Hope is for amateurs
An edition about creative motivation, new projects and original art, and they are not linked
HELLO AND WELCOME TO A NEW EDITION OF MY NEWSLETTER!
This April and May in Spain everybody has been watching Shogun in Disney+ and reading Michael McDowell’s Blackwater books. I did (and enjoyed) the first option and it’s possible I’ll do the second one very soon (my wife bought the first book).
THE STORE GROWS
Step by step I’m expanding the store, what it means that I need to pay more… But it means that I can sell more (I quickly surpassed the 50 items limit of my previous plan), so I decided to invest a little more and have the chance to sell until a limit of 500 items. This means a lot of work to do, but I will be uploading and rating more pages of Polar, Against Hope, Bad Girls and finally The Mice Templar (some of you guys asked me for originals from this series).
Sadly after my transition to digital I can’t sell original art of series like Until my knuckles bleed, Elixir or Monarch but the door is open to make prints or original drawing of these series, and you have the option of a commission, of course.
I’m pondering doing a newsletter focused exclusively on the original art. I don’t want to be annoying and send you spam everytime I upload something new to the store… Or you just want to know this, I don’t know. The comments section is open if you want to tell me what you prefer, guys.
A NEW PROJECT
I can’t say very much about this new project with Vault comics.
I’m very happy to work with a writer I admire like Christopher Cantwell (Iron Man, Captain America, Halt and Catch Fire) and can’t wait for you to see what we are preparing.
I’m using a lot of influences of classic comic-book artists I admire in this project, but trying at the same time to give a new fresh approach. I’m working on it right now, so I don’t know what direction it will take. Sorry for being so cryptic, I’ll tell you more soon!
A MAN WITHOUT HOPE IS A MAN WITHOUT FEAR
No, I’m not going to talk about the best Daredevil story and one of the best comic-books ever made.
When I try to talk about motivation I always fear it could sound like one of these awful coaching accounts.
Creativity jobs are linked to emotions, to the personality of the creator.
When you are a professional, you need to produce for making a living. That’s the crude truth. And deadlines are not worried about how you feel. But if you want a good result, you can’t draw and write mechanically. You need to be totally in, 100% engaged. You put your own being in the work.
But sometimes you feel the world is against you.
If you are an independent creator, you surely feel that people are only interested in franchises and characters and not the people who make the thing, and they will erase you from the equation at the first chance.
Or you feel that the AI is going to transform any art in white noise because the social media you use for promoting your work is going to collapse with generic-crappy ultra-rendered art.
Depending on your artistic background, you can feel that Manga success will create a new generation of readers that will never be open to other ways of graphic storytelling because they have grown up reading only that medium.
Or you feel you can’t compete against a celebrity who has decided to play comic writer between a movie and a contest show, not only for the audience, but with your own publisher's attention. Or that the publisher will prefer to invite a youtuber to an event for promoting a shitty book about the MCU than you for promoting your creator-owned GN.
And maybe you feel you didn't get real success (I always say I would settle with my best selling book having the same sales as Stephen King's worst sold book).
Even if you have a movie or streaming show adapting your work, maybe this could validate your work to a wider audience, but as a creator you know a movie can be made using the crappiest source.
What’s the answer to this stream of good vibes?
Well, FUCK IT.
The lack of expectations free you from pressure.
As a creator you need to be a gambler, even a grifter. Sometimes I’m really sure that my real job is cheating an editor to publish my work. Maybe with a promise of sales and million-dollar movie adaptations that never will come.
But your responsibility as a creator is not getting good sales. Your duty is making the best job possible, well written or well drawn. Perfectly crafted.
Things that happen after I upload my pages to the company’s server are totally out of my control .
I can try to not be an asshole in social media, but basically you are in the hands of the gods.
So relax.
Never expect success because the word itself is a trap.
“Good sales” is a more tangible word but you can build a career without being a bestseller. I promise.
But you can’t build a career without good material made with commitment.
I don’t feel my stuff is good enough , but I know for sure it came from my guts and my heart. I basically can’t avoid making it this way because it is the only way I know. Good or bad, it’s mine.
Writing and drawing can be hard when it has become your livelihood, but from time to time, in the middle of the stress of the deadlines, you find that you enjoy drawing this character or this page, or that chatting with that collaborator makes your day.
Expect nothing and have fun when you have the chance.
I’m not sure if this long diatribe sounded optimistic but I tried to make it feel that way. At the end the important thing is doing the things the way you want and don’t be guided by expectations. Following the orders of the market or the algorithm is what machines do.
Don’t be a machine. Machines are perfect, polite and cold. People can be angry, sad and weird. And it's fine.
See you soon!
Victor
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This is a tangent but I just realized that both Polar and Head Lopper are like a cartoony version of Heavy Metal.
I recently started getting into Baby Metal and the wider Japanese Kawaii Metal bands. I understand that certain musical genres emerged to expressed frustration, but I think people (like myself) are maxed-out on rage and just want some escapism.
Can we have the sexiness of Goth fashion-- minus the depression? I don't see why not!
I think the Heavy Metal attitude is something I've seen in comics that I've gravitated to.
Great wisdom that I resonate with fullheartedly, especially "violent scenes lift my spirits." Certainty is impossible, just yell fuck it and pull the best work out of yourself. And break a leg with the shop expansion!