Hey Gail. Not asking how to break into comics, but wondering if you have seen, in your experience, if it is easier for a writer to break into the professional level comics than it is for an artist?

This question has two answers, depending on what you mean, exactly…

First, it is without question easier for an artist to get his work looked at by editors at various publishers. And it’s much easier for them to give critiques and feedback. And it’s much easier for them to measure the level of your talent. Great artists can and do get hired by the strength of their portfolios and I know because I have seen portfolios and gotten those artists work.

So  absolutely, it’s ‘easier’ to get hired as an artist than a writer.

However, I think it’s far easier to be a competent writer than it is to be a competent artist. People with a good ear and some talent can write, many know how almost instinctively. But art, even those who are naturally gifted have to learn, practice and learn forever. The skills involved in even basic comics storytelling for an artist are numerous and all have to be mastered at least to some degree. Out of the hundreds of portfolios an average editor sees, only a tiny, tiny handful will have the complete skills needed to be hired. Let me say it again, even if you are very talented, that alone is not nearly enough. You have to have some mastery of perspective, anatomy, texture, guiding the eye along the page, varying the camera angle and distance, you have to be able to draw both the real and the imaginary convincingly (yes, some people scoot through, but not that many). 

I think the fact that so few artists make it through says it’s harder for artists, in the same way that playing a violin is hard, not because it’s physical, but because to play one song well takes endless practice alone in your room day after day.

Now, to be a GREAT writer, that’s rarer. And they may struggle and practice just as much. But in general, overall, I think it’s far harder to get to that level of quality where major publishers hire you, as an artist.

So it’s definitely a matter of what you meant precisely in your question. Hope that helps!