Nerd For A Living

Jim Zub is a Canadian comic book writer best known for his creator-owned series at Image Comics, Skullkickers and Wayward. This spring, Jim has two new comic series hitting shelves - Thunderbolts for Marvel, and Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows of the Vampire for IDW. Jim is also the program director for Seneca College‘s award-winning animation program in Toronto.

In this episode, Andy Schmidt drops by again, this time to talk about writing for video games. Andy is the founder of Comics Experience, an online school that connects students with industry professionals to learn the craft of making comics. But beyond his vast experience in comics, Andy has also written for a number of video games - most notably, the recent hit Activision game, Transformers: Devastation. A love-letter to fans of classic Generation One Transformers characters and stories, Devastation features legendary voice actors including Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. Adron talks with Andy about the experience of writing dialogue for the characters and actors he’s loved since he was a kid growing up with the Transformers animated franchise. They discuss the storytelling challenges of writing for video games, how the writer interfaces with the production teams, and elements unique to gaming like “battle chatter”. There’s also a fair amount of geeking out about Transformers in there as well. This April, And

In this episode, we talk with comic creator and animator, Otis Frampton. If you’ve ever been on YouTube, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve been exposed to his work, because he’s the background artist on the massively popular animated parody series, HOW IT SHOULD HAVE ENDED. Otis is also the creator, writer and artist on the all ages Image Comics series, ODDLY NORMAL. Two trade paperback volumes of Oddly Normal are available now, with volume three coming in April. We talk with Otis about juggling the demands of his mostly one-man-show comic series with work on How It Should Have Ended, along with his webcomic ABCDEFGEEK, commissions and convention appearances. And we discuss how his love of TV and film led him to work in comics, and how, excitingly, that work is now taking him right back to television.

Adron talks with film, television and voice-over actor Cas Anvar. Cas has over 70 major film & TV credits, including a Screen Actor’s Guild ensemble win for Argo, and he’s currently on the award show circuit for this year’s indie darling Room, staring Brie Larson. The gamer crowd may recognize him as the voice of Altair from Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, as well as roles in Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Halo 4. And now he embodies the role of pilot Alex Kamal is SyFy’s massively popular series The Expanse, based on the best-selling science fiction novel series by James S.A. Corey.

In this episode Wendy and Adron talk with Marlene Bonnelly, the editor-in-chief of Comics.Tumblr.com. She also works in Tumblr’s legal department, and is a content creator and YouTube partner. Marlene has worked for Marvel, MTV, and Wizard World, and is known across social media channels by her handle @ilikecomicstoo. She's an advocate for diversity and anti-harassment in media, and has done panels at SDCC and NYCC discussing both. During this conversation, Marlene shares some valuable tips for how creators can best use Tumblr's attributions, and how users can get help from Tumblr's team when your work starts being shared without credit.

Aaron Mahnke is the creator, writer and narrator of the LORE podcast. Lore explores real life scary stories, examining disturbing historical events and how they intertwine with folklore and the origins of superstition, all delivered in an engaging, creepy narrative. Densely packed with atmosphere and ideas, Lore brings to life very human stories with decidedly bizarre circumstances. Launched in early 2015, Lore rocketed to popularity and the top of the iTunes Podcast charts, and is now Aaron’s full-time job, displacing his web design business as primary source of income.

Wendy and Adron talk with Drew Chapman, author of the new thriller novel The King of Fear, published by Simon & Schuster. It’s the sequel to his first novel, The Ascendant. Drew is also an established writer from the world of television and film. He co-wrote and executive produced the second season of TNT’s Legends, starring Sean Bean, as well as the ABC limited series The Assets. He wrote and directed the feature film Stand Off, starring Dennis Haysbert and Robert Sean Leonard. Drew has written for Fox, Universal, Warner Brothers and Sony, and a notable stretch at Disney Animation, during which he was the first writer on Pocahontas.

Monkey Minion Press's first Kickstarter campaign, for their book Eureka! The Art of Science, just blew past their initial funding goal of $8,500, and will close at more than $32,000. We talk with founders Dane Ault (artist, graphic designer) and Ashlie Hammond (copywriter, crafter) about how Monkey Minion Press got started, how they both quit their day jobs to run their business full-time, and life on the road exhibiting at a ton of conventions every year. And, of course, we discuss Eureka, and what went into the creation of a very successful Kickstarter campaign.

We talk with comedy writers Geoffrey Golden and Amanda Meadows, the founders of The Devastator. Formerly a bi-annual humor anthology, The Devastator is now an all-comedy publishing company producing new novels, comics, magazines, and activity books every month. We discuss the genesis of The Devastator, the reasoning behind their move away from anthologies to one-off publications, the challenges facing independent publishers in the Direct market, and much more.

We talk with comic book writer Erica Schultz, one of the writers on Dynamite Entertainment’s massive crossover series, Swords of Sorrow. She also lettered every issue in that series. Erica has written for Marvel (Revenge: The Secret Origin of Emily Thorne) and DC (Vertigo Quarterly: SFX), and has produced several independent books, including the acclaimed crime thriller M3, comedy adventure The Unauthorized Biography of Winston Churchill: A Documentary, and comedic romance Cheese: A Love Story, all from Vice Press. She is also an animator and production artist, who works includes the Marvel motion comic, Astonishing X-Men: Gifted.

In this episode, Adron and Wendy talk with PixelPop founders Carol Mertz and Jeremy Johnson. PixelPop Festival celebrates gaming and gamer culture, and explores careers and hobbies in game development. This includes traditional video games, mobile gaming, and also tabletop gaming. This year's event is September 12th-13th in St. Louis, MO.  

Nerd For A Living's Wendy and Adron talk with Danielle Davis, founder of Seattle-based transmedia marketing, public relations, and event company Ladykiller. Danielle and Ladykiller serve the pop culture and gaming industries with marketing strategy, talent management, publicity and event services.

Adron and Wendy talk with fine artist and filmmaker Chris Peters about his new short-form horror movie, To Dust Return, starring Jennifer Morrison (Once Upon A Time) and Sam Jaeger (Parenthood). Chris is an LA-based painter known for his emotive paintings of skeletons, and his previous films The Soul Never Sleeps and Day of the Spectre.

Author Daniel Wilson is co-editor of the upcoming video game inspired short story anthology, "Press Start to Play", available in stores August 18th. Daniel's career spans books, television, and comics, and includes a PhD in Robotics. He’s the New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse, which was optioned by DreamWorks and is being adapted for film by Steven Spielberg. 

Recorded live at San Diego Comic-Con International 2015, this speaker panel includes costume designer Kristin Burke; Cinema Makeup School director Lee Joyner; feature film director Zach Lipovsky; voice actor Hal Lublin; animation artist Sarah Marino; and writer and Comics Experience founder Andy Schmidt. Many people dream of working in pop-culture entertainment related industries, but most are not sure of how or where to start. This panel of professional “Nerds for a Living” share insights into how they got to where they are, and discuss career paths that exist within fields like animation, film, comics, makeup, costume design, and more. Our guests offer actionable, realistic career advice and anecdotes that may provide the advantage needed for those trying to “break in”. Topics  include education/training, resources and communities, networking, industry “realities” (i.e. time commitment, job relocation, etc.), and tactics to use or avoid when seeking out a job in your dream industry.

We're getting ready for San Diego Comic-Con International 2015! In this episode, we talk with SDCC expert Tony Kim, who blogs under the name Crazy4ComicCon. He’s been documenting and examining the San Diego experience for 10 years. His blog features one of the most comprehensive resources for advice and Comic-Con information. SDCC is an experience like no other, and can be very confusing and even harrowing for the first time con-goer. Tony’s work is a huge help for both regular attendees and enterprising nerds looking to network and advance their careers.

At Emerald City ComiCon 2015, we talked with superstar author Kevin J. Anderson about his work, and his publishing imprint, WordFire Press. We also spoke with WordFire authors Peter J. Wacks and R.J. Terrell, and event manager Alexi Vandenberg.

N4AL's Wendy Buske presents our How to be a Nerd for a Living panel at Wizard World Comic-Con 2015, featuring guest speakers Warren Dion Smith (Weta Workshop), Carol Mertz (Happy Badger Studio), Lorenzo Lizana (Lion Forge Comics), Britta Buescher (freelance graphic artist), and Amanda Nuckolls (GnomeAcres). They discuss careers in comics, gaming, make-up and costume design, art and graphic design, small business ownership and more. 

At Emerald City Comicon 2015, we talked with Dark Horse Comics creators Adam Warren ("Empowered") and Joelle Jones ("Lady Killers") about their current projects, making a living as a comic creator, getting original properties off the ground, and much more.

N4AL's Wendy Buske caught up with voice actor Hal Lublin at C2E2 to discuss his work on Thrilling Adventure Hour and Welcome to Night Vale, how he got his start in voice acting, his additional career in marketing, and how he once worked for Disney without getting paid.