Syndicated Comics - Some Ground Work - II

Submission guidelines

All comics syndicate sites' submission guidelines pages say in essence the following

...most comic strip cartoonists draw their daily comic strips 13" wide by 4" tall. Most single-panel cartoonists draw their daily panel 7" wide by 7" high, not counting the extra space for the caption placed underneath the drawing. You can draw larger or smaller than that, as long as your cartoons are in proportion to those sizes.

...

Send 24 black and white daily comic strips. It is not necessary to send Sunday comic strips. If we like your daily comics, we will ask to see sample Sunday pages.

...

You should reduce your comics to fit onto standard 8-1/2" x 11" sheets of paper. Write your name, address and phone number on each page. Do not send your original drawings! Send photocopies instead.

There is no need to send your work in any other format. Due to the enormous amount of submissions we receive, it’s easiest on us if the work is kept to 8-1/2” x 11”, bound with a paper clip or a staple. We would prefer not to receive large binders or portfolios.

- King Features

...

It is fine to include color work if you care to, but be certain to include some black & white line art as well.

...

If you would like your submission returned, you must include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE). If you would like confirmation that your submission was received and reviewed, you must also include a SASE. If no SASE is included, we will respond only to submitters from whom we would like to see more material.

- United Features

Marvel Comics submission guidelines differ a bit in keeping that they are more into action hero type comics. Marvel accepts artwork thru emails as well. Submission guideline page on the sites of the three biggies of the industry ..

United Features

Marvel Comics

King Features

Writing ability

The best take home message from these submission guidelines pages

...we very carefully study a cartoonist's writing ability. Good writing helps weak art, better than good art helps weak writing.

- King Features

Its an important message coming from the people who returned Scott Adams strips on account of his drawing inaptitude ;)

It worked out fine for Adams though, as aggressive and agile United Features fitted better in his scheme of things later. You, for once, might give it to King's people for turning down Adams strips if you have a look at the quality of sketching in the strips he sent to them (its clear Adams didn't take the drawing aspect seriously enough), his sense of humor and his amazing imagination, however, is hard to miss even in those few strips. King's people did acknowledge his potential as a writer but it took United Features alertness to act upon it.

Before you submit

Now one thing that you must have noticed about these submission guidelines pages is their Google page ranks. It is 6, 5, and 4 for United Features, Marvel, and King Features respectively, which is partly due to the traffic on the index and comic pages that often visits other pages of these websites as well. Point is, thousands and thousands of people see these pages every day. This is only a tip of the ice burg

....Each year, it gets more than 5,000 submissions of which three are chosen for syndication.

- King Features

So many people submitting so little getting selected. The only thing that tops that is that oldies are not willing to leave either. Comics like Dennis the Menace and many others have been kept alive as either juniors in the family have taken over or assistants or fallow artist groups are doing that. But don't let these facts get you down. What it does mean though is that you have to put your best foot forward. Every submitted page contributes in making or breaking you. Each page of comic strip, with your contact info on it, represents you and nothing else matters. Be original, which is possible only if you be yourself. You have to be yourself as you cant last trying to be somebody else.

You need to choose the subject and characters with utmost care as once you have these basic element worked out, not only you have them but they have you. You've got to be in love with your comic strip characters as only love lasts. Try to differentiate between love and infatuation as they say for if you are lucky enough to have your comic rolling it will engage you and then there is not way out should you grow weary of it.

Draw 60 odd strips

These syndications ask for only 24 odd samples but I suggest that you must have 2 months of strips with you before you submit. Its better that way as you would know if you are serious enough by the time you've drawn those many. Also If you need some radical changes done, you have time for that before your comic is not entirely yours. I'm almost feeling sorry to say this, but by 60 odd comic strips I mean 60 odd 'best ones' for which you would obviously need more than 60 ideas to chose the best ones from. Drawing these many strips will give you an opportunity to analyze your enthusiasm levels. Its okay if you are not really elated and feeling a little exhausted and saturated by the time you've finalized the first best 60, but if you are already groping about for ideas you'd know you have not quite identified your calling and drawing or doing something that you don't really identify with. My fist post might help you with your choices of subjects and characters.

Syndicates might take couple of months or more before you receive a word from them (you are in, your work aint good enough or an acknowledgment of any kind for that matter), having 60 odd strips with you allows you to start a webcomic and keep updating it while you are cooling your heals. If your comic hits it off with readers you would have some sort of credentials to point these syndicates to. It matters if you already have some fan following. While many don't say it openly, Marvel encourages you to mention it if you are already running a web comic. This way or that way you'll have your comic up and running, then it will be your decision whether you want your comic syndicated at all or you wanna concentrate solely on your webcomic. In my future posts, I'll cover web comics and how you can start one cheaply and have it up and rolling :)

Resources

• A good compilation of resources for all comic aspirants
• An online book on AOL servers Cartoonists - How They Work.
• I figured most of us draw comic not merely for the love of it. There are comics for artists and there are those for people, what I'm trying to say is better said by Scott Adams here.
• Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott Mccloud a book that's worth its weight in gold. Its a comic book. Yes its written as a comic where the protagonist representing the writer walks you thru the tricks of the trade while making you richer with interesting facts from the history of comics , observations, working styles of various giants many other things.

Take care :)