Thursday, July 8, 2010

Time is the enemy.....

Sorry for the rant, but isn't that what blogs are for sometimes? It sure seems that way. Anyway, as reported earlier the Phantom Mini series was done being lettered. Well that isn't the case. And that brings me to a larger issue in my life. An issue I am sure all freelancers are used to. But is isn't always freelancers. And again please excuse my rant here.
I just wish sometimes I had the time back from going down the wrong road with projects. Spending time coming up with a design or an image only to find out it isn't what the client had in mind. Goddamn I wish I could get all that wasted time back. It seems so useless to travel down the wrong road all the time, just because the client doesn't have any kind of idea what they want, or my pet peeve, can't visualize something. Most clients have very limited imaginations, that tend to rely on what they have seen...."oh, I want it like that, or this thing, because it is supposed to be cool" kind of mentality. It is so frustrating.
I just wish I could have that lost time back. Wasted time because of ignorant people. This rant isn't directed at anyone specific ....just at all clients in general. I am sure we would all like to have that creative time back. That special time that we spend on art for hire. Also we bid on jobs and then find out they entail many more hours than we have bid on. It is amazing to think that no one wants to pay for a skill like art, or trust the skill of years of producing art.... they would pay a plumber any amount to stop a messed up crapper, but they don't want to pay an artist anything to do what it took many many years to learn. Knowledge is nothing, but shit backing up in your pipes is worth any amount to stop.
I will be glad when I take early retirement and try to just do my own comics as a extra income. It is truly amazing what artists go thru for just the feeling of producing art. Amazing. So don't wish art on anyone....it is a curse not a savior!!!!

4 comments:

  1. I hear you, brother.

    Some people get in the way of you doing what you do best.

    They hire you for what only you can do, then go about trying their best to change what you do.

    Deep breath time. Forwards.

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  2. I also hear you. Clients that don't know what they want but expect you to figure it out by magic (or is that a new superpower?) are very frustrating.

    Two thoughts:

    (1) There are some folks that try to do the plumbing themselves. Sometimes that works and saves 'em money. Sometimes it leads to results similar to what I would get if *I* tried to do your drawings...crap!

    (2) Being able to communicate about your expertise to a non-expert is a separate skill from the expertise itself and some non-experts are especially difficult to communicate with.

    Case in point, my wife works with a lot of artists. One guy, who was not the best artist, had an incredible ability to explain why one design, color, etc worked, was vibrant, alive, etc and another didn't in a way that made sense to non-artists like me. Many of the other, mostly younger, artists really failed to appreciate his skill in communicating and focused more on the fact that they were better artists.

    My wife, who had to facilitate between the client and the artist really did appreciate his ability in client meetings. Now if only he had your work ethic Tom she really would have been liked working with him. ;-)

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  3. I think that's what advertising is really all about, the show Madmen illustrates it as well. You get the idea of what the client wants, and then you have to "sell" the idea back to them.

    I think a lot of people think that art comes easy or is a God-given talent, so they don't feel as obliged to pay. But they certainly don't mind paying for a football or basketball game, or a rock concert. They're all similar. You may have been born with a bit of talent, and some more than others, but you have to work on the skill for it to reach fruition.

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  4. Thanks everyone for understanding. I just had to blow off a bit of steam...
    Hey Gary, good to hear from you. I have been following the Breckenridge Elkins strip. Nice stuff. I need a Red Kelso fix tho.....

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