4: Patrick Yurick (#ComicFuel 7) – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast (S01E04) (115)

How in the world could we do our first season of the MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast without bringing back the #ComicFuel podcast? The #ComicFuel podcast was launched as a question/answer show by our leader Patrick Yurick for the massively popular “How To Make A Comic Book” course on Coursera. Students from around the world submit questions and the seemingly endless fountain of facts bubbling inside of the brain of Patrick does its best to link them with the answers needed. On this seventh installment of #ComicFuel we cover questions like “Am I too old to make a living off of comics?”, “How do you manage a long-form comic project?”, “How do you learn to draw?”, and more. So pop on your headphones, get out a paper and pen, and draw while listening to Patrick traverse the world answering comic-making quandaries.

Jump-To Sections

• [00:00:00] Support MakingComics.com Ad
• [00:00:25] Show Theme
• [00:01:10] Introduction
  
• [00:04:10] Graham Annable Book Club Announcement
• [00:06:10] Season Intermission Announcement
• [00:08:00] Season Patreon Campaign Announcement
• [00:12:50] What happened to the ComicFuel podcast?
• [00:20:15] Question #1: Am I too old to make a living off of comic books?
• [00:25:15] Question #2: How do you start outlining a big comic idea that you have?
• [00:29:27] Question #3: How do you manage a long-form comic project?
• [00:31:34] Ad Break
• [00:33:35] Question #4: How do you learn how to draw?
• [00:43:20] Question #5: Who makes comics? Only aspiring comic creators?
• [00:47:35] Question #6: How do you collaborate with a team making comics together?
• [01:01:00] Closing Statements
• [01:03:00] Show Outro

Show Notes

[00:00:25] Show Theme

[00:01:10] Introduction

— Gutter Talk Season 1 Episode 4 (115)
— ComicFuel #7
— What is ComicFuel?
— ComicFuel was a podcast started on May 14, 2016 by MakingComics.com leader, and teacher, Patrick Yurick. The podcast is a Q&A show with questions supplied from students within the “How To Make A Comic Book” MOOC on Coursera (which has over 27,000 enrolled students from all over the world). The show sometimes includes inspirational audio clips referred to as “AudioFuel”.  As defined within the first episode of the course, Comic Fuel is defined as: Any kind of inspirational piece of wisdom that directly results in the encouragement of artistry. Aka – psychological fuel, like coffee, designed to conquer your demons and keep going.

[00:04:10] Graham Annable Book Club Announcement

Announcing Our First Season Book Club Book: Graham Annable’s “Peter & Ernesto – A Tale of Two Sloths”
– More news to come
– Graham on a future episode
– Buy the book on Amazon
– Keep an eye on
— the Gutter Talk newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dGp7c9
— MakingComics.com Facebook page
— Instagram
— Twitter
— The podcast feed itself…

[00:06:10] Season Intermission Announcement

Apologies for the brevity of this episode
– Teaching animation to some of my students who are sailing around the world in a yacht.
— Not returning until the 30th
— No internet
– Mid-season break

[00:08:00] Season Patreon Campaign Announcement

– Patreon Readthrough
— Patrons: 32
— 1-5 Monica Sampler
— Pledged: $46
— Current Cost of MakingComics.com
—- Per Year: $2,100
—- Per Month: $175
– RadioPublic
— Week 1 RP earnings:
— 13 Listens
— $3.00 – New Listener Bonus
—- Total = $3.26
— Tips are live!
— Download The RadioPublic App and search for MakingComics.com Gutter Talk
— Listen to 3 episodes
– MakingComics.com
— Paypal One Time Donation
— Go to MakingComics.com
— Scroll to the bottom of the page
— Click on the link that says “One-Time Donations”

[00:12:50] What happened to the ComicFuel podcast?

– Where has ComicFuel been? (aka – updates)
— Milestones in my life
—- June 2017 – Cambridge back to San Diego
—- April 2018 – Baby due (Calvin) in January 4 2019
—- June 2018 – Podcation & Jupiter Saloon
—- August 2018 – Finished at MIT (gradx.mit.edu)
– MakingComics.com
— What is the site for?
— Is it working?
— What is the next level for the site?
— ComicFuel a little lost in that shuffle
— Season 1 of Gutter Talk Is a Great fit.
– The Wiki – comicfuel.wikidot.com
— The wiki isn’t up to date exactly
— Should the show still have a wiki? Contact me at patrick@makingcomics.com if you’d like to help curate the ComicFuel wiki.
– Past Episodes of ComicFuel
— 108: Patrick Yurick & Adam Greenfield (ComicFuel 6)
— 101: Patrick Yurick & Rachel Beck (ComicFuel 5)
— 99: Patrick Yurick & Adam Greenfield (ComicFuel 4)
— 97: Patrick Yurick, Ulises Farinas, & Lucy Bellwood (ComicFuel 3)
— 96: Patrick Yurick (ComicFuel 2)
— 95: Patrick Yurick (ComicFuel 1)
– Old Show Notes
— ComicFuel.WikiDot.com
— Old Soundcloud Stream

[00:20:15] Question #1: Am I too old to make a living off of comic books?

“I’m about to turn 43, I’m too old to start to draw comics and turn it into my work?” – Papayrus, 42, Spain

— Notes
— No
— Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers (10,000 Hours) or, Alec Longstreth = 2,000 pages
— Honesty – it is hard to make a living off of comics alone

[00:25:15] Question #2: How do you start outlining a big comic idea that you have?

“I have an idea that spans many angles – it’s kind of a comic that deals with journalism/psychology/therapy – how on earth do you start to conjure up an outline when the idea is so fuzzy?” – Emma, Hamilton, New Zealand

— Notes
—- Up to you. I’d probably start with trying to format the project into a pitch packet
—— “Here Comes The Pitch” series by Jim Zub
—— Remnants from “Get A Grasp!” Course
——— How to Start Making Comics
——— Worldbuilding
——— Project Management
——— Pitching Your Project
——— My Punisher Pitch Packet

[00:29:27] Question #3: How do you manage a long-form comic project?

“How can we make long comic novels?” – Dhyaan, 11, India

Notes:
– Planning
— My Article Series on This:
— Ability Calibration
— Defining Scope
— Project Management
— Spreadsheet Tutorial
— Establishing A Schedule

[00:31:34] Ad Break

[00:33:35] Question #4: How do you learn how to draw?

“What advice would you give someone who would like to start a webcomic but has no experience in drawing, illustrating etc. as I’ve only been a reader and trying to navigate helpful articles online has been tricky.” Angus, 19, Western Australia

“How can I get started with drawing – something I’ve always wanted to do – as I have no experience in doing so?” – Frank, 30, New York

Notes:
— Just start
— Practice A Lot
– workbooks are great
— Zen Tangles
— 10 Books to Explore
– Principles & Elements of Art
— Video Explainer
— PDF breakdown
—– Elements – Color, Form, Line, Shape, Space, Texture, & Value
—– Principles – Rhythm, Balance, Emphasis/Contrast, Proportion, Gradation, Harmony, Variety, & Movement

[00:43:20] Question #5: Who makes comics? Only aspiring comic creators?

“Are there any comic artists who have backgrounds in fields other than art, graphic design, or other non-visual areas of study (literature, science, philosophy, etc…)?” – Cameron, 31, California

Notes:

– My MIT Comic
– Nick Sousanis
– XKCD & Randall Munroe
— Comics are a communication medium.
— Often the mistake is made that what we’ve commercially seen popular is what comics are (superheroes).

[00:47:35] Question #6: How do you collaborate with a team making comics together?

“What’s your advice: should we do it all from A to Z or find a more collaborative approach, say one does the script, another the environments,  the characters, and so on? If so are there any collaborative forums?” – Nuno, 33, Portugal

“How can an aspiring writer begin to collaborate with an aspiring illustrator to create a comic or graphic novel? What is the relationship like between writer and illustrator in the comic world?” – Cameron, 31, California

Notes:

– Start by knowing, as an individual, the entire process
– Collaboration requires new time in the process spent communicating
— MIT comic
— Assess your weaknesses and decide how to address them
—- Evaluate your goals
—— Commercially viable?
—— Specifically reflective of your own vision?
——— In narrative? Art? Or both?
—— Budget
—— Time

– Collaborative Forums
— Digital Webbing
— MakingComics.com Underdog community
—- Facebook group
—- Reddit
— MakingComics.com Slack
— Reddit
—- #makecomics
— Potentially Andy Schmidt’s “Comics Experience”

[01:01:00] Closing Statements

[01:03:00] Show Outro

Songs Used

• Patreon Info Segment:“Story To Fall Through” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
• Intro & Outro Songs:“Unexpected Hoedown In Bagging Area” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
• #Comic/Audio Fuel Segments
  • “The Kid In The Bins” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
  • “Dry Run Well” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
• Daily-Challenge Segment: “New Boots Rag” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original