Would you like to make a career out your art?

[Chocolate]

Being a comic artist is literally the coolest job ever. People will read your work, gives you fanart, and had discussions on the series for decades even. Ahhh I wish for a day to hold my own comic book in my hands. Manifest this for other aspiring artist as well!

[cfmateus]

Bro I wish. But it isn't simple and you need a LOT of luck. I've been in the art industry trying to go full time freelancer for over 10 years

[Scarlet_Cryptid]

Yeah, this. I was gonna say this.

Would I LIKE to make a career of my art? Hell yes. I've wracked my brain for years over what else I could ever do, but I always come up blank. Art/Creating is my purpose and everything else feels hollow. I could do this for the rest of my life and actually feel fulfilled, and having enough interest/demand for my art to make a living off of it would be my ultimate dream.

WILL I make a career out of my art? That is partially dependent on factors I can't control, like Luck. I can do the work so people have something to find, and constantly strive to make a quality product. I can try to market myself to the best of my ability. I can't control whether people like it. I can't really control whether people even SEE it, in many cases. And I certainly can't control whether the people who do see it, and like it, like it enough to spend money on it.

[Chocolate]

Ah okay I should rephrase the title then. Thanks for the correction!

[Chocolate]

Do you want to work for a publishing company or do you plan to become an independent creator?

[cfmateus]

Tried publishing company already, not comic wise tho. I applied for book illustrator. No luck there.
However if I ever decide to publish my comic in some point in the future I'd do print on demand. Publishing companies have crazy deadlines and you receive mnimal cuts from the sales. Ofc this depends on countries. The good thing about pulishing companies is that your comic will be in bookstores and more people will find it easier.

[AutumnAdmiral]

Unless my work gets very popular, I doubt it would happen. I think that any artistic career is a little unstable, so I'm okay working a regular 9-5 for a good, stable income and then doing art in my free time. For now at least lol. I get burnt out when all I work on is art. It sounds nice but the grass isn't always greener.

[TheDoublekey]

I'd really really love to make a living out of my art, but I'm afraid it won't be an easy task. I used to be very idealistic about it in the past and thought I'd be able to enter the industry, but I discovered with time that it's not so easy.
Sure, I do believe I might make some profit from my art, but I don't think it would be enough for me to call it "a stable job".

As of now, I'm studying to find a job and I'll keep art as my hobby. I really have a lot of fun creating my comic and making art, so I'm ok with the fact that I'm not making any profit off of it.

[darthmongoose]

It's probably worth being aware that making a living from your art generally is easier to do than making a living from your own original IP. Most creators I know make at least half of their income doing work for other people, be it working as a games artist, book illustrator, art teacher or even working in a related field like design, and I only know a couple of people whose own IP is their main income generator.

But the good news is, you can get your work in print and get fanart without needing to be a full time pro, or even a pro at all. There are lots of places you can get your work printed to sell at events or through an online shop, and if you keep updating and making friends in art communities, you'll probably get fanart sooner or later.

I actually started getting my first freelance gigs by making small press print comics. I used to team up with friends and we'd all make short comics, or repurpose ones we'd made to enter competitions and put them together in printed anthology books. Being able to split the cost across 4-5 people made it pretty affordable, and then we'd take them to events like MCM Expo to sell, which was always fun. I met a lot of industry people doing that and got some useful feedback to improve my work as well as making a lot of good contacts. Industry people are always impressed if you show them that you've made 100+ pages under your own steam!

Keep going, consider making short comics to shake up your style so you don't get in a rut, look for every tutorial, blog and book you can find on comics, storyboarding and art, and pay attention to what's in demand and what you can learn from popular comics similar to yours, or what you want to make, by reading them and taking mental notes, or trying to reverse-engineer their approach. The people I know who made it as pros are all absolute nerds about comics who will talk your ear off about the nitty-gritty details of technique, colour theory, marketing and stuff, so be a comics nerd and find other comics nerds to hang out and grow with.

[JaveCraze]

nope. this is a hobby for me, and it'll always be, as in my opinion if I were to turn it into a job it'd take all the fun out of it.

[ccmatta]

I have to. There's no other option for me. I tried other things and there're few things I'm as passionate about as art. I can only think of me being a barista or an artist. I tried university and it was the most miserable years of my life, I didn't even graduate. xD

So yeah, it's hard, I'm far from getting there, but I'm trying every day to have something. I'm studying to be a better artist, not only in my comics, but my art in general. I want it so bad that I don't se myself living another way, and that's kinda depressing.

As for my comic, damn, I wanted it to get big and get a carrer out of doing it. I could make it forever xD I'd be a dream come true. I've found so much love in comic making, though hard sometimes. I too wish to someday have my comic in physical format, to be able to see the pages in my hands aaa~~~ that'd be so awesome! To have a fanbase!!! Wow that!!! I think if I received a fanart I'd die xD

I have a lot of dreams I'm scared of dreaming, but those are some of them.

[AnonymousHouseCat]

Heck yeah! I love making comics, and I wouldn’t even mind long hours, tight deadlines and low pay as long as I can afford the basics and a vacation every now and then.

The main concern I have is that three things make a fun thing not fun: 1)expectation of time (deadlines) 2. expectation of quality and 3. expectation of method (you have to do something a certain way). That’s why I didn’t major in studio art in college, I was worried that making art work would ruin something fun for me. But idk these days I’m more willing to take that risk.

[SargentAlchemist]

Ashhh I can feek you very well, long time trying to make my webcomics noticeable, is pretty complicated, you need a good plan and being someone with good art qualitty and even with all of this, like you said, luck is massivelly important nowadays.... dont want to be an "spamer" but if you like it, you can check out my work here... hope with all our hope we can be great artist!!!

Read Knight of HOPE :: Maña sobre Fuerza | Tapas Comics

[kyupol]

Of course I'd want to. But it's a big uphill battle. It's like winning American idol.

Meanwhile I've learned how to weld in the meantime and noticed a substantial increase in income level... Considering I'm just a beginner welder.

[conventurecomics]

It would be my dream job. I've always wanted to be a full time comic artist making money somedy. Right now I'm building an audience fanbase. And love to have a merch store someday.

[XiuLyn_12]

Definitely! Isn't that what everyone here wants, though?
The thought of earning from doing art, it's like a dream.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Isn't that what everyone here wants, though?

Not me XD Don't get me wrong, I'd certainly feel tempted if an opportunity were to fall into my lap by extraordinary luck, but my 'game plan' is to do the bare minimum in terms of 'career' and maximize my free time, using the latter to do the stuff that really fulfils me :]

Risk stifles creativity. If my livelihood were dependent on my art, I'd feel compelled to stay safe and lean towards options that guarantee me an income - whereas if it doesn't, I'm free to try out all sorts of crazy things with basically no consequences if I screw up.

I want to optimize my work for long term impact. I want to make things that will stand the test of time, rather than feel like I have to throw out half-baked ideas before it's ready just to put food on the table in my short-term future ^^;

[Kuma]

I come to talk from the other side of the hill. It's quite possible to make a career out of your creative endeavors. I'm a fully employed video game writer for a mid-size company.

You need to work a lot for it and establish good contacts in the field you want to pursue. People ignore the importance of networking and getting yourself out there.

I'm lucky that my field is grossly lacking in manpower in the game dev scene of my country. But I think even without that advantage I could've scored a job because I followed three important rules.

• Always try to improve your craft
• Always try to display your brand
• Always work hard.

I pay rent, utilities, food and more (With enough to save and have some luxuries) through my job. I worked some gigs I didn't like, others I loved but I had to jump ship to greener pastures. Pragmatism is, unluckily, a big part of working as a professional on any field.

You need to know your own value and sell it as such. And also known when you're falling short and need more studies, practice or experience. There were many times in my career I felt like quitting or suffered from chronic imposter syndrome, not thinking I was good enough.

Fighting against that is paramount to work. Willpower, hard work and introspection are quite important.

[R.n.P]

If possible yeah of course

[VibrantFox]

while it would be nice i think im in that dame boat as a lot of other folks here where its teally a matter of luck, timing and connections

even my freelancing stuff or merch stuff i would like to see grow and become a stable source of income i could live comfortably off of but so many things are a matter of just striking the right chords to get traction.

thats like as much as i want to make a career out of art i also dont want to burn myself out like ive seen so many creatives go through or deailing with physical downsides so like yes i want to make art a living but without some of those really long term prices. the "suffer for your art" mentality just doesnt sit with me