One of my favorite all time shows is Iron Chef- not the new “American” Iron Chef, mind you, but the original program that was dubbed and re-broadcast from Japan. What I love about that show isn’t all just about the final dishes or even watching someone try and make a dessert based on snapping turtle meat- what makes that show so awesome for me is the drama. In the US, someone decides they want to be a chef and they take a few classes and they get a job somewhere and wait until they have either the following or the contacts to open their own place. Quite often, opening a new restaurant in the US is seen as a young person’s game- we praise people for finding new flavors almost by accident, and for jumping into the endeavor with both feet and running.

In Japan, school is important but what is equally important is apprenticeship. Yes, in America we have “intern programs” and such, but would any American would-be chef spend 3 years doing nothing but peeling and chopping root vegetables? Would they then move on to spend another several years hand rolling noodles and still longer before they were “allowed” to strain the scum off of soup? To the Japanese chef in Japan, all this is NOT “wasted” time- it is valuable learning experience.

By the time most of the contestants appeared on Iron Chef they had worked under someone else for upwards of 10 years and had opened their own restaurants and were training their OWN apprentices. In fact, my favorite series of episodes was when one master chef who was defeated sent several of his apprentices in succession to try and defeat the Iron Chefs to no avail. It was drama not simply because of the hour on TV, but because of the years of preparation leading up to this moment…

Today’s Lesson in Failure is all about the preparation: There Is No Trial Without Error.

I have been spending a lot of time lately talking about the business side of Comics- partially because I get asked about it often and partially because I wish I had someone to tell me about some of those big self publishing issues. While there are quite a few more pitfalls to point out in that regard, I wanted to take a moment to pull back a bit and discuss something quite fundamental that can be easily overlooked. Regardless of what you do in Comics- Writing, Penciling, Inking, Coloring, Lettering or any combination of those skills- it’s important to understand that you are dealing with something that is a SKILL.

Are some people born with “talent?”

Sure.

But ask any top professional sportsperson if raw talent is enough- to find them and ask them that question, you are probably going to have to go to the gym or the practice field or catch them off season when they are between workouts. We all expect Lebron or Jeter or Tiger or either one of the Manning brothers to focus and practice and win more than they lose as a result. And while we would love them to win 100% of the time, we know that much of their effort will be spent over the course of their careers in losing efforts.

That’s the way of sport- A baseball player who fails about 6 out of every 10 times to hit a ball is a legendary player after all, so some level of failure is expected and accepted. In fact, although we want our Sports heroes to TRY and win every game and to be in every game until the bitter end, on some level we are glad when they DON’T succeed 100% of the time. We love to see that struggle and effort in the win, and we love to see the losses build determination for winning the next game or making a hit in the next at bat. That’s why the schoolyard fantasy is never to imagine yourself hitting a home run off the first pitch of the game- you want to think of yourself with the bases loaded, bottom of the 9^th, down a run with 2 outs and down to your final strike…

Why is it that we demand this in Sports, but we don’t allow for it in Comics?

Why is a person doesn’t expect to suck and suck badly at comics and work at it until they go from sucking to creating good work?

I think it has to do with some misconceptions that people have about Comics, and if you will indulge me, I would like to spell those out for you now.

Misconception number 1 is that Comics are ALL about “Talent.” Part of that is perpetuated by the bigger companies- they hire person A and stress that unless person A is doing a comic, it sucks. While you may not buy into that piece of marketing, because hey, you “know” that person B is the schizzle, it still probably means you think that person B has more TALENT than you do. Maybe that’s true, and maybe that person has worked their butt off to take what talent they DID have and hone it. Honestly, it’s probably has a little to do with innate talent and ALOT to do with them being willing to work harder than you have.

Making comics is a lot like open heart surgery- it’s not the skills a person is born with that makes someone an expert, it’s all the work they put in that does it. I am positive that having dexterity and innate brainpower is the START of a good surgeon, but if it ends there I don’t want him operating on ME! Next time you have a chance to meet an established Pro in Comics, ask them about what they do and have done personally to improve their skills- every single one I have ever asked that question to has given me an earful of advice. What I gather from that goes beyond the specifics of read this book or do this or that exercise… what it tells me is that the sketchbook and the notepad are the Lab and the Gym rolled into one. And if you can get some feedback from other creators, go for it because that will help you refine your skills 10 times faster if you apply what you hear and use it for improvement. Anything that gets you writing or drawing and revising and polishing your work is for the best, because either you grow or your stagnate- there is no third option.

Misconception number 2 is quite the opposite, and that is the belief that ANYONE can make Comics. In a literal sense, yes, anyone can make a series of pictures with some word balloons filled with dialogue representing speech. Not everyone can make a PROFESSIONAL level Comic, however and that is something that fools people every day. A well made Comic just makes you feel that if you pick up a pencil, you can do the same thing. The problem with that line of thinking is that while a good comic is something anyone can appreciate, it is harder work than you might think to create one.  Yes, it takes talent to do comics- but not raw talent. It takes talent that has been shaped by the hard work and repetition of… making COMICS! While that sounds strange, it’s the exact concept that the Japanese chef is putting into practice when he spends years learning the way to perfectly slice a vegetable by cutting 100,000 of them.

The key to learning how to make comics is to make comics again and again and again. Many people are discouraged because they think they have a fantastic comic book idea and they sit down to craft their Opus and it turns out to suck. Everyone sucks when they start out- what it takes to be good at making Comics is to fight through that and continuing to improve and not lying to yourself that what you are doing is good enough that it doesn’t need improvement. If you aren’t the type to work hard and if you don’t have the thick skin it will take to put up with being told where you aren’t quite there yet, then you aren’t cut out for being a Comics Creator. Sorry if that’s harsh, but it’s reality and will save you frustration down the road if you accept it now rather than fooling yourself only to quit later.

Misconception number 3 might be the biggest one of all and that is that popularity is a good judge of quality or that popularity matters at all in judging what qualifies as good work. Take for example the Eisner Awards- when you look at who was nominated for Best Writer this year, you will notice that every one of those people are writing a high profile, well known book. If you polled Fanboys everywhere, 99% would know their names or at least would be familiar with the books those people have written. Were any of the Comics nominated the BEST written Comics in 2009?

Hell no!

I can’t speak for you, but I read all those comics, and I don’t think one of them would have cracked my top 50 for the year. Now, saying that isn’t the same thing as saying they were terrible comics- it’s just that when I think of the Best Written comics I know that most of the time, those comics aren’t the “Blockbuster” types that sell mountains of copies. The list of “Best” this or that in Comics is ALWAYS about popularity, and if you want to become really and truly good at Comics, you will stop worrying about that.

Most likely, you aren’t going to create an Iconic character like Batman or Spiderman or Spawn. You also aren’t likely to be the next “Whomever”, because even if you had the right mix of Talent and Drive to hone those abilities, NOBODY wants to allow someone new to replace their Hero. You also may never get a shot to work on Superman or Spiderman or your favorite all time character, because only a handful of people ever do. And none of that can take away from the fact that if you apply yourself, you can become amazing at what you do. Granted- the less Talent you have to start with, the harder you need to work at it, but I maintain that Passion and NOT Talent will get you where you want to go… as long as where you want to go is being GOOD.

As for being Famous-  I can’t help you with that.

Becoming Good, on the other hand, is all about hard work and never, never, never giving up until you have achieved a level of excellence.

Failure is pretty simple when you think about it, and I don’t really have to give you some flippant line to get you to Fail. Legendary Coach John Wooden once said, “Failure to Prepare is Preparing to Fail,” and that’s all you have to do.

Do nothing and Failure will find YOU.

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