It may seem like an oxymoron, but really this is something that we encounter all the time. The auto mechanic who finds a few extra things that are “broken” on your car to get a few extra bucks out of you. The career politician who is corrupt and pads the pockets of their associates and makes back room deals to get a leg up. Currently, we’re dealing with a friend who is a flooring “professional” who owns his own business and installed our floor in 2022, and still hasn’t returned to fix some flaws in the installation, which are now more than flaws, our floor is literally cracking and breaking! Even though he keeps promising to come by, it’s clear that the onus is on us to “keep on him.” Unfortunately, this type of stuff is a fact of life. People acting like… well, people. People are flawed. So today I’d like to simply encourage you to be the best you can be at whatever it is you find yourself doing, and do that by putting in front of you the negative, that I may encourage the positive. I may relate much of what I discuss as it pertains to the art world, but if you are a professional, or maybe on your road to a profession, these are things to keep in mind that will make you outshine the competition.
WHAT’S A PROFESSIONAL?
If you search for a basic definition of a professional, this is what you’ll find…
“A professional is someone who has a specific job or role that requires education, training, and specialized knowledge. Professionals are expected to adhere to codes of conduct and ethics.”
Being a professional is much more than the caliber of work produced, many artists and professionals produce good or great work, but you’ll notice the definition also mentions a code of conduct and ethics. Let’s open that bag a little shall we. What are ethics? The Oxford dictionary gives this definition: [Ethics are] moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conducting of an activity. So not only does being a professional mean you are qualified and trained in what you’re doing, but being a professional also has to do with character, integrity, and a work ethic. We can also say it involves good customer service and keeping your word.
Nowadays, many artists are self-employed, they operate as work-for-hire, they no longer work for big companies going into a studio and putting in hours alongside fellow artists. Many probably work from home in their own studio. Also, now with the dawn of crowdfunding, artists can bring their creations and comics direct to the fans. This is what I’ve been doing myself since 2020. I’m my own boss, I make my own hours, and I run my own schedule. While this way of working is very freeing it’s also very challenging and opens its own world of troubles. If you’re not disciplined you can easily run into a situation where everything else becomes a priority. Especially when you work from home and have a wife and four kids literally in the other room!
DISCIPLINE
Being a self-employed artist and working on my own schedule and motivation requires a lot of discipline. Like I said, it’s easy for other things to grab my attention and quickly become a priority. Going into an office and having tasks thrown at you on a daily basis and someone watching you do your job can be helpful and very motivating. It keeps you in line, and the fact that they are paying you, you better perform. If you’re sitting around on your phone and not accomplishing the tasks given to you, it won’t be too long before you’re sitting down with the manager. Now removed from that scenario, with artists now sitting at home doing the work within the confines of their own four walls are far removed from the spying eyes of any manager (they are the manager!). So you can see where things can quickly go wrong. Make no mistake, I’m not perfect. I have to deal with this myself and have my inner moral manager keeping tabs on me constantly. It’s a must!
Enter the crowdfunding conundrum. There have been a number of professional artists who have struck out on their own and have offered their own comic books on crowdfunding platforms, only to have their books never reach the hands of the many backers who gave their hard earned dollars to support these crowdfunding campaigns. Money is given up front to help these creators who lack the capital to make their creations into physical goods. It’s a wonderful tool. But unfortunately that tool can be abused when in the wrong hands. These professional comic artists who years prior where working for companies and producing regular books, sometimes monthly, now can’t seem to complete one book even after years, and after many fans dumped thousands of dollars on them. Some more high profile than others. Some of these guys I gave my money to! But what is going on here? Maddening isn’t quite the word for it. You feel robbed in a way, like you’ve been swindled somehow. Now I’m not saying these professionals intended to do this, or that it was their plan all along, but somewhere things went awry. Sure, things come up in life, I’m not discounting that; people get sick, family members, kids, sometimes you even have to deal with a death in a family. Working a normal 9-5 job though, you deal with it, then you get back in the office and things get back to normal after a short time. But with these professionals I guess is they simply lack discipline. They can’t manage their time well, and other things take precedence too often. There have even been writers who hire artists to do their crowdfunding books, and the campaign stalls because the artist can’t finish the work. Doing the daily grind of comic pages is just too much for them. Everyone is left out to dry, the hundreds of backers, including the writer who paid the artist, sometimes upfront! They do great work, beautiful art, but they can’t seem to keep it going. Another casualty of a non-disciplined professional.
BE A MAN OF YOUR WORD
On numerous occasions I’ve encountered artists myself who are unable to keep their word. As an artist doing my own crowdfunding campaigns and making my own comics, I get to interact with many other artists. I get to hire letterers, colorists, flatters, and other illustrators like myself to do covers for me and whatever else I can find. Thankfully I can say the majority of the time I’ve had great experiences and the artists I’ve worked with are the very definition of the word professional. They got the work done in a timely manner, I didn’t have to bug them, they sent me roughs to look over and they did a tremendous job on the final art. Once in a while however, you come across the professional who just can’t seem to get their stuff together. Again, sometimes things come up, sickness, acts of God, accidents, planned vacations etc. Gosh, even surgeries! I remember when I commissioned Aaron Lopresti to work on a cover for Shadow Sentry book 2, and he was having surgery on his hand or arm ( I think it was his drawing arm). But a few weeks later he was banging out a cover for me! He even colored it, which I didn’t realize came with the deal! Not even a surgery slowed this professional down! But then there are others I’ve commissioned and it’s like pulling teeth to get the work from them! Why do I need to remind, bug, pester, and wonder if this professional is even going to keep their word and get the work done for me. Case in point, I hired an artist to do work for me a while back. Check out this timeline (I saved it because it was just so bad!):
May – Paid ½ to get on the list and get in line. Was told it’d be a three month wait period. That’s fine.
Aug. – Three months later I contacted them. Not ready.
Sept. 20th – Spoke on the phone and sent all reference materials
Oct 1st – Said they had a set back and a customer didn’t pay them (now I think I know why!) and asked for the rest of the payment to help them out and that the work would be done no later than the 8th of October. (I don’t recommend doing this by the way! But as an artist myself, I’m a little sympathetic!)
I said that’s fine, I understand, I’m happy to help… I just need you to do two things for me. First, Make sure I see the rough before you finalize things. Second, Don’t rush! Take your time. I don’t want you to rush to get it to me by the 8th and I’m left with sub-par art. I don’t mind waiting a few more days for your best. (Again, I’m an artist. I know deadlines sometimes translate into: let me just pump this out and get it done and the work is seriously lacking. I don’t want that!)
Oct. 6th – Reached out… no rough. What’s up? Said there was an illness in the family.
Oct. 28th – Reached back out. Said they’d have something in a day or two.
Nov. 13th – Contacted them again as I see more art they’re posting on their social media. Two more SINCE the last one they said they had to finish before getting to mine.
Nov. 17th – Said they’re getting to it, just needed to recap and go over the concept we discussed. I resent the concept of what I was looking for and environment etc. Said they got it and they’d send the rough soon.
Nov. 25th – Reached out again, and they asked for my patience as they try to grasp the characters, as well as jumping back and forth with another piece with “similar deadline.” (Hmm… I thought I was next in line? I guess that’s not how it works? Other stuff gets put in front of mine, even though I paid the full amount. So I guess whatever they want to work on gets precedence? Not a great show of customer service.)
Dec. 2nd – Sent a message… I was sure to attach another image that I saw on their social media feed to let them know I was keeping close track of what’s going on. To which they replied “Going to finish that, then dive back into yours.”
Dec. 9th – Me: Hey how’s it going? Them: “I’ll have something worth looking at by the weekend”
Dec. 19th – Now I’m freaking out… I really want to just let them have it, but at the same time, I’m fully invested and if just let my emotions get the best of me, I’m worried they’ll just take off with my money and I’ll never get this artwork. So I let my cooler head prevail and write this: “The weekend has passed. Going on 2 weekends now. You know you said you would have something back to me in the beginning of Oct. AFTER I paid you the FULL amount in good faith. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am in this whole thing.”
Then, I go onto their social media only to see another work they completed for another client. I’m furious!
I call them.
They actually answered the phone to my surprise and again I’m doing my best to not just go crazy and let them have it. My concern is chasing them off, and my money with them. I don’t know this person, they obviously have issues with keeping their word, and I just don’t know if I can trust them. They ended up giving some halfhearted excuse and apology that really didn’t take into consideration all of what they have been doing to my psyche these past 8 months. It also became apparent to me that they were super unorganized as they fumbled around looking for the sketches and roughs they had done. It was ridiculous. They had something about something but nothing was set in stone. This all after four months of when they said they would start on it. They assure me they can work on it and have it done the following month (to that I was even screaming in my head, are you flipping kidding me! But shoot, as long as I get the art, that’s all I cared about, and I’d be keeping them to their word).
I ended up getting the art, finally, but you want to know something else… they never sent me a rough to approve. Nothing. What a headache! I never want to work with that person again! Even though they produce great art, their work ethic is bananas! They don’t keep their word, they aren’t concerned with fulfilling their obligations in a timely manner, they don’t seem to be organized, and can’t manage their time, it’s crazy. A professional without some ethics and code to guide them, isn’t a professional. They aren’t keeping to the definition of the word, and they don’t deserve the title. They are just another person offering a service, but not a very good one. A professional must encompass all the attributes of a professional to be one!
THE GOLDEN RULE
When you think of ethics in business think of the good old golden rule! Treat others how you want to be treated. I don’t know about you but I try and drill this into my kids every chance I get. I want them to be people, citizens, and professionals, who treat others in the same way they want to be treated. That training starts now. Do you want someone to break their promise or their word to you? Don’t do it with others! Do you want people to be mean to you and treat you like an outsider? Make sure you include everyone and don’t exclude others in what you doing. The list goes on. But keeping this simple rule in mind goes a long way. It also speaks to the inner nature of ethics, it gets to the heart of the person. Can you be a horrible person but a good business man? I doubt it. I don’t mean “good” in the sense of successful and making a profit, but in terms of ethical. Fair. Honorable. In the flip side, if you’re a person with a strong sense of right and wrong, (and you adhere to it!) you’re going to do what’s right across all aspects of life, and that includes in your business practices.
So my encouragement to everyone is to work on yourself first (me included). Am I keeping deadlines? Am I keeping my word? Not just in business, but at home. Am I doing what I need to do and getting done what I need to get done and in a timely manner? Then teach it to your kids and those around you! Trust me, they’ll see it. You’ll model to them your ethic long before you speak a word about it. But make sure you’re first walking the walk. Kids are great about spotting hypocrites. Set a high standard for yourself. Don’t compare yourself to others! Outshine the rest by seeking excellence in all you do.
Having backed campaigns and comics that have yet to come out, years later, by artists who are peers in my industry, is a real shame. Not to mention it casts a bad light on everyone. But at the same time I do believe everyone rises and falls based on their own merit and name, but the effects of this recent condition isn’t a good one to be sure. Especially when those doing it have a bigger and more prominent name than the little guys beneath them. But here’s what I hope and what I think will happen. The little guys will rise to the top, and the top dogs will fall by the wayside. Just keep doing what’s right. Keep striving for excellence and to be the best professional you can be.
To wrap it up, being a professional is much more than doing that one thing you specialize in well. A good artist can still be a lousy businessman. It requires a code of conduct that you adhere to that makes you more than good at one thing, it must encompass an all-around good experience, and make you a person worth or desirable to interact with. Make it so people love your work, but keep coming back because they enjoyed the experience. That is what makes an excellent professional. Don’t just seek to be okay, seek to be excellent.
Proverbs 22: 1 – A good name is more desirable than great riches; favor is better than silver and gold.
