I wanted to address some of the most common questions I get from aspiring artists and more specifically aspiring comic book artists.
I hope you find this post to be informative and please comment to let myself and others know what you think. Share the content too if you don’t mind!
1. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME A PROFESSIONAL ARTIST?
I get this question asked a lot so I figured I should address it. I have to start with a basic answer that no one really likes to hear. “It Depends.”
We all accelerate at different speeds, we all have different styles, and not everyone will have the opportunity to be mentored by a great instructor. Some do better with books, some do better with videos, and most do better with personal training of some kind.
So with all that being taken into account we can delve deeper into what can be quantified about this journey as a professional artist.
I like to tell most students that if they work very hard ( 8 to 10 hours a day. ) then they could “Potentially” meet there goals as a working professional in about 4 to 6 years.
Just like going to a good college. Their goal is to get you ready for the real world and ready to earn a living at your profession. This doesn’t mean they succeed with every student obviously but it seems to be a good metric of time to produce results for most.
This basically falls into the 10,000 hour rule. They say to become a master of your craft you need to put in 10k hours. Let’s do the math 8 hours a day x 5 days a week = 40hrs x 50 weeks = 2000hrs x 5 years = 10k. Some will do the same amount of hours in 4 years and some may need 6 years. You have have to set your goals and stick to them. ( Notice I took 2 weeks out for time off. You can’t work all the time or you run the risk of burning out! )
Always remember that the accountability lies with you and no one else. You can blame your schooling, your teachers, your friends for distracting you, and so on but that will only give you a story to explain about why you didn’t succeed. Success is for the ones that just don’t stop until they get there.
You might say, well why would I need that much time to improve? I’m really good right now! You might be right or you might need an ego check.
To be a comic artist you need to draw a plethora of things pretty well. This requires an understanding in character design, figure drawing, perspective drawing, composition, and basically drawing a stylistic version of everything you can place those beautiful eyes on. So yes that does take time to master!
2. How to Make Money with My Art Right Now!
This can be a slippery slope. You can’t sell your art if it lacks certain qualities. So how do you make money now and still have the time to develop your art so that it can be the bread winner at some point.
This is a tough situation and I can totally relate. You really don’t want to rush things and attached a negative association or stress to your art. It adds to the likely hood that you might give up.
Let me give you some of my own back story on this. I was drawing for comics and although it was paid work I just couldn’t live off of it. I needed the proverbial “Real Job!”
So I worked assembly lines and restaurants in my area of Flint, Michigan until I could find something that would allow me to draw for a living. I still drew every chance I could get so I wouldn’t lose the skills I had acquired over the past 4 years. I had always drawn but since the age of 14 I drew like I was already getting paid for it.
I was now about 18 years old at this point and I found a local tint & graphic shop that made stickers, car graphics, and signs. I was super excited because it was a great opportunity for me to use my art skills to create designs. It may not be drawing comics for a living but it sure was a lot closer than washing dishes.
I bothered the owner of the business over and over again until one day he gave me a shot. He put me on the job of designing and sandblasting custom license plates. I was extremely happy to get started and those little plates were super creative. So now I was able to scrape together a few bucks and call myself a working artist!
Over the years I worked hard and eventually started doing the bigger sign and graphic jobs for the company. I earned a nice living and I learned how to deal with clients and run a business. My boss Randy was a great mentor and a wise businessman. I was lucky he gave me that opportunity to work there and learn from him.
Later I went on to create 3D animations for television and started my own sign and graphics shop called Ram Studios Signs and Graphics and I had just hit 25 years of age. All of this with no college by the way. Just lots of books and hard work.
My point to all this is that if you can’t get that dream job of working in comics right now you might want to at least find something that allows you to use your skills as an artist.
There are lots of great jobs that need a talented artist on staff. You just have to get out there and find them.
Just be careful that you save some of that artistic energy to draw comics. I made the mistake of getting too involved with my sign business and pulled away from comics for about 15 years. If I had to do it all over again I would have worked part time and kept drawing comics on the side until things took off.
I became discouraged with the way the comic market was heading and I listened to the nay sayers. Follow your heart and follow your dreams and don’t let anyone discourage you from that!
3. Am I too Old to Become a Working Comic Book Artist?
I would never tell ANYONE that they are too old for anything that they want to accomplish. Will it be harder at a later age? Maybe, maybe not.
You have remember that when you are younger you have a lot of advantages like being able to stay up all night on a deadline and get up the next morning and shake it off.
Your brain seems to be on fire with excitement and teaming with new ideas to draw and create with. Probably all those hormones flying around.
When you are younger you can work for less money, which allows you to get your foot in the door much easier. An older person will likely have more financial obligations that might not allow them to take the lower pay.
On the other hand, when we are older we are a lot more responsible with our time management. ( Usually! )
We are generally more realistic about life and working relationships at a later age. When I was a kid I thought all comic artists much live like rockstars. It wasn’t until I got to see behind the curtains that I realized it was a way harder job that I had imagined and they were paid much lower than I expected.
Finally, as an older individual you have more than likely worked through all the craziness of your youth. This may not apply to everyone but I was a bit of a party animal in my 20’s. I really doubt I could have stuck to any real deadline at that point in my life.
We have to be realistic and illustrating comics is hard work. 22 pages of art in a month isn’t easy to accomplish so you better be ready to lock yourself away until the deadline is met or you’re going to tick some people off!
4. How Do I Get Started in Comics?
First thing I did and I would do to launch any new project is complete 5 pages of your comic. This is a great way to know if you are truly serious about it.
Plus, 5 pages can be made into a mini comic which is super effective to draw an audience to your table. Give away some cheap mini comics and build that audience!
You will also have a more realistic idea of what it will take to complete the full book. If you created that mini comic in a month then you will probably need about 5 months to finish the whole book. If you did in one week and you are happy with the quality ( and so is everyone else ) then you are doing pretty darn good!
The main thing is that you complete a project or product. Drawing fan art is fun and I love it BUT it isn’t drawing comics. Storytelling is a whole other monster and it will challenge you in ways that pinups of your favorite characters will not.
5. How Good do I Need to Be to Get Started Drawing Comics?
I need to go back little further in my life to explain this one. I was 14 years old and I had just moved to Michigan. I didn’t know hardly anyone and I found a local comic book shop.
I picked up Spider-man #1 by Todd McFarlane. I was in pure amazement and I knew immediately that I now wanted to be a comic book artist.
I had already drawn for as long as I could remember. I was a horrible artist back then but everyone told me I was amazing. Especially my mother! 😉
I drew from comics every chance I could. I showed my work at local comic book shops. They weren’t impressed by the way…at least not at first.
Then over the years I started to get a little better and I got my first offer to draw a comic. It was for Louis Faba at Tyme Press. The books were Aerial and Assault #1 and #2.
I actually drew the entire books twice! The reason for that was drawing the first 2 books had taught me so much that the art looked totally different but the end of book #2.
So the next 2 were way more impressive and not because they were magnificently drawn. It’s because the first 2 were so bad!
My point is this. Don’t wait to be good enough. You will learn way more on the job of actually creating the comic. Study whenever possible but your priority will have to be to complete the work. If not you may develop a bad habit of always trying to get good enough.
There is no such thing as perfect art and there never will be. There is a such thing as uncompleted art and that is what you should fear the most!
I hope this answers a few questions for you and I would love to know what you think of the content. I have plenty more to share so please stop by again soon!
If you would like more instruction on How to Draw Comics and Digital Art, check out my online courses here on Udemy – https://ramstudioscomics.com/index.php/udemy-courses/
I also have lot of how to draw videos on my Youtube channel here – https://www.youtube.com/c/robertmarzullo
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