Those are the common thoughts about agents among artists I think.  But I have a few reasons why I want to find a good one for my graphic novel work. You see, I have a tiny history with art agents. One good and one bad.

 

 

In 1995 when I was 20 I went to conventions showing my comic art around to anyone who would give me the time. Any offer was a good offer I thought. One of the offers was with a comic agency called (Name withheld because I can't remember it). They seemed legit to a 20 year old from Idaho so I signed a contract.

 

 

They never got me any work. Wait, they got me work but never paid me. Let me explain.

 

They set up a gig with (a famous rock star, seriously) to do half an issue of one of his stupid comics. The rock star called me and gave me a sentence to describe each page he wanted me to draw. I spent the next 2 weeks working the best 11 pages I ever penciled (at the time) and returned copies to my agent by mail.

 

Never heard back from the agent. Never heard back from the rock star.

 

I called the rock star and he kept playing hard to get, I mean what is he, some famous rock star or something? I didn't care, I worked hard for him and wanted answers and money. I kept calling and finally he picked up. The conversation went something like this:

 

The Rock Star – Hmmm yeah. I got your pages.

Me – Oh good. What did you think?

The Rock Star - Well, they aren't dynamic enough. All my comics are really dynamic.

Me – Oh okay. Can you explain what panels might need to be more dynamic? And how I can make them more so.

The Rock Star – Have you ever seen one of my books?

Me - Yeah.

The Rock Star - They have blood and sex and, you know, their more DYNAMIC!

Me – So if I add more blood and sex then it's more DYNAMIC?

The Rock Star - Yeah.

Me - Okay I'll make the changes.

 

Obviously "dynamic" meant a different thing to me then it did to the rock star. But I tried to add more blood and chunks and whatever he was looking for. I sent the pages to my agent and never heard back. I was ignorant of what to do, trusting everyone was honest in the business world.  About a month later after hearing noting, I decided to call my agent again and get to the bottom of it all. When I called, my agent was long gone. He quit or got fired or something. Nobody knew I existed. Nobody knew I drew pages for a rock star either. I never got a call back from the agency.  I never got a new agent to take over the last looser. And I was still under contract with them to give them a percent of everything I made. The rock star never paid me or returned a phone call from that point on.

 

Months later I found the issue of the comic I worked on in the comic store and my art was nowhere to be seen. I don't think the art was more dynamic either, unless you count more blood and pointless shots of female anatomy dynamic. The rock star didn't even tell me he wanted a female in it. I guess I'm just suppose to assume I have to draw naked women hiding in the bushes to add to the story arc. Later I saw this (short) rock star in a comic book store in LA and I wanted to kick him.

 

The moral to this story is: A famous rock star still owes me $2200 dollars for 11 penciled pages and a pin-up. That's $3,184.02 with inflation.

 

 

Later on in 1996, I ran into another agency called Famous Frames. I moved out to Los Angeles to become a storyboard artist represented by Famous Frames and let me tell you, they got me solid work for about 6 years. If anyone wants to be a storyboard artist for commercials, music videos, film or TV for directors or ad agencies then this agency is legit! It's pretty hard to get in though. I was just in the right place at the right time. If I'd let them, they would've had a new job for me every day of the week.  My main problem with storyboarding is how mentally demanding it is. I would be hired to go to a random company at 9AM to draw 50 frames for a taco bell commercial that was shooting the next day. I'd get home at 7 and have a message on my answering machine for the next job in the morning that was 2 hours away for an ad agency or something. My record for the amount of boards I did in one day was around 140. It was a draining job but a good start to a professional career as an artist.  To this day I'm still grateful to them for having faith in a 21 year old from Idaho. I'd probably still be a starving artist if it wasn't for Famous Frames.

 

I've moved on since then but I definitely learned the value of a good agent. I can't tell you how many posers I've been approached by claiming they could be my agent. Random people who never even worked in the film, animation, comics, or artist industries. Shoot, I could be THEIR agent!

 

 

Simple. I want to get a contract with a major book publisher like Scholastic or Random House. You need to have a literary agent to submit anything to them.

 

To sum up my thoughts, I want a good agent who will take a cut of everything I make so that they will want to get me the best contract they can. I want a good agent so I can approach big book publishers and not just comic publishers. I want a good agent because all the people who I respect in the comic world have a good agent backing them.

 

I'd really love tons of opinions and advice here. This is one of the parts to all this graphic novel stuff that I'm still having trouble with. Part of me thinks I just need to publish reMIND first before I worry about an agent. But wouldn't it be great if an agent could help make reMIND a homerun instead of a bunt? Oh, what to do!!!

 

Read more at Graphic Novel / Literary Agents – Part 2