Although i'm a general illustrator, I do like the idea of producing some form of graphic novel at some point in the future. I've got a few ideas that would suit that format so I figured we'd tag along to the lecture.
I'll start off by saying that if there was an award for most entertaining lecture, John Allison would probably get it! I always envy people who seem so natural at talking in front of large groups, mainly because I become a rambling, bright red mess!
Anyway, carrying on from the last blogpost, John never trained as an illustrator at university but had a love of comics and thought he was a decent artist so he made webcomics on the side of his job. He is mostly known for his 2 latest webcomics, Scary Go round and Bad Machinery. Now personally comics can be abit hit and miss, mainly because of the way they are done. I tend to prefer handrawn and traditional methods of artwork as opposed to computer based images, so Johns work is difficult for me. He started off as a traditional artist, switched to Adobe Illustrator, then to another computer programme before deciding to go back to handrawn for a while. From what he showed us, I definitely prefer the handdrawn stuff, mainly because of personal preference, however most of Johns lecture was not about artwork but (as the title suggests) the importance of an audience and making it in the comic book industry.
John told us his progress from comic book strips on the side to where he is now, telling us that an internet audience (although I suppose it can be applied to any audience) can be hard to please. Readers don't particularly like change, whether its with characters, artwork, style or writing and that it is always important to consider the audience that is intended when you are doing the work, whatever it may be. You need to be consistent and control the amount of change, particularly in one piece of work. Something clear from Johns work is that it has changed dramatically over time, I can't help but think that, although your style of work will inevitably change in some way, i'd like to refine the way that I work early on in order to have a more consistent style.
Again the importance of networking was touched upon; you should make contacts with those who work like you (something twitter is amazing for!) go to conventions (mainly comic book orientated) and to study successful people, learn from the best!
John parted with some advice: Exposure is meaningless, Always keep learning, expose yourself to new things, learn to be a pain about money, be careful what you sign and that business cards are thrown away, be remembered!
This lecture definitely reminded me to consider the audience, no matter what it is you are doing, who is there to read/see it. Even if it reaches beyond that group that you have in mind, do it for someone other than yourself. This isn't something I consider in depth usually, but in future projects its something i'm going to try to have at the forefront of my thinking.
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