Place Your Eggs in One Basket (or try to)

There’s a reason you’re here on my Patreon. You like art. Hell, you might even say you love it. You might just like looking at good art, but chances are with you being here that you like to draw as well. You're a creator. You like turning blank pages into art pieces, and after having spoken with many of you on Discord, I now see some of you don't want art to just be a hobby, you'd like it to be your career. Now, how do we do that? Especially for those of you who are no longer in highschool and are taking a college or university course in a non-art related field, or are working a job, and perhaps a good paying job at that. It's tough for you, but I know how difficult it is being pulled in either side by two very different lifestyles. Luckily, it is possible to make a living off your art, and a decent one at that. But like everything, you start simple and work up from there.

Step 1, and quite possibly the most difficult step is figuring out what kind of an artist you want to be. You have to be honest with yourself, because whatever you choose determines what you'll be really, really good at. It's like, why is a master pianist not a fantastic saxophone player? They're both musical instruments, but just because you're good at one musical instrument doesn't make you good at playing them all, or being a legendary country singer doesn't mean you're also the real slim shady, so please sit down. I did a lot of realism paintings and drawings as a kid, so I could've gone down the fine arts route. I animated a ton in my teenage years, so I could've become an animator. However, at around 15 years old, I began coming up with anthro-beasts designs (the early depictions of Bass and Bili), and I'd give them stories. Albeit, terrible stories, I truly enjoyed it. I came up with more and more characters, knotting them together in one world. I knew exactly what I wanted even though I had no idea how to get there. I want my own animated show with it's own series of high throttle fighting games. That's what I enjoy, and that's what I want to give back to the world.

Step 2, and just as difficult as step 1 because I like to trick you guys, is committment to an idea. Let's say you do want to become a fine arts seller. You're going to have to pick up a large canvas and some paints and get down to it. Contact some galleries, make connections and get your foot through the door. It's an entire world I'm not familiar with, because that isn't the route I took in the art field. I'll tell you about how I ended up here as a comic artist working for no one but himself. For me, commitment to drawing and writing all the time isn't what's difficult. In fact, it's the greatest joy of my life. It's always been a passion and a hobby. In animation college, if I could, I'd revolve my projects around Kings of Nowhere (which at the time didn't have a title yet). Most of the time though, I wasn't able to since the projects had a set theme. In that case, I'd finish my school work and then continue drawing monkeys and gorillas in street clothes. After college, I got a job at a small studio drawing other people's ideas. I animated, storyboarded, did concept art, and by the time I got home, I was exhausted, but my dream hadn't faded. I'd work on storyboarding volume 1 of KON. My girlfriend and I also made further connections and income by partaking in expos across North America. Anime North and Fan Expo in Canada. Anime Expo, New York Comic Con and Designer Con in the US. We exposed ourselves to the people who were living the lives we wished we were. We talked to them, learned from them, and built up the courage for step 3.

Step 3 is, and I'm not kidding this time, the hardest step. Biting the bullet, or, putting all your eggs in one basket. When I worked at a studio from 9-7, I'd get home to storyboard. But, what good is working on your dream project for 2-3 hours a day when you can be working 8-12 hours on it a day. I saw a guy living his dream at Anime Expo. He dropped everything to begin his comic and now he was there in front of me with a Netflix deal. To be frank, he wasn't a strong artist either. He was determined, and he bit the bullet. When I got back to Toronto, Janice and I quit our jobs on the same day (we worked at the same studio). I was 23, and she was 22. I lived with my mom or her parents interchangeably. Both our parents knew how determined we were, and how much dedication we had put into our crafts. We knew that we had to increase our social media following first. So my day job became creating art to post on Instagram. Once I posted, I'd worked the remainder of the day storyboarding, inking, coloring, and soon enough, finished up pages for Volume 1. I lived off whatever savings I had, taking on commissions if my funds ever got too low. Our followings grew fast, mainly because we were already seasoned artists. We made a plan of action, which in my case was a Kickstarter. I busted ass, didn't see friends, gave up weekends, all so I could finally say I accomplished what I set out to do.

Now, I'm here. I still don't have a show or games, but I'm significantly closer to it. Life still isn't how I want it to be. I struggle on the daily. I have to constantly juggle my time. Taking a break still brings feelings of guilt because my goal hasn't been reached. But, because of my dedication, I've made friends with similar aspirations. I've seen artists improve through my help, and hopefully, I get to see some of you succeed in whatever it is you're aiming to do. So here is a list for you. Something I wish school had taught us because I would've started my journey sooner.

1. Come up with an idea that you can love. If you're a fan of it and want to see more of it, then you're on the right path.

2. Do all the necessary steps to prepare yourself for what you want to do. In my case, I read manga and comics to better understand how the pros do it. I storyboarded and created comics for the sake of practice. I wrote, I designed characters, the whole shabang, all while doing school work or working a job. Hanging out, playing games, aimlessly wandering the web are all things you'll slowly have to give up. Start placing all your eggs in one basket. In this phase, grow your instagram, artstation, patreon etc. Start building a fanbase for your idea. Be creative, change things up, interact with fans.

3. Open up an online shop. You gotta start selling art to make a living off your art. Use your following to funnel fans to your website. Look, you don't need tens of thousands of followers or much money to do this part. You just need dedication. Use Squarespace or Shopify to open a website. If you don't think you have the drive or time to do everything you want to do and pack artworks and ship them off, then you can also go the gumroad and Patreon route.

4. As you grow week after week, you should see your income grow. You can start to ween off selling prints and place more and more focus on your main goal, unless making bank off your prints is your goal, then keep killing it.

I hope this helps you a little more in getting to where you want to be as an artist.

All the best,

The real Slim Shady