I’ve recently been reading “Imagine- A Vision for Christians in the Arts”; a book that many of you may be familiar with by Steve Turner. Steve comes out of the gates with a concept that unfortunately is not uncommon: that a lot of Christian contemporary art is of poor quality, yet a great deal of art created by non-Christians is of good quality. His point is that many Christian artists use their redemptive experience as the sole driver in their artistic expression, forsaking basics like training, exploring creative culture and old fashioned practice the way that many (not all but many) non Christian artists do.Here’s how Turner breaks it down:1. Talent: You’re Born With It. Every artists starts out at the same point with being blessed with God-given talent and ability.2. Skill: You Have Control Over It. That’s what’s within your control. You have the ability to grow and perfect that God-given talent through the natural. Classes, training, school, tutorials. Not all artist do it, but those that perfect their skill command attention and a voice whether they are Christians or not.3. Inspiration: You Look For It. From people, from experiences and, for the Christian artist, from the Spirit of God Himself.Where the Christian artist gets in trouble is that they start with #1 (Talent), run with #3 (Inspiration) inspired by their own redemptive experience, but forsake a lot of #2 (Skill, or the further development of it) and don’t pursue sharpening their skills to compete for the attention of today’s audience.I’ve seen this frustrate the likes of the independent Christian comics artist and others that are inspired to create a project to reach the people of today, but fail to bring the quality up to that which the people of today have come to expect.What are your thoughts on the issue?
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right on Martin. that's what it was- the motion comics- and i don't think motion comics are a bad move- but they were presenting them as THE way comics were changing- and what comics would be in the future- and i see them as a part of the future, but not the future entirely.
Daniel, I think the thing you saw was "Motion Comics" which was some sort of attempt to make comics pseudo movie thing-a-ma-bobs. From the looks of it, the iPad app is it's own thing.
is the marvel app that new digital comics thing they unveiled in san diego last year? with the narration and movement? i was at that panel- sat thru it to see the riff trax one after (and most peole at the riff trax one had been in the marvel one...) and i was highly unimpressed. they just looked to me like very basic animation- not really comics anymore. i like animation. but if it moves like a cartoon and it sounds like a cartoon, it's a cartoon. not a comic.
if you're talking about someting else- that's totally cool and i'm not knocking that product- its just not for me....
Oh - no biggie. You weren't heavy handed at all, I Just realized how little I really know about the digital camera space, or camera's in general. I had a passing fancy in high-school and am hoping to get back into it. It was more a statement realizing the world of camera's is so very huge, and I know so very little - hence why I felt small. On reflection, it may not have been the best way say it.
I appreciate that someone has used far better equipment than I - and I can learn. Thanks for the input. And I'm always willing to learn from anyone and everyone.
And I've heard about the Marvel app, but haven't seen it yet. Will go check it out.
This convo is really running all over the place now isn't it? I think (and I have) most of the market has moved from film to digital (if not what are you waiting for...) I was just trying to point out that unless the digital camera is really expensive, it doesn't quite achieve that "film" quality. Almost but not quite. There's always that little blur or pixellation or something somewhere that drives me nuts. Even the new high end "photo studio" cameras at the Grocery store photo studio leave a little something to be desired.
However, the high end (like the $700-$1500 is that high end?) for the common market are getting close - and are probably close enough for me. There's just a certain crispness that film had that seems to be missing. Or maybe I'm just looking at the wrong camera's. Any suggestions for DSLR?
And back to YES...Christian comics are good...and bad.
Ah. Yes. Back to finish the statement (and now more to comment on too).
Paper may (will) be relegated to an interesting place in this digital age for two reasons: 1) COST, and 2) Amount of space and weight it consumes. (I have a gazillion books - I'm basically a constant moving library - if only there was a device that could hold my books and I could read at size...oh wait there is?)
Paper, at least in North America is an expensive proposition for an independent - even when it's "cheap". The only way to make a buck is volume. Volume in print run to get the price down. Volume in sales to get the money back. That takes space. And then you have to ship, cart, store and promote it so you can get rid of it. OR you can sell less for more money - but then you might not have any buyers if they don't perceive fair value for the amount of product that their paying for. ($15 for 24 pages? THEY'RE DOODLES!)
A PDF sits around gets copied and sent and takes up a fraction of bytes on a hard drive. You still have to promote to make a return on it but...
What does this mean for PRINT? That now becomes the "premium" product. It still holds a special place - and there are instances when curling up with a good book beats out a digital doodad any day. AND well done comics have something that typical books generally have an issue with: A high re-readable quotient. Over and over and over and over and over.
I would use the digital copy to promote the print copy at the end of the PDF (which would then be provided on demand). No cost. No overhead. Even if they paid for the PDF - if they have a good experience with it, and then seeing a good product on paper - no brainer.)
Camera's: I still haven't found a digital camera that takes photo's as well as the high end film camera's. (When I say high end I mean Hassleblad(sp?) and the like). Digital makes it cheap and easy, and borderline good enough - but the real deal stuff still has it's place. (Though it's cumbersome, clunky and a pain in the butt to develop.)
An interesting thing to note: IMAX still runs film whopper film - I don't think that could ever go digital. I also know someone who works in a Theatre, and I thought all their camera's had been switced to digital...nope. Apparently there's still something to the film versions.
I agree with Buzz about the iPad and its forthcoming imitators. The 21st century marketplace and media are radically changing which is scaring a lot of professional creators (secular in particular), because many will not make the transition successfully (look how many silent movie stars fell out of favor when the talkies came in; or how many Liefeld clones fell by the wayside when the Image Comics boom ended in the mid-1990s). Such is always and inevitably the case. For those who are wanting to create Christian comics and graphic novels as a ministry (and are not relying on it as their main source of income), it is wise to prayerfully consider these current changes/additions in venue, and to consider how to be a part of it (to reach the widest possible audience with the material you've already developed).
Who would have thought that a person of Jack Chick's artistic talent would be one of the biggest publishers of Christian tracts. He defined what tracts have come to present and if anyone sees a tract that size, they almost always associate it with Jack Chick. Now I get a lot of books that people want to sell at the CCAS. I give them a shot and if they don't sell, I share with the publisher (if they want it) the sales trends of specific books.
For example, the Z graphic novels, Tomo and the Manga Bible flew off the stands, while I still have copies of Son of Samson and the Morningstar graphic novels. In my opinion, the manga material is totally accepted by the readers in black and white. However, they want their superheroes and Bible stories in color.
That may be a possible explanation that I conveyed to Bud Rogers. Books that are produced by independent publishers may need more of a professional presentation and give this info to these publishers. Sometimes I have some high quality books that don't sell, however, if these same books have their own table or are featured in a book signing, they move.
My critiques are always in love and are my humble observations. And like Daniel said, hearing the truth is more difficult than giving truth.
Maybe I am ornary, but if someone told me that they'd drawn the spider man story on paper towels with crayons- I'd probably be more into checking that out than much of the other super hero books that are out today-
In fact, I might do something right along those lines- just for the fun of it- and because it is different! And if marketed as such, I think such might give a book an edge and publicity (tho even that might not produce sales)-
But Buzz, I do agree with you- we need to tell the truth in love- its just hard when I'm the one hearing instead of giving the truth!
Replies
if you're talking about someting else- that's totally cool and i'm not knocking that product- its just not for me....
I appreciate that someone has used far better equipment than I - and I can learn. Thanks for the input. And I'm always willing to learn from anyone and everyone.
And I've heard about the Marvel app, but haven't seen it yet. Will go check it out.
This convo is really running all over the place now isn't it? I think (and I have) most of the market has moved from film to digital (if not what are you waiting for...) I was just trying to point out that unless the digital camera is really expensive, it doesn't quite achieve that "film" quality. Almost but not quite. There's always that little blur or pixellation or something somewhere that drives me nuts. Even the new high end "photo studio" cameras at the Grocery store photo studio leave a little something to be desired.
However, the high end (like the $700-$1500 is that high end?) for the common market are getting close - and are probably close enough for me. There's just a certain crispness that film had that seems to be missing. Or maybe I'm just looking at the wrong camera's. Any suggestions for DSLR?
And back to YES...Christian comics are good...and bad.
Paper may (will) be relegated to an interesting place in this digital age for two reasons: 1) COST, and 2) Amount of space and weight it consumes. (I have a gazillion books - I'm basically a constant moving library - if only there was a device that could hold my books and I could read at size...oh wait there is?)
Paper, at least in North America is an expensive proposition for an independent - even when it's "cheap". The only way to make a buck is volume. Volume in print run to get the price down. Volume in sales to get the money back. That takes space. And then you have to ship, cart, store and promote it so you can get rid of it. OR you can sell less for more money - but then you might not have any buyers if they don't perceive fair value for the amount of product that their paying for. ($15 for 24 pages? THEY'RE DOODLES!)
A PDF sits around gets copied and sent and takes up a fraction of bytes on a hard drive. You still have to promote to make a return on it but...
What does this mean for PRINT? That now becomes the "premium" product. It still holds a special place - and there are instances when curling up with a good book beats out a digital doodad any day. AND well done comics have something that typical books generally have an issue with: A high re-readable quotient. Over and over and over and over and over.
I would use the digital copy to promote the print copy at the end of the PDF (which would then be provided on demand). No cost. No overhead. Even if they paid for the PDF - if they have a good experience with it, and then seeing a good product on paper - no brainer.)
Camera's: I still haven't found a digital camera that takes photo's as well as the high end film camera's. (When I say high end I mean Hassleblad(sp?) and the like). Digital makes it cheap and easy, and borderline good enough - but the real deal stuff still has it's place. (Though it's cumbersome, clunky and a pain in the butt to develop.)
An interesting thing to note: IMAX still runs film whopper film - I don't think that could ever go digital. I also know someone who works in a Theatre, and I thought all their camera's had been switced to digital...nope. Apparently there's still something to the film versions.
For example, the Z graphic novels, Tomo and the Manga Bible flew off the stands, while I still have copies of Son of Samson and the Morningstar graphic novels. In my opinion, the manga material is totally accepted by the readers in black and white. However, they want their superheroes and Bible stories in color.
That may be a possible explanation that I conveyed to Bud Rogers. Books that are produced by independent publishers may need more of a professional presentation and give this info to these publishers. Sometimes I have some high quality books that don't sell, however, if these same books have their own table or are featured in a book signing, they move.
My critiques are always in love and are my humble observations. And like Daniel said, hearing the truth is more difficult than giving truth.
In fact, I might do something right along those lines- just for the fun of it- and because it is different! And if marketed as such, I think such might give a book an edge and publicity (tho even that might not produce sales)-
But Buzz, I do agree with you- we need to tell the truth in love- its just hard when I'm the one hearing instead of giving the truth!
#2.Agreed.
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