Before we get too far into this,
understand that I mean no disrespect to illustrators. I appreciate
how much work they put into projects, that it takes a full day to
create a page, on average, and that is a day of work and stress.
However....
There's two parts to this rant. The
first is that writers are every bit an artist as an illustrator. The
problem is that somewhere along the line illustrators got called
"artists" and the name stuck. I'm obviously not saying that
illustrators do not deserve to be called artists by any stretch, just
that so do writers. Writers are usually the ones that are responsible
for what you read, as we establish a lot of the rules that a universe
is based, from the rules of science (or magic, depending) as well as
the various relationships between characters and organizations. The
twists and turns that you enjoy are because the writing, not because
of the illustrator.
As an illustrator, you need to keep in
mind that comics, like film, are truly best when everyone is
collaborating. This is not to say that the jobs need be kept
separate; there needs to be some overflow between the two. An
illustrator with a cool costume design should be able to con the
writer into including the character, just as the writer should be
able to suggest a cool idea for the artwork. There needs to be a
certain flow between the two. This includes the inker and letterer,
to some degree, where they are present, but in general the majority
of decisions should be between the illustrator and writer.
[This is not to say that there are not
a lot of great of writer/illustrators, especially when it comes to
webcomics. I'm just trying to point out there are differences between
the two crafts, and that a writer/illustrator who does an incredible
job really deserves a pat on the back.]
I am also starting to really hate that
writers are basically considered second-class citizens when it comes
to the art community. It's just weird to me that the reason that most
comics succeed or fail is because of the writing, and yet I'm willing
to bet that people can name more illustrators than they can writers.
I understand why, especially when you realize that writers tend to be
introverted and illustrators tend to be extroverts; guess who's more
fun at conventions? Worse is that you get the occasional illustrator
that forgets that everyone serious about their craft goes to school,
tries out new things, and gets degrees; not saying that writers don't
brag as well, it just seems more obnoxious from an illustrator, or
that a writer has to show that they've taken a class or two. The
problem is that people can only judge by what they see, and writers
tend to be ducks versus the swans that are illustrators.
By ducks I mean that there is a lot
going on that you simply don't see. When you see a page of written
script, you don't see the reams that a writer has done as for as
figuring out how things work in the universe, and setting things up
so that things work. If the illustrator has done research so that he
can pull some really cool stuff off, imagine the research that a
writer has done; odds are that some of the research that the writer
has done gets shown to the illustrator. The writing process is
entirely different than the drawing process; it's most research, make
notes, and then decide how you want all of that information to
manifest as script. Sure, any writer can do more pages of script in a
day than an illustrator can, but that doesn't mean that I'm doing
less work.
Put in a slightly different way, an
illustrator needs to know what Captain America's appearance is and
what he represents to get it right. A writer needs to know his entire
history, his friends and enemies, hist rogue gallery, and a lot of
trivia about Cap. This is not to say that an illustrator gets off
easy in this, just that the information required to do the job right
is entirely different, and I'm not sure how many people realize that.
The bottom line is that sometimes it
gets irritating to be a writer because we get no respect. I keep
seeing people that think that there is no room in comics for people
who write because comics are visual; they apparently have no clue how
much writing is needed to make a great comic great, and only look to
the artwork. To those morons I would humble submit that they really
have no clue how much the two crafts influence their enjoyment of a
great comic, and that each requires respect for their contribution to
the comic. I just wish some illustrators wouldn't forget that...
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