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This as oiginally
a to-do listthat I wrote for myself. I was trying to think of asmany things that I could do as an artist to expandmy reach and get the word out there. Some werestupid so I immediately omitted them and tried tochisel this list down to only the good stuff.This isn’t meant to distract you from your goal of becoming an uber successful comic book artist. Iunderstand that you need to dedicate the bulk of your time to your craft and comic pages take long
enough to nish as it is. Believe me, I sometimes
wish there were 100 hours to a day.
But sometimes you’ll hit roadblocks. Other times
you’ll hit seemingly endless plateaus whereprogress seems to elude you for months. This list ismeant to shake things up and get you to exercise
the rest of your creative muscles.I’ve personally already followed some of thesesuggestions. Others I’ve just begun to take steps on
and then there’s the rest which I’m eagerly tryingto clear up the time to get to.Somewhere down the line I’ll expand some of thesesuggestions into full blown articles of their own.Please feel free to add more of your own ideasin the comments section. We’re all here to helpeach other. When you step outside of comics what
creative endeavours do you get up to?
A few things to note:
1. Drawing styles are all over the map. Some draw
in a simple and loose cartoony fashion while otherstend to render highly realistic illustrations. Not
every suggestion below will apply to every creator
but there’s still a lot of room for artistic freedom.
2. In order to be successful in any eld you’re goingto have to hustle. Opportunities don’t often fall intoyour lap so you’re going to have to get out there
and make things happen. You don’t need to be
pushy but you’ll have to be very outgoing.
3. This is all a lot of work. There’s no easysolutions. To become a master of anthing you needto put in yourten thousand hours.
23 wAYS fOr A cOmIc ArTIST TO HUSTLe, SUrvIve ANd THrIve INANY ecONOmY
1. Draw big
- I mean really big like 24″x24″ or36″x36″. Try painting onto a board or canvas withacrylics. Maybe even take a painting class at a localcollege or art studio. Congrats, now you’re on your
way to becoming a pop artist and your little comic
drawing is now potentially a much more valuablepiece of art. Now go improve on that and make 20
more.If you really take to painting or creating largerworks then you may be able to get in on a group
show and eventually your own show. Head out once
in a while to a gallery show in your town and talkto the artists and the gallery owners. There’s a lot
of coffee shops, bars and restaurants that wantart on their walls. Some give you the lion’s share
of the commission as you’re decorating their placefor free. You get extra points for making your work
topical and perhaps even ironic.
2.
In all seriousness there’s a lot of examples of comic artists who went from comics into successfulpainting careers. And some who still continue to do
both. Artists don’t necessarily like to be conned
to a box (or panel as it were) and wnat to stretch
their legs and work on bigger canvases. So join a
night-time painting class or go for drop-in sessionsat local studios and get some life drawing sessionsin. Studios will often charge a day fee so that the
cost of the model’s time and space is covered. You
should be able to create in any medium once you
show up. If you want to master pen and ink, go to
the studio and draw directly in pen and ink.These experiences will add new depth to yourdrawing style.© CopyrightKent Williams.
Artist
illustrated theastounding BrooklynDreams for DC Comics’ Pirannah Press. Glennlater found huge successas a painter in the “low brow” art movement made popular by Juxtapoz magazine.
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