You think you could work on your comic as a full time artist?

[Chocolate]

Hypothetically, you got hired onto the Shonen Jump team and you are their feature comic artist. Your schedule is weekly releases for your comic, making a total of around 20 pages per update. It’s a once of a lifetime opportunity for this position. Would you accept the deal from the company?

[BlairFujin]

After all the horror stories? After having read bakuman? No, not with their deadly deadlines. With more reasonable, relaxed ones, yeah, sure (but I doubt it'll ever happen so I'm stuck at my dayjob and just darwing my silly webcomics in the early mornings/evenings)

[JaveCraze]

my art would become 10x worse because of how much faster I'd go, but i think i MIGHT be able to.
i may be overestimating myself. they have assistants, dont they?

[BlairFujin]

If you hire them, your editor may help you find them but it's still kinda on you (and from what I remember from mangas I've read, some have whole armies of assistants, some struggled for years to hire even one)

[Chocolate]

If my series become super popular; I would commit my life to it. But only once. After the series is done; I’m going to quit lol. XD The schedule is too grueling.

[JaveCraze]

Ah, me too. If it gets popular, it'd definitely motivate me to work harder.

[IndigoShirtProd]

Hell no! I could not commit to one thing alone under the working conditions it would take to ba a popular mangaka. Also, you can easily be stuck in a position where your story is forced to continue for chapters on end even after you've had an ending planned or, you have an editor that make significant changes that you didn't intend. And yes editors are there to reign in stories, but they can also just not do that. Plus I don't even make manga in the first place.

[angie_draws_things]

Nope. I have seen the horror stories on how artists get chewed up, and I am too old/cranky for that. I also have my real full-time job to worry about, and that (unfortunately) has to take priority over the comic that I do for fun...which stops being fun when forced to produce more on a tighter schedule.

It is also kind of nice to be an artist who is financially comfortable enough to say, "no, if you want _____, you will have to provide me with _____."

[Chocolate]

Yep, their top selling manga gets an anime adaptation, games, movies, etc. just for being the more popular ones.

[AxemanRifflord]

I want so badly to make any money off drawing... anything (let alone make money). But specifically for a weekly manga magazine where I’m the “head” of the series?

Well, that’s still money, so I’d still consider it. Just a tiny bit. But I don’t hate myself so much I’d let it kill me.

[Caro]

I do work in comics full time but I would never work for a weekly manga mag. Most manga magazines are monthly and that’s something that’s completely doable to me because that’s essentially my current workload anyway.

I imagine the hardest thing for me to adjust to is editors in manga seem to be a lot more involved than American editors. And I’m sure that varies from mag to mag just as it does from editor to editor here but everyone I’ve talked to who does work in the manga industry describes that relationship very differently than I’ve heard from comics folk here.

[Chocolate]

Yep, the downside is that the editors can make any changes to your comic so that the plot will steer into a certain direction or to extend the story with more filler arcs.

[ccmatta]

Well, I already post weekly, I'm half way there xD
But yeah, why not? If it's my work to do it, 20 pages a week its reasonable? i think. But I'm not an artist for a Shounen Jump manga, I'm more a shoujo/josei/yaoi tipe of girl xD So yeah, it's easier to draw then action scenes, in my opinion.

Considering that, if I had the job, I'd take it. Since I started my comic I discovered a huge love for it, so it became a dream of mine, to make a living out of it. Sadly it'll be only a dream xD but yeah, It'd be cool...

[TheLemmaLlama]

Hmmmm ... maybe? Idk. I'd definitely be tempted. I wouldn't do it for the money, but rather use it as a means to get my comic out at a faster pace. I'd definitely use my entire salary to hire more assistants than the average mangaka (which I can afford to do because reasons).

I don't think any of my stories fit the shounen genre, but to follow what I feel is the spirit of this thread, I'm going to ignore that concern XD

If editors change my story in ways I don't like, I'm just going to use a sockpuppet to post an 'unofficial fan comic' XD

[Chocolate]

Yes. The schedule is what put many manga artists health at risk. You’re talking about 6 days worth of work; and only to sleep/rest 4-6 hours. It’s not for the faint of heart.

[NickRowler]

I had heard stories of some mangaka artist just burning out from how quick they have to work. Most of them need to have assistants. And some say that switching to the monthly version did so much to improve their physical and mental health. Plus I heard it pays like garbage.

[margodraws]

Not for Shonen Jump or any similar publication; I've heard enough about the mangaka life to want to steer clear. I'd also be reluctant to let a magazine editor change my story-- not because I think it's perfect, but unlike in my day job, it's a project where I enjoy full creative control.

Independently though? If money were no object, I'd put my career on hold to work on my passion project for a few years. Maybe if I won the lottery (I've never bought a lottery ticket haha).

[darthmongoose]

I could be a full-time comic artist, but not to Shounen Jump's schedule. Keeping up two pages of Errant a week on top of a part time job is already a lot. I reckon without a part time job, and with assistants or people taking on roles like flatter and letterer, I could turn out a similar sort of output to most Marvel or DC creators and still have decent quality of life.

From working as a freelance illustrator, I've learned that if your dream job becomes a nightmare and it's not fun any more, it's just not worth it. It's wonderful to make comics and get paid for it, but not needing to worry about having money for rent or clothes, having the time and money to read other comics or play games or have hobbies and getting to spend time with the people you love is just so important.

[DualDragons]

No, I like my freedom. @darthmongoose hit the nail on the head with what is really important. And in the end I really make stories for myself.

There is a reason I did not want to become a full time artist and why I am studying engineering instead. So I can have a job that pays me enough to live from and do the things I love to do, which includes drawing. And I feel I would lose interest if I had to draw for a living, it takes the motivation out of it.

[DualDragons]

After all the horror stories? After having read bakuman? No, not with their deadly deadlines. With more reasonable, relaxed ones, yeah, sure (but I doubt it'll ever happen so I'm stuck at my dayjob and just darwing my silly webcomics in the early mornings/evenings)

This is also why I don't want to become a full time artist.