The Journey Of EWG: Prologue
by Eryck Webb and Kristina Webb
Self employment is a journey that starts with an idea. From the moment of conception, you begin a trek down a intimidating and uncertain road in pursuit of an ever elusive ideal of work and lifestyle that is never quite within reach. It is a process filled with trial and error. It's easy to accumulate unnecessary extras that need trimmed away to keep the goal in focus.
Whether you are one person or a staff of employees, you are a brand. This brand is your identity. More than that, a brand is a living entity that grows and matures. You must tend and nurture it or it may never see its potential realized. It needs refined, changed, and adapted to new situations. All the while, simplifying and keeping it focused and profitable and improving the product and the relationship with clients. You grow it steadily like a bonsai tree, clipping this brand's leaves ever so decisively and carefully. The seeds of this tree will drop into new areas that bud new opportunities. You never know what seed will land where and how big the tree will grow. The more you put into the business, the further it will grow and become more and more sustainable. Every time you make a decision you never know if it will work out 100%, but it will always ends productively.
Whether a decision works or fails, you will learn and move forward. This is why, after a time, it is essential, to stop and look back at your journey. It's important to observe and remember what you've been through, so that you can better appreciate where you are.
With this in mind, we will begin a five day journey tomorrow to commemorate the five years of EWG in business. We will remember the changes that have been made along the way and where we have come from, beginning with an idea, to where we are today.
To prepare us for our journey, Nick Arganbright shares his opinions about working with Eryck Webb and EWG in the following article.
Working with Eryck Webb
By Nick Arganbright
When you think of big names in comic books and sequential art today, you think of names like Humberto Ramos, Ramón Pérez or Chris Samnee.
Why though are they big?
It's not just because of their artistic ability. You also need to think about individuals who are also good collaborators. See, at the end of the day, as a writer or even 'executive producer' of something, (however you wanna look at what you do when you produce a book either as a 'monthly' or graphic novel,) it really is not about just how 'amazing' the art is. It really comes down to something else. Something that in some cases is very much overlooked today by people looking for artists.
And what is overlooked is how good a "collaborator" that person is.
While the writing may be superb, or the art may be spectacular, if two individuals or more are not in synch with each other (read: a good collaborator), well, I have to break it to you pal, but your project is doomed. D-O-O-M-E-D. Because while it may start off looking unique and great, the relationship will not last.
Yeah, so do you remember all those nifty names I threw out before hand? Samnee, Ramos and Pérez? Yeah, well one should always be thrown in there with them, and that is Eryck Webb.
Back when I was scouring DeviantArt for someone to help me with my Tales of the 8th Grade Nothing art-wise since my time was starting to become scarce, I stumbled upon Eryck's deviant art page. His art was amazing. But in the indie scene, the almighty dollar, at least to me, is very sacred. Beyond sacred. I want to pay an artist well worth their time, but I want to make sure that it is 100% what I'm looking for. How good a collaborator they are is another huge and important piece of the puzzle. Now, it is funny to note I was merely 'toying' around, I believe, with the notion of doing a Tales of the TMNT-fan based comic book. And when I saw an image of his for Thanksgiving-based 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turkeys' image, I realized instantly that I dug this dude's art and his humor.
I remember hiring him to do art for our Live Show for my podcast The Good, The Bad, & The Geeky and also got him to draw a caricature of my character of Tales of the 8th Grade Nothing. So far, so good. And then I stumbled upon yet another piece of art that just sealed the deal with Eryck. He posted a warm-up pencil sketch of the characters the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His style was reminiscent of both A.C. Farley and Michael Dooney, but yet unique to himself.
Remember that Tales of the TMNT-fan based comic book? Yeah, that would eventually become Ultimate Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that I do with Eryck. That warm-up sketch sealed the deal.
And working with Eryck has been a dream, and truly is the very definition of a collaborator. I enjoy our process, I wallow in it like a pig who enjoys mud. It makes me thrive creatively. Eryck makes the things I give him thrive and grow; if you suggest things as a basic look for the page by giving thumbnails to work with, Eryck builds upon that AND what I have on the written page. And when I give him more sewer bricks to draw, he never once complains. He is meticulous, hard-working, very communicative with me during our process and one hell of a dude.
At the end of the day, that just translates thusly: Eryck Webb is an fantabulous artist by every definition of the word and more importantly, Eryck is one hell of a collaborator. I hope you see how great Eryck is not just as an artist but as a collaborator. If Michelangelo was here he would say "Eryck? Dude, COWABUNGA!"
Cowabunga, indeed.
