With Great Freedom …
I can’t believe that Brad Guigar, of all people, didn’t get Uncle Ben’s famous dictum right. It has to be a transcription error or something. Oh, right, you’re wondering what I’m talking about. As part of the general trend in comics reporting in mainstream places slowly drifting away from BIFF! POW!, there’s also a trend of articles along the lines of Look! People making comics on the web! Thus, AOL’s small business/entrepreneurs portal talking about webcomics as sustainable income source, with quotes from Matthew Inman, Chris Onstad and the aforementioned Guigar:
Guigar also suggests taking a course in small business operations. “It’s a double-edged sword: Webcomics comes with incredible freedom, but with that freedom comes incredible responsibility. To enjoy the freedom of being a self-published creator, you have to take the responsibility of being a good businessperson.”
- TCAF was, by all accounts, amazingly fun, and the Doug Wright Awards were given out Saturday night — Our Kate didn’t win the Pigskin Peters Award for which she was nominated, but you know who else didn’t win? Doug Wright. I always figured if the awards were named after you, you’d automatically win, but apparently not. This should give you some idea of the level of competition, and Fleen congratulates Marc Bell for the win.
This weekend, some of the Toronto survivors will be making their way to deepest, remotest New Jersey for Wild Pig Con; it’s like five bucks to get in and check out the attendance list. Me, I’m going to see how insane Randy Milhollland is from all of his cross-country driving.
- Finally, not exactly webcomics, but … well, you’ll see:
The ToonSeum, Pittsburgh’s own museum dedicated to the cartoon arts, is proud to announce the June release of Illustration Ale, its collaboration with East End Brewing Company (“Pittsburgh’s micro-est microbrewery”).
Illustration Ale is a limited edition, 700-bottle run of a one-time East End brew. The ale is a bottle-conditioned, with a rich dark malt character, spicy and nuanced, without any actual spices added. The complex flavors result from the brewer’s careful handling of a special Farmhouse Ale yeast.
Each one-liter swing-top bottle bears a label created by one of six Pittsburgh cartoonists, making for a unique six-pack collection. The custom labels were designed by David Coulson, Dave Klug, Pat Lewis, Jim Rugg, George Schill, and Mark Zingarelli, and showcase some of the amazing cartoon talent based in the city. Two dollars from the sale of each bottle will directly benefit the ToonSeum.
This is a worthy trend and I would like to encourage it. Those of you in western Pennsylvania, go forth and drink beer to support comics.
I respect Brad a lot, and if a cartoonist is trying to support themselves on their work I’d tend to advise people to listen to him rather than me, but I think he’s conflating two unrelated things here. You don’t have to take the responsibility of being a good business person when you’re self-publishing. You have to be willing to take responsibility for the decisions you make, be they good or bad, and be willing to live with the consequences of those decisions.
You can, in fact, be a lousy business person and still enjoy the freedom of being a self-published creator. I enjoy the freedom of being a self-published creator every day of the week (well, every day I manage to publish) and I have the business acumen of a slightly inebriated garden slug.
By Christopher Wright on 05.10.10 3:23 pm
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“Those of you in Western Pennsylvania…”
There’s a phrase I am always excited to hear (and rarely do)! I will be checking this out asap. I didn’t even know about the Toonseum (though I live far enough out from Pittsburgh that my ignorance is perhaps excusable).
By Katie Sekelsky on 05.11.10 11:32 am
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