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Topic: So many artist with short lifespans in the industry. Why? Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Andrew Cate
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Posted: 22 April 2019 at 8:35pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

Just picked up a page of original art from Peter David's Aquaman run in the 90's, loved that series. Artist did some great work as well, Martin Egeland. He did around the first 30 or so of that run and then, poof! Aside from a few issues here and there just vanished. It's just odd that there are so many artist from the 80's and 90's that worked for the big two on runs and then.....nothing. What happens? Do the get burnt out, tired of the pay (if not a marquee), find work in design and advertising?
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Matt Hawes
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Posted: 22 April 2019 at 9:10pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Your questions seem to suggest their lack of continued employment in comics is their choice.

There are numerous reasons, I'm sure.  It doesn't seem to me that this is something that occurred only during a  particular decade. My guess, though, is that the boom period of the late 1980s and early 1990s produced more titles, and as that changed in the late 1990s, many artists lost their jobs as assignments dried up. That,  and changing tastes as newer, popular artists arrived is likely why some artists "disappeared" from the industry. 
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Greg McPhee
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Posted: 23 April 2019 at 2:02am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Other artists such as Chuck Patton and Kerry Gammill left the industry to work in movies and TV. Patton became a storyboard artist before transitioning in to being an animation director.Gammill supplies storyboards and special effects concepts art to the film industry.

Edited by Greg McPhee on 23 April 2019 at 8:55am
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Peter Hicks
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Posted: 23 April 2019 at 8:17am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Around 1970,Stan Lee dedicated one of his editorials to telling aspiring artists how to become a Marvel artist. One of Stan's points was if you were good enough to work at Marvel, then you were good enough to work in advertising, and advertising paid more.
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Andrew Cate
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Posted: 23 April 2019 at 8:36am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

Apologize if this was a dumb question. Talent rarely goes away, was just curious as to reasons why some artist that have worked for DC/Marvel have a spotlight in the industry for several years and then no longer work for them? 
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Philippe Negrin
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Posted: 23 April 2019 at 10:28am | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Indeed some favourites of mine didn't last or work long (enough for me) in comics. I'm sure there are many reasons... A recent-ish example being the very promising Joe Madureira who apparently switched rather quickly to the video game design business which I thought was a shame.
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Eric Ladd
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Posted: 23 April 2019 at 10:38am | IP Logged | 7 post reply

The Animation industry has also gained its fair share of sequential artists that made a name for themselves in comics.
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Fred J Chamberlain
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Posted: 23 April 2019 at 10:41am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Egeland had a handful of personal issues, which led to a
short career in comics.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 23 April 2019 at 10:45am | IP Logged | 9 post reply

From the outside, looking in, working in comics seems like nonstop fun, fun, fun. Truth of the matter, tho, is it’s a JOB. It’s chasing deadlines and trying to hit the same level of quality, month after month.

The ones who can really do that are few in number.

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Fred J Chamberlain
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Posted: 23 April 2019 at 10:54am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

From the outside, if one is paying any attention, it also seems more
than obvious that the shifting fancies, idiosyncrasies , and personality
traits of editorial (as well as dependence on a team of various creators
involved in in each step towards the final product) make it a damn
challenging job and not nearly as “fun” as being the guy sitting in his
vineyard and creating a solitary piece of art that he alone is responsible
for.

I’m so glad that I was clueless about so much of this stuff, when I was a
kid, reading these marvels.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 23 April 2019 at 11:01am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Oh, how I wish you all still were! Nobody used to worry whether Steve Ditko beat his wife or Jack Kirby boiled babies. Terms like “sell-thru” or “royalties” or “movie deal” were not part of fan parlance.

And, truth to tell, it was the CHARACTERS that sold the books, not the talent.

We “creators” have gained much since the Eighties, but I think the readers have lost even more.

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Adam Schulman
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Posted: 23 April 2019 at 11:15am | IP Logged | 12 post reply

The title of this thread made me think that the question was "why do so many artists die young in this business?"

It isn't much different, in that way, from any other line of work, is it?

I can think of tragedies from Wally Wood to Don Newton to Dave Stevens to Norm Breyfogle, but they're not the norm, so to speak. 
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