Manners, manners - lesson 101

Every once so often, and surprisingly several times in the past week, some people contact me because they've written a story and it'd be awesome if I could draw the pages, for free or for commission price.
(FYI, in publishing, that's work-for-hire, and you are asking the artist to sell you the copyright of their art for commercial use, which would cost you between 5 000 $ and 12 000 $ for a 24 page comic book, maybe more depending on who you ask, and in some countries, you'd actually have to share the copyright)

The pattern is usually the same: an email full of flattery (sometimes it's kind, but sometimes it's over the top), I answer politely to say I can't take on new projects because I'm swamped, which is the truth, and I try to be nice and encouraging, because it's also encouraging for me that people like my work (but I'm not even sure they really do) and I don't want to risk being rude to someone genuinely nice, or hurt their feelings. Then I never hear from these guys again, no thank you for answering, no comment, nothing. In two years on DA, not one single of them has ever written back, ever. Unless a year or two later they try again.

And to make things even more ridiculous, those who added me to their watch list five minutes before sending me a note signed "your new fan", take me out of it the moment they see I am of no use to them. Perhaps they think they're very smart and I won't notice?
Why on Earth would I ever want to work with someone who has such contempt for me and my work?

Let's face it, they probably sent that same "you're awesome, work for me" email to every comic book artist they could find on DA.

It doesn't bother me that they don't really like my work, or me for that matter.
What bothers me is that they think I'm some cheap moron fruit you just need to flatter a bit to squeeze some juice out of it, and it bothers me that they can't be arsed to be polite past the sugar-coated BS they try to feed me. I'm a person, even on the Internet.

So big lesson: don't be an ass, be polite. The graphic novel industry is a very small world, everybody knows everybody. So treating artists like disposable tools isn't going to get you anywhere.



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This is advertisement for a French graphic novel, so I'll write in French:

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Achetez-le, les gens! C'est fantabulastique!



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Allez sur leur page FaceBook: tapez Mytho: fr-fr.facebook.com/pages/Mytho…

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C'est RAGNAROK, mes mignons!!!!!!



Avec ses héros partis pour détruire le monde:




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News of the OTHERWORLD!

1- BECOMING - LIMITED AND LETTERED EDITION RELEASED BY SUBTERRANEAN PRESS

BECOMING, Women of the Otherworld, the Graphic Novel, Story by #1 New York Times Bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, Art by Angilram.




I finished the extras for Becoming, the limited edition published by Subterranean Press. There were supposed to be 8 pages, I made 16. 3 pages of comics with Clay, and the rest is entries of the Werewolf Legacy written by Kelley and illustrated by me.

GORGEOUS LIMITED SIGNED EDITION with 6+16 pages of extras:
Limited: 1000 numbered copies, fully bound in cloth, signed by artist and author
Lettered: 26 signed leatherbound copies, housed in a custom traycase, with all profits going to charity

ORDER IT HERE before it's out of stock: www.subterraneanpress.com/Merc…

Of course, you can still buy the regular trade paperback version, with 6 pages of extras here: indyplanet.com/store/product_i… but it's not as pretty!

2- HIDDEN
...  will be the next novella written by Kelley Armstrong and released by SubPress. I'm happy to announce I made the cover art and interior illustrations. Pre-orders are open on the website (links under the deviation)


3- More to come...


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Everything will be done! I don't forget, it just takes time!

Art trades (CLOSED until these are done):
I have four art trades with these lovely ladies:


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Darkest Powers - page up on HarperCollins' official mobile website.
Here's the link: darkestpowers.mobi/