A Certain Lack of Focus

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Ilustratorious

I've decided to give the Illustrator's of the Future contest one more try. It's been twice now that I've tried it, I admit that's not enough to justify being overly discouraged. Both times I received a letter congratulating me on being a semi-finalist. I realize this is a good thing, but in some ways it robs me of being angry- I can't exactly rant about how they wouldn't know talent if it bit them in the ass when they've at least given me a nod. The last letter suggested that they were more interested in an older style, so this time I'm going to send them what I consider to be the three weakest parts of my thesis. I've already sent them the other two pieces, they liked them, and I think the weaker parts are still fairly strong. You can view the pieces I'm talking about at my website: www.hadesarrow.com (another shameless plug). Go to the gallery, the first, second and forth thumbnails (top row) are for the pieces I intend to send. The third thumbnail (top row) and first thumbnail (second row) are the two parts of my thesis that I've already sent out. We'll see, I'm no longer holding out much hope, but I figure it doesn't hurt to try.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

I made Google!

Well my website finally made Google. Google thinks it's of no importance but I can handle that... at this point my website really is of no importance. It's a nice step anyway, and I'm more than a little suspicious that the timing coincides with my first post on blogger. I've had a live journal for a while, and a myspace for a while, but this is the first time my website has shown up on a google search. Anyway I don't really mind. I guess this also means I should find some spare time (ha!) to start updating my site. My site by the way (another shameless plug) is: www.hadesarrow.com.
In other career news, less encouraging, I heard back from the Illustrator's of the Future contest. I had entered in the first quarter and received notification that I was a semi-finalist (in other words hadn't won squat but at least they were interested). So I entered again... this time in the third quarter, and as I had followed the "suggestions" the contest judges included in their letter I had high hopes... so... I was slightly disappointed this time when I was, once again, a semifinalist. Better than nothing I suppose, except, really, a semifinalist IS nothing. No suggestions this time either, just a comment that of the three drawings I sent in they preferred the oldest of the bunch... not a great sign I'd say. I wouldn't take it quite so personally except, well I've SEEN some of the illustrations that make it into publication... and I KNOW I'm better. Ah well, art is all about perspective I suppose, there's nothing I can do about it if their perspective sucks. O:-) I may enter the contest next year (no way I'll be ready by the last deadline of this year) but for now I think I should focus on other things. I'm working on an independent study making a comic out of a story I wrote a little while ago. I'm not even 6 pages in and I'm sick to death of it, but I do think it will look pretty decent when I'm done. If I'm happy with the result I'll send it in to Dark Horse's New Recruits contest. If I don't have any luck there I'll try image... or one of the other companies that deals more in complete stories... but I'm not sure how interested they'd be in a single book story.
Still waiting and hoping to get some samples from the guy from Marvel. I'm going to email him once a week until he sends me some. I'm not in the least offended that he keeps forgetting me... after all... he doesn't need me at all... and I definitely need his help to get into the business (or some one's). So my challenge is to keep bugging him... without sounding impatient, pissy, or like a kiss up. On second hand maybe it would be ok to sound like a kiss up. Hopefully... eventually, it will work. If I can get some pages to ink I'll be one step further than I am now... even if he never takes a look at them when I send them back, at least I'll have some Marvel inks to show next year when I go to Wizard World.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Waiting

My name is Meagan Call, I'm a 25 year old woman, trying to start a career as a writer and illustrator. I have a bfa in studio art and am currently working on an mfa in creative writing. I think I'm about the the point where my craft is good enough to be published... I'm just waiting for someone to realize this. And then preferably give me lots of money to do what I love. I went to Wizard World Chicago in August... and met someone from Marvel who said they liked my inking enough that they'd like to see what I can do on Marvel pencils. So now I'm waiting for some pencils so I can give that a try... then I'll get to wait a little bit more to see if they might actually have some work for me. I'm not quite optimistic, but it's still a step further than I was before the Wizard World convention. The other big thing I'm waiting for right now is contest results. I entered a story in The Writers of the Future Contest and illustrations The Illustrators of the Future Contest. They are supposed to notify entrants of results (one way or the other) 6-8 weeks after the contest deadline (which was June 30th), but it's not all that surprising that they're running late. I get the feeling that's sort of the norm. But that does mean that I'm waiting for results that could come tomorrow... or not for months yet, I have no way to tell. So we'll see, I'm more hopeful about the illustration contest, I think I've got a pretty good shot. The story I sent in was so weird that I can't even guess if I have a chance with the writers contest... either they'll think it's brilliant or they'll think it's terrible.