There was a time when drawing comics and cartoons felt easy. Well, to me it did anyway. It really did.
But the honest truth is, the landscape is changing...And it's gotten harder to pursue work and projects that are innovative and new, according to experts and industry veterans. It's difficult to get funding and the support of the corporates, and it's difficult to get anything new greenlit for production. And if you do manage to do something new, there's a high probability critics and audiences will reject it.
Drawing comics panels is hard work. People who can master drawing comics pages, panels, and full compositions are doing some of the hardest work there is
My philosophy used to be "pursue what is easiest". In the past that was cartoons and animation....But due to the changing landscape, evolving industry, internet information overload, and the inflation of aggressive and unfriendly competition in most instances, animation and cartooning has kind of gone from being one of the friendliest, kindest, most welcoming industries, to the other end of the spectrum: One of the most aggressive, hyper-competitive, and at times, meanest. Not an easy industry landscape to work in.
It still is and still can be rewarding, but there's a higher probability of torturous pain and stress being involved.
Animation's a lot harsher now than it was when I was growing up and first decided I wanted to pursue it as a kid.
But what of the industry leaders, you ask? The Modern Day Masters? The Frank Millers, Todd McFarlanes, Dave Sims, Jeff Smiths, Genndy Tartakovskys, Otomos, Jhonen Vasquezes?
I'm sure some of them do fine and are still just as good as ever, but I've read up on numerous industry leaders. I do that, always have, I read articles about and interviews with them in the trades, and most of them struggle just as much as any other artists with things. High Prestigious reputations can be deceptive in some regards. If someone is a media icon like them, it's easy to think they can easily always get whatever they want, which isn't always true.
Despite being difficult to succeed in the industry, drawing in and of itself is worthwhile if you're just doing it for yourself. I've always wanted to see a certain type of cartoon, but before I designed it it didn't really exist, so I built that style myself. The same one I hoped somebody else would design, build, and draw, but nobody did in reality. Even to this day, my art and writing represents my own style. One no one else is doing in exactly the same way. I've built the artistic and literary style I've always really wanted to see.
But what of the industry leaders, you ask? The Modern Day Masters? The Frank Millers, Todd McFarlanes, Dave Sims, Jeff Smiths, Genndy Tartakovskys, Otomos, Jhonen Vasquezes?
I'm sure some of them do fine and are still just as good as ever, but I've read up on numerous industry leaders. I do that, always have, I read articles about and interviews with them in the trades, and most of them struggle just as much as any other artists with things. High Prestigious reputations can be deceptive in some regards. If someone is a media icon like them, it's easy to think they can easily always get whatever they want, which isn't always true.
Despite being difficult to succeed in the industry, drawing in and of itself is worthwhile if you're just doing it for yourself. I've always wanted to see a certain type of cartoon, but before I designed it it didn't really exist, so I built that style myself. The same one I hoped somebody else would design, build, and draw, but nobody did in reality. Even to this day, my art and writing represents my own style. One no one else is doing in exactly the same way. I've built the artistic and literary style I've always really wanted to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.