Sometimes it doesn't work out

As in any business, having several successes doesn't guarantee that trend will continue. There are numerous factors at play, some you may not even know about, that can cause a rejection. 

Case in point, my attempt to work on the Rugrats comic strip. I'd completely forgotten I'd even pitched for it until I found this photocopy of one of my sample pages. Presumably this was back in 1996 when Marvel UK were publishing a Rugrats comic. The page still looks fine to me, with the characters on model, but there must have been something about it that decided I wasn't a good fit for the comic.

None of us like rejection but when it happens there's no point dwelling on it or getting resentful. Bitterness is self destructive and does no one any good. You're unlikely to be told the reasons for the rejection so the best thing to do is move on and forget about it, - as I obviously had with this page from nearly 30 years ago. 

At the time I was busy working on Viz, Sonic the Comic, and other publications so it wasn't a great hardship not being in the Rugrats comic, which happened to turn out really well with the contributors who did get the gig.

Rejection still happens, as I'm sure it does with every contrubutor. These days you're rarely told the reasons why, and it fills you with self doubt trying to guess, so it's best just to focus on the work that you do get and let it go. 

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