concept artist vs. comic-book artist

indian_boy

hey guys, this is the weirdest post that i've probably ever put up on polycount, but please hear me out.

okay, so i just had a debate with a friend of mine about who had the tougher job... concept / comic book artists. For some reason, it seems like the tougher job is the cooler one with him, so whatever. i tried explaining to him that they were probably both equally tough, with different ups and downs. but he was pretty adamant.

now so far [the debate's not over. had to go to bed [he lives in japan by the way, and i in canada... couple of hours difference].. anyways, so far i've explained to him how a concept artist is on his own for his piece of art. While a comic book artist involves penciller, inker, text-writer, colour-artist. Also, i explained that the concept art has to tell a story [of sorts] in 1 shot, while the comic is.... a strip. We both had points about bitch art-directors/editors-in-chief who can simply 'veto' an art piece. Finally, he stated that comic book artists got less time to do their work

anyways, so this debate is gonna continue tomorrow morning, and i figured i needed some material since i dont know jack about concept art as a career.

any advice on how to prove that concept art is tougher than comic book art?

thanks guys.

PS: yeah i know this is immature, but just bear with me. and i can easily use it as an excuse to learn more about the industry

Ninjas

Comics in Japan are not produced that way, and they have to do something like 4 pages a day, so if by "comic book artist" he means "manga artist" then he could be right. They work those guys like slaves.

aesir

per gets a cookie for rox0rs!

MoP

Heh, well said Per.
The question is about on a par with asking "how many polys should I use?" without specifying any further...

indian_boy

hehe yes i know i know.

okay, this guy's dream is to work with DC comics. He's in japan cuz his dad got posted to japan [like mine to canada]. Let's say that said concept artist is working at [state ur place of employment], what's his job like? that's all i want to know. i dont think any of u have ever been in the comic book industry, but when he says something, i wanna be able to retaliate, so to speak.

oh, and for the sake of my image... ahem, a "friend of mine" was debating with a "friend of his".

McIlroy

I have known several concept artists in the game industry who were previous comic book artists that I have meet at trade shows etc.. Anyways I have asked them this very same question and universally they all say comics are Harder by far . A concept is a single design piece a character ,enviro , prop or what ever that all they have to do is make cool or effective for the game. Comics require all those things per panel and an ability to translate the narrative effectively . Joe Mad is a great example I talked to him at a comic convention and I was like "man how do you like doing games and will you ever go back to comics ?" He basically said he was sick of 12-15 hr days and not being able to spend time with his family doing comics when he can still make good money doing concept art and call it a day after 8 hrs if he wants .

skankerzero

[ QUOTE ]
Joe Mad is a great example I talked to him at a comic convention and I was like "man how do you like doing games and will you ever go back to comics ?" He basically said he was sick of 12-15 hr days and not being able to spend time with his family doing comics when he can still make good money doing concept art and call it a day after 8 hrs if he wants .

[/ QUOTE ]

Which is funny cause he's returning to comics with Marvel's Ultimates 3.


I got to work with David Finch (New Avengers, Moon Night, Cyber Force), on Demonik before it got canned, and he enjoyed concept art much more because you become a slave working on comics.

Judging from him, comics are the harder of the two, hands down.

Don't forget, comics are 22 pages of art in about 2 weeks.

McIlroy

Exactly right skank ! The comic artists that I have talked to that have went to conception have all universally said comics are basically slave work compared to hours worked versus compensation .

Tully

As a concept artist, I can tell you to listen to Per. Once you're good enough to be a pro in any artistic area the actual mechanics of your job aren't generally going to be the hard part. For a concept artist, it's gonna be getting ideas that are original, practical within your technical limitations, that look good and fit within whatever genre you're in.

For a comic artist (though I can't speak about this directly, since I've never done much of it), it'd be probably good page/panel layout, consistant quality, and SPEED. You don't have to tell a story with concept art (you can and should imply one, but that's a different animal)... and you don't tend to have to draw the same character over and over a million times in a million different expressions and angles.

You don't describe an object/character in exhaustive detail so that somebody else can figure out how to model it in a comic book, and you don't often obsess about an interesting silhouette for everything, or "Can we afford the polys for those extra doodads on the back!? OGOD EVERY CHARACTER HAS TO USE THE SAME RIG AND I HAVE TO GET IDEAS THAT THEM LOOK DIFFERENT WHEN THEY'RE ONLY A SPECK ON THE HORIZON IN THE GAME!?" for everything in your comic book either. Though deadlines in concept art are tight at times, it's not always the GO GO GO that I've heard comic art is. You probably get paid better as a concept artist(and there are a lot more salaried opportunities, I'd imagine).

In any case, if your friend wants to feel self-righteous by proclaiming his own chosen profession is "harder" than another largely unrelated profession, he sounds like he's wasting his time. If he wants to do comics then great, but why attempt to denigrade another art form? Seems silly.