Moonlighting
By Brad Collins.

So you want to write, or draw, comics. It is the Great Dream, after all. Start work on your own comic, write and draw the thing through the day, be the social butterfly by night. Go to conventions on the weekends, watch the praise and cheques roll in.

It's time to wake up.

Now, as you may or may not realise, a large percentage of people creating comics don't make enough to live comfortably on. This is a big concern for a lot of writers, as well as most people who self-publish their own books. Most of them have to balance their artistic vision against the need to pay the bills. A lot of writers and artists work other people's books for the money. Some manage to work on their own books for big companies who can afford to pay a good wage. Some find another alternative.

Sean McKeever, creator and writer of THE WAITING PLACE from Slave Labor Graphics, balances his writing with a day job, designing webpages for an Internet Solutions company.

"Having to work 40+ hours a week makes it tough to write, especially since one of the things that helps me write is having a social life, and the need to work and write makes having a social life rough." He says it's worth it though. "I've always been a creative person, and an eager communicator, and comics was a natural fit for me. With comics, you can tell stories in ways that would never work in novels, film or music. There's this unique personal connection that's made between the creators and the readers that you can't replicate in any other meduim."

Of course, some start young, and writing comics aren't the final destination. Andrew Dabb, writer of last year's HAPPYDALE: DEVILS IN THE DESERT from Vertigo, is still studying.

"I go to school, pursuing degrees in History and Anthropology, write web animation for Neoglyphix.com, and write in other mediums as well. Studying gives me ideas, I am reading sources that other people usually haven't (ancient authors, mostly) and that gives me a different well to draw from. On the other hand, it takes time away from writing and it can drain me, so I'm not able to write as much as I would like some nights."

On the other hand, your day job need not be detrimental to your comic-work. As Jason Alexander, who writes and draws EMPTY ZONE for Sirius found out, working at Kinko's can be invaluable to self-publishing.

"As far as self-publishing and self promotion, the perks are great! It also gave me the time to experiment with xerox machine stuff, and a lot of time to play on the computer."

Of course, this all depends on your motivation for creating in the first place. For Jose Villarrubia, whose innovative work has appeared in books such as VEILS and PROMETHEA, comics aren't his only passion.

"I teach at the Maryland Institute College of Art and at the Baltimore High School for the Arts. I also do fine art photography and write art reviews. Teaching art is a constant source of inspiration. Young artists have a creative energy that keeps you on your toes. It makes it very tight schedule-wise, but it is definitely worth it. Doing comics was my dream as a teenager, so I guess it is truly what I always wanted to do. It is also giving me the opportunity to work with some of my idols like Alan Moore, and it gives me a chance to collaborate with friends like Jae Lee and Stephen John Phillips."

Look on the bright side, though. Despite writing, drawing, and self-publishing STRANGERS IN PARADISE, Terry Moore was successfuly able to move on from his day job.

"It took me 18 months to switch from my day job to doing a comic book full time. I worked 7 days a week, 18 to 20 hours a day between the two. Halfway through this period I ended up in the hospital for a week as a result of the stress. Afterwards I discovered all the other "successful" self-pubishers had similar experiences. I figured that's just the way it was if you really wanted to make it work out, so the day I got home from the hospital I finished the page I had been working on and resumed my routine. Now I work 7 days a week, but only 12-14 hours a day. To me, and many people like me, it's worth it. I would rather have a published body of work I can be proud of than a long and healthy life with nothing to show for my time here."

There are a lot of different aspects to creating comics. Depending on your goals, and aspirations, there are a lot of different avenues you can pursue. Sometimes you have to sacrifice your personal vision to make ends meet, and sometimes you need to find other avenues to support your creativity. In the end, it all comes down to the individual.

The one thing they can all agree on is that, no matter the path you take, it's definitely worth it.

Brad Collins is Features Editor for PopImage.

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