Following a request by mail from a reader who asks lots of questions about it. I'll answer bluntly, no taboos.
I'll be honest, although for the aspiring pro's know what to expect inside.
The first thing, obviously, but that should be clarified is that if you are paid to the comic strip. If you do not, and bumps that you think the job of top designer is cool, it is home and I work when it feels like, well ... sorry to be so bright, but you will not go very far.
When you sign a contract, the publisher wants to know two things
to think how fast you produce an album.
And with a minimum of quality, of course, and there must be careful. It is super easy to say, face your publisher, you can do 10 pages a month, and once at your drawing table, you realize it's too difficult ... then you do that 4 pounds or 5 the first month.
and this is how you lose a lot of credibility from the first delivery of pages.
So be honest with yourself, see a little longer than you think so, because on one hand, you're too much hassle no matter what, and secondly, the editor (s it does its job) will look at your boards and you request amendments.
So it's silly to say, but when you put your guts on a page, but that the editor you request changes to the boxes, it's pretty hard to redo. It spends time and the result is worse.
I add that it does not put more than 12 months to design your album. Especially when it's your first series.
Because if we did a quick calculation.
-2 months of preparation (script, storyboard, Research)
-12 months drawing
-5 months to put colors
-1 months of coverage, cover page, title page, back album, plus the coverage at the last moment does not go when the whole world told you four months ago it was great! :)
-2 months of manufacture (the sending pages to the printer, the printing of the album, binding the pages of the album, transportation to the libraries, the handling of books on the shelves of booksellers)
it is 22 months ... and again there may be delays due to the publisher because the niche is not top out, because in front there is a wake or a Lanfeust, and you'll get knock out.
(-attention I'm not criticizing, I love these authors do not work, but when we are young and unknown, we must consider the release dates of Blockbusters)
must therefore be evaluated pretty much what each can produce.
I would say a good average for a designer who has just had his first contract is 6 months, just for drawing.
46 pages in 6 months, it makes 7 to 8 pages per month, so 2 per week. That's all
perfectly feasible, keeping in mind that for a first album, there will be a lot of tweaking to do, because we really can not draw what we have in mind, suddenly there is not satisfied and suddenly there again, again and again.
purment As an indication, I'll give my own schedule, on EXPLORERS, Volume 2, with my active work of more than 10 daily and nine albums behind me (and I have two kids:)
-up: 6:30 am, because I must prepare, prepare breakfast, bf, my daughter, dress, and take him to school for 8.20am.
-Blog-up: 9. I do not know what came over me when I said I'll do a post per day. I thought it would interest anyone and I will make short posts ... error, I have left! :)
-design pages: 10:30. Just enough time to warm up a bit, prepare lunch.
-lunch break from 11:20 a.m. to 1:20 p.m.: we eat, I play with my daughter, I brought her back to school.
-drawing from 14 to 17.30: there I bump loud as possible.
return to school 17.30 21h, bathing, meals, cartoons, history and shoo the children are dodos.
-21h to 24h: I'm working again. But I'm lame.
24h-1h: I watch an episode of a series because I do Can not sleep, if not j'évacue tension of the day.
(and all this interspersed with various things, like responding to emails, make posters for festivals, making dedications, children are sick, or the baby cries too much, shopping)
So I work from 8 9 hours per day. and I get to do a page every 2 or 3 days if I was too broken.
I try to devote one day to sketch the page and a day at the "sharp pencil" because I does not clog.
theory, and when everything goes well as it should, and that I can do 10 pages a month, I give an album 5 or 6 months.
And regularly, after a few months with this crazy schedule, I get sick, I keep the bed 2 or 3 days, I am forced to rest, and then, well ... Here we go again!
When I had no children, I sometimes work up to 13 hours straight for several days, for the same result because of lacking experience.
-how are you going to cost him!
Here, there are no rules. everything is negotiable in theory.
What often happens to a writer is to accept everything and anything, either for lack of knowledge about what the publisher the right to do or not, and what you have yourself the right to ask your editor, either by fear of being kindly thank before it even begins.
But hey, say, as was the case for us, so you want passs pros that you sign, although the contract stipulates.
I started with 1100 francs pages, I am now at 240 euros EXPLORERS.
For writers, it is an average of 100 euros per page, same goes for colorists. For them, the essential thing to live only in the comics is to have signed several rounds at the same time, otherwise it's misery.
Some is little, for others it much, but you must know something crucial. We do not built a career on such advances as the publisher gives you to make an album.
is the system:
I'm not 240 euros pages on Explorers.
Sun gives me 11,040 euros to the 46 pages of the album.
In the contract, the authors have 8% of duty-of every copy sold, and Sun has 12%.
once the album is on sale, the publisher takes its 12% and 8% of the author until he could "repay" the amount that Sun has paid to have the BD .
Once that is done, we can begin to touch we copyrights. So
- and this is where we laugh together - how does it sell EXPLORERS so we can reach our first euro cents?
10222!
Suffice to say that many comics, few are chosen ... but we are motivated, we will get there! :)
Hence the interest of not being too greedy when negotiating the price per page. The higher the price will be high, and the longer the repayment of advances.
In summary, be quick (but not too much, do things to the best of your abilities) and do not ask too much money (do your little calculation on the number of pages you can make a 1 month and ask for a price depending on your lifestyle, but without exaggerating, you will regret it one album on the ground)
Exactly, a little trick to whether the publisher really believes in your project:
The editor gave the figure of the drawing on the contract.
this figure is an element of motivation in your editor. If he decides to take your first album in 8000, is that he has high hopes in your work, beyond that, it's Byzantium, below, will have to deliver a flawless album.
Mago was 10,000 copies, EXPLORERS is drawn to 12000 ... come across les doigts...des mains et des pieds.
Je terminerai donc sur ceci.
A quel moment on peu dire qu'une BD se vend, aujourd'hui, avec la crise (qui quoiqu'on en dise touche un peu le secteur, et la sur-production).
- de 0 à 2000, c'est un flop, un gros gadin, c'est même pas la peine d'envisager une suite.
- de 2000 à 5000, c'est pas mal. Selon l'éditeur que tu as plus ou moins choisi, on va te laisser une chance et peut-être faire le deuxième.
- de 5000 à 10000, tu obtiens l'intérêt de ton éditeur (intérêt croissant en même temps que le chiffre de vente), il souhaite ardemment que tu fasses ton deuxième album, mieux dessiné que le premier, mais plus vite... en gros, il veut la même chose en mieux et pour après-demain.
C'est ce que je fais avec EXPLORERS 2 aujourd'hui. Je dors 5 heures par nuit pour qu'il sorte avant l'été.
- à partir de 10000, l'éditeur parle de toi en tant que partenaire et normalement il te souhaite une longue carrière chez lui (de préférence).
Si votre BD dépasse le seuil des 10000 exemplaires, il faut continuer à bosser dur, c'est évident, mais soez ultra-satisfait de vous... soyez heureux, et considérez-vous comme privilégiers.
Titeuf vend à 250.000 exemplaires.
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