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Emotions can cause collaborations to sour and become toxic. It’s a straight up fact.
We are humans. Humans have emotions.
Humans also have stress.
Fun as comics can be, making them is stressful. And when you combine emotions and stress, feelings get hurt.
A few years ago I worked on the Adventures In Pulp webcomic. When it started it was an exciting and fun project. I had a collaborator that in the beginning had a lot of ideas that were fun to draw. It worked well.
But the more the project continued the more I seemed to be doing. I was handling the website. I was handling the social media. I was handling the marketing. Oh yes, and I was drawing, inking, coloring, and lettering the project.
I also pushed the project into places that the writer wasn’t comfortable. I pushed us to do a Kickstarter. I pushed us to try different formats. I even launched the webcomic and later found out the writer was angry that the writer wanted to wait for the launch.
In fact in the story above it did. Eventually, the collaboration soured. And with it the friendship. It certainly was the last thing I wanted to happen but it did.
I don’t say this to scare you but to explain the reality. Comics can be an exciting sandbox to play in but in the end, you are doing work. And work needs boundaries and processes that allow us to succeed and create something amazing.
In fact in the story above it did. Eventually, the collaboration soured. And with it the friendship. It certainly was the last thing I wanted to happen but it did.
I don’t say this to scare you but to explain the reality. Comics can be an exciting sandbox to play in but in the end, you are doing work. And work needs boundaries and processes that allow us to succeed and create something amazing.
Before you decide anything in a collaboration you need to sit down with your partner or fellow creatives and decided what your goal is.
I’m not talking about a massive unreachable goal, such as become the next Marvel Comics.
What is your project goal?
Create a single issue comic?
Create a webcomic?
Create a mini-series?
Make your goal as small as you can make it and still have the project be viable.
Why small? Because you don’t want to be 400 pages into a dream project only to realize the collaboration is a failure.
Start small and be clear with your goal.
Do not go into any collaboration without defining the roles as clearly as possible.
Sometimes it can be everyone involved but in many cases, one person needs to be the go-to person. And almost always there needs to be a plan.
Identify it clear up front who the planner is so there are no assumptions later.
It doesn’t matter what role you play, artist or writer, you must get a piece of the pie.
There are typically two ways to approach this.
Imagine a scenario where a collaboration sours.
Who gets rights to the book?
Who is allowed to reprint and continue to sell?
Sure the writer may have created the characters and story but the artist created the art. Unless it is work-for-hire or stated in a contract, the art belongs to the artist. So you would be in a situation where the book may not be reprintable at all.
In that situation, everyone loses. The creators and the readers.
When money or products are involved treat it like a normal job. Make sure everything is clear and understood.
Write it up. Make a contract. Make it clear who gets what and how things should work.
Comics are a medium that require deadlines. You can’t make some things happen without other things happening first.
If the writer doesn’t deliver scripts the artist can’t draw the story.
If the artist doesn’t deliver art the colorist can’t color it. The letterer can’t letter it.
It’s a chain that requires each link to be in its place.
And without a schedule, you will just be spinning your wheels. Decide in the beginning the schedule you want. Make it realistic. Give everyone the proper time they need to get the job done.
And then build in a buffer.
Decide early on what steps to put in place with your schedule to reduce the stress on every creator involved.
The process and collaboration, in the beginning, will not be perfect. That’s okay. You will have walked through the process and spelled out roles and discussed how things will work. But something will happen that will require a change.
Sit down and discuss the issue. Have weekly meetings if need be. Talk about the current goals. The wins. And the problems.
These creative meetings can not only encourage one another but can lead to ideas of how to make the process move more fluid.
The creative meeting above serves another purpose. To provide transparency and promote a partnership. It’s perfectly okay and preferable to have one creative take on an editorial role. That of an overall project manager.
What you do not want is for one creator to take on the role of micro-manager.
It is essential to respect the process of each creator involved. If the writer likes shutting himself in a room, naked, eating peanut butter sandwiches. Let him.
If the artist likes to scribble out all his pages on paper bags. Let him.
To alleviate any issues with process beforehand discuss each creators process and how they work. Make sure everyone is on the same page.
Then respect the process.
As mentioned above schedule an hour a week for a talk-it-out session. Everyone will run into problems.
A writer could be stuck at a certain plot point.
The artist could be having trouble with a scene. Talk it out. Ideas come from crazy places and understanding where everyone is and what the problems are can alleviate more problems down the road.
Remember this is work, not play.
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