30yo+ Comic Hobbyists: Heed My Call

[nickricci]

The conch shell has been blown. Gather, 30-somethings, and chat with your peers so that we may pool our collective tips and tricks.

• How do you budget your time and money in pursuit of your comic hobby?
• How long have you been at it?
• Why haven't we met at a comic-con for drinks and high-fives?

Discuss.

[keii4ii]

I budget my time by having no social life. :') Works fine for me, as most social activities tire me out. I'm mildly word-deaf (my brain sucks at picking out known words, so even moderate ambient noise makes it really hard for me to understand spoken language) so even when talking to other creators, I prefer to do it via text.

It helps that I don't have kids. \o/ Other than my 160-lbs furchild (dog), that is.

I've been drawing all my life (pretty sure I wasn't even 12 months old when I started, and I just never stopped). Writing for considerably less, though it's hard to say by how much since there's been a lot of on-and-offness to it until 2005 when I began posting my previous comic.

[nickricci]

@keii4ii Word-deaf is new to me, sorry to hear that you suffer mildly from it. I can't say I relate on the social life portion, but I certainly have a few (one dog, two felines) fur babies. Comic writing is a relatively new hobby of mine, and I tend to fit it in sporadically. I really enjoy it, and I'm always looking to improve my efficiency with regard to time and cost while producing the work.

[dglisson]

I've got a big family (read: wife and four kids), and I only recently started this webcomic experience. Before last November, I was an upper management guy with a solid, regular job and the last time I'd made comics was back in high school when me and a buddy would draw comics on lined notebook paper and the Internet was a pipe-dream.

Although I used to roleplay both tabletop and LARP, and once went to a LARP convention, but I've never been to a comic convention although I bought comics and graphic novels and read some webcomics.

So back in November I found myself out of a job, and started drawing again. I got this crazy idea to make a webcomic and... well, here I am, all these months later and I'm on Issue 3. Drawing pretty much full time and extremely happy and grateful. Still have never been to a convention though! Thinking of doing that once I get my comic in print form.

[Sanz]

Im almost 30 something. 27 i have a pretty hard set schedule that involves not having alot of friends except those i talk to online.
Budgeting money. Any money i make from commissions, ad revenue, selling stuff on ebay, bonus checks, comic book sales side work, Gets put towards printing my comic and hopefully one day merch. my income from working pays the bills along with my dudes income.

Thank. Neptune i have no children but i have 5 cats and a dog. So barely any distractions

Managing my time: i work everyday 8-4. On mondays and Wednesdays i use to have class. In the evening from 6-10. Thursday friday saturday and sunday i spend on the my comic and homework (which i am SO HAPPY this semester is finally over) i usually do writing drawing layouts characters background modeling (because i use 3ds for my backgrounds) anything to keep things moving. So i dont lose interest or get distracted..which happens VERY easily.

How long?
Ive been drawing comics since i was13. But only within this year did ibget confident and inspired enough and decided to publish online.

Why havent we met at comic-con?
Dunno! We may have if youve been to sandusky ohio lol i go to those when i can but im always dressed up.

And you know what if you wanna take a gander at it go ahead if not thats cool too nice meeting you dude!
https://tapastic.com/series/Los-Esmeraldas

[nickricci]

@christinaeliz I've been to the NASA Plumbrook Station in Sandusky, does that count!? I've actually yet to attend a comic-con. My illustrators are much more versed in the various con's and are great about alerting me to them, but I probably won't start attending them until next year.

My 2 cats are distracting enough, 5 would be insanity! Ha!

[nickricci]

It's so neat to hear that you've gotten back into it after such a long hiatus! How fun! Four kids!? Our first is due this November. I'm imagining it won't lend itself to comic writing very well in the early months.

[nickricci]

And you know what if you wanna take a gander at it go ahead if not thats cool too nice meeting you dude!https://tapastic.com/series/Los-Esmeraldas

Love the artwork! Well done!

[dglisson]

Yeah, we were lucky to have one of the four that slept through the night in the early months so don't discount it, maybe you'll get lucky! So I'm curious, since I don't go to cons but am planning on attending some in a few months, what conventions do you go to and which ones are the best?

[keii4ii]

It's not too bad since my natural needs for face-to-face social interactions are rather low. When I HAVE to talk to someone, though, that can make things a bit frustrating for both parties :'D

I do both the writing and the art for my comic, and the fact that my writing isn't as good as my art is a constant shadow in my mind (and that's putting it lightly). I love the story I'm trying to tell! I just wish I didn't suck so much at telling it.

[sincerely]

I have a pretty chill schedule. I make my 26 year old artist do the hard work, while I lie about and dream up stories all day, basically. I've come to accept that I'll never be able to quit my dayjob but hopefully I can eventually make enough money so she can draw comics full time.

Actually it's funny, I've been in crunch mode on a new book I'm writing and for some reason I can only seem to write at work (furtively typing up notes as I come up with new ideas or solve problems on my phone when my boss isn't looking). When I get home and open up my notes, I find myself just falling asleep. That's how I know I'm really in my 30s.

I've been doing webcomics for about a decade. I started out in Comic Genesis so I've actually got a few friends from back then who still do comics and they're all in their 30s too, but it really IS a youth culture. I've been to a few cons but I haven't tabled yet (I've worked other people's tables, though. It's super exhausting!) I hope when we get our book published we can afford to travel to more cons and meet cool people... but that's not for another year probably.

[carloswebcomic]

•How do you budget your time and money in pursuit of your comic hobby?
I use the cheapest, nastiest equipment.
Wacom? No, my friend. It's a $55 Huion tablet that has trouble drawing long strokes.
Bristol board? Ha! Photocopy paper and maybe discarded documents from work.
Time? What's that? I go without sleep. That's how I do it.

•How long have you been at it?
Over 20 years.

•Why haven't we met at a comic-con for drinks and high-fives?
1- I don't know what part of the world you're in.
2- I don't go to conventions.
3- I am cautious of drinking with strangers lest I wake up in an ice filled bathtub with my kidneys missing.

[nickricci]

3- I am cautious of drinking with strangers lest I wake up in an ice filled bathtub with my kidneys missing

I would only 'borrow' them for a little while...

[Shanny8]

I budget my time almost the same as Kei- I dont socialize all day everyday. I have a small circle of friends, whom are comic artists just like me- we dont have time for social; we're too busy working, raising our families, and drawing when we're not doing the other 2.

Most of my money goes into bettering art supplies so that I can put out a better product(programs, buying brushes for PS and CSP, FONTS- I might be a font addict). I may have to upgrade my laptop eventually(I've had this one since 2011 and now Win 10 is making it run slow as hell) and I've been paying for my printed books/posters(right now con sales are better than online sales...as soon as I get my site up & running then hopefully I can increase online sales).

While I've had a past in self publishing, I just started back at doing comics about 3 years ago. Trying to continuously get better at rendering with CSP, and digital coloring as well. Lettering is about the ONLY part of my craft that I dont knock myself on, coz I think I do more than well with it.

I havent ventured outside of my city in years. Planning to eventually- especially if things pick up between my print series and my webcomic. Right now, I'm good with local shows...

[nathankschulz]

Still assembling a way to make it all work. No kids yet, so that's a little more time to myself to do make believe in my head.

[sincerely]

Anyone who manages to do comics while having kids is a hero in my book. I've seen so many comics disappear after kids come along. It's honestly kind of sad to me. For me, my comic might as well be my kid. Even better because I don't have to send it to college, in fact if everything goes well, by the time it'd be going to college it'll be paying ME (hopefully sooner than that).

So yeah, if you can have a kid and not give up on your funny pages kid in the process, you're a hero.

[carloswebcomic]

So yeah, if you can have a kid and not give up on your funny pages kid in the process, you're a hero

...Or just plain negligent.

[eschaefges]

33 Years old, collecting comics since 1996! I own 15000+ issues, about 60% in tpb or hc form! I'm a crazyhead!

How I adulted: I stopped buying regular issues of comics. I only buy paperbacks and hardcovers (I love omnibuses). I basically read Newsarama, CBR, Bleeding Cool and see what is good, and then pre-order via www.dcbservice.com every month. I've gotten to where only once every 4-6 months do i pick up a paperback or hardcover i don't like - this process has helped me hone my preferences and tastes, and also find new artists/writers i would otherwise not have money for.

Finances: First, dcbs helps by having huge discounts - I can get an extra 30% more comics with the same cash, even after shipping. Second, I have a rule that my comic and movie budget for that year has to be less than my RAISE from the year before - meaning if I got a $800 raise, that is my budget for the year. it motivates me to work my butt off, too!

Storage: I have 8 bookshelves full of novels and an entire closet of them. Wife doesn't love that, but she dislikes the statue collection more

ComicCons: I only really go to Chicago-based cons so far, though now that A Legend (of some sort) is seeing print via kickstarter, I may venture out and do a few others by getting a table at Artist Alley and selling copies.

Would love to get to know you all more!

[glennsong]

How do you budget your time and money in pursuit of your comic hobby?
How long have you been at it?
Why haven't we met at a comic-con for drinks and high-fives?

I've had a webhost account forever so I could work on sundry web projects, hey, like a webcomic. I built my own CMS like wordpress a long time ago (I'm a software engineer). I bought a Surface Pro 3 for art, but I use it for everything... 3D modeling, web dev, indie game dev, facebooking, etc. I've gotten my money out of it. I really wanted to do a side thing where I could do art, writing, and build things with my software engineering skills, so that's how I justify all of this. I have a ton of skill now.

I've been working on This Mortal Coil since January of 2010. The first comic started in 2012 and it's wrapping up publication on my site and Tapastic in 2-3 weeks.

I don't know. The cons I've been too are AX, Fanime, and Otakon and some of the smaller ones around here in the SF Bay Area. I've met up with Webcomic Underdog folks in SF and a few friends and myself run Drawing Meats in the bay area.

[AnnaLandin]

I'm 28, but I feel like my life is going to be much the same by the time I hit 30, so. Also not sure I count as a hobbyist, since I'm a freelance illustrator and artist, professionally. So, uh, hi here are my answers feel free to ignore me?

How do you budget your time and money in pursuit of your comic hobby?

By being a.) a relentless workaholic, and b.) holding onto my money for dear life. I'm a freelance illustrator, and while Grassblades isn't bringing in the big bucks, I do get some money trickling in via Patreon and Tapastic ad revenue and con-sales (though the con-sales are less "profit" and more "breaking even" - though I did just do a hefty print-run, so I'm a bit in the red), and they all get put in the big box labelled "MONIES", from which I am only allowed to withdraw for necessary things.

Like bills, public transportation costs, printing stuff, paying necessary fees, etc. Once in a very blue moon, I splurge and buy new books or a videogame to remind myself that it's perfectly okay to have fun every once in a while.

Also, I'm very much one of those people who never throws anything away if it still works. I buy new a phone only when the old one is literally dying on me; I have one fancy sketchbook, and spend the rest of my time scribbling on regular cheap-o printing paper; I do have a fancy-pants Wacom Cintiq 21UX, but it's 12 years old and has paid for itself by now. I could get a newer fancier one, but this one still works just fine.

How long have you been at it?

I have been drawing since I could hold a pen, and I have specifically been drawing comics for about 12 years (unless you count the illustrated story I made in elementary school). Grassblades has been going for about 14 months.

Why haven't we met at a comic-con for drinks and high-fives?

We probably don't attend the same cons, unless you live in Sweden! If we DID meet, I'd be down for the high-fives, but I don't drink alcohol. I'd drink soda and pretend, if drinks are important to you. : P