Comics for Beginners

How to Write & Draw Comics

work for hire

Scare Away the Clients

by Leave a Comment

An advanced technique if you have too much incoming work (or just want to test your own limits) is jacking up the price. Just think of what the fair price would be and add thirty percent. If this makes the client run away screaming, great! On less item on your plate. If they accept your shameless price, great! More money for you, and more motivation to move things around in your calendar and put in the extra effort.

I usually give the high price first, being willing to go down, if I meet resistance. You can steal this tactic:

“My going rate for something like this would normally be around (insert high amount)…”

Take a moment. Sometimes the client will jump in going: “That sounds reasonably.” Boom! No need to negotiate further.

If, on the other hand, your hear them fall of the chair on the other end of the line, you can pick up your thought:

“…but since (it’s you/ it’s part of a larger project/ it sounds like a relatively simple task) I’m sure we can work out (a discount/ lower rate/some sort of bundle deal). How about (insert lower amount)?”

Pricing is all about supply and demand. I’m sure you can find plenty of people willing to undercut you. I mean, you can get a freelancer to do almost everything for $5 on Fiverr.com! You do not want to think of that segment as your competition. 

If your unique expression is what the client is looking for, price matters a lot less. They’re paying for you, for your personality and the experience you bring to the table. If a client mentions that they can get the same thing cheaper elsewhere, I’d recommend you simply agree with them and perhaps even direct them to some of your lower paid colleagues. 

What you offer as a professional is something other than bargain prices, it’s industry experience and a unique skill set. If you speak the same language as the client, culturally as well as professionally, you are great at what you do, flexible and accommodating, understanding of your clients needs – those are reassuring qualities worth paying premium for. Especially if you go the extra mile in terms of showing up in person for a briefing, getting on the phone instead of hiding behind e-mail. 

Deliver on your promises every time and the clients will keep coming back – even if some graphic designer in Bangladesh can do the same thing at a tenth of your rate.

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

The art of Saying No

by 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.

Copyright and IP

by 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.

New Book: SOLO – Survival Guide for Creative Freelancers

by 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.

Bonus Video: Choose Your Own Adventure

by 6 Comments

Time to make some tough choices!

As an artist you often have more ideas than you have the time and resources to complete. How do you decide what projects to do next? How do you make sure you’re not just mindlessly taking on all incoming work but stay true to your creative vision? Is strategy even a word in the artist dictionary? And what does a walk in the woods have to do with making comics? Watch the video to find out!

Let me know if this video helps you in any way or what method you use to decide what to work on. Do you even have a method or do you just follow your gut?