So, you may be wondering why I, a non-professional, would be giving anyone advice on how to submit to comic companies (if anything you should do the opposite, you might get better results!) But anyway, these tips are taken from Joe Quesada, Marvel Comics' Editor-In-Chief, because, well, he knows his shit. If you would like to read the full article, you can check it out here: [link] But if you're a lazy son-of-a-gun like me, then here is the most important part:


JM: Fine by me, man. Your nickel. Now your plan was a "3x3" portfolio or somesuch if I recall, right?

JQ: Yeah, actually, it's 3x3x3. See, one of the biggest mistakes I see artists make, no matter how talented they are, is coming in with too much material in their portfolio. That's a huge mistake, because if editors are honest with you—and I'll be honest and tell you this right off the bat—we know in the first 3-4 pages if you've got the chops or not. Now if you do, there are a few categories:

Either one, and it's a rarity, you're ready to become a professional right there and then. Like I say, it's a rarity, but it happens with some guys, such as Khoi Pham.

Two, you have promise and you're ready to start fine-tuning, and you could be right around the corner from professional gigs.

Or three, you've got the ability, but it really needs to be refined and it might take a while. So you'll need patience.

All of this can be judged within the first few pages. You can have 300 pages of samples in your portfolio, it really won't matter and it doesn't change anything. So handing us a large portfolio really does you no good. In fact, by the fourth or fifth page, if the stuff isn't ready for the big leagues, the rest just induces brain-lock.. So again, first bit of advice—keep it short.

JM: O-tay. So how's your "3x3x3" fit in?

JQ: 3x3x3 is actually the methodology I used and what I got hired on, a portfolio that was merely 12 pages long. It was laid out to accomplish some very specific tasks, and get a comic editor's attention with the most impact. It was designed to be brief enough to get my message across, but also to be fun to look at, and keep the attention span going by changing gears. The idea I had was that comic books are supposed to be fun, are supposed to be entertaining, so why shouldn't my portfolio be as well? Keep the editor entertained, on their toes, and engaged with your work. You'll stand a better chance.

So my 3x3x3 method was designed to do that, and also be applicable to an editor at any company.

JM: Pray, elucidate.

JQ: Three stories, involving three different scenarios. With three covers. Now also keep in mind, this isn't brain surgery, and you don't have to create Watchmen here, keep your stories simple. But create vignettes, with a complete beginning-middle-end, without having to rely on words. A sequential pantomime for lack of a better way to describe it.

Now talking to other artists, especially when I was trying to break in and when I had just started coloring at Valiant, I would hear their stories about going to conventions and showing off their work. I remember hearing an artist tell about having some Spider-Man samples that they showed to an editor at DC, and the response was "Hey, these look great. But why don't you come back with some samples of DC characters?" Now that logic made no sense to me, but I understood that I had to make my portfolio accessible, and essentially editor-proof it.

So I made a short 3 page vignette with Marvel characters, another with DC characters, and a third that was a little more quiet, slice-of-life, just to show I could do that, too. It's not always giant robots and jumping off buildings, so I did a little romantic scene that involved no superheroes, no recognizable characters—just two people sitting around chatting and having coffee. So this kinda gets you covered—superheroes from the two major companies, and if your editor or that company doesn't do superheroes, you've got the other stuff as well.

And the other thing I did was—again, this coming from talking to other artists—make sure one was a single-character story, and the other was a team story. Guys would tell me the stories of bringing in samples and getting the feedback that "Yeah, your Superman looks great, but can you handle multiple characters like the Justice League?" Again, the logic made little sense to me, but it didn't have to. It was reality. So I covered those bases with a Superman story as single-character, and an X-Men story as a team. Again, the little romantic story kinda stood on its own. The final three pages were a cover that pertained to each of those three stories. Hence 3x3x3!

JM: And the rest, as they say, is history.

JQ: Yeah! [laughs]. That was it! I got hired on the spot at DC. Now I'm not saying this is the magic formula, but it worked for me. And while I've spoken about this over the years I'm still surprised at how we still see portfolios that are 30 or more pages long, so I really encourage people to focus, but maintain the variety like this. Focus on 12 pages, and make them the best 12 pages you can. You'll be surprised at how much more focused the editor will be, and even if you don't get work out of it, how much more focused their feedback will be. And there's great value in that as well.

JM: Anything else.

JQ: Yeah actually. If you're trying to get a penciling job, don't get your work inked. Certainly don't color it. And never letter it! You run the risk of hurting your chances. What I see way too often is someone who might be a great penciler, but they're a lousy inker like I am. They end up destroying their samples, and an editor has to try and decipher if maybe there was good pencil work under there.

Lettering is also a big no-no, because it's so easy to look amateurish. And there's nothing that sticks out like a sore thumb more than amateur lettering. You could take a master, you could take John Romita Jr.'s work, and if you put amateur lettering on it, it makes the entire page look amateurish. You can actually diminish great art with poor lettering. Avoid it all costs. That's not what you're there to show anyway. You're there to show off your drawing.

There's also a post on how to break in as a writer, but this thing is long enough, so you can read that on your own here: [link]

Hope this helps!








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MICHAEL LAYNE TURNER
April 21, 1971 – June 27, 2008

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