[Lunatique]

I was talking to some ex-co-workers at a video game dev house about this:

Comic book people seem to want to get into games, and games people want to get into comics.

Many comic book people have already left comics and joined the game industry(I'm one of them).

It's more rare for video game people to actually do something in comics though.

So, we talked about the topic for a bit, and we brought up the following facts:

1)It you are a no-name comic book guy, chances are you can barely make a decent living doing comics and holding a day job, but if you are a no-name games guy, you are making by default $30,000 to $60,000.

2)games people want to do comics because they're attracted to the idea of "doing your own thing" and the fame associated with comics. But, many know that the chance of starving is high, so they never make the jump. Most never have the time or discipline to do comics on the side as a passion. Game industry hours are grueling as it is already.

3)When you tell people you do comics, the answers are usually:

"oh..." *silence*

"You mean, like Garfield?"

"Can you make a living doing that?"

and if you are lucky, it'll be:

"Oh shit! Really? Did you work on X-Men?"

But, if you tell people you work in video games, their reactions are usually:

"Oh cool! I love games!"

"Oh man, you must make a lot of money, huh?"

"Wow, really? My kids have all these Playstation games. All they do is play games!"

"Oh shit! What games did you work on?"

*sigh*

So, what are your thoughts on this?

[mza]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lunatique:

if you are a no-name games guy, you are making by default $30,000 to $60,000.


"Oh man, you must make a lot of money, huh?"

So, what are your thoughts on this?

---

My thoughts (from someone doing concept art in the games industry):

People tell me all the time, " man, you have the artist's dream job..."

They forget to tell you in art school, that if you work for any large company, and don't want to commute 2-3hrs you'll find yourself living in the most expensive parts of the country.

$60,000 will maybe get you a 1 bedroom apartment, and pay off student loans.
Sorry I'm bitter at the moment

I love where I work, the people are great, and I for the most part get to do what I want. But, when you feel just as broke as when being a art student... well, I guess that's just the nature of the business.

[ March 15, 2002: Message edited by: mza ]

[-HoodZ-]

hmmm damn mza i liked my fantasy of makin money doing concept art than being broke....goddamn reality

[Lunatique]

mza- Yeah, tell me about it. Majority of the game companies are in California(especially Bay Area), and the housing is just ridiculous. It also sucks that when you make more money, you go up a level in your tax bracket. Having 30% of your paycheck taken away leaves you feeling a little...raped. :/

But, it's still better than trying to stay alive in what's left of the American comic book industry.

[Filipino McGee]

My interest in comics has certainly grown over the years while working as game animator; to the point that I'm preparing myself (through study and practice) to create my own books in the future. Though not to replace my day job but to serve as an alternative creative outlet to animating. Similar in a way to Steve Rude's practice of drawing in his sketchbooks after his regular art duties. In the foreword to his published sketchbook, it's pointed that it's basically "playtime" (I'm paraphrasing) when he draws in his sketchbooks at night.

I also want to improve my drawing and storytelling skills. Studying the works and reading about the artistic lives of masters like John Buscema, Gil Kane and contemporary artists like Butch Guise (Ruse), Hiroaki Samura, Stuart Immonen (amongst a long list of personal favorites) just makes me want to write, pencil, ink, and color my own sequentials.

Artists of note that have serve as precedents in successfully combining the fields of animation and comics in their careers: Katsuhiro Otomo, Miyazaki, and Carl Barks.
These guys drew for profit, sure. But I think, most importantly, they have a passion to express themselves in the medium of comics.

[Liser Studios]

man, are you guys retarded? you can make your 30-60,000 a year and not worry about housing. it's so simple. don't you see, the answer was right under your noses!
here's what you do
get a job at somewhere big like marvel or something. make sure you're getting commissions coming out of your arse.
move to the middle of of africa. with the internet, when you finish your page or your concept work, just send them it over the internet. One day of work will pay for a year of housing in somewhere like the Dominican Republic of Congo! Plus there's peace and quiet, as long as you don't let the wild baboons rape you in your sleep.

lol, obviously i'm kidding. don't be too mad at me (especially the "retarded" comment... i was kidding)

anyways
i see what you guys mean. i'm still in high school so i never really thought of housing. right now my dream is to work as a concept artist and do comics on the side. I want to be a concept artist for the next Star Wars or Final Fantasy. I would love being a character designer for an RPG game... that would kick so much butt, i'd shoot myself in the leg 4 times.
i don't want to do comics as much as concept art. as a young-un, my mom wouldn't really let me read comics. well... she would, but she didn't like them, and i felt really stupid if i ever read a comic when she was around. so, i kind of dismissed them... i guess.
but, ever since i started drawing back in 3rd grade, when i got a "how to draw blitz cartoons" video (my dad saw i liked to draw, and i was better than my 6th grade brother, so he got me that to help me along).... well... i never drew exactly what Blitz would draw. I saw how he did it and made my own characters in his way. Later on I was drawing "KO Kombat" a parody of Mortal Kombat... I was making up my own character inspired by the original ones, and I was in about.... 5th grade? Later on, in 6th grade, I remember making up my own characters for a comic strip. It was Tribble the guinea pig and Tyronne the african hunter with a big afro. lol.
i also remember drawing strips (at the big size... like 10 inches wide) and then shrinking them down on the photocopier. then i'd paste it onto a real newspaper and photocopy that, so it'd seem like my own strip was in the paper.
lol... i didn't read comic books, but i loved them comic strips.
so yeah... i've always wanted to create my own characters since i first started drawing. So, I think that's what I really really want to do; but the chances are so darn slim, aren't they?
sorry for the big long post here... just thinking about those few fun times in my past.... ahhh.

[balistic]

I'm thinking of doing a digitally-painted graphic novel and distributing it online. My friend has a system worked out for dealing with micropayments.

I'd be happy to not work another game professionally . . . the industry is too corporate, too marketing-driven. I'll do a 2D fighting game for the hell of it when I retire though