what works for you, by trying out a bunch of different ways.

“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”

Some people work within very strict boundaries – setting a timer or planning out everything in detail ahead of time. Others work more intuitively, making it up as they go along. As long as you get a result – and a result that you can be satisfied with – it matters less how you got there. But to make a living as a creative, you need to be able to repeat the process, so it might be a good idea to take a few mental notes along the way. Be conscious of what it is you do and how you spend your time, so you can make the most of it.

It frustrates me to no end seeing other artist just killing it, when their working methods are obviously flawed. I have to remind myself that we’re not all wired the same way and what works for me doesn’t necessarily work for them and vice versa. I interviewed a friend of mine who’s a very successful writer, after he got a three-year grant from the Danish Arts Council. I was cripplingly envious (can you imagine that? THREE YEARS of rent covered!) and decided I needed to figure out how he got to that place. During the podcast interview it came to light that my friend was envious of the colleagues who could sit down and write for more than four hours. I can personally write for ten hours straight, if the family will leave me alone. So as it turns out, we all have our own struggles and comparing makes little to no sense. 

If you want to derail yourself by looking at people better than you and being envious of their success, go right ahead. There’s a free resource called Instagram that’s perfect for that activity.

It took me many years to accept my own method in writing. Everyone I talked to seemed to write chronologically, apparently that’s what you’re supposed to do. But when I tried this method I would always get stuck somewhere in chapter five or whenever I hit a point in the story I wasn’t able to figure out at that given moment. I completely gave up and walked away from a few books that way.

I later figured out that skipping ahead and writing something I can figure out, I’ll keep my momentum and avoid getting stuck. I’ll get an idea for a piece of dialogue while I’m trying to write a synopsis or get an idea for the end while I’m writing the beginning. Apparently I’m just too much of a scatterbrain to work from A to B to C – and that’s OK! As long as I get to the end. Today I’ll allow myself to jump around, thereby short-circuiting whatever is blocking my way. I don’t care if this is the right method or not, I’ve become very good at ignoring what other people think.

You have to try stuff and fail a lot before you find what works for you. Maybe you’re a night owl and that’s when you seem to create your best work. A musician I know consistently sleeps late, while his wife drops their son off at school. He hangs with the family all day and goes to the studio after he put his son to bed at night, working until the sun comes up. Others insist that the morning hours are the most productive.

Perhaps you like working with crayons while your colleagues use markers or watercolor. See if there’s anything in their tools or working methods you can learn from – then go do your own thing.

—-

This post is an excerpt from my book SOLO – Survival Guide for Creative Freelancers available now in print, audio and ebook format.

Filed Under: Pro Tips Tagged With: creative decisions, creativity, entrepeneurship, fear of failure, freelance artist, SOLO, solopreneur, success, workflow, working methods, Writing

Video: Creativity Everywhere

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

I was asked to participate in the Creativity Everywhere series on YouTube and talk about my creative process. Click below to see me break down how I work on a comics page, using a page from STILETTO as a concrete example.

On another note; While the pandemic is still affecting people globally I’ve discounted the premium comics course at $5. Go here to claim lifetime access.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: comics, comics craft, creative decisions, creativity, drawing, how to make comics, STILETTO, video, YouTube

Case study: STILETTO

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

While I was working on The Devil’s Concubine, I had the idea for sort of a sequel, involving the two cops, Maynard and Alphonse. The story is heavily influenced by 70’s cop movies like Serpico and French Connection (the sequel being my favorite) and the inciting incident is more or less lifted from Bullitt. Where The Devil’s Concubine was an attempt to make a slick action movie in comic book form, I wanted STILETTO to have a more gritty and realistic feel to it. 

The style is a great departure from earlier, more inspired from my own sketchbook than anything else. Trying to draw in the very slick style of artists like Eduardo Rizzo or my own mentor Peter Snejbjerg never came naturally to me and the process frustrated me to no end. I decided to try “inking” in pencil and painting the whole thing in watercolor – something I was used to doing in my illustration work.

I did a few tests and quickly realized that not only was this drawing process much more fun for me but I could also work way faster. Since making comics takes sooo long, any way to reduce the amount of hours spent on a page is more than welcome.

For the coloringI went for a expressionist approach rather than realism. Since it’s a cop story, the use of the color blue would be obvious. So I decided NOT to use the color blue at all! I only use blue for flashbacks and dream sequences. Keeping the whole book in dirty yellowish clay tones creates a much more startling effect when the characters enter a bar where everything is red or there is a flashback or cut-away panel in blue.

By this point I had stopped comparing myself to Danish peers pretty much altogether and focused on the US market. I felt I had an intriguing premise, a solid script and a style that immediately got people’s attention, when I showed the book to people at cons. So I was surprised when IDW didn’t pick up the book. I thought I was in and then it turned out to be a revolving door!

Although STILETTO was released in Denmark to rave reviews and an award nomination, It took a few years before the book made it to the US market. It only happened because Greg Tumbarello, this guy Chris knew and we kept bumping into at cons, got a new editorial position at Lion Forge. If I remember correctly, I shot Greg a note on Facebook saying congrats on the new job and we got to chatting. He asked about STILETTO, if anyone had picked it up and I was like: “Er, no. You want it?”

Working with Greg on STILETTO (and this book btw!) has been an absolute treat and a truly humbling experience. Greg has turned out to be not only a fun guy to hang out with but also a smart and well articulated editor with a quality lacking in a lot of people working in publishing; he answers his e-mail.

Lessons learned:

Breaking in is a never-ending process and the quality of the work seems not to matter as much as luck or timing. Sometimes a project that seems like a slam dunk will have to take the long road before finding a home. Be patient and persistent. You never know where the next opportunity, ally or friendship will turn up.


This post is an excerpt from my book SOLO – Survival Guide for Creative Freelancers – Pre-order now on Amazon.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: behind-the-scenes, case study, creative decisions, freelance artist, freelance life, graphic novel, Greg Tumbarello, Peter Snejbjerg, pitch, pro tips, process, SOLO, STILETTO, working with editors

The art of Saying No

by Palle Schmidt 2 Comments

There is such a thing as too much success. Meaning you go through periods where there is simply too many things on your plate and you have trouble keeping up. You have to take care of yourself and avoid burnout. Your energy is the most valuable resource of your company. Don’t squander it.

If you ever had a goldfish, you’ll know you have to take care not to overfeed them. The stupid things will keep eating until it kills them. Freelancers are basically like goldfish. We say yes to way too many incoming jobs because we’re afraid of starvation. You never know when you’ll be fed again, right?

While the overwhelm and stress it brings to take on more than you can handle probably won’t kill you, it could seriously damage your health both mentally and physically. If you crash and burn and need months to recover, it will also hurt your business. As a creative, you can’t just hire someone to do your job. Better to divert some of the incoming work before you’re unable to live up to your obligations.

When you say yes to one thing, you’re saying no to something else. While it’s tempting to take on every client, because we never know when they’ll stop calling, it’s a short term strategy that isn’t sustainable. You know how your computer slows down if you have too many open windows and programs running? Your brain is the same way. You don’t want it to crash on you taking you out of rotation for moths, unable to work on bring in any income. Better to say no up front.

Here’s a template you can use to get out of work:

Dear (name),

Thanks for reaching out! I’m sorry to say I can’t currently take on any more work as it would hurt obligations I already have.

I’d like to refer you to (name of colleague/other freelancer) who is both (reliable/insanely talented/great to work with) and (has a similar style to what you’re looking for/not too pricey/smells nice). You can find examples of (his/her) work at (website/Instagram page).

I’m sorry I’m unable to help out this time. Don’t hesitate to reach out again if the opportunity to work together should arise some time in the future.

Best,

(name)

Giving a respectful no is a tricky thing. Now I just saved you the trouble of figuring out how. You’re welcome. Please note that the above template is also applicable to any type of pro-bono work. 


This post is an excerpt from my book SOLO – Survival Guide for Creative Freelancers – Get in now on Amazon.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: avoiding overwhelm, creative decisions, creativity, freelance life, how to say no, saying no, SOLO, solopreneur, stress, template, work for hire, working with editors

Copyright and IP

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

Who owns the rights to a piece of art or a character? Can you sell the same story twice and what if someone steals your artwork?

In most cases and artist hired to do a specific job retains the IP (Intellectual Property) of their work. Creating a jingle, a op-ed illustration or a short story for a magazine doesn’t mean signing off ownership. It means you lease the work you did to a client for a specific purpose and/or time period. If there’s a contract involved this should specify exactly who owns what right but as a rule of thumb, it’s you as the creator. 

In comics, there is work-for-hire (in which case the publishing company owns all the rights) and creator-owned (in which case you bring the project to the publisher and sign off the publishing rights but retain the intellectual property). If you’ve been on retainer or creating something while working for Disney or Microsoft, you bet they will keep the IP – and trying to fight them on it will cause you a lot of time and headaches  and likely bankruptcy.

If on the other hand you were hired to design a poster and the company decides they want to use it for a banner ad or a free give-away sticker, you’ll likely be able to get more money or get them to cease and desist, since you still own the IP. Theoretically you could sell the same piece of work twice but you risk pissing off both clients, where they ever to find out. Comics artists do this all the time, selling original artwork that was printed in a book and I’m sure it’s similar in other industries.

If a client should present you with a waiver or contract leaving them with all the rights to your work for all use in all eternity and known universes, I’d be very wary of signing it. And if I did, I’d expect to be well compensated. Some clients will try to get all the rights but it’s usually negotiable if you push back. If you do sign off say publishing rights, make sure the rights revert back to you after a period of time – the standard is two to three years.

Some of my earlier clients have thought they just owned whatever they bought from me, to use for whatever. I’ve sometimes introduced the idea of rights and been able to charge a higher price for my work, by offering broad usage with no time limit – mostly in cases where I cared less about the artwork, and had no use for it myself. The client might find it more convenient to buy you out from the beginning instead of having to negotiate a new rate every time they find a new use for your jingle, illustration or whatever. And that’s totally fair, as long as they pay premium.

Copyright is another can of worms but basically no one is allowed to steal your work and present as their own or use it for commercial purposes without your explicit permission. There’s something called “fair use” which means if a blogger reviews my comic I can’t very well sue them for using an image from the book.

If you’re a semi-pro artist I’m sure you use stuff like Instagram to promote your art. Some artists are wary of putting their content on these platforms as it might get stolen or copied. And while it certainly happens, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. You can post work-in-progress or detail shots rather than finished artwork and your followers will be just as happy. Besides, the more loyal fans you have out there, the bigger the chance that they will let you know if your work shows up in weird places.

If you do find your work popping up somewhere online you can take two different approaches:

1. Let it go. Usually there’s no ill intent behind it, people just don’t realize that you can’t copy/paste whatever you find online. Or maybe they’re evil bastards (like the people who put my book The Devil’s Concubine on a torrent somewhere in China), who knows? But the chances of you getting them to cease and desist are slim at best.

Usually there’s no ill intent behind it, people just don’t realize that you can’t copy/paste whatever you find online. Or maybe they’re evil bastards (like the people who put my book The Devil’s Concubine on a torrent somewhere in China), who knows? But the chances of you getting them to cease and desist are slim at best.

2. Send a nice e-mail  to the owner of the site, asking them either to take it down or at least credit you – or simply send them a bill! I wouldn’t expect them to pay but it might help persuade them to remove your work from their page.


This post is an excerpt from my book SOLO – Survival Guide for Creative Freelancers – Pre-order now on Amazon.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: comics business, copyright, creative decisions, creator-owned, freelance life, IP, rights, SOLO, solopreneur, work for hire, working with clients

New Book: SOLO – Survival Guide for Creative Freelancers

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

If you’re on the newsletter, you’ve no doubt heard about my upcoming English language book SOLO – Survival Guide for Creative Freelancers.

The book is an attempt to gather my 20 years of experience as an independant creator in several fields – writing, drawing, comics, YA, children’s books, podcasting, teaching.

It’s a well-known fact that more and more jobs will be outsourced to freelance contractors or be project-based. The so called “steady jobs” are a thing of the past. It is time to take control of your own destiny, ownership of your career and your future.

SOLO is written for people who believe in creative living on their own terms. It will focus on people who want a sustainable career, mixing freelance work with creating and selling their own art. My promise is that diving in to the tactics and strategies of this book will help you find a clearer vision to strike out your own path.

Here’s some of what the book covers:

  • How to get started with freelancing
  • How to create a network of people to help build your career
  • How to handle clients and pricing your work
  • How to handle the business side of things
  • How to gain new clients and create several income streams
  • What tools, tactics and templates you can use to sustain you over the long haul

The opportunities for running your own creative business have never been more optimal and the book gives concrete examples and ideas for what your next step could be, no matter where you are in your creative career.

Click the image below to download a free 20-page sample.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: artist, creative decisions, creativity, creator-owned, freebie, freelance, freelance life, indie creators, new book, reading sample, SOLO, solopreneur, work for hire, working methods

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