HEY ARTISTS: Do Not Have Fun. DrawingBoard #1
Hey Dreamers!
BeanCan Dan here. I’ve been working towards being a pro cartoonist for a long time! I’ve even got a critically acclaimed graphic novel from a big publisher. But one book does not make a career. I believe that treating comics like any other small business will make my next webcomic do more for my career and pocketbook than selling my last big book, but I could be wrong!
Follow along as I test that hypothesis. I’ll make the mistakes so you don’t have to.
Join the Patreon to follow along and never miss a beat!
Today we are joined by adult indie comic creator Kirt Burdick and Alyssa, aka Apple, who is just starting her comics journey. Follow Alyssa, Kirt, and Mission: Comics and Art on instagram! @supercoolawesomechicken https://www.instagram.com/supercoolawesomechicken/
https://www.instagram.com/kirtburdick/ @missioncomics https://www.instagram.com/missioncomics/ @MissionComicsArt
https://www.instagram.com/missioncomics/
Here is a rough transcript of the video! I’m still learning how to generate these so I expect they’ll get better over time!
-BeanCan Dan
TRANSCRIPT:
Just have fun.
Just have fun,
kids.
Well, like, kind of.
Maybe.
Don't have fun.
Do not
have fun.
You need to struggle while you draw.
You need to feel
the pain.
Hey, Bean Can Dan on the internet.
Welcome to Studio Bean
Can's drawing board segment.
These are collections of musings,
thoughts arguments caught on tape
while recording the time lapse videos
and, um, put together just for you.
Think about this as the
bean can scrap pile.
I hope you enjoy it.
Let's go.
Let's do it.
You're only a good artist when
your wrist starts to ache and
your fingers start to like Don't
listen to that either.
Your vision is blurry.
This is all bad advice.
No, okay, so what I mean by that is, Well...
What I mean by that is if you want
to be a professional at anything,
if you want it to be your job,
it's not going to just be fun.
So I think it's important
to talk about that aspect
of it.
There's something about the process
of the creation that you have to
instinctually like or be driven to do.
Because, you know, it can be really,
you know, a struggle a lot of times.
And the only way you continue past that
struggle is because there's something
inherent in the process that you enjoy.
You need to want to have a finished
page more than to make money.
Yeah.
Well, okay.
Like, you want, you know, like, I
think a lot of cartoonists and comic
book artists, like, they're going
into it knowing that they're probably
not going to be, like, famous.
Well, okay, so, I kind of
disagree a little bit on the,
the quote unquote famous.
Famous, but extremely successful.
I think the minimum requirement to be
a full time professional cartoonist
is being kind of famous, largely.
Very, very few, even people who
you see many books of in stores
are full time professionals.
It's not like almost any other
job where you have to be on
top or you're not there, right?
Um, which is the whole premise of
Bakuman, it's like most manga artists
are just gamblers, like that's the idea.
And it's, and it's a truism.
Yeah, there's some truth to it,
but I think you could easily drive
yourself insane. You know, if you focus on
that too much.
Yeah, but I think if
you I also think Which
is
good for me because I'm slightly on the
edge.
Most of the time.
I think that like
You should make
comics because you like it.
But I also think that you're
not going to go from being an
amateur to a pro on accident.
Like same in basketball.
Like, it's not like you're going to be
like, Oh, I kind of like basketball.
I'm going to keep playing
basketball for fun.
Oh, I guess I'm a pro now.
That doesn't happen.
If you want to be a pro, you have to be
honest with yourself about that desire.
And there's something about what
you're talking about.
I heard some really good advice
when I went to that Skinner opening
over at the Four Star Theater.
He had some of his videos
playing that you find on YouTube.
And he was asked something about
that because he's a really successful
artist and a really interesting guy.
So a lot of people, and he's nice too.
He's very nice.
I met him recently, he
was super kind to me.
Yeah, I know, he's a super
cool guy.
Bought a copy of Cloud Town, bless him!
He's friendly, so people like ask him
like, How do you become a famous artist?
Or like a successful artist?
And, one of the things he said,
which I found really useful,
was to be honest with yourself.
See what you can do, and what you can't.
Like, if he tried to be a Kim Jong Gi,
You know, that's not his skill set,
but what he has to offer is unique and
more interesting if he like, just finds
what he's about and focus on that.
So
you hone in exactly what you're
good at to identify your strengths
and weaknesses.
You
know, and I thought that was a
really wise way of looking at it.
Like, no one's going to be able to be like
the perfect artist, and you know, there'll
be like certain styles that are in and
then the styles that are out, like the
digital painting, hyper realistic style.
That's, that was in, at least for visual
development for games, for a long time.
It's still kind of in.
Um, but that might not be what you do.
You might just like to do line art, or
more abstract art, or any other thing.
You find that, and you'll
feel better about your career.
Sometimes it takes a while for people
to discover your certain style.
Oh
yeah, yeah.
I know, I know.
So I've certainly gotten advice from
friends of mine that are professional
full time cartoonists and one way they
thought about it I don't
know what my style is.
I'm still figuring it
out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Figuring it out.
But like, uh, the idea That's what I said.
So the idea is that there are a lot
of people out there and if you make
things that You would like, even if you
weren't yourself looking at your own
work, but you leave it in a drawer, you
come back to it, and you still like it.
There's probably other people out there in
the world that would also still like it.
So a big part of getting a career is
making enough stuff and helping the
people that would like it find it.
And that can take a long time.
So for me, I do aspire to be a
full time professional cartoonist.
Like, that is a goal I have
for myself that I am not at.
I have a day job that is really flexible,
so the closer I get to that goal, the
less I have to work at my day job.
And I just do that math.
And I am moving toward that goal.
One other thing that's kind of
interesting about this being seen by
more young people is comics is one
of the few industries that people can
start pursuing professionally while
still being under the age of 18.
On the internet, you can put stuff out
and be aiming to build an audience.
As a child creator.
And in Japan, Japan being the biggest
comics industry in the world, like, there
are a lot more stories of that happening,
there are competitions for middle
schoolers getting into big publications.
There's more of an
infrastructure to facilitate
that.
But like, even though we don't have
that infrastructure, doesn't mean
we can't have that happen anyway.
I
do think like, with webcomics,
And now, I know webcomics have now
become more app based, like, uh,
you know, was it webtoons and stuff?
Sure.
But, early on it was kind of exciting
to see, like, these young kids, or
just, young creators, I don't know
what age they were, and see them grow.
For sure.
It's really good that stuff like that is
super accessible to be able to put your
work out these days, cause it's less of
a struggle for younger creators as well.
It can be, but the thing I would be
afraid of is just comparing yourself to
so many other people who are really good.
Yeah.
That's, that's
a thing, like, you know, if you can ignore
that.
Yeah, but on the other hand
it could inspire you to create
better besides the same coin.
Like, everybody's reaction to
great artwork is different.
Yeah.
It's a big, it takes a lot of drive
just to finish any comics at all.
Like, a page of comics.
Uh huh.
Yeah, you kind of have to have like your
own will to make comics to some extent.
I know we're not really talking
about the page here at all, but like
WOAH you made it all the way here…do you want a secret free prequel to Cloud Town? Here's the url... https://danielmccloskey.com/ytsecret