From The Vault - Marvel Trading Cards 1993

Long before I actually worked for Marvel Comics directly I worked in an art studio as an assistant artist during my last year of art school and for a few years after that. We did a lot of production artwork and licensed trading card series from comic book companies but we never did anything directly for Marvel Comics.

Until one Thursday afternoon when my boss got a call from Marvel directly saying that they needed some trading cards painted quickly and wondered if he could do a few. He said yes and the blue line boards of the cards showed up via FedEx on Friday morning.

During this time in the studio the other assistant artist and I would usually take home work from our job over the weekends, do some coloring and airbrushing on cards, and make a little extra money. The funny thing about this was that we were still paid by the hour for our work. So, even though I was faster and got the cards done quicker than my studio mate, I was paid less because he took longer to paint his set of cards than I did. Makes sense, yes?

So, anyway, because there were so many of these Marvel cards needing to be painted by Monday, I was given six of them to take home over the weekend and work on. It was the first time I had painted on the blue line boards (we usually painted right on photostats of the art, kind of like a really nice photocopy on a photo type paper), so I was looking forward to it.

As you can see by the cards, I really tried to do my best on them. It was my first time working for an actual comic book company and I really wanted these pieces to shine. Even if my name wasn't associated with any of the work I wanted to do my best. I put a lot of extra detail into each card and really took my time.

Too much time, I realized, when I spent all night Sunday before work still painting them. I didn't get any sleep that night before work because I just kept painting these cards.

But, I got to work, finished cards in hand, really sleepy with a nine hour day ahead of me.

I gave the finished cards to my boss who really liked them until he asked me how many hours I had taken to paint them. When I told him the amount of hours I spent he got really pissed (you remember, he was paying us hourly) and really freaked out.

So, I spent the day after I painted my first actual Marvel Comics work tired, working a nine hour day, with a boss who was angry with me. And, I wouldn't even get any credit for painting the cards.

But, in the end, I'm sure I used these cards as samples when I did approach Marvel Comics myself and started receiving work from them directly. In fact, I got so much work from them that I ended up quitting the assistant artist job and went out on my own.

So, taking my time, losing sleep, and having a boss angry with me seemed like a small price to pay in hindsight for starting a career with Marvel and always doing my best.

When I was painting stuff for Marvel directly, and even now with projects I do, some people in the industry look at my work and what I do and tell me I work too hard. But I figure it's a small price to pay for doing something I genuinely enjoy and love.

But, that day I did these cards, I just felt tired, beaten, and had a boos who was angry with me. An interesting way to start off my, what turned out to be years long, career with Marvel Comics.