Quitting day job to work on comics looking for artists!

[Tanako]

Why not keep your day job, work and get paid then pay the artist to dedicated to the project? it makes sense that way dont you think? this way you will even have funds to pour into the project instead of being idle.

not to mention the Ad's you will use to promote, the artist will have to make that too as well. pretty much almost all the work will be pushed to the artist.
be realistic with your self. the concept of pouring your time into a project is great but quitting your job because of that is a no no and then dragging an artist who you aren't going to pay to dedicate time to a project won't work. but if you keep your job, and be able to pay the artist you will see how dedicated they will be. good luck!

[Delphonse]

Honestly fuck it.
And fuck me.

[Ghostie]

If you don't pay people for their time, then you can't complain when they back out to pursue other interests.

Pay your artists. They bust their ass 10x harder than writing. That's the EASY work. And if you wanna argue that, try drawing it yourself and find out.

[joannekwan]

Please don't take this as people shitting on you.
A few do have professional experience in these types of pursuits like @revisionstudios and they're just giving good advice that some other folks have to discover by themselves the hard way.

[Delphonse]

In the past 7 years of working on comics I've paid out over 30 grand to artists I spend every free dollar I have on art. I know you probably don't know me on this forum but I frequent it quite often and I ask for both paid and free assistance and neither have panned out well all usually due to time constraints on their end. I never over work a person or make them do more work then they originally agreed to and even then if the work gets to be too much I am usually okay with slowing it down. I have never had a bad interaction with an artist in the past and I also practice art on a regular basis to try and improve so I can assist artists. I am finally at a stage where I feel comfortable doing thumbnails/ storyboards.

I never complained that they bailed on me I merely stated that it was a consistent problem in the past.

[Delphonse]

I know they all mean well I am having a serious depression episode. My close friend is doing what I want to attempt to do and he is struggling but he is loving what he is doing. I just feel that my job is holding me back. The security of having a job is keeping me from attempting to really force myself to make this work. every time I get close to hitting that goal of not needing to work I fall back on my job.

it's really tough to explain the problem without really delving into a lot of stuff. My close friend also had a ton of people tell him not to quit his day job its a horrible mistake and that he will regret it and hes now on his I believe 2nd year. He is still struggling but he is doing what he loves and is starting to see profit from the forced situation he put himself in. A profit he would of never seen had he stayed at his day job.

[joannekwan]

Could you perhaps find a job that provides more flexible hours?
I've known a couple of people attempt to freelance for around a year, and they all have had to go back to regular employment, either because they couldn't make enough to make ends meet or couldn't handle the workload needed to sustain themselves and the 'living-paycheck-to-paycheck' unease.

And sometimes a thorough examination of a person's situation is needed to figure out what is and what's not working for them and most importantly why.

[Croik]

He is still struggling but he is doing what he loves and is starting to see profit from the forced situation he put himself in. A profit he would of never seen had he stayed at his day job.

Is he doing it himself, or is he working with a partner? If he is struggling to feed one person, keep in mind that as an author/artist combo you'll be struggling twice as hard to feed two.

If you're determined to take the chance, at least be very smart about it. Figure out how much money you spent in the last year (rent, food, clothes, car, internet, spending cash, ALL of it). Keep your day job until you have that much in your savings. THEN quit the day job and go forward.

"Starving artists produce the best art" is a myth. You'll do your best work with a net underneath you. If you don't have a decent savings already, make that your goal to be your motivation.

And in the meantime, you can always "practice" at the life you want. Take a day or two off from work, give yourself a 3 or 4 day weekend, and spend 8-10 hours a day for all 4 consecutive days just writing/networking. People think it's gonna be great to work all day from home until they do it. I worked freelance for about 5 years and it is much more emotionally taxing than a lot of people think (as I'm sure your friend can vouch for). If you already feel that you need an outside "push" to get you there, you're going to need that push again and again and again.

It's not unattainable and we want you to succeed, just in a smart way.

[tchotchkeco]

People think it's gonna be great to work all day from home until they do it.

Honestly, as someone who works at home rn it can be pretty hard. Though it’s not always the work load but it gets complicating separating work from personal life when your work is in your house. It’s almost like the worker mindset doesn’t turn off.

[ble]

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

[Croik]

Yes, this is so true! When you work a structured job, it's much easier to say "I'm going to go see a movie Saturday" because you weren't working then anyway. When you're your own boss, you could potentially work any time, all the time. Any time you're not working is time you COULD be working, which then feels like money you're wasting. It's not easy to shake that mindset.

I did freelance (not writing but translation) for five years, setting my own hours, working from my apartment. I got into a good grove with it, but it's incredibly isolating and takes a great deal of discipline, even when it's something you enjoy.

[Delphonse]

The job I have is honestly perfect for what I am trying to do. I really should not quit it I just felt in the moment that I needed to add risk to my hobby to force myself to do better but in actuality I need to practice something else. I need to focus on Discipline more than anything because that is what I am still lacking. I have gotten better but I am not where I need to be. I work a job in security where I spend 6 hours a day working on comics and 2 hours of work actually working. My job is perfect for me and it has a pension and PTO and all the bells and whistles I could ask for not to mention 20/h with 3 raises a year for the next 7 years and then a basic yearly raise every year. Seriousy I should not quit my job. I just had a moment of depressive/bipolar convoluted planning that I normally do when I am off my meds lol. I just got back on them so hopefully in a few days my mindset will go back to stable and I can get back on track with doing what I need to do without quitting my job or making serious lfe changing plans.

I appriciate your help in this and I am sorry for over reacting everyone I am normally a pretty relaxed and calm headed person but yesterday was just the climax of 2 weeks off my meds and a rollercoaster of emotions.

I definitly am still looking for an artist for fools paradise I will even look into paying them once I figure out my finacial situation. I just hate that I've spent 30 grand in 7 years and I have not really acomplished much. Due to one thing or another. I have done well in those 7 years but I keep quitting projects once they start getting serious and I start seeing success. I actually have a serious fear of success and I have a problem with following through. I am thinking of returning to my therapist to see if I can work out those problems because once I stop those bad habits I will be unstoppable o.o

[Delphonse]

He is doing it while his wife supports him finacially. they are doing fine living wise just not as well off as they could be if he were also working a full time desk job.

I've decided to stick with my job now that ive thought about it more and talked to more people. Unlike him I dont need to quit my job I need to change my bad habits. He was in a position way ahead of me when he decided to quit his job and right now if I do so I would just crash and burn. I usually think things through with serious thought but this was kind of a delusional depressive/bipolar plan.

I am going to continue to write more and really flesh out my story and also start doing character designs and try doing the creative process on my own in a crappy version so when I meet the right artist I can at least have something for them aside from written descriptions of what i want.

I wish I were better at art and I know it takes time Ive been on and off for 3 years now drawing. I've improved quite a bit but at the same time I feel I am standing still.

[joannekwan]

Ooh, that DOES sound like a nice job! (am a bit envious).
And no worries, we all lapse into emotional periods, just a part of being human!
And yeah, discipline is a big huge key factor!

because once I stop those bad habits I will be unstoppable o.o

Hopefully you'll get there soon though! I wish you the best of luck!

[Delphonse]

Oh man I have that problem now I have a really hard time differentiating work from fun for me I am working all the time and trying hard to just have fun.

[Delphonse]

Yea my friend has that problem sometimes. He use to believe that no work was no money but now he has realized how important it is to take time off and take breaks everyday.

I wish with all my heart I could just quit my job and work on comics but I think I need to improve my art more before I attempt that. I can already write pretty decent but I need to improve my art so I can either assist an artist or do it on my own.

[revisionstudios]

I know you haven't responded to me directly, but I wanted to let you know that I've been in your same exact spot. Stuck feeling like I'm not making any real progress and that I need to just take a leap of faith. I'm in the middle of that right now, in fact--I've literally decided I am not taking a new job in 2020 because I'm sick of the yoyo-ing and want to make this work. It can be motivating, and sometimes you do just have to take that jump.

I think it does have to be a calculated risk though, because if you don't have discipline and a plan in place, you'll flounder and probably end up more overwhelmed and stressed than you ever did before, especially if you have that fear of success.

If you truly feel like you have a lot of to gain by quitting, and like it would help propel you, you can still have that on the table. It's just, from what you've said, it doesn't seem like it's actually a burden on you. Maybe there's another way you can motivate yourself to take it to the next level.

I want to reiterate too that I don't think your overall idea was a bad one, but that it needed tweaking in order to be ethical to everyone involved. I'm glad to hear you've invested a lot in artists, even if it hasn't always worked out for you--that's good. You're dependable then. I honestly think the model of paying for Kickstarter samples, running the kickstarter, then producing it would be a good fit for you if you feel like you've already invested a lot and don't want to risk more right now.

[GamerPrincessXI]

The whole quitting your day job thing is kinda sad. Not lie. My co-worker quit her second job because of a manager I'm like, bruh you just got that job back. I'm over here, struggling to find a full time job with benefits....I just don't understand why tho.

[Delphonse]

I am sorry I completely forgot to respond to your first message.

Yea I know now that I have had a chance to calm down and think it through that quitting my job would not be a good idea. I want to find some way to propel myself to the next step but I still am not sure what that next step is or what I should do to get there. We met at a convention not too long ago and many times before that and I was super excited that I finally made it to my first convention but ever since then I have felt empty and confused on what the next big goal should be.

I normally take weeks to flesh out my ideas before implementing them I am kind of afraid of risk so I calculate every little detail when I feel its the right thing to do but I always miss a step or two.

When it comes to kickstarters I can almost guarantee a success based on the route I take using the comix launch group as long as I follow their steps to a tee and stop half assing it which is another problem of mine. I end up only doing part of the work I need to do because I get impatient and want to see it succeed early.

over all i am probably just going to go my normal route for getting fools paradise out and just pay another artist to work on it like I've been doing I just need to figure out what my budget is now since things have changed quite a bit since I last hired an artist.

[Delphonse]

Yea it can be a bad experience but I have a plan B that would allow me to pick up a job right away if I need to. I always make sure I have a plan B in case things go south.

It sucks that you are struggling to get a job my dad was struggling for three months before he found one and it was not the best of jobs even with his experience.