How to Fail Art: Expect Easy Money

Hah, how about those Penny Arcade boys, eh? After ten years, they've built up an empire based on making fun of the video game industry's shortcomings (and using a lot of variations of the word 'fuck'). 'Shoot,' you reason, 'I could do that, too!' So you lick the tip of your pencil, fire up your pirated version of Photoshop, and begin cranking out comics about a subject you are passionate about: gay furry pride. After securing some space on a site about drunken ducks or nations of webcomics or what-have-ya, you create a bare-bones page, slap up some ads and a paypal button, and wait for the avalanche of micro-payments to push your wagon onto Easy Street. 

Two years later, you're still working at a Taco-Bell, and the closest you get to recognition at a comic convention is because your table in the artist's alley happened to be next to a panel room. What happened?

Before I get into why, I would remind the reader that I honestly don't claim to be an expert on making a successful webcomic – only on what hasn't worked for me. If you're looking on a resource that has tips on how successful webcartoonists got that way, I can heartily recommend the book “How to Make Webcomics” as it's chock full of helpful advice. But both the authors and myself agree that success almost never happens overnight, and when it does it's usually not the enduring kind.

I consider comics such as Penny Arcade, PvP Online, Shortpacked, WIGU, and Schlock Mercenary to be both popular and successful AND one of the main sources of income for their creators. Scott Kurtz's incredibly funny comic about his dad (interspersed with comics about some kind of gaming magazine office and a troll) updates like clockwork even while he makes ads and cartoons an' shit, while Schlock Mercenary's Howard Taylor has consistently updated every day for EIGHT FREAKIN' YEARS. Shortpacked's David Willis and WIGU's Jeffrey Rowland have rolled the success of an earlier series into their new projects, which shows both the importance of a cartoonist's reputation and the loyalty of their fans. And in Penny Arcade's case, the writing is still fresh and funny after ten years, and I hear if you click off the main page, they even have a comic! (I kid, because if my own art improved as Gabe's has in ten years, I would probably not be writing this blog.) In every case, it took YEARS of work for their creations to show a profit, and usually had (or still have) another job to support themselves.

Personally, I never got to the point where I felt comfortable asking for money for my own poorly drawn webcomic. However, I have noticed that there are webcomics of similar quality – or worse – that have no problem with asking for a hand out so they can continue drawing a comic about superheroes whose powers seem to be being drawn disproportionately, or perhaps they'll have a donation bar in order to get a wallpaper of some badly drawn anthropomorphic characters having casual sex or whatever. While I do not begrudge these people for trying to live off of their talents I do think that I, as a consumer, should be given a product that is worth 'buying'.

Given a filthy hobo selling chewed up, dirty looking pencils from a tin cup versus a slightly less filthy hobo selling clean, unmarred ones, which one do you think people are going to want to give their money? Sadly, to the drugstore down the street where you can get pencils that have been ultra-sanitized – but we'll get to webcomics versus traditional print strips in another article. My point is that the cartoonists making a living from their trade got there over long and often bitter years of personal investment: time, and above all – patience. Accept that you're going to be in for a long haul if you are serious about making money webcartooning. The bottom line is that there are no shortcuts.

Defining 'failure' (or 'success'!)

Before going any further with this venture, I think I should clarify what I define as 'failure' and 'success', particularly when applied to a webcomic and its creator (or creators).

Failure in webcartooning is failing to eloquently express yourself - and satisfy people - with your creation. It could be anything from being unable to grasp basic art concepts (like me), to being unable to deliver on your promised updating schedule (like me), to just plain having the wrong attitude or approach to a problem (or maybe you're just an asshole).

Success, on the other hand, is much, much harder thing to define. For instance, a person might start a webcomic just for fun. They have a hobby and they write and draw about it. They pay expenses out of pocket, perhaps putting up a donation button to defray the cost now and then. They offer a collection of the comic on homemade burnt CD's. Perhaps they pepper the comic with in jokes, as they intended it to be viewed by a private circle of friends. The other 99.9% of the Internet has no idea what's going on, and attempts to look deeper have only caused insanity. The name of this comic, by the way, is Gene Catlow.

Others might be like me, and have a story they'd like to tell, or like to make people laugh. They find telling that story or creating humor to be satisfying. As their fan base slowly grows over time, they might supplement donations with selling a mug or a t-shirt with their characters on it, or an in-joke their fans would enjoy.  They have book collections made, and they actually sell. Before they know it, they get asked to cons and have overweight men ask for sketches of favorite characters (if they're lucky, maybe its THEIR characters being asked for, instead of Supergirl having sex with She-Hulk, or worse). It might even come to a point where the income they make would allow them to quit their day jobs and have their quality of life remain above poverty level, almost. I am pretty sure that these two cartoonists are good examples of this.

And then there's those who begin a comic with commercial success in mind, hoping that they'll be earning five figured salaries by the end of the year and an apparel line featuring their wacky anthropomorphic stand-in dancing to the tune of a poorly turned catchphrase. And if you think that is how successful webcartoonists actually became successful, you might want to bookmark this blog now. Granted, there are cartoonists who have become commercially successful, but have relied on terrible artistic shortcuts such as blurred photo backgrounds, stock expressions, and misguided attempts to step outside of genre by clumsily introducing tragic events into the lives of zany characters (hypothetically speaking, of course). It's possible to be 'successful' and still be considered a failure by the most damning litmus test of them all - your audience.

My point is, is that while it does not take much for a webcomic to 'fail', 'success' is defined by how much effort and commitment a cartoonist puts forth - and how they roll with the punches. And maybe you can also define success by the number of satisfied customers you leave behind.

How do I fail art?

So, a blog eh? Not like there's too many of those on the Internet! This is another one.

Call me SamDoug. I'm an amateur cartoonist, and to be honest: I have a ways to go before I can even call myself 'good' at it. I've had issues and stumbling blocks along the way, but the short story is I really, really enjoy cartooning, and I really, really want to get better at it.

This is a blog about what NOT to do if you want to be successful at webcomics. I can safely say my last eight years of webcomicking have been rife with failure; I want to pass that experience to you, dear reader. Everything from common drawing mistakes (I and others have made) to unrealistic expectations (I and others have made) will be covered here. It's my hope that aspiring cartoonists can use it to make their work more enjoyable to read. Failing that, at least to  not suck.

I also consider this a journal, to track both my own successes and failures as I attempt to bring my own webcomic, Upstate!, back to life. Its creation and its several unsuccessful runs will be dissected here, as it's a wealth of examples of what not to do with a webcomic. I'll be posting examples of my current work as well, so I can drag my skills kicking and screaming to the next level of enlightenment, via what assuredly will be witty, engaging feedback from you, the reader.

Comics are important to me. Artists such as Will Eisner, Walt Kelly, Murry Ball, and Bill Watterson have all shaped my life, in various ways. Now, there is a new generation of cartoonists in the making: some good, some not so good, and some terrible. It is this blogger's wish to help you avoid, if nothing else, being a terrible one.

- and so it begins.