UDON is not hiring. Not just because the portfolios sent to us aren’t very good, though the majority are very weak, but also because we’re at a point where we have more than enough artists on hand to take care of the work that comes in. I have some artists who I’d love to give more work to that I can’t keep employed full time because there aren’t enough projects coming in and out to keep them busy that whole time. These are people who have stellar quality, great work ethic and deliver on time.
We keep our core crew as busy as possible and then, beyond that, we have another tier of artists who I send freelance work to when the main gang is overwhelmed. That’s it. There’s no point in us bringing on even more people if we can’t keep them employed. No matter what else I say about your work, the reality of that situation doesn’t look like it’s going to change any time soon.
Your artwork is not as good as you think it is.
– Jim Zubkavich. Click http://zubkavich.livejournal.com/317813.html for the whole piece.
My friend Jim Zubkavich does all sorts of things with his time. Currently he’s writing a very well-received series for Image called SKULLKICKERS, and the trade paperback collection of his Street Fighter: Ibuki mini-series comes out today. But he’s also a professor of animation AND the talent director for UDON studios, a creative studio working in comics, film, and television.
And so when a snarky up-and-comer thrusts his portfolio at Jim, Jim has every tool available to critique that work as honestly and thoroughly as the portfolio owner requests. The results are often not what they’re looking for (in that they’re honest and thorough), and the linked post is an accurate, no-punches-pulled assessment of not only the work of this creator, but the state of creative work in the comics industry. It’s very good.
More importantly, I think it’s a nice corollary to the Alex Toth/Steve Rude criticism that’s been going around the internet for a few years and was posted to “Letters of Note” today. You can be honest, even brutally honest, without being ajerk or using the situation to stroke your own ego. Good critics can do that.
– Christopher