Is making at least minimum wage off writing comics an achievable goal within 2 years of diligent practice?

[ueonts]

I am 17 and would like to achieve this through either Patreon, Tapas, or Webtoon publishing. (Also thought about a writing course or Youtube?) I know I won't be some great writer in two years, but if I build an audience and work hard at publishing and getting better, is making a livable wage with the craft possible?

[cherrystark]

Yes and no. People DO make a viable living doing art online, so it is possible. But they also have multiple irons in the fire to earn income. I have made money publishing online, but it's more grocery money than anything.

My advice - practice your butt off. If you are doing a Patreon, come up with a realistic plan on how to earn income. No one is going to subscribe long-term if they aren't getting a realistic amount of content for their money. The same goes for things like building a Youtube channel. You have to have a plan for your content and post regularly.

I am in my thirties, so when I say this, please take it with all the love and support possible. Give yourself longer than two years. It takes a long time to learn how to write a good "grown up" story. It takes a long time to learn marketing. It takes a long time to find your niche. Give yourself as much time as you can to figure out what you want to do. If this is something that you want to do when you are an adult, practice and practice hard. You might not be earning viable income in two years at your craft, but you might in 20 years. It all takes time.

[RedLenai]

If you're 17 then my recommendation is to focus on finishing highschool and getting on a good career to study, something that guarantees finishing and getting a jo, try writing or even making an income out of it... your plan D.

Many of the people that make a living out of writing or art... have been doing this for quite a long time if they are not popular, some of us even have more than a decade doing works and our clients or patrons our very first fans or some that came after several years making content.

Making content, promoting it, making exclusive content, stuff that people want and stuff you want to do, all that takes a lot of time and preparation. You not only need a plan, but you'll need a lot of preparation to don't run out of content quickly, and making sure its not burning you and consuming most of your time while making you neglect your responsabilities and obligations.

Two years is nothing, give yourself more time, maybe a decade but even so try to don't destroy your body and health in the process.

[Chocolate]

You should get a full time job that brings in a liveable wage and focus on your comic until it “take off”. That’s my goal for now.

[AmysGames]

Possible? Yes. Likely? No. The vast majority of webcomic artists (and content creators in general) make pitiful money from their comics, and two years is way too short a time to realistically build and audience like that. It's also just not really realistic long term because even if you do get that audience, you might not be able to consistently make a livable wage from it.

I would definitely look into other job options, while keeping comics a passion project you do on the side. If it takes off, great, but definitely be prepared for the worst.

[Kuma]

Hi, I'm a professional writer, I mostly work on videogames but I've done work for comics. I'll try to give you some pointers

1. Your timeline is completely off. Even under the best possible luck, you might not even make 20 bucks per month. Unless you are the prodigy of your generation try to think long term.
2. You should focus in improving your writing as much as you can, study, take courses and meanwhile get a job, not necessarily in writing, but in anything you can get your hands on. I worked in food services and cooking for 5 years before even getting my first paycheck for writing.
3. It took 5 years of diligent work for me to get a living wage, and 5 years after that to actually have a comfortable living situation. You will have to make sacrifices and is always great to have a back-up plan in place.
4. My situation could be almost considered a good scenario, I have worked with writers who have been doing stuff for 30 years and they still write as freelancer while holding other jobs in non-creative endeavors.
5. Focus in what you can do, instead of what you want to do. Having a goal is great, but if it blinds you from reality, then you're going to be miserable.

[darthmongoose]

Just writing them? Pretty unlikely, unfortunately. To make minimum wage off a comic, you'd need something with probably at least maybe 10,000 or more subs, and if you can't do the drawing side yourself, you'll need to either pay the artist, or have the artist take at least 50% of the earnings, so whatever you make effectively needs to be twice as popular to be viable. It's not completely impossible if you have an idea very well suited to the platform, pace it perfectly and find just the right artist to suddenly rocket to stardom, or catch the eye of a company that's hiring, but for the vast majority of people, it's something that becomes more likely on later comics you make when you have more experience, more contacts and a back catalogue of work to show the range and reliability you can offer.

Echoing other people, you will need at least a part-time job. Luckily, writing good English-language copy is a really good transferrable skill that's desirable in many industries.

[sushy00]

To be honest it is very unlikely. If you are really passionate you can still go for it of course, but maybe also get an education in something else as a plan B. (could also give ideas to write about and skills that can come in handy)