At 10/7/12 03:52 PM, big-jonny-13 wrote:
How about stop putting time and effort into bitching and moaning and instead put it into doing art?
Well, there is something to be said about that approach.
Being totally sincere, I would recommend drawing and independently publishing a comic book. I think this will help in a number of ways:
1. You'll have to set deadlines - whether you want to publish monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, or annually, you're going to have to commit to sitting down every day and drawing something.
2. You'll be drawing every day - this goes along with number 1, but it'll help you get back into the routine of making art.
3. You'll draw things that you wouldn't draw otherwise - pretty much whatever subject matter you choose for a comic, at some point you are going to have to draw things outside of your comfort zone, and that's always a good thing in terms of experience.
4. You'll have a finished product that speaks to both your artistic ability and professionalism - if you can show that you have both the technical skill and the discipline to produce finished work on a schedule, that's going to mean a lot when it comes to future illustration jobs. If nothing else, it'll make a pretty cool business card.
5. Potentially, you can make a living doing this - Granted, this is a bit of a long shot, but it is possible to make money with a self-published title. It'll take a lot of work and you'll have to get out there and promote yourself as an artist both on the internet and at conventions. But if you are serious about making money off of your work, shouldn't you be doing that anyway?
I am in a situation similar to yours. Like a lot of people, I went to school, actually got two degrees, and then got out of school to discover that there were no jobs for me. After a year of looking and not finding anything, something kind of snapped and I had a moment where I said, "You know what? Fuck it. I'm going to do something with the only real skill I have, which is art."
So, in July of this year I sat down and I started drawing a comic following a script that I had started writing back in 2011. It had been over a year since I had drawn anything and I was not confident at all that I would finish this (it wasn't the first time I tried this). But, I started a blog to track my progress and about a month later I sent my first issue to the printer.
And then over August and September I started on the second issue, which I finished just in time for an October release.
And the best part is that I can see my art and storytelling abilities actually improving. I feel so much more confident now in my ability to draw things, because over the last three months I have drawn so much that it's really becoming second nature to me now. Before, if I had to sit down and draw a scene, I would sit there and agonize over it thinking "Oh man, how am I ever going to do this? This sounds really hard." And now, I'll read what I have written down in my notes and say, "Alright, I guess I'm drawing this today," and just go for it.
To be clear, I am anything but a success story and I have yet to make enough money to even cover printing costs, BUT, as an artist, going through the process has helped me immensely.
As an aside, if you can spend $300 on art supplies then you can afford printing costs. $300 would just about cover my printing costs for 2 months. Check out Docucopies (which is the printer that I use) and I think you'll find that it's actually pretty affordable.
Anyway, that's my advice, based on my own experiences with similar situations.
