Thundersnow!
We had a bit of some rather peculiar weather, here in our little corner of New England last night and today. What was forecast as snow flurries or squalls, turned into a six-hour snow storm. It still didn't accumulate that much however, and about 2:00 in the afternoon, it had mostly stopped and the sun came out. I only work from 8:00 till 2:00 so this worked out quite neatly for my commute. Too bad about 4:30, when the sky turned black and there was a white-out. Literally. There was even thunder. I can't really remember the last time that we had a snowstorm with thunder. It took one of my co-workers two hours to get home from what is normally a 15 minute commute.
So now it's windy as hell. The lamp posts are waving like tall grass, which is certainly a sight to behold. I understand that the midwest, Oklahoma and Texas got whomped too. The Weather Wizard is obviously fighting the Black Lanterns,and the effects have spilled into our Universe. That's some serious fightin'!
I don't know if you have all read Johanna Carlson's blog at "Comics Worth Reading", where she spills the beans about Bluewater Productions habit of not paying their artists, but it was an interesting and certainly eye-opening article. They are the comic book company that does all those biographies. So lo and behold, in this morning's newspaper, there is a large article about East Hartford, Ct. resident Cesar Feliciano, who is going to be the artist for Bluewater's biography of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. It's a very nice article, and the artist is obviously just brimming with hope and enthusiasm. He's trying to break into comics, and still has a day job working for Lowe's. In light of the things revealed in the article, I REALLY hope that he got paid up front.
I will get to my review of Green Lantern #50, but probably not until tomorrow. But boy howdy, it was fabulous.
7 Comments:
Sadly, I run into that all the time in my industry. There are too many freelance artists, proofreaders, editors, and even authors out there who did work for a publisher and NEVER got paid. Oftentimes they're the victims of startup publishers who get stars in their eyes about wanting to "make it" in publishing -- and then end up going broke, with no money to pay their creative talent. And the freelancers, who originally looked upon these startups as their "big break," become gun-shy about ever wanting to try working in publishing again. It's very sad. Publishing is actually a very, very difficult business to keep afloat. Publishers spring up and die out almost DAILY. I've worked for a total of five publishing companies. Of those five, three of them no longer exist. I was lucky enough to recognize the warning signs and BAIL before any of them went under.
Bottom line -- No matter how badly you want to be in any type of business, never, never, NEVER produce freelance work for ANYONE unless you're paid AT LEAST half of what's owed you IN ADVANCE.
Publishing does seem to be having a lot of problems in this particular economy.
Yeah, I can understand someone wanting to break into the comics biz so badly, and I'm fairly sure that some unscrupulous publishers are counting on that desire. As I recall, Tokyopop was pulling the same shenanigans a while back. Or they get you to sign away all of your rights to your creations for a pittance.
He seems like a nice man, and I do hope he got paid in advance.
It has happened to me-- a lot!
I've worked on various projects as a freelance (in the advertising field) and more than once I haven't got paid. It pretty much sucks. Thankfully I have a regular job as well.
Anyway, now I charge something the very moment I take a job. I do miss some work, but I'm not wasting my time any longer. Unless it's in blogging, that's for free but very rewarding :)
Chris, that seems like a very wise and professional move on your part.
It must be really tough to be a freelancer. I don't know how people do it. I hope that new artist does well!
We may have ice & snow, but I was still outside grilling tonight.
There's one think I know for sure. I could never work exclusively as a freelance.
Post a Comment
<< Home