Sitting here planning the next project after Indigo Vertigo, I'm wondering how much of this they're going to let me get away with. "They" are the publishers, the retailers, the buying public, and you (if you've ever bought a Schaffer comic). The credo from Erik Larson at IMAGE is "Innovate. Create. Don't just build on something other people have started. Make something entirely new, entirely yours." I believe in that. I believe they mean it. And I'm going to take them up on it and possibly frighten them with my particular brand of "innovation".
Bending your art to fit a trend is the opposite of art, right? Its craftsmanship, sure. And that's fine if you're hired to do something specific. But that's not what I do. I'm not a work-for-hire artist. I'm a writer/artist, and I try to handle both jobs with the same feverish zeal and brain sweat shown by the guy or gal who first invented the wheel. Not quite so easy to be original in this day and age, maybe, but that's no excuse for not trying. You can write in an established genre, and you can write within the boundaries of company-owned work, there's nothing wrong with that. But trend chasing is a dangerous sport. Trends change with the wind. You abso-fucking-lutely must do what you're driven to do by whatever's boiling away on the inside, regardless of what's going on around you, and just hope the wind is blowing your way when the time comes to put your arse on the line.
My muses are plentiful but vicious. If I sell them out to make a quick buck they will stab my fucking eyes out and leave me for some other guy with a pencil and a typewriter. So, here we go with preparing the next project. Kinky, goth, zombie books to one side now, Schaffer. You're not going to be able to use sex and fetishwear to sell this one. This bastard is on its own and career-fuckingly different.
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