(Insert stupid Blog name here)

 

You do awesome work. I hope you do something like this for a living - because you are very talented.

Thanks. I hope to do something like this for a living someday... but I'm not there yet.

Really?

I've made a living in other art-related fields (graphic design, illustration), but not doing a comic strip. That's pretty rarified air.

Ah, OK. So you would rather do comics than what you do now?

At the moment, I'd rather go back to janitorial work than what I do now.

 

But yes - I'd love to draw a daily comic strip for real.

I'm sure you're aware of Howard Tayler who does Schlock Mercenary and quit his day job many years ago and seems to have discovered how to make a living just doing comics.

 

Although I have no inside info, there's a few things which I think Howard has done right:

1. Map out the story, then start drawing. People come back because they want to see what happens next. You can't supply that unless you know it ahead of time.

2. Have a backlog. Howard typically has several weeks of comics done ahead of what is currently being published. This then lets him spend time doing speaking gigs and taking care of book sales rather than trying to madly finish the comic for tomorrow.

3. Build the fanbase then monetize the fanbase. Heck, I have the Schlock Mercenary 2012 calendar on my wall.