The Comics Experience Blog

Comics Experience at San Diego’s Comic-Con International, July 9-12, 2015!

Posted on by Nicole Boose

ComicsExperience_logoJoin us at San Diego’s Comic-Con International, July 9-12, 2015!

Comics Experience founder Andy Schmidt will be hosting four panels at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, all listed below. Get ready to be informed and inspired by some of the industry’s most dynamic, experienced, and knowledgeable experts as they discuss the following topics!
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Comic Book Art: Making a Living Doing It
Thursday, 7/9/15 | 4:00 PM-5:00 PM | Room: 30CDE

Join Comics Experience’s Andy Schmidt (Marvel, IDW editor) on the must-attend panel for artists—how to make money as a comic book artist! Learn about maximizing your art potential, pricing your art, merchandizing it and selling it. Don’t just make money—make a living! Spend one hour here with Andy Schmidt, Zander Canon (Top 10) and Reilly Brown (Deadpool, Amazing Spider-Man), then GO MAKE MONEY WITH YOUR ART!

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Breaking Into Comics and Staying In
Friday, 7/10/15 | 3:00 PM-4:00 PM | Room: 30CDE

With the shifting landscape of the comics industry, this is your INVALUABLE guide to breaking into the comics industry. What it takes, whose attention you’re vying for, and how to get it in a productive way, but most importantly, what do you have to do to get up to speed and ready for the big show. Join Comics Experience founder and publisher Andy Schmidt, with Scott Allie (Dark Horse EIC), Joshua Williamson (Nailbiter, Ghosted) and Marvel VP C.B. Cebulski for the best panel on breaking in ever!

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Childhood Dreams Come True: Writing Licensed Characters
Saturday, 7/11/15, 4:00 PM-5:00 PM | Room: 30CDE

You want to write Spider-Man? Batman? Star Wars? Jem and the Holograms? So does everyone else! As a writer, you have to approach your work differently because you’re not just writing for you and your audience, but also for editors and project managers and a company. We’ve all heard the horror stories from creators, but it doesn’t have to be that way. With the right approach, it can be fantastically rewarding. Join Andy Schmidt (Avengers, Transformers), Joshua Williamson (Captain Midnight, Predator, RoboCop), David Marshall (Star Wars), Mike Costa (Spider-Man, G.I. Joe), and Charles Soule (Death of Wolverine), for a look from both sides of the desk—what is the company looking for, and how to navigate licensed characters as a writer.

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Closing the Deal: Everything you Need to Know About Publishing Deals and Contracts
Saturday, 7/11/15 | 8:00 PM-9:00 PM | Room: 30CDE

Your project is going to make millions of dollars—but you have to sign this CONTRACT first—yikes! Join Andy Schmidt (Comics Experience, Marvel, IDW Publishing) and Joe Sergi (The Law for Comic Book Creators) for an in-depth look at comics contracts! What are they, how they work, and what you need to be looking out for when you get one!

A full programming schedule for the convention is available online here. See you in San Diego!

 

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Posted by Nicole Boose
nicole@ComicsExperience.com
Twitter

Artist Phil Jimenez Joins Comics Experience Creators Workshop as Art Moderator!

Posted on by Nicole Boose

Phil JImenezSuperstar artist Phil Jimenez has joined the Comics Experience Creators Workshop as our new Art Moderator!

In this role, Phil will be interacting with Workshop members, and providing feedback in art-centered discussion threads such as the Perspective Drawing and Figure Drawing Sketch Threads. He also plays host to his own “Ask Phil Jimenez” thread!

Phil comes to the community with a stellar reputation for his work on titles including Wonder Woman, Infinite Crisis, New X-Men, and The Amazing Spider-Man, plus many additional credits at Marvel and DC. His work is known for its mastery of page design and character acting.

Phil earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he majored in cartooning. His teaching background includes life drawing courses at SVA, and a Comics Experience Master Seminar on Action and Acting on the Comic Book Page.

Phil has appeared as a guest on the Comics Experience “Make Comics” podcast, available here. Phil’s bio is also available here on the Staff page of our site.

To learn more about our Creators Workshop, where members interact, exchange feedback, and discuss comics-industry topics, visit our page here!

Please join us in welcoming Phil to the Comics Experience Creators Workshop community!

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Posted by Nicole Boose
nicole@ComicsExperience.com
Twitter

Episode #94 of the Comics Experience “Make Comics” Podcast Posted!

Posted on by Nicole Boose

CE_podcast_logoA new episode of the Comics Experience Make Comics podcast has been posted! Each episode provides ~15 minutes of advice on all aspects of creating comics and breaking in to the industry.

Join Comics Experience founder and former Marvel and IDW Editor Andy Schmidt and his co-host Joey Groah as they discuss making comics!

Subscribe to our podcast via iTunes! Or check out the latest episode below or on our Podcast page!

Episode #94, “Co-Writing Comics”
Co-writing comics, including what to think about before you start writing, as well as workflow and Rocket Raccoons.

List of All Episodes

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Posted by Nicole Boose
nicole@ComicsExperience.com
Twitter

Introduction to Animation Writing Open For Enrollment – Limited Seats!

Posted on by Nicole Boose

TF_RescueForce_FinalAll of your favorite cartoons and animated movies started as words on a page. Have you ever had an interest in writing for animation?

Comics Experience is excited to bring back a highly-regarded course on that very topic – Introduction to Animation Writing!

We introduced this course in 2014, and student feedback like this has impelled us to keep it going!

“I’d taken the Intro to Comic Book Writing with Andy [Schmidt] previously, but writing for animation was a whole new beast. I thought it best I brush up before getting down to writing. Thankfully Zac [Atkinson] is a wonderful lecturer who is well versed in the ins-and-outs of handling an animation script. He walked us through all the facets of creating a script, both short and feature length, as well as helping us learn the unique business of being an animation writer.

Like the rest of Comics Experience, it’s worth the price of admission.”

-Nic J Shaw

Introduction to Animation Writing teaches you to translate your ideas for animated TV shows, movies, and short films into professional scripts. This six-week course, running from August 6-September 10, 2015, covers everything you need to know to start writing your own screenplay.

By the end of the six weeks, you’ll have completed a 7- to 15-page screenplay that could be used for a professionally-produced animated project!

Zac-Atkinson-150x150Introduction to Animation Writing is taught by Zac Atkinson, a working professional screenwriter in the Los Angeles animation industry.

Zac’s credits include the TV series Transformers Rescue Bots and other projects for Hasbro Studios. He attended film school at University of Texas Austin, and holds an MFA in Screenwriting from Boston University. In addition to his writing credits, Zac serves as a screenplay judge for prestigious competitions including the Austin Film Festival.

Check out these resources for more about Zac!

Enrollment is now open and seating is limited – sign up now!

Introduction to Animation Writing with Zac Atkinson starts on August 6!

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Posted by Nicole Boose; special thanks to Rob Anderson.
nicole@ComicsExperience.com
Twitter

CE Community Members Lela Gwenn and Paul Allor Discuss “Strange Nation” Collection!

Posted on by Nicole Boose

Strange-Nation-198x300CE alum Paul Allor’s series Strange Nation will soon be collected in print by IDW! In an interview at the Women Write About Comics site, Creators Workshop member Lela Gwenn interviews Paul about the series and upcoming collection.

Plus – their conversation spontaneously leads to the creation of an exclusive bonus page!

Strange Nation follows a promising journalist whose career is derailed when she makes some unexpected discoveries about aliens, sasquatches, conspiracy theories and more! It features art by Juan Romera, and has been published in monthly installments on ComiXology by Monkeybrain Comics.

Now, a collected print edition is set to go on sale in August from IDW Publishing. The collection is solicited in the current issue of Diamond PREVIEWS, in print and online.

In their interview, Paul and Lela discuss the rise of Paul’s comic-writing career, his thoughts about the Strange Nation plot and cast, and other behind-the-scenes tidbits.

And when Lela questions a plot point about the main character’s martial arts training, Paul responds – by providing a new, fourth-wall-breaking explanation from the characters themselves!

Here’s the story on how that page came to pass.

Lela:

I was a student of Ed Parker’s American Kenpo for many years – and since Elvis is one of the most famous students of Ed Parker’s, and one thing I was taught over and over again was “Kick them in the head… AFTER you knock them on the ground” – I thought it would be a funny question.

Paul sending the re-lettered page was a huge bonus.

Paul:

Most of this interview was actually conducted a while back. At the time I just gave the flippant, dismissive answer that you see in the text of the interview. But the question stayed with me, and caused an internal debate very similar to the one Norma and Jesse have on that page. So when Lela asked if I had any sample pages, I thought this would be a fun way to give “the rest” of my answer. And that page — with its heavy use of talking heads, and artist Juan Romera’s fantastic facial expressions and body language, totally lent itself to that kind of reinterpretation.

And as a super-awesome bonus, it let me get in that “a little less conversation”/”you’re better than that” dialogue, which was actually in an early draft of Strange Nation #1, but got cut while rewriting. “Kill your darlings, but then resurrect them in a gag page four years later.”

The interview, along with four preview pages and the exclusive bonus page, is available here!

The Strange Nation collection can be pre-ordered from comic retailers using Diamond order code JUN150481. It will be available in comic stores everywhere on August 26, 2015.

Thanks to Lela and Paul for sharing the interview, and congrats to the Strange Nation team!

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Posted by Nicole Boose
nicole@ComicsExperience.com
Twitter

Episode #93 of the Comics Experience “Make Comics” Podcast Posted!

Posted on by Nicole Boose

CE_podcast_logoA new episode of the Comics Experience Make Comics podcast has been posted! Each episode provides ~15 minutes of advice on all aspects of creating comics and breaking in to the industry.

Join Comics Experience founder and former Marvel and IDW Editor Andy Schmidt and his co-host Joey Groah as they discuss making comics!

Subscribe to our podcast via iTunes! Or check out the latest episode below or on our Podcast page!

Episode #93, “Homages, Influences”
Acknowledging homages in art, and discussing your comic (and non-comic) making influences.

List of All Episodes

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Posted by Nicole Boose
nicole@ComicsExperience.com
Twitter