Competitions ,Submissions and the Terror Thereof

  For anyone that isn't into comics and doesn't read the Observer, every year they run a comics competition with the publishers Jonathan Cape for a four page comic story (there's a link to the competition page here). The winners have been excellent and have deservedly done well out of it. I entered it for the first time last year with enormous trepidation and spent ages working on a strip that singularly failed to make any kind of impact whatsoever, something I'll admit affected me quite deeply, sending me into a spiral of self-doubt and meaning I didn't pick up a pencil again for a couple of months. Obviously, I'm entering again this year.
  Once again I find myself getting bogged down: I've put so much pressure on the success of this strip that everything about it's creation is taking vastly longer than usual. I have page upon page of notes, script and character and object sketches that I can't help but constantly revise. Working on the actual finished pages themselves has become a nerve-wracking experience as I constantly question decisions about composition, pacing and scripting that I made and liked weeks ago.
And woe betide I should make a mistake at the inking stage.
Frankly, I need to chill out a bit. I should be enjoying this.

My workspace with work in progress

 There are comparatively few outlets in this country for people making 'alternative' comics. Firstly there's the self-publishing route. I'd recommend to anyone interested in comics that they attend a self publishing fair, as everything there will have been made by people with an undeniable and almost palpable enthusiasm for the art form, encompassing every genre imaginable. For example, earlier this year when I was still blissfully living in London, I went to the Comica market at the Bishopsgate Institute and bought a stunning comic from this guy. Cartoonists self publishing have some historic success stories to inspire them: for an extreme example, the first issue of Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was self published, and many successful cartoonists of the underground and literary comics scene have produced work this way. I'm planning to self publish some short strips as a comic later in the year, then take them around the comic fairs in the hopes of attracting a readership and making contact with other aspiring cartoonists. 

There are also two (that I know of) British comic anthologies dealing in alternative comics: Nobrow and Solipsistic Pop, both of which are excellent and I first came into contact with at self publishing fairs. Which brings me to the reason I'm writing this post. What I should be doing is sending them  lovely submissions emails with a link to my website, whereas what I'm actually doing is putting off the abject terror the thought of writing an unsolicited email inviting someone to pass judgement on my work provokes. 

When I'm able to pick up a pencil again in a couple of months, I'm sure I'll write about the experience.