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Space Sucks once of De-act-i-vate moves over to Act-i-vate. It’s by Pedro Camargo, I believe, although he signs his name as Sillicon Needle and the only way you can find out who this comic is by is a small signature on the splash page.

Seriously, I like the whole LJ community of comics creators but I’ve noticed many of the younger folk out there tend to make their real name very hard to find. I know it’s all cool and haxxor but it may not be the best move, professionally. A word of advice: make sure your real name is out there and findable. Someone may like you.

1 COMMENT

  2. Writer’s have pen names. Why can’t artists? Some people enjoy their privacy, and if you’re consistent in using your pen name for all of your business contacts, then that’s how people find you.

    I accidentally published my last name at the bottom of my website for a while as part of the disclaimer and it got picked up in a nanosecond. It was also published in the Mangaka America book even though I sent back edits to have it removed. I was pissed. Call me paranoid, but personally I don’t like the idea of any jane or joe being able to look up my name (or my family) and seeing where I live. And when my books are published, it’s under “Rivkah” not “Rivkah ********”.

  4. Heh, thanks. :) There’s a lot more over at my LJ which I tend to update more frequently: http://lilrivkah.livejournal.com/ :P

    And “Rivkah”s close enough to my real name; just slightly altered because it’s the name I took when I started converting to Judaism to get a deeper sense of who I am. Heck, everybody I’m friends with knows me as Rivkah except my family who still persist in old names. ;)

    I also think (in deeper response to Heidi’s post) that a large portion of the people who choose to use pseudonyms in the comics industry are also chicas like myself and chicos who’ve gotten used to the one-name and odd sounding monikers from Japan, and have picked that up as something unique and appealing. And it isn’t that unacceptable is it, when graphic novels tend to be categorized by series rather than author/artist in stores? Couple that with the growing popularity of the internet, ubiquity of name handles, and the incredibly high accessibility of personal information that isn’t guarded, then it’s something I can only see becoming far more common.

    And for the record, I have a group of real-life friends that are all known to each other solely by handle names like “Cow” and “Snacks” and “Decibel”, and honestly respond to them. Really. Kids these days. ;)

  5. I’ve always agreed with this. If you use a pen name, at least make it sound like a real name, not something stupid.

    And, really, if you are a writer or artist, do you really want to limit yourself by not having your real name and let everyone out there know who you are? I mean, autobiographical material alone would make you have to honestly, ‘come out’ of the name-closet.

    I don’t get the whole, sham thing, unless you feel you are being racially/gender profiled unfairly for your work.

  6. Rivkah, thanks for giving the other side of it. For instance, I do use a “pseudonym” for my LJ, but I don’t put that out as a professional work, merely as a place for personal observations. I guess it depends on context.

  8. Poor Moebius and Herge… they’d have been much more successful had they only stopped using those silly pseudonyms. Pity neither achieved any success.

    And let’s not forget good Dr. Suess… died penniless, he did.

    ;)

  10. Knoen, I appreciate your comment, but unless Pedro plans to be known as Silicon Needle for his career, the situations are not parallel.

    Also, people who worry about stalkers probably shouldn’t be publicly posting their work on the Internet to begin with.

    My original comments were directed at those who are seeking a PROFESSIONAL CAREER in comics, not dabblers and hobbyists.

  11. Not sure I’m following you here, Heidi. I was citing examples of well-known professional creators who had a good deal of success despite their use of a pseudonym. So it’s not necessarily as bad move, provided — like you said — people can actually get ahold of you.

    “Kneon” is not my real name, but I’m fairly easy to get in touch with if you know who to ask. Though, I might very well be considered a “dabbler” myself, so maybe I don’t count. ;)

    “Silicon Needle” though… that’s kind of a stretch. At least he didn’t go with “Empty Syringe” or “Bloody Gauze”…

  12. Peyo, Frank Quitely…

    OK, I’ll shut up now. ;)

    Though, I hear Jim Rugg dropped his “Dick Troutman” moniker a few years back for professional reasons.

    Ironically, my real name slipped in to one lone Disney comic a few years ago, and now EVERYTHING Disney I’ve done since then has been credited to that name on INDUCKS. Funny, considering it’s always been published as “Kneon Transitt” save for that *one* instance.

    http://coa.inducks.org/creator.php?c=Thom+Pratt&c1=qmaker

    Ah, whatchoo gonna do?

  13. My point is just that people should make their working name — WHATEVER IT IS, Savage Pencil or Sonny Trinidad — easy to spot and find on their work, whether on paper or the Web. Back in my editing days sometimes I’d come across a submission that was good enough to write back to — only the person hadn’t put their name on each and every piece of paper. Meaning…no one ever knew who they were.