From: intruder@cats.ucsc.edu (Isaac Truder)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.info
Subject: Rob Davis Comics Career Article 9 of 9
Date: 3 Sep 92 11:20:22 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.comics.misc
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz



A Mr. Rob Davis, comics aritst, has written a number of articles on the
subject of breaking into the comics business and conducting your business
once you're in.  He has recently personally given me permission to
disseminate his articles to the Internet (they were previously available on
CompuServe).  These articles originally came from a publication called the
Comics Career Newsletter.  This is the last in the series, and all it talks
about is keeping your spirits up as you trek down that long road to comics
stardom!



                        POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE
 
                              By Rob Davis
 
 
    Anyone who has dealt with salesmen or salesmanship has probably
brushed up against the phrase, "PMA, all the way!"  When I was a shoe
salesman, I had the "Positive Mental Attitude" saying thrust in my face
repeatedly by over-zealous co-workers and supervisors who had a warped
vision of what it really meant.
 
    To them it meant, "If you have the right attitude you can sell that
fancy pair of high heel, sequined evening shoes at $80+ to a woman on
welfare with twelve kids.  Plus you can add on six pairs of patent
leather 'mary janes' for each of her daughters, even though she only
came in looking for walking shoes for her toddler.  Not to mention
selling her a matching handbag for her and the girls, plus socks for the
whole family."  Thus, you'd make the company richer, put yourself on the
Top 10 salesmen list and make that now destitute woman VERY happy.
 
    Sure.
 
    It certainly doesn't work like that, but PMA can make achieving a
goal a hell of a lot easier.  Wirhout a positive attitude, nothing of
any lasting value is going to come of anything you attempt to do.
 
    As you may have deduced, I believe a heavy sprinkling of reality
should be taken with any helping of PMA.  Despite what any sales lecture
preaches to you, the mountain will not come to Mohammed simply because
he thinks positively.  Mohammed is going to have to find a way of
overcoming the obstacle standing between him and the mountain.
 
    In other words, he's going to have to act positively after weighing
all his options and creatively producing a way to get to the mountain.
 
    When you go to a convention to show your work, or send your work in
the mail, and you receive a negative response, it's going to hurt.
You've poured your heart in those pencil lines and your soul into those
brushstrokes.  You feel proud of what you've done, or you wouldn't have
shown it.  This is when you apply the PMA.  What's important is not the
critical response you've received, but how you're going to react to it.
If you REALLY want to get into comics, you're going to have to do
whatever it takes, short of signing a pact with the Devil.
 
    I suggest that you sit down right now and list the reasons you want
to become a comics creator.  Take a good hard look at that list.  Are
these really good reasons?  Is doing comics what you really want to do,
or do you think it's easy money?  If it's easy money you want, go into
plumbing.  Creating comics is hard work, and don't let anyone tell you
otherwise.  If you've made your list and decided that comics is what you
want to do -- BELIEVE IT!  Tell yourself that you're going to get better
and better at the job until no one can turn down your submissions.  It
must become a near obsession to find out where you're going wrong and
how to improve it.
 
    You must dedicate every spare moment to perfecting your work and
avoid stabbing other people in the back.  On the contrary, make him your
friend and ally.  If he gets in first, applaud.  When you get in, don't
forget the guys (or gals) you left behind.  Just realize that once in a
while you'll get stabbed in the back; it's just another obstacle to
overcome.
 
    This is what PMA really means.  You have to positively decide that
you are going to make it, and that nothing is going to stop you.  Have
you made that decision?  Are you going to keep going no matter what?
Are you going to make the best use of every critique you receive?  If
so, you're ready.  Go get 'em!!
 
 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
| This article is Copyright (c) 1992 by Rob Davis.  The author is a
| feelance artist whose work has been seen under a number of different
| company logos.  His professional comics career started with SYPHONS
| #7 from NOW Comics, as a letterer.  He also lettered RUST #'s 1 and
| 2 and penciled, lettered and inked DAI KAMIKAZE!.  At Malibu
| Graphics Rob has penciled and inked several projects.  Among those
| were SCIMIDAR and MERLIN.  For Innovation Rob penciled STRAW MEN,
| MAZE AGENCY, and QUANTUM LEAP.  At Rip-Off Press Rob penciled,
| lettered and inked THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN NEMO.  At Marvel Comics
| Rob penciled theee issues of Hanna Barbera's PIRATES OF DARK WATER.
| At DC Comics Rob has penciled STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, and
| STAR TREK (one issue each as fill-in, so far).  All this as of
| September, 1992.




--
-Hades (Brian V. Hughes) 
	    "Egads! These look like a women's fingerprints"
						   -- Durlock Holmes