I’m a regular visitor to Bearskin Rug and Kevin’s post on advice he’d give to people who want to illustrate for a living is well worth a read.
I’m a strong believer that instant and overnight success are absolute poison. Don’t look for the big job that will instantly launch you into the center ring; you’ll often find you might not have the experience you need to keep you there.
That rings true for me, as a newly syndicated cartoonist. I have to admit that I was disappointed to launch in only 7 newspapers (okay, it was the same for Peanuts, but that was the 50s, when selling comics was different, I’m sure) 6 months ago. But when I look back to my first few months of strips I can’t help but think that what I am doing now is that much better and that I am more deserving of being in the 30 or so papers that run me now. I’ll probably feel the same way in another 6 months and I hope that the number of papers AC is in then reflects that.
That definitely hits home. Forever I thought my ideas would just take off. Kinda nice to see the reality of it.
By: Elton on December 25, 2008
at 9:55 pm