Being an Artist Is Very Easy

I hunt articles and interviews of my favorite artists like game pheasant. Juxtapose, Super-7, Comics Journal. It’s my way of keeping current even though all the good artists are dead and all the best works were done decades ago.

I’ve stumbled on a common theme in many of these journals. It’s this commonly held notion about art and the artist’s experience that puzzles me to the core. All my heroes pine on and on about what a rough time they had getting to where they are now. They drone on about deadlines, rejections, and money trouble as if it’s a mating call, as if being an artist is hard in the slightest bit.

In my experience, the comic industry is lucrative beyond my most bezerk of dreams to the point where my methaphoric cup did runneth over (I only switched to cartooning as a “handicap”). The industry was taking time away from my deep sea fishing with constant book signings and out-of-town conventions. A good friend of mine, co-worker, and fraternity brother, brought me to my senses after he caught me inking a story for Image Comics in my corner office. On this meditation of my own artistic path, I guess I can identify with the idea of sacrifice for art’s sake, but I don’t agree with the doom and gloom tone of my fellow artists.

In short, I understand that for some people making a living in the art world is hard (or not even possible), but highlighting your weakness makes the industry look bad. I’m a comic success story, and it wasn’t always a bed of roses for me either. I had to give up rock climbing. I lost a lot of “me time,” but I never let them see me sweat! Deadline and rejections come and go, but I believe there is a sports car owner in every artist!