So you wanna be a cartoonist, eh?

NOTE: This will be a two-part article, the first part focusing how you will probably fail to make money creating your own comics, the second on more positive aspects of doing so and what established comics creators point to as the secret of (realistic) success.

ICV2 has proclaimed 2006 “A Very Good Year (For Comics)”, but that was not true for us. When “event” comics from the big guys are driving an increase in pamphlet sales, it seems the little guys suffer for it. Good comics get canceled and their creators, good artists and storytellers, have to struggle with self-doubts and disappointment.

You, if you are an independent comic creator, might find yourself in this position. Then again, you might not get that far. When there are bills to be paid, food to be bought, a family to support, you might decide you need to spend your time working on something else that will actually make you enough money to live on.

[snip]T., who drew a graphic novel for an advance that he broke down to $13 a page, told me, “I had low expectations going in but even those were shattered after the gig. It’s my understanding that it’s like this with every small publisher.”