5 Comments

1. arijit dutta chowdhury  •  Jun 6, 2010 @11:25 am

   Hi!
   I’m a freelance comics artist from india.
   recently I was looking for a proper device for reading e-comics.
   that search helped me to reach here.

   but I was really surprised to find out that you are a comics artist also!
   your views on self publishing is very inspiring.

   it’s hard to find a person who does his/her job out of passion.
   in indian comics field,it’s missing for a long time.

   I’ve tried self publishing once.
   it was quite an depressing experience.

   that’s what made me more interested about digital comics field.
   I believe that’s where a creator gets more control.

   I’ve started making digital comics and distributing it for free among my close friends.

   Right now it’s more like learning my craft better and developing contents.
   I’m still learning !

   keep going!

   Arijit

2. Rivkah  •  Jun 6, 2010 @12:29 pm

   Arijit,

   I love the creative control I get to have over the entire book, from concept and design to print and distribution. It’s a lot more work, but I love that it’s a 100% reflection of my own intent, and that any mistakes that happen are my fault and mine alone. And that I can claim my successes as well. :)

   I think there’s a decent niche market for self-published works. It’s a huge world, and the tools and technology are there. The challenge is reaching your audience. That’s the barrier that digital publication takes away … or at least makes simpler and inexpensive.

   I love print. It’s my main passion other than comics, but digital allows the stretch of human creativity and intelligence to open up into the limitless, without borders, without boundaries. It’s fantastic seeing this new wave in publishing and technology unfold within our lifetime. :)

3. arijit dutta chowdhury  •  Jun 7, 2010 @5:32 am

   Rivkah,

   You’ve just said the magic word about self publishing in digital format.
   Simple and inexpensive!

   That’s what made me interested in digital format.
   There was a time, when I was not very fond of digitized version of comics.
   I was a die hard fan of print media (I still am, but become more open to other versions also!)

   My ideas changed, when me and one of my friends tried to take a chance at publishing comics in print format. That was in 2006.

   It was a 48 page “little bigger than digest” size book, colour cover and B&W interior artwork.
   It cost us average 30 cents each book including ads and flyers.
   We had to price our book 50 cents each, because the reasonable rate here for general comics magazine hover around 50 cents to 80 cents. Anything over that can have a problem getting sold.

   With all these, comics marketing and distribution system in India is still not professional enough! (And I live in Calcutta, which is quite a cultural hub in India, but lacks in business department in every sense!)

   We’ve learned that the distributors take out 40-50% of a book price as commission.
   So in the end, there was hardly any profit!
   We’ve managed to sell 1200 issue out of 3000 print!
   That was quite a loss!

   From then I was trying to find a way out where I can take control of things. Something like “print on demand” model, where one can invest in a planned way.

   One day, a friend introduced me with the e-comics format.
   At first I was apprehensive about it.
   Then with time I’ve learnt that I was missing a big thing for so many years!

   From the age of seven, I was trying out my hands in comics.
   From then I liked to read them as well as to create them!
   Be it dc,marvel,dark horse,Disney,Harvey or dargaud, if it’s comics, I was buying them.

   The problem was whatever I used to get here were almost a year old and random issue numbers. But I was happy because I’m getting a chance to connect with something I love.

   There was a time (most probably within 1991-93 periods) when I used to send samples to dc comics, at that time I got some positive response, yet they asked me to improve more.

   This period helped me to realize that even if I get a chance there in future, I’ll not be able to capture it properly. Because I am not a resident of America, I can imitate the look and feel looking at images and illustrations, but I CAN’T create that feel! I should try to become a comics creator from India rather than an Indian comics artist who once drew batman or flash! In future if I ever get a chance to work on these highly popular titles, I’ll feel really honored! But it’s more important how true I’m to my own origin!

   That period helped me to know what I’m really looking for!
   So from 1995-96, I’ve started my career as freelance comics artist in here.

   After that more I read comics, more I had learned that so many things need to be done for Indian comics rather than following American styles blindly! It is not bad to follow a style, but without understanding, why you’re using and how it should work, is going to hurt!

   That’s exactly what’s happening in Indian comics for last seven years! Every new company is coming with some comics title blindly following the visual part of American comics.
   And after every two-three issues, the company becomes non existent!

   For a long period of time in middle we didn’t have access to American comics, though for last 4-5 years graphic novel are quite available in the Indian market.
   But the price is too much for keep buying comics!

   So in a way, I was becoming a lone man in an island! I was hardly having any chance to know what’s happening in world comics! Then this e-comics world have given me a chance to go back to my childhood days and collect comics in e-format!(that’s why I’m looking for a comics reading device which supports colour comics in pdf or cbr format!)
   It has also given me a chance to keep updated.

   I still believe print format will remain number one, because this is the most comfortable format available! One can read a book or comics without help of any device and read it just the way you want! You don’t need charging, machine or anything!

   But the price factor and monopoly of distributors are concerning factor!
   With that there are whims and rules of publishing houses! If they believe it’s not worth
   Their sense of standard, it’ll never have a chance to reach the audience!

   E-comics format can be a very good counter attack to keep things in balance.

   I don’t know how I-pad works, but it’s quite pricy!!
   In future if some company can come up with a simple device only for comics, things can become really interesting!

   Just dream about a low price device, which has good screen (i-pad size), internet connection, cbr,pdf support, expandable memory and reasonable battery life against a lower price! Then e-comics business and creative growth can be become very exciting!
   Creators can get more control in this format rather than depending on publisher, printer and distributor!

   Sorry to bore you with all these!

   Your drawings are very good; I specially loved the ink works. These artworks reflect a strong European flavor.
   Personally I feel manga style is great in visual, but less expressive. Where your manga style is different because you fuse a little bit of American detailed style .

   You are a very versatile artist.
   I wish you keep evolving!

   Arijit

4. Yorick  •  Jul 30, 2010 @3:02 am

   Hey Arijit,

   What’s the url for your blog / website? I’m working on a script for a graphic-novel and have been exploring print-on-demand for another project that me and a couple of guys are working on.

   @Rivkah I came across your site, through a comment on Doot Doot Garden. Exploring it. :)

5. arijitduttachowdhury  •  Aug 3, 2010 @8:15 am

   Hi,yorick,I don’t have a website(or any blog)!
   but you can reach me at facebook.
   just type – arijitduttachowdhury in the search area and if you a see a robinhood profile,then you’ve reached the right spot.

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