A drawing is a drawing is a drawing, and each one is going to take a different amount of time. The trick is to take the time you need -- and if that means declining a job because you know you can't do it in the time allotted, you decline that job. You don't take it thinking Well, I can always turn it in late.

Fred, to be clear about Denerick's work -- are we so much talking about how much detail he'll add, or are we talking about his differant styles -- his Comic Art style (which is perfectly fine) vs. his fully Tonal style - which he's used on only one or two mini series and alot of Ebay commisions?

I would say having a highly techniqued STYLE which you know takes longer, and you keep in the bag unless it's a project where you'll have the time to use it is a bit differant than skimping out on detail/finishing the work just to get something done.

<<I'm no artist, but with just about any sort of work, there's a point where spending extra time isn't going to make the project better. It just becomes "paralysis by analysis." >>

Years ago, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and Iw as an editor at Marvel, I worked with an artist(and he is great artist...one of my favorites) who could NOT get a book in on time. If you gave him three weeks, he need five... gave him five, he needed seven, etc... I was constantly "murdering" his art by hiring mulitple inkers or inkers who could make up for lost time, etc... I would always have to explaint o himt hat I wouldnt have to use mulitple inkers, etc.. if he would just get the work in on time. He never could. One day a package arrived in mail with some pages. Tucked amidst the "real" story was a "joke" page... one that was quite rude, and made me laugh because it fit with the story. I called up the artist and complimented him on the joke and asked,"But how did you have time to draw this when we are so late?" He explained to me that the page took no time at all, no more than an hour, and it was really what John calls "cleaning the pipes".I pointed out to him tha tthere was NOT much difference to the untrained eye between this "joke" page and the "real" pages around it. That to most readers this page, with a professional ink job, would pass as some pretty good art. The artist could not see it. He talked about how loose it was... I countered that maybe he needed to loosen up. He talked about it being rough... I said it looked pretty polished to me. This went on and on, and things still have not changed with this artist. He just never attempts to draw a regular series anymore.

For what its worth... maybe the rose growers just need to get the pages done and off their desks.

But what do I know.

Howard

Another anecdote... I worked with one artist(and this guy was a schedule keeper) who first would break an issue down into thumbnails(about comic book size)... then redraw the entire issue at full size in BLUE PENCIL... and THEN go over all the blue lines in regular pencil. I'm telling yout he THUMBNAILS could have been inked and printed. When I pointed ouyt tot he artist that he could EASILY pencil more than one book a month, he simply refused. It was the way he did it... he liked the way it worked...and he was going to stick with it.

Howard