Meme + Comic

[sigune]

Nicked from torenheksje:

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Guess what: I'm working on a new short comic - not HP-related, I'm afraid, but something that is actually publishable, if a magazine will have it. I'm eyeing Plots, of course - the magazine formerly known as Het Salon. I wasn't too happy with how my previous submission was treated, but I have to face the facts: there just aren't a lot of alternatives as far as getting comics published is concerned. Besides, the Plots Team is more experienced now. They have just published and launched their fourth issue and have been very active on the comics front all year. In fact, as they have been getting more and more submissions, I will once again be nervous about getting accepted at all... But then again I too have learned and improved, so I think I should try my luck :-).

Making short comics is a difficult business, I find. It is not easy to tell a complete story in a mere few pages, especially for someone like me, who thrives on character development and is bad at plotting. A short comic requires a plot like a bullet, fast and compact. I am always at a loss for things like those, and that really annoys me, because if I want to draw any attention to myself at all, I have to be able to show samples of my work from time to time. My projects are always so huge that it takes ages until something is completed, and the important thing about a comic is the quality of the storytelling, not that of sketches and stills.

Yesterday I had a Eureka moment in the bath. I will be adapting a literary text, once more - a poem of sixteen lines with a complete plot in it :D. I do hope that I can pull it off... The sketching is fun, in any case.

Anyway: if I am quiet on the LJ front, you know what I am doing inbetween my jobhunting :P.

The original pages of my first published short comic, The Useless Resurrection, are on display in an exhibition that is shortly to go on a tour of comics shops in Flanders. At the moment it's on view in my hometown. See? It really is time I produced something new... And force the Plotsers to publish it... ;-)

Comments

[the-bitter-word.livejournal.com]

Yes! This sounds exciting. Looking forward to hearing more!

OH, BTW, I got a copy of Gallic Wars. Now I have to read it. I am given to understand it's a bit dry.

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know... Maybe I have a good translation? Or maybe I did not find it so dry because I was reading it with a fanficcy eye... *g*

I hope the comic works out. My main worry is the background (perspective), but there are other things to study as well. I am having great fun with the costume though :-).

[veradee.livejournal.com]

Drawing and particularly publishing a comic sounds like a great plan. I hope it will work out.

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Me too ;-)! It would be only three pages, but it's something. If I ever want to draw a long comic like War in Gaul, I have to make sure that I get smaller comics published now and then, because it is only when you have 10 pages in an official (not private, so my Snape comic in rufftoon's fanbook doesn't count) publication that you are eligible for a government grant that supports you while your work is in progress.

Mind you, I would have my work cut out for me in any case, because it appears you have to have published those 10 pages in the same year, and when you apply for a grant, you have to include a fully written scenario of the comic you need to money for. I haven't got a word of War in Gaul down yet D: ...

[veradee.livejournal.com]

...it is only when you have 10 pages in an official (not private, so my Snape comic in rufftoon's fanbook doesn't count) publication that you are eligible for a government grant that supports you while your work is in progress.

I see that you already know all the important details. Good luck!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_vocalion_/]

Congratulations on the inspiration and on being featured in the exhibition! This makes it your second (your first being at the Museum of Design last July ;-) ), unless there are others I don't know about.

I scored 10:02 on the quiz, also. :-)

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Mmm, we are both syrupy pancakes... :D

The exhibition is limited to the work that had already been published in Plots 1-4 - unfortunately that means that I couldn't include more recent work, and you may remember that The Useless Resurrection dates back to 2000. I have improved a lot since then, and I wouldn't have minded showing that... Maybe in my third exhibition? ;-)

[bettyboop-comic.livejournal.com]

W00t!
New stuff!
Here's a question: the scenario you submit has to be exactly what you work on? You could make some fictional thing up, or do whatever you think's fine & than change it as required.
Oh, dunno if you wanna know, but I found Brandon Graham's LJ:
http://royalboiler.livejournal.com/

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Er - Brandon who? *g*

You could make some fictional thing up, or do whatever you think's fine & than change it as required.

Wish it were that simple! In fact, if I look at the rules and requirements (http://www.fondsvoordeletteren.be/uploadedfiles/Reglement%20werkbeurzen%20stripauteurs%202008.pdf), it all reminds me very much of the sort of paperwork you need to do if you apply for a research grant ^_^;... There has to be
1. a complete scenario, typed, and as they request that it be an original one (no adaptations allowed), I take it that the quality of the writing is of considerable importance in itself;
2. a description (with sketches) of the characters and their relationships to one another;
3. a description of the drawing style, technique, colours etc.;
4. prints of three completely finished pages;
5. a plan that details your expenses and your work schedule.

If I had to make all these up, I would need as much time as I would to come up with the real thing! I do think that, like what happens with research grants, it is not a problem if you don't stick to every element of your plan (goodness knows that my dissertation only vaguely resembles the proposal that I put forward), as long as it results in a book. They just want all the details because they want to be sure that you are serious and professional enough so that their investment won't be a waste of good money. But it seems clear that you won't get a grant by fooling around and sending in some mock scenario. You need to have a very clear idea of what you are going to do and how. Which is perfectly reasonable.

Yep, new stuff. Not sure that the Plotsers are going to like it, though :/. Anyway, I'd better get it drawn first :-).

[bettyboop-comic.livejournal.com]

Yep, new stuff. Not sure that the Plotsers are going to like it, though :/. Anyway, I'd better get it drawn first :-).

Do you? You could also contact them Plotsers, see if the proposal strikes them before putting the work in. Or it's a thing where you simply want to do the thing, publication be damned?

[sigune.livejournal.com]

No, there is little point in doing it if it isn't going to be published... That is, I guess I'd still make the thingy if they decided they didn't like it, I guess - but I did come by it only because I was specifically looking for a story that was short enough in order to be a) completed in a reasonably short time and b) publishable in Plots.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I want to run the idea by them rather than to show them the finished product, because I don't think that it sounds particularly appealing. I mean: "Hi, I'm turning an 18th century poem into a comic, does that seem like something to you?" Hm. I don't even plan on using any text bubbles as the poem doesn't have dialogue. But as I said above, it does have an entire plot, with psychology and intrigue and even violent death :P. It's quite poisonous, and I hope to offset that by using candy colours.

I really, really like the idea. Now let's see if I can carry it out...

[bettyboop-comic.livejournal.com]

I still say you can ask Peter first. Don't say it's based on a poem, say it's a 3-page silent adaptation of a public domain work you have & want to do.
They sho' lurve they's silent stuff. It's all about the selling style!

[branquignole.livejournal.com]

Oh, I want to see this comic! Sounds very interesting. :)