#ttmtc

This post’s creation was fueled by coffee donations from Super Duper Generous Peeps (Like yourself! Potentially!) through ko-fi.com/roselyon! Thanks, cool, cool people!!!

Good evening. I’m Johnathon O. Rose-Lyon. You of course know me from my work on such literary classics as “Cosmic-Fantasy Comic Pitch That Was Shot Down Because It Doesn’t Mesh Well With Our Third-Quarter Line-Up”, and “Sci-Fi Comic Pitch That Didn’t Get A Greenlight Because We Did That Other Sci-Fi Comic Three Years Ago”, and the beloved “Murder Mystery Comic That We Actually Dug A Lot But You Don’t Have Enough Twitter Followers, Sooooooo”. 

Wait, huh, wha? You haven’t read... like, any of those massive-critical-and-financial-and-cultural-I-am-assuming successes?! And only literally five people on the face of the literal planet have? Even though I’ve dumped also-very-literal months of hard work into them? And my whole life and all of my intellectual pursuits up to this point are doomed to become the historical equivalent of an Audible monthly subscription gifted unto post-hearing-loss Ludwig van Beethoven, you say??

Well, fuck. Okay.

Anyway, I’m here today to talk to you about NEVER PITCHING ANYTHING EVER and I’m certainly not going to go back on that at all and mean it very literally. (I don’t.) (But it’s sorta true.) (Just keep reading, jeez.)

Here are some stats (that’s Comic Industry Lingo for “statistics” you’re welcome) for your consideration:

•Started this tumblr blog. Started talking ‘bout comic books and ‘bout making ‘em and junk. Got over 500 followers. Made some way-too-cool-for-me-tbh friends. Maybe helped some people out I don’t know.

•Made Neon Noir with Michael Kennedy. Like... we just made it. Put that shit up online for free, straight commie-style. Got another good 500 followers from it. Sold a good chunk of comics, somehow. Got a few publishers’ attention. Made more seriously-way-too-cool-what-the-actual-fuck friends.

•Made Super Human with Stephen Morrow and boy Roland. Again, no permission. No greenlight. Just made. Tossed them shits on the internets, free-o-charge. Got 1k followers jesus christ. Sold a couple hundred copies (even though that was non-profit because I’m a good person aka a little bit dumb). GOT ON FUCKING TELEVISION FROM IT. Received – and I’m ballparking this somewhat – eight billion emails and messages about what that comic meant to people that all made me cry and I am now a fine, dehydrated dust pile. And now I have so many friends that, if I want to make a new friend, I must pick one of my older friends and abandon them forever to make room because I have hit the Legal Friend Maximum that is just how many friends I have now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

•Spent a total of 10 months(!) researching for and assembling 14 different pitches(!!) for 14 different projects(!!!). Some editors said they were cool or whatever. Maybe the next pitch will be the one. That’s it. The end. 

Now I’m no mathmagician, but...

Point is, it’s so, so easy to fall in a pitch hole. Especially if someone asks you to start pitching to them. Throwing two-page summary after two-page summary after 5 pages of lettered sample art after “It’s like Dragonball Z meets Star Trek!” at publishers. Your entire creative life submitting to that “submit” button. Screaming into the void and waiting for the void to be all, “Hey, I really pick up what you’re putting down, man, let’s make this thing.” And then the infinite void gives you a thumbs-up that’s literally beyond the quantum descriptive capacity of any mortal language.

K, so here’s where I totally go back on what I said before: I’m not saying to never pitch. I’m just saying Have something to show for it for the love of god. 

Those are ten months I’m not getting back. And weeks of hard-ass work my collaborators won’t get back, either. And all we have to show for it are half-stories and ending-less pages and sad-tears.

Heck, I’m pitching a project right now. That’s right, I’m a hypocritical, clickbait-y little shit, so what, fucking fight me. But the difference is I’m making a finished product. And if the infinite void doesn’t dig what we’re doing, then guess what? We now have a dope-ass comic to give to the masses directly. Whether it’s through kickstarter or self-publishing or, in classic commie-style fashion, just straight free-on-the-internet. The void’s loss is the universe’s gain.

So what I’m sayin’ is GO OUT THERE AND MAKE SOME COOL SHIT AND FINISH SAID COOL SHIT. JUST MAKE. And if no one wants to throw money at you for it (the odds of which are, I’m v. sorry to say, up there), hey look! Non-publisher human beings still dig what you’re doing with your life and it might even make their life better and it turns out that’s rewarding too even though you can’t pay the rent with it or eat it or whatever!

And then you just join a site where people straight-up give you money cuz they think you’re dope and what you do is dope. Pro strats. 

Soooooo sometimes a big bag of life-garbage falls on your head and is all “Wassup! Hope you didn’t have anything else to do for, like, the next 48 hours and have a ton of expendable cash from writing free comics, bud!” 

And it says the “Wassup” like that old Budweiser commercial because it’s just all around the worst.

That particular bag of life-garbage on this particular day is someone deciding to give my car a real fuckin’ intense breeze:

Why they didn’t want my jazz CDs is truly, truly perplexing.

But hey! I’m alive. And not stabbed. So, like... yay!! I guess!! 

Here’s the thing though: car repair stuff costs, invariably, one trillion dollars. And I apparently have the car insurance with the one trillion dollar deductible?

So what better time to kick off this super duper dope way for people to help me out a bit!!

Ko-fi is a cool-ass site where you can donate “cups of coffee” ($3 increments) to artist-types (like me!) to help fuel their work. And considering literally everything I’ve ever written was written in various local cafés – like the one I’m sitting in right now :0 *waves at all of coffee shop* – this is pretttttty perf.

As you gals, guys, and otherwise know, I love making free comics for you cool peeps to enjoy – comics like NEON NOIR and SUPER HUMAN. As well as my two blog post series: SEQUENTIAL MOMENTS, where I talk about hyper-personal comics-related junk (like this one about my history with weight gain and Bitch Planet’s Penny Rolle) and TIME TO MAKE THE COMICS, where I get wayyyyyyyy too in-depth about making comics (like this one about how struggling to write sure as shit doesn’t mean you’re not a writer).

So here’s the deal: 

•For every 3 [three] coffee donations, I’ll write either a Sequential Moments or Time to Make the Comics! And donors can even request a specific topic/send a Q for me to A for a TtMtC post!!

•For every 100 [one hunnid] coffee donations, I’ll post another free comic!! Forreal!! This is kind of huge for me!! And maybe I’ll even set up a cool behind-the-scenes thing for donors??

So yeah! Cool stuff! I appreciate any support you can toss my way SOOOOOOOO DANG MUCH. And if you can’t afford to donate? (Aka if your ass is as broke as mine.) Then your sharing this post, or your sharing my comics, or your just staying super awesome works for me, too :] 

Cuz I love you bunches. Forever and always. 

AND OH SHIT THOUGH!! ALMOST FORGOT!! I posted the first page of the new comic I’m making with the absurdly-and-honestly-sorta-upsettingly-talented Kellye Perdue – currently known as #Project1919 – EXCLUSIVELY ON MY KO-FI PAGE!!!!!!! So go check that sweetness out RIGHT HERE: 

ko-fi.com/roselyon

(But here’s a low-key, real-hush-hush sneaky peek of the page don’t tell no one shhhhhh)

No, forreal tho, I love you all. Let’s get hitched and freeze-frame high-five each other forever.

•Don’t give a shit about any of those “The Do’s and Don’ts of Making Comics.” Pretty much ever.

If there’s one thing us undeniably insane comic-makin’ types obsess over, it’s how the fuck to control pacing. 

I’ve read blog, after article, after book on that shit. Coming from filmmaking, pacing is very much ingrained in my brain. Which totally, completely, hundred percent fucked me over for a long time.

Because controlling the pace at which someone reads feels impossible. And that probably has something to do with that fact that it is. I mean, just look at how you read stuff. You go back and reread things. You close the book at the end of a random paragraph/panel. You stare at the same image for a full minute because you dig how the artist has drawn the dog’s stupidly adorable face. I mean goddamnit, lookit that big, floppy tongue. Too fuckin’ cute.

The book’s creators didn’t intend for any of that shit. And despite how infuriating that is for said creators, that’s just how you read junk. That’s how everyone reads junk. Because they have the freedom to.

And that’s what makes comics so much more potentially emotional and impactful than film. 

With film, you’re just guessing at what pacing works for the viewer. Maybe one person would’ve cried during a scene if it had just stayed on that shot a little longer. Maybe someone would’ve fallen in love with a character if that one line was read a little differently. Comics give the reader the freedom to make that happen themselves.

The reader can stare at an image as long as it takes for it to hit hard. They can hear that same line over and over again in their heads until it really sinks in. They can obsess over a scene or panel or issue as long as they need to.

This is why you’ve gotta stop focusing on dictating the pacing, and start focusing on implying it. And doing everything you can to encourage the reader to create the best pace for them, instead of fighting against that. ‘Cause that’s all you can really do at the end of the day. I know. Sounds sucky. But embrace that shit, and you’ll have those bastards in tears easier than any film.

And there’s so many ways to do that. Whether it’s fucking around with panel width and height. Panel layout. How you use the gutters. How much or little you shift perspective or movement from image to image. Or even how much dialogue you’re shoving into a panel. Right down to the punctuation you’re using. None of it’s a science. Almost all of it’s instinct/trial and error. But you’ll get there, girl. I believe in you.

The main thing is just writing/drawing emotionally impactful moments, and helping the reader make those hit as hard as they fucking can. Splash pages can be insanely effective for letting a reader really stop and soak a moment in (as long as you don’t overuse them to the point of losing their impact). A tiny close-up of someone pocketing a flash drive can make the reader suspicious but also not let them dwell on it too long. And so on.

And most importantly: Make the reader pay attention. If the reader isn’t paying attention/invested in the story, their pace immediately becomes “skim through this shit as fast as possible.” Skimming is the fucking death of comic-induced emotions. Force them to pay attention. Whether that’s by focusing more on visual storytelling instead of spelling everything out for them in the dialogue/captions, or just having something fucking insane happen. Make them give a shit. The alternative is storytelling death.

Here’s what it all comes down to. What’s the point of pacing? To evoke the strongest possible emotional reaction. And the thing is, the reader wants that. For real. They want the story to impact them. That’s why they’re fucking reading it, ya dumdum. 

So go make some great fucking art. And let them let it kick ‘em in the fucking heart. 

You don't need permission to make comics.

You don't need a license. You don't need a degree. You don't need a permit.

You don't need a publisher to make comics.

You don't need to pay an application fee. You don't need to pay any dues. You don't need an agent, a manager, or a lawyer.

You don't need money to make comics.

You don't need a $200 million budget. You don't need a sponsor or a producer. You don't need thousands of dollars in equipment.

You need a piece of paper.

You need a pencil.

You need to sit down and just make it.