(Paul Kelly fans will get the title...)
Dumbest thing you ever did in you comics career?...?
Dumbest thing you ever did in you comics career?...?
And... go...
I'll go first though to start things off. About 2008/09 I got an email from 'some guy' asking me about my page rates and availability. I'd only just started getting paid on a semi regular basis for comic work for people's one-off comic con posters and the like. I was regularly getting people asking me this question only for it to turn out to be a nobody-important who wanted his Image submission done or some such. (Done for backend pay of course. I was already learning to say no to these straight off.)
Anyway, I was flat out at the day job with exams and marking and end of term reporting and all that. The busy time for teachers as you still have to do your classes as normal each day. So I didn't read the email too carefully and quickly fired off an "I'm too busy right now with the day job.." response.
It was about 5 seconds after I'd hit send that I read the email addy properly... <guys name>@topcowent.com (I can't remember exactly who but his last name started with 'C')
Shit...
I tried to 'fix' it by firing off a much more grovelling and apologetic email saying yes sir, yes sir what ever you want, 3 bags full sir... but to no avail. I got a reply about an hour later saying "Thanks for the response, maybe we can use you at a later date.."
Suffice to say I've never had an email from Topcow since then...
Since that time though, I have learnt to ALWAYS read any comic art enquiry email very carefully, check the email addy (twice!) and to look up the person on FB, their website, or wherever to make sure I know who they are before rejecting or accepting their work offer. Doing so has successfully gotten me work at Marvel and now with Zenescope of course.
It'd still be nice to work for Topcow though...
