My name is Niki Sauter and I am a Junior Illustration student. Over the
summer of 2013 I interned for Marvel Entertainment. I found out about the Digital
Comics internship for Marvel through a friend. I secured this internship through
two interviews. My first interview was with the Executive Editor of Publishing, Dan
Buckley, and my second interview was with my supervisor, Digital Comics Bull Pen
Editor, Tim Smith. Both interviews were over the phone because I was at school
here in Baltimore.
At Marvel I worked along side, Tim Smith, head of the Digital Comics Bull Pen and his team. With the team I created pdfs of the current books as well as older books that are being reformatted in the Galactus system. These pdfs are prepared books to be read on i-books, Kindle, and Nook. We had to go through each issue and make sure that it read properly and that all speech bubbles and art are contained in the guidelines of the systems. We also digitally composite each panel for the Marvel now app so that they can animate for readers on the screen. The main work that I did was panning and previewing issues to be put on the Marvel Now app. I also did a lot of work in Galactus reformatting The Amazing Spiderman series from 1963 as well as Fantastic Four 1961. I also picked certain images for the Dark tower and Stand series for preview books for July. The most involved projects that I worked on were mock up ads for The Invincible Iron Man and Agents of the S.H.E.I.L.D.
I am most proud of my work on the mock up ads. I went to Marvel not having
a lot of experience with in-design and that is what was mainly used for these
projects. I was proud that I could mix my Photoshop skills plus knowledge of
illustration with in-design work.
My biggest take away from this whole experience is not to be afraid to put your work and yourself out there. Everyone knows how it feels to just be starting out and they are more than happy to give you tips and their own insights but you to ask for it. I gained great skills in communication from this experience as well as technical skills. I feel very lucky to have had this time at Marvel and can’t wait to apply what I’ve learned to my career.
At Marvel I worked along side, Tim Smith, head of the Digital Comics Bull Pen and his team. With the team I created pdfs of the current books as well as older books that are being reformatted in the Galactus system. These pdfs are prepared books to be read on i-books, Kindle, and Nook. We had to go through each issue and make sure that it read properly and that all speech bubbles and art are contained in the guidelines of the systems. We also digitally composite each panel for the Marvel now app so that they can animate for readers on the screen. The main work that I did was panning and previewing issues to be put on the Marvel Now app. I also did a lot of work in Galactus reformatting The Amazing Spiderman series from 1963 as well as Fantastic Four 1961. I also picked certain images for the Dark tower and Stand series for preview books for July. The most involved projects that I worked on were mock up ads for The Invincible Iron Man and Agents of the S.H.E.I.L.D.
I am most proud of my work on the mock up ads. I went to Marvel not having
a lot of experience with in-design and that is what was mainly used for these
projects. I was proud that I could mix my Photoshop skills plus knowledge of
illustration with in-design work.
My biggest take away from this whole experience is not to be afraid to put your work and yourself out there. Everyone knows how it feels to just be starting out and they are more than happy to give you tips and their own insights but you to ask for it. I gained great skills in communication from this experience as well as technical skills. I feel very lucky to have had this time at Marvel and can’t wait to apply what I’ve learned to my career.
