Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael Watson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Michael , appreciate you joining us today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

Well our earned my first dollar back in the 6th grade me and my buddy Tom started our own but company where we were drawn comic books Miss slowly expanded out to our class where pretty much somebody from a classroom all the kids were doing something on the books and we had meetings during lunch period and then we were selling the books and my teacher noticed this and asked the principal if we could have extended lunch period once a week and an accident lunch. Different classrooms will take times coming to our room to buy books and then they would buy candy and popcorn to my teacher brought in and that’s when we started making money and had our first comic book business it was incredible and I absolutely loved every moment of it and it’s what sparked my love for wanting to have or do comic books

Michael , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Well the way that I got into my industry of making comic books was I started company but my best friend Tom in 6th grade because we love comic books and we wanted to make and tell her own stories from that point on I knew that I wanted to be a comic book illustrator of some fashion some sort and I did everything in my power to be a comic book artist. I eventually continue to draw continue collecting comic books and I got accepted into the Cleveland School of the arts where I can strengthen my art and be a better storyteller after that I got a scholarship to the Columbus college of design and I went there because they had a comic book class and there was no other college I saw at the time teaching in a couple class that I was aware of besides this one got there started making comic books kind of to the comic book class started the comic book group and went on to make more and more comics and hit combo conventions and directly out of school I just kept self-publishing. Probably the biggest obstacle I had to overcome that I want to work for marvel and I was attending the comic conventions and waiting in the line for 5 plus hours for several years not several years more like two two or three years and every time I went to go visit the marvel booth or the DC booth they would give me feedback they would give me critiques and I would go back home and change and edit and you know improve and then come back per what the request was that they made. Then that went on like I said for two or three years to finally they pulled me in the back room and said I was great or rather sorry they didn’t say I was great cuz I was really good storyteller it said my anatomy was great I have really good panels and you know they they remembered me because they’ve given me feedback and I see that I’ve listened but I am not the style that they’re looking for in marvel comics My work is too urban and I was shattered for about a day and I have this rule that if I get defeated in something that can only be down in the dumps about it for 24 hours and then after that I got to get up and figure something out and what I figured out was I was going to make my own comic books and I was going to have them come to me and from that point on I’ve been making my own books and I’ve been doing freelance and I’ve done freelance for marvel I’ve done freelance for DHL and you know Subway so that was kind of the spark that made it all happen

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Well one story that illustrates my resilience would be when I thought I hit gold with a local comic book publisher. They offered me everything that I could have ever wanted which was to not only draw comic books for them but bring my titles my comic books to their label as a creator and publish them with them but as I publish these books I would also be paid for the work that I did on these books. So to be more specific as we publish the books and sold them I would be getting a percentage of the sales because I’m the creator of the book as it should go when you have an IP that you own and you’re publishing it through a different entity but on top of that I was also the artist and writer for my book so I would get paid a page fee for writing and drawing the book on top of my creative percentage that I would get That’s unheard of in comic books. and this was great cuz we were getting a lot of press we were getting a lot of attention we the books the number ones came out they look fantastic everyone was enjoying it but then the company ended up not following through on his promises and I defended this company and the person in charge of for a long time it calls arguments between my wife and I and I would just tell her I know what I’m doing this person knows what they’re doing you got to have faith you got to trust them this stuff takes time and I mean I remember that you know it wasn’t the greatest situation because I was living in my wife’s father’s basement with my family and we were out of a home everyone was in this tight space with my in-laws and we were struggling to get by. Luckily we had them and they loved us and they supported us but you know it’s a very cramped situation and it is difficult to live in another man’s home while you were trying to be a man and raise your kids. And again when nothing is coming from this and you believe you see the light at the end of the tunnel and then you are defending it and come to find out that there was no light at the end of the tunnel you should not have been defending this person you should have been gone out of the situation but you didn’t and now your friends have been screwed over who have trusted you and work with you you don’t have any number two books to showcase to anywhere and you’re back at ground zero. I was shattered when this happened and I had to go back on my rule I get 24 hours and then I have to figure out a plan so I got back up and started over and looked at my contracts had somebody reveal my contract to ensure that I can keep moving on with my characters and my titles and I can and I could and I did and then I got picked up by several months later by a new publisher that was much better than when I was with My comic book audience reached new heights I was deeper invested in the community more people were buying my books we were actually doing kickstarters now we were getting funded by several thousands of dollars correction not several thousands of dollars but you know like a $6,000 campaign here a $9,000 campaign here $3,000 campaign here things that I would not doing at the other studio that I am not doing it this one. And I became the publisher of said studio for a year or two and then finally I wanted to be my own company and that’s what we did we left the studio on a good terms and we started with FSK with the momentum that we had and here we are producing and making comic books and travel not the conventions and all types of good stuff.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect about being a combo creator is watching people be excited when they read your books. There’s no better feeling when someone genuinely interested in your characters and they have these epic discussions with you or they are hustling to get your book so they can find out the next chapter and what’s going on. There was this kid who came over to my table with my nephew’s friend and he have to do stillness that hey this is my uncle and this is kind of a car shop that I’ve been telling you about. I looked at the kid and he was instantly locked onto the book and sucked in just by the cover he got the first issue 20 minutes or so later he came back over bought the second issue 20 to 30 minutes later he came back over got the third issue again 20 minutes later he brought my nephew back over my nephew about the fourth issue for him 20 minutes later again he brought his mom over to buy the fifth issue for him then the last issue he came over stood there staring at it he was out of money he was out of options and I finally just gave him the last issue that we have published at that time and he didn’t get 5 ft away from the table he already opened up the book to find out what happened and he was lost in it man he was in that world he was with those characters he was on that adventure he was in that journey and trying to hurry up and find out then turn the next page and just to be able to see that happen in front of me is one of the most incredible feelings that I’ve had as a creator and that’s how I felt when I read comic books and that’s the exact feeling and thing that I want to do for other people when they read our comic books

Contact Info:

• Website: fsknow.com
• Instagram: mostepicart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/5KWATTS/
• Twitter: mostepicart
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkH10tQdLvHnTz5tNY6Kw3A