Six Points From Tom Muller On Breaking Into Comics
by Hannah Means Shannon
It’s a discussion that is ever-green and will no double change in small ways over time, but the old tried and true aspects of this conversation seem to remain.
Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated designer Tom Muller, who’s responsible for many of the beautiful comic covers and interior designs you see from Image and Valiant, just to name a couple of publishers, had this to say on Twitter about “breaking into comics” :
THREAD — On the whole Breaking Into Comics thing: knowing the right people only gets you so far. This is a small & often insulated industry
— Tom Muller (@hellomuller) August 30, 2017
… Which means that good and bad news travels fast. So your connections only carry you as far as your talent, behaviour and work ethic does…
— Tom Muller (@hellomuller) August 30, 2017
… if your work isn’t any good, and you act like a prima donna, no one is going to hook you up or recommend you to others…
— Tom Muller (@hellomuller) August 30, 2017
… because you don’t want to be the person suggesting unsuitable people, because your peers won’t value your skills to judge talent anymore…
— Tom Muller (@hellomuller) August 30, 2017
…which is why ‘Do good work, be on time, and be nice to people’ is the best advice to break into comics. And have discipline…
— Tom Muller (@hellomuller) August 30, 2017
… because working in comics is not a hobby, but a job like everything else. Except that you could do it in your underpants. END THREAD.
— Tom Muller (@hellomuller) August 30, 2017
Muller’s advice is both helpfully detailed and concise, so take that as unit of thought to chew on. There are no guarantees when trying to get work in the comics industry, but what is within our control–our own behavior–that is what Muller is urging us to focus on.
