*This interview mostly took place over the course of 2019 on the Lo-Fi Fonts Monthly Newsletter.
DC, you’ve lettered for IDW, Dynamite, Lion Forge, Black Mask, Disney, Tor, Vault, and others. You’re a staff letterer for Deron Bennet’s AndWorld Design group and you co-host two podcasts. Sounds like you’re a busy guy. So when you told me you were going to quit your job to pursue lettering, I assumed you already were lettering full time.
So, why are you quitting your day job?
Ha! Fair point. I actually have been lettering full time for awhile, but I’ve had a second full time day job as well, primarily for the insurance. Professionally speaking, I’ve been lettering since 2013 but I’ve always had the day job in the background (although, ironically, most people at my day job didn’t know about my career in comics). For the past 3.5 years, my day job has also been from home. This allowed me a lot of flexibility to get things done at both places, which meant I was able to keep increasing my lettering work load.
Why lettering, and why now?
It’s always been my dream to do lettering full time ever since I realized back in 2010 or so that lettering was what I wanted to do with my life. Since the age of 16, I’ve always held down a job, but discovering my love for lettering was the first time I felt a sense of ambition with the work. I wanted to learn, I wanted to improve, and I wanted to chase the challenges that were in front of me. And that’s honestly what still fuels me to this day. I think most things are as easy as you want to make them, and lettering was the first time that I wanted to make things more challenging for myself so I could keep getting better. As for the “why now?”…it was a combination of the normal life necessities (insurance, savings, etc.) getting worked out, as well as that personal sense of taking my work to the next level kicking in yet again.
Now that you’re ready to take it to the next level, have you set any goals for yourself? Any challenges you’re preparing for, or concerns you might have?
Definitely for all three categories! With the concerns and challenges in mind, I’ve tried to mold my goals around them in a way that allows me to continue to push myself creatively, while mitigating the stress that comes with the transition.
Creatively...
• I want to work with at least three new publishers whom I haven’t worked with in the past. This might happen organically of course, but I want to continue to push myself to reach out to new places and network more.
• I’d like to work on an impactful book this year. Not necessarily that it has to be high-profile (although obviously I wouldn’t turn that down!), but something that has people talking and generates some buzz. Whether that’s for quality reasons, social messages, or otherwise.
• I want to continue to promote and grow AndWorld Design, Deron Bennett's studio that I'm a member of. I've very proudly waved that banner since I started lettering for Deron and with the rest of that crew, and I know he has exciting things happening in 2019. Keeping that badge and staying tight with the group is a priority for me.
Financially...
• I want to continue to have a better grasp on what exactly I should be paying for my quarterly taxes and have a deeper understanding of how I should adjust in either direction. We’ve met with an accountant who will help with this piece as well, but I want to continue to learn more and more about the fiscal side of being a freelancer this year, both when it comes to taxes and also fine-tuning income going from one account to another.
Personally...
• I want to establish a (relatively) loose schedule for my work days to balance efficiency and time with my wife and 2-year-old son. One of my primary concerns with quitting my day job was ensuring that I don’t immediately lose myself in the lettering, potentially causing damage to our family as a husband and a father. I know that I have trouble saying “no” to projects, so I want to try and find a loose rhythm within the first quarter.
• I want to double down on good health-related habits. A healthy diet, daily exercise, an attention to proper posture and working conditions, and an attempt to get a full night’s worth of sleep.
How was your first month as a full-time freelancer?
In one word…hectic. For a variety of reasons. Some that I expected and planned for, some that I expected and didn’t prepare well enough for, and finally some that were totally unexpected and random. Things started out well enough…I posted a two-page comic I’d made (check it out here) and sent to my day job co-workers as both part of my goodbye email and also to show them what exactly it is that I do as a comic book letterer. It gained a surprising amount of traction and attention on Twitter which in turn led directly to some new jobs with both indie creators and an established publisher (BOOM! Studios). Because I wanted to keep this positive momentum going, combined with my fear of quitting my day job, I was accepting EVERYTHING that came my way haha. Looking back, I can tell that I took on too much. I had the best of intentions that first week to start off with all of my positive habits in place that we discussed in the last newsletter (life/work balance, good health and sleep patterns, etc.), and after one day of doing things well, I was back to staying up till 2:00 AM each night drinking coffee and working late. A couple of weeks later I was getting better at balancing things and getting used to the new routine, and things were falling more into place.
That’s when a pipe froze in our bathroom and burst through the wall, flooding half of our downstairs and causing damage extensive enough that we now have to replace all of the flooring!
Throw in my son and wife both getting sick (including an ER trip for the kid), and things got extremely stressful VERY quickly. I say all of this, not for the attention or sympathy, but simply because it was my first brush with these sorts of stressful situations in an environment that was already scary and new to me. Having to handle and work on all of these new challenges while still trying to get work done and keep up with deadlines was really tough. I’m only now starting to feel like I can breathe a little better again. Three weeks ago I was on the ground with a Shop-Vac trying to get all of the water off/out of the floor, and all I could repeat in my head was “You total idiot. You quit your job. Why did you quit your job?!” over and over again haha. With some time and distance, I don’t have those same feelings of fear and stress. Financially, I can see that switching to freelance full time is working, and we’ll be good. So I feel more personal fulfillment and happiness when it comes to my career than ever before.
Has going full time revealed any obstacles you didn't plan for when you decided to make the jump?
Definitely! I didn’t really think about planning for the unplannable (which isn’t a word, I know, but go with me here). That sounds silly and, obviously, it’s impossible, but the concept that sometimes things will happen that prevent me from being as productive as I’d like to be is one that I hadn’t accepted or anticipated. As much as this last month has sort of sucked, I’m glad that it happened now because it was a huge lesson which allowed me to grow through the stress. With a day job, especially a salaried one, if circumstances outside of work get truly difficult and you have to step away to deal with them, that’s relatively easy - whether you take a personal day or have to use some vacation time, you can set that aside and come back to it later and things stay on the tracks. But with freelancing, it’s all on you. The deadlines don’t care if life has just roundhouse kicked you in the face. All of that being said, I also learned that bouncing back and making things work even when it gets tough is doable. It might mean a few extra late nights or early mornings, but you do what you gotta do, and you get things back on track. It was a good lesson to learn.
With con season upon us, let's explore what's worked for you?
With 2019 in full swing, one big aspect of being a self-promoting freelancer for me has been determining A) how many cons to visit during the year, B) which cons to visit, and C) how to receive the biggest return on investment (financially and otherwise) at the cons I do attend. Up until a few years ago, this aspect of the freelancing gig was one that gave me a lot of stress, primarily because the idea of cold-calling and “networking” (quotes because that term is often used so vaguely that it loses all meaning) was something that I have zero natural ability for. Operating professionally in known work environments and interacting with other co-workers? That’s easy. Walking up to someone I’ve never spoken to at the after-hours “bar con” and striking up a conversation? That sounds like a special sort of torture.
So here are some of the things I’ve learned that have worked for me when it comes to attending cons as a freelance letterer!
1. Research the connections you do have with other attendees of the show BEFORE you go. This one is easy and doesn’t cost you much of anything beyond a little bit of time in the days leading up to the convention weekend. I go through all of the guests on the website’s listings (including and especially Artist Alley!) and make note of which names I recognize in a professional capacity. This doesn’t have to be as direct as you’d think. Obviously writers and artists that I’ve lettered with I’ll make a point to stop by their booths and introduce myself, but I’ll also do the same for friends of friends or other ancillary professionals. Do we follow each other on Twitter? I will make the introduction and find out what they’re up to at their table, what they’re currently selling, working on, etc. I always make sure to lead with my full name and what the connection is to, that way there’s not any sort of awkward pause where they feel like they’re trying to remember how they might know me. I make my way through Artist Alley at least twice during the weekend, stopping by tables and making those connections where appropriate. People tabling always seem to welcome the interactions too, if for no other reason then it breaks up the monotony of being tethered to their location all weekend.
2. After/before-hours networking outside of the show is a must. This one is a little harder to make happen sometimes because you never know what’s going to be going down for sure and you have to be pretty flexible and willing to adapt. While the convention is, typically, as organized as possible with the uniform lanes of booths and tables, the stuff happening outside of the con is much more impromptu and you never know who is going to show up where. This is why you have to be willing to be out and about with the people! The amount of connections I’ve made simply from being out there is pretty high, and I never expected any of them to happen when I walked into the location. As chaotic and unappealing as something like “bar con” can be to some of us, especially those of us with more anti-social tendencies, it’s where people are getting to know each other and social connections are being formed. Social media can also be pretty helpful here in terms of finding out where industry folks are congregating if you don’t already know someone who will be there. And last, but definitely not least, we also always have each other as fellow letterers to reach out to!
3. You don’t have to attend EVERY show, but try to attend at least 1-4 during the year if possible. I’ve attended C2E2 every year since its inception, but only in the past few years did it become more of a business trip and less of a thing I attend as a fan (although I still make a little time for the fun stuff too!). Because of my familiarity of that con and proximity to Chicago, combined with the size of the show itself, this became one of my staple cons to attend every year. Last year I added in NYCC which I found to be incredibly rewarding as well - it is attended by a lot of publishers, both indie and otherwise, and the amount of face-to-face introductions and conversations I had while there was worth the trip alone (and the annual Letterer Meet-Up too of course!). I try to keep some availability during the rest of the year open for other shows that either present themselves with a specific incentive to go, or ones that are large enough and will have professionals in attendance who I’ve worked with but haven’t met in person, etc. I don’t subscribe to the idea that the only way to get work is by attending cons all of the time and making contacts in person. We’ve all gotten plenty of jobs through social media and other online connections to prove that theory wrong. But I do think that having a physical presence helps maintain and strengthen existing professional relationships, as well as provides an advantage in recruiting new clients and industry-based connections. Too many of us in the industry are adverse to any sort of communication other than email or other text-based methods. I understand why this is, but taking the time to connect with people in person at conventions is huge for many people. It’s all about making the relationships strong.
So for C2E2 this year, I…
• Researched ahead of time and discovered there were about 10+ tables I knew I needed to stop at.
- About half of these were creators I’d worked with over the past year(s), but hadn’t met in person.
- A quarter were folks I’d met in person before and work with currently.
- A quarter were people who I had minor/tangential connections to over social media and wanted to introduce myself.
• Knew from years past that the Hyatt bar attached to the convention center was the place that most industry people would meet up at each night, so that was a good place to make some connections/have a drink.
• Also stopped at publisher booths where I’d done work in the past. This is a good place to meet editors and other folks who work more behind the scenes and it’s great to get to know them as well.
• Happened to learn the hard way that bringing a toddler to a convention makes all of the above points approximately 4x harder to accomplish, so there’s a bonus lesson for all of you parents with young kids! ;)
DC, what's going on? We took a month off and it's already the end of May. You're closing in on the halfway point of your first year as a freelancer. Are you hitting the goals you've set for yourself? Found challenges you didn't anticipate?
It’s crazy to think we’re already midway through 2019, but you’re right! This time has flown by. So far, things are going great! Although I always want to knock on wood whenever I tell someone that because I know how quickly things can change. I’m very grateful that my official start to full-time without a day job has been busy from the jump. In terms of my goals, I had originally broken them down into three key categories: Creative, Financial, and Personal. On the Creative side, I’ve met my goal of wanting to work with new publishers already through a new relationship with BOOM! Studios, a book currently in the works over at Image, and my first story over at DC in a recent Titans 100-Page Giant. I still have a few publishers who I’d love to work with in 2019, so I’m trying to keep the momentum going, but this was a goal I did not anticipate to hit so quickly, and I’m grateful that the opportunities arose. For my Financial goals, things are going well there too - meeting with our accountant has been incredibly helpful and I now have a better grasp on getting into the more minute details of saving for my quarterlies. Lastly, on the Personal goals side of things…not as much success haha. My schedule is still all over the place and I get in work when I can find the time. I know that a big part of this is that for at least half of the day I have a toddler at home with me, so I’m trying to accept it as much as possible while still attempting a “normal” schedule whenever I can get it. Because of the chaos, the healthy habits have been tough as well. I’m still able to get to the gym 3+ times a week, but the diet and posture habits aren’t as consistent. That’s my current main focus I’d like to shape into a dependable routine.
What books are you currently working on?
Right now I’m lettering Sina Grace’s new monthly book for BOOM! called Ghosted In L.A. and it’s been a ton of fun working with that team. I’m also finishing up Vol. 3 of Brandon Sanderson’s White Sand OGN for Dynamite, and I just finished two more OGNs for Lion Forge and Humanoids respectively. I’m still trying to get used to the unpredictable rhythm of being a freelancer…one minute you’re buried with work, the next you’re all caught up while you wait for more pages to come in. It used to just fill me with anxiety, but now I’m kind of enjoying the insanity! :)
DC, it's been a minute since we talked. How's it going? Are things more or less going as planned, or has life taken your plans and made toilet paper out of them?
Hey Steve! Honestly, things are going pretty well. Any time where I’ve sensed a lull is coming on, something comes up, or a new client appears, and things get busy again (which I am incredibly grateful for, as always). One thing I’m learning is that for me at least, the last third of the year is becoming more and more con-heavy. This means a little bit more financial planning so that the travel expenses aren’t hitting me as hard all at once. Definitely doable, but one of those things I couldn’t really plan ahead for that I’m learning as I go.
Have you learned anything new about yourself that you maybe thought you wouldn’t?
The biggest lesson right now that I’m trying to learn is that my mental health is just as (if not more) important as my physical health. I’ve made some great strides in the physical health and fitness side of things - getting to the gym every day, eating super healthy, getting the right amount of sleep (most of the time) - but one area I’ve lacked until recently has been taking care of myself mentally. I think therapy is a good thing for anyone and everyone, regardless of what’s going on, but for me personally, it was something that I finally realized I needed to start doing. I won’t get into all of the depressing details, but from a lettering perspective just trying to find the right balance between work and family has always been a challenge, and taking steps to take care of my mental health has helped in many ways. I’m still very much in the thick of it and to be totally honest some days I feel like I’m struggling more than ever, but the most significant difference is that I’m working on it now and I have plans in place to help me work toward those goals. Before recently, I was just relying on myself to make everything work without any “training” so to speak, and it was quickly becoming clear that it wasn’t a viable long-term approach. So take care of yourselves, people! :)
With the end of the year in sight are you still excited about lettering full time as a freelancer?
Absolutely. It’s weird cause I often tell people that a pivotal day for me some years back was the day that I sat down to letter and realized I just didn’t feel like doing it right then. I wanted to go do something else like read or watch a movie or play video games. That moment was a strange one for me because, up until then, I loved lettering ALL of the time, without fail. But I forced myself to stay at my desk, and I loaded up my files and did the work. That was a pivotal day for me because, contrary to popular belief, doing what you love can be and often is STILL WORK. I love lettering comics, I love doing design, I (sometimes) love creating logos, but sometimes I don’t. And I sort of love that too. I know it means that the honeymoon phase is over and that I’ve found the internal resolve and willpower I need to be consistent at making this a career and profession. So I say all of that to say: even without a day job looming in the background as I did before this year, it still excites me that some days I have to prod myself to get going because it means I have a career in comics now that I value so much, both from a creative POV and a financial one. It means a lot to me.
DC, thanks for sharing your journey and being candid about it all. Let me point out that it seems DC is learning a lesson that took me far too long to learn--mental health--especially the work/life/family balance. If anyone takes away one thing please let it be that. Find the balance and define the balance. The time you take away from your work might be the best thing you can do for your work.
Hold on boils and ghouls cause we have one more cat to skin! I mean, time for a very important question with DC Hopkins!
DC, this has been your first year as a full-time freelance letterer and I'm dying to know…what…is…your…favorite Halloween-ish thing to do?
I’m a HUGE horror/Halloween/spooky stuff fan, so I’ve been all about the Halloween mood lately. For things to do, it’s been cool to see all of the staples (trick-or-treating, pumpkin patches, haunted houses, etc.) through my kid’s eyes since he’s 3 now and at an age where all of that stuff is new and fun to him. In terms of books, earlier this month I finished Hell House by Richard Matheson which I absolutely loved. It’s a great haunted house novel with some edge to it and a lot of fun technology at play that feels very ahead of its time, especially since the book was published in 1971. I also watched the 1973 film adaptation and really enjoyed it too! Probably the thing that I love the most is finding old commercials and television specials from the ‘80s and ‘90s to have playing in the background while I work. On an emotional/nostalgia level, that stuff takes me back to my youth the most. Along those same lines, I also usually watch the WNUF Halloween Special which is a lot of fun!
Looking back at your first year of freelancing, how do you think it went? Any final takeaways or insights you can offer someone looking to do the same?
Looking back, I can safely (and fortunately) say that my first year of being totally self-employed went incredibly well, especially considering how much trepidation and anxiety I had first stepping into it. It wasn’t without its challenges of course, and many of those were outlined throughout our conversations throughout the year, but all of the preparative steps we took before making the transition were what set me up for success. Other veteran letterers and creator friends in the industry were especially helpful in answering questions and encouraging me from the jump, which I will always be incredibly grateful for.
I’ve already had other lettering friends reach out to me asking your latter question and I’m happy to share what really worked for me. The first thing, easily, would be to save up (at least) a few months’ worth of pay to cover bills and other items in the event that creative work dries up after you make the jump. This gives you some breathing room so you’re not immediately having to go back to trying to find a day job if lettering and design jobs get lean. Secondly, speak with an accountant if you haven’t already done so. Their expertise and insight is invaluable in helping you best plan out your estimated tax payments, determining the most efficient write-offs, and other important items that can be intimidating and confusing to try and figure out on your own. Third, seek out a support system of other creatives if at all possible. AndWorld Design is the primary network for me in this way: studio mates and co-workers who are my first stop if I have questions about pretty much anything related to the job. But other creator friends on social media are super important too, and I’ve also made steps to connect with local Indiana-based industry folks which was creatively energizing in a way I didn’t fully expect. Finally, be bold, but be smart about it. Too many inspirational memes and quotes throw caution to the wind in a way that I think can be counterintuitive. You CAN make this work, and you SHOULD put yourself out there and take risks…but a bit of preparation and calculation is only going to tip the scales in your favor once you make the leap.
Last, but not least, let me thank YOU, Steve, for doing what you do in the industry and being a great example to the rest of us. Putting together a monthly newsletter in the way that you do, with the amount of content you provide, is a big task. Between your insights here, your fantastic fonts, and your work in general, you’re an important piece of my network and I know the same is true for many others. This has been a total pleasure chatting with you for so many of these months - I look forward to buying you a beer whenever our paths cross IRL! :)
Something I ask everyone I interview…If you could only give one piece of advice, be it for lettering or life, what would it be?
One thing that my dad taught me from a young age is that we don’t grow during the good (or easy) times. While we should appreciate the good times while we’re in them, the growth happens when we’re being challenged and when things aren’t easy, and that’s when we need to take stock of what’s happening so we can learn how to grow. This is one of my biggest life takeaways, but it also applies to lettering in a big way. For example, just earlier this week, I was challenged at AndWorld with a bad lettering habit I had been doing for literally YEARS that I didn’t realize was incorrect. It was sort of minuscule, and imperceptible probably to even most letterers, but it was a hit to my confidence and took me a second to gather myself and realize that I shouldn’t push back or be defensive, but to understand and learn from it. Moments like this are invaluable to me as it only helps to improve my work and, hopefully when taken at the macro, my life!
You can find more about DC at:
hopkinsletters.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dc_hopkins