Un-nerved

The workshop was great...if a little traumatizing.

There were around 35 participants, most of them college students, some of them high school kids and nearly ALL of them artists. There were three or four of us who went there as writers--with the fourth one leaving at the beginning for some reason I don't know.

Among the three of us left, I was the only one who couldn't draw...well, I can, just not like them.

I mean, I hadn't drawn a human figure in years! I did kind of expect that I would have to pick up a pencil, but as soon as I saw them handing out Canson drawing tablets at the registration table I just wanted to run.

Don't get me wrong, I don't entirely suck as an artist. It's just that I mostly do ink skethches...of landscapes and inanimate objects. When they asked us to draw a face at the workshop, I did--a manga one, in half sketch.

The intructors-Gilbert and Leonard-trained under Whilce Portacio, so their style is more of Western comics. Manga's weren't encouraged because that wasn't their style, so that was two strikes.

But...I ended up talking to Leonard most the time, who does a comic book called Taleweaver for DC comics.

He trained as an artist and just accididentaly did writing when he wrote a dialogue for one of the comics that Gilbert drew. Whilce liked his work, asked him what he wanted, came up with Taleweaver, the project went through some networks and then--boom. DC here he is.

Of course, a lot happened before he got from A to B, but he did concede that what he got extremely lucky. A lot of people get rejected when they start. About 80 percent of your script proposals will get junked, so it takes a lot of courage and determination to just to get there.

Much like any writer for any field.

I'll say this though, I have never seen so many left handed people in one place!

I think Leonard was surprised that there were some writers in the group, since there aren't a lot of people who want to write. Everyone wants to be a penciler, an inker, etc. but no one wants to write!

Comics here in the Philippines is on the decline. The other writer there--yes, he can draw, and yes, he is a comic buff--said that he attended some convention where the PAP or the SWS said that the Philippine comicbook market was down to 8%.

Imagine that, 8 frigging percent. When I was a kid, comics were everywhere! I still remember those times I had hanging out in my grandparents room, reading comics with them.

Now you barely see them anywhere. Gibert said that the only comic that sold was Horoscope since it was exported to OFWs, which is sad since Horoscope SUCKS.

One of the key reasons for the decline is mainly the pay. Since the 1930's, writers and artists salaries have only increased twice or thrice. of course, high end comics (the great glossy ones) pay more, but the regular newsprint ones shell out peanuts.

Basic rate for artists is around 75 bucks per page, and for a writer it's around 50 bucks per story--regardless of the quality. Which means you have volumes of shitty stories with sucky artwork circulating there because these people need to rush projects just to make more money.

Better known artists don't fare much better--200 per page for the artist, and maybe 150 for the whole story for the writer.

Though we understand that the writer just comes up with the basic plot and drums up the dialogue in--oh, ten minutes per page?--it is hard to have to come up with an original story. Most of them end up as rehashes of TV shows these writers sawthe night before.

A lot of Filipino artists work for international companies, though more and more are opting to stay here and freelance their work through the net. Why move there and spend in dollars when you can stay here, spend in peso, and get the same dollar rate?

It was kind of cool how they always said "I have a nondisclosure agreement preventing me from telling you how much I earn, but yes, it's better than what you would have gotten here--MUCH better." Or "Yeah I'm working on something, but I can't tell you just yet."

To just work for your craft...

On the walk back to Philcoa--which Leonard and Gilbert were kind enough to take with me, all 20 minutes of it--Gilbert told me that drawing is just practice, that I should take the time to draw and see what I can do.

I told him that a reasonable western figure--one that really does look nice--would take me four hours to draw, with blue pencils etched all over.

One thing--I did come away with one good advice: Don't be afraid to erase. Some artists (like moi) can be a bit lazy. If you make a mistake in a drawing and the rest is good, the tendency is not to erase it. "But I worked for hours! And the eyes look amazing!" Well, you just have to erase it. Because all you'll end up with is an unproportioned drawing with great eyes.

Anyway, I told Gilbert that it would take me four hours to do a single figure, and not enough energy (or drive) to do a whole panel. They both reassured me that they all kind of started the same way, that you get the speed through practice.

I'm still dubious, but I might give it a try. I'm still very much a writer though.

All in all, I had a great day. I probably won't shift to writing for comics, but I'm not discounting the idea of submitting a proposal to one of the local comics though. Not just because I like it, but in a way, to give back to something that you loved and gave you something a long, long time ago.