- Money.
That's it, for me. With funding, I can afford to buy better supplies to practice on, put more time out of my day into working on the project without fear of wasting that time, and I can afford things like posters and printed copies of the book for marketing. My last graphic novel, I had to quit when I was 3/4 of the way in because I wasn't making any money from it. I was drawing in pen on folded pieces of letter paper, on a budget of nothing but time. And it still couldn't make returns on subscribers, likes, and comments alone.
The problem is, being rich doesn't actually solve that. The work has to generate ITS OWN income, or it becomes a vaccuum. You can't throw money at a plant to make it grow. So it's been an excercise in feasibility, for me to test the waters and see when it's really, finally worth it for me or anyone else to stick their neck out on a comic. You know what? I'm not anywhere near that finish line yet, and there's a whole other circuit of track races after that point. So it's time for me to figure out what works and go from there.
For now, I'm writing novels and making art when I have time and energy to do so, and starting a merch store with nothing but designs I actually believe in. When your art career is literally forming from the rock bottom, you can't afford to do anything but the right thing, and you can throw away mistakes a lot easier, bring them back and retool them to be what you need. I recommend everyone go as low as they possibly can, cost/time wise, to create what makes them happy. Let the money come later, or it won't come at all.