How do I get back into my Cartooning
April 2, 2019 1:50 AM Subscribe
I am a freelance cartoonist who also has a full time non cartoon related job. I've lost my way a bit. How can I find it again?
I've been drawing and selling humorous cartoons for the last 30 years with a reasonable amount of success. For one reason or another never enough to give up my full time job, but I think that ship has sailed and that's ok (I'm 54). However in the last couple of years I've lost my Mojo. I used to have around 8 regular clients who commissioned me on a monthly basis and it's now dwindled to around 2. There are all sorts of reasons that this may have happened....new editor...change of format...they don't like my cartoons anymore. That's the way it works in this kind of industry. What I'm not happy about is my reaction to it. In the past I'd have been on the lookout for a new magazine/newspaper to start working with if I lost one. But I've let things slip and haven't had the enthusiasm to do this. I've still got the 2 semi regulars and I never miss a deadline (and never have with any of my previous clients) but once I've completed that job I just switch off until the next one comes around. I can't motivate myself to carry on working in those times between commissions. I could be doing all host of things: Practicing my drawing, coming up with new gags, emailing potential new clients, sorting out my website...etc etc. I've lost my spark and I'm struggling to get it back.
Any ideas or advice?
I've been drawing and selling humorous cartoons for the last 30 years with a reasonable amount of success. For one reason or another never enough to give up my full time job, but I think that ship has sailed and that's ok (I'm 54). However in the last couple of years I've lost my Mojo. I used to have around 8 regular clients who commissioned me on a monthly basis and it's now dwindled to around 2. There are all sorts of reasons that this may have happened....new editor...change of format...they don't like my cartoons anymore. That's the way it works in this kind of industry. What I'm not happy about is my reaction to it. In the past I'd have been on the lookout for a new magazine/newspaper to start working with if I lost one. But I've let things slip and haven't had the enthusiasm to do this. I've still got the 2 semi regulars and I never miss a deadline (and never have with any of my previous clients) but once I've completed that job I just switch off until the next one comes around. I can't motivate myself to carry on working in those times between commissions. I could be doing all host of things: Practicing my drawing, coming up with new gags, emailing potential new clients, sorting out my website...etc etc. I've lost my spark and I'm struggling to get it back.
Any ideas or advice?
Julia Cameron writes a number of books geared toward artists trying to re-connect to their mojo and take their work to a deeper level. You might like It's Never Too Late to Begin Again: Discovering Creativity and Meaning at Midlife and Beyond. You might try listening to the audiobook if you're into those while working at something she calls "Morning Pages," illustrations inspired from within rather than for commission or any commercial interest. She can be very inspiring.
posted by R2WeTwo at 5:28 AM on April 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by R2WeTwo at 5:28 AM on April 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
I am a super small time comic artist and one of the things that really helped me in the last few years is Lynda Barry's two art how-to/memoir books, Picture This! and What It Is, which have helped me get back into drawing when I wasn't able to do it.
posted by bile and syntax at 6:15 AM on April 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by bile and syntax at 6:15 AM on April 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Send me a cartoon! Only slightly kidding. You may get more fun out of sending cartoons directly to friends and family as a personal gesture, rather than treating it as a "serious side business", at least for now. Also, each person you know has their own personal sense of humor, and that may help you branch out and work with a broader scope of humor than you have previously, e.g. "what would Jane find funny?" or "I bet Bob would get a kick out of this!".
Also, as for drawing practice: do you work on non-cartoon drawing? Maybe you'd have fun picking up an abstract style, or working on how to draw plants and animals with proper anatomical detail.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:17 AM on April 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
Also, as for drawing practice: do you work on non-cartoon drawing? Maybe you'd have fun picking up an abstract style, or working on how to draw plants and animals with proper anatomical detail.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:17 AM on April 2, 2019 [3 favorites]
First a few ideas:
Maybe it's time to take your skillset and pivot slightly? The market for cartoons of the sort you're doing is changing. You might, however, find outlets with companies looking to spruce up their content advertising. It's less self-expression and would be harder to break into, but if you get a few clients under your belt, you might find that it takes off. There've been a few times I would have liked to have found a cartoonist who could work on projects in the tech industry.
Another idea might be looking for other folks who need an illustrator for their stories, or branching out and doing a longer form work about a topic you're passionate about?
Anyway, there are many ways you could take the skills you must have as a cartoonist and tweak things slightly into new types of expression and revenue.
Secondly:
I've been in your shoes. Have been a freelance writer off and on since 1999. Mostly off since I went back to full time gigs in 2012.
In the back of my head I kept thinking I should pitch articles and other work, since I'm allowed to as long as it doesn't conflict, and keep a second income stream going. But after a full day of work and with everything else in my life that needs tending to - I just don't have the motivation. I don't need the money and chasing the work feels like more hassle than it'd be worth. If somebody turned up asking if I could work on something, I'd be happy to turn it around, but I had to finally decide that I was going to hang up the freelancer hat at least for now.
Maybe you're in that situation too, or maybe you just need a spark to get your motor running again. If the work isn't necessary and isn't motivating anymore, it might be the universe telling you that it's OK to use the time that used to go into 8 clients into some other activity or activities. But if you really in your heart of hearts want and need to keep doing the cartooning, consider what I've said about pivoting to related work.
Also, if you don't mind, I'd love it you MeMail'ed me some links to your work. Would love to see it!
posted by jzb at 6:20 AM on April 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Maybe it's time to take your skillset and pivot slightly? The market for cartoons of the sort you're doing is changing. You might, however, find outlets with companies looking to spruce up their content advertising. It's less self-expression and would be harder to break into, but if you get a few clients under your belt, you might find that it takes off. There've been a few times I would have liked to have found a cartoonist who could work on projects in the tech industry.
Another idea might be looking for other folks who need an illustrator for their stories, or branching out and doing a longer form work about a topic you're passionate about?
Anyway, there are many ways you could take the skills you must have as a cartoonist and tweak things slightly into new types of expression and revenue.
Secondly:
I've been in your shoes. Have been a freelance writer off and on since 1999. Mostly off since I went back to full time gigs in 2012.
In the back of my head I kept thinking I should pitch articles and other work, since I'm allowed to as long as it doesn't conflict, and keep a second income stream going. But after a full day of work and with everything else in my life that needs tending to - I just don't have the motivation. I don't need the money and chasing the work feels like more hassle than it'd be worth. If somebody turned up asking if I could work on something, I'd be happy to turn it around, but I had to finally decide that I was going to hang up the freelancer hat at least for now.
Maybe you're in that situation too, or maybe you just need a spark to get your motor running again. If the work isn't necessary and isn't motivating anymore, it might be the universe telling you that it's OK to use the time that used to go into 8 clients into some other activity or activities. But if you really in your heart of hearts want and need to keep doing the cartooning, consider what I've said about pivoting to related work.
Also, if you don't mind, I'd love it you MeMail'ed me some links to your work. Would love to see it!
posted by jzb at 6:20 AM on April 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I was you a few years back. I did a lot of writing as a side hustle from 2008 to 2014, and then hit a day job that just killed me energywise. I finally got out of that job a couple years later, and had a good think about writing and me.
I wanted to pick writing back up again, but the thought of trying to chase for articles and hustle and follow marching orders just gave me hives. So I had a good think about things - did I need to make money writing? No, I decided - I just wanted to write. It was a part of my identity and how I processed the world that I'd let slip. So fine - I just needed to write.
A blog seemed an obvious choice; I just needed something that would get me back into the practice. I decided that some kind of challenge would spur me on - trying to do all the {x}s in {y}, something like that. A couple ideas got tried out an abandoned, and finally I found one that worked, and has been working out very well for a couple years now. It doesn't pay me diddly, but it's keeping me in practice - and down the road, who knows? And if I never get any money from it, who cares?
Similarly, I was very productive and my writing leapt forward tremendously back in college, when I had a column in the school paper for a year. They would print whatever I gave them because they were trying to fill space; it was a regular deadline, and my ass was out there whether it was good or bad. I also had friends honest enough to say things like "....I read your column today....that one took only five minutes for you to write, didn't it?" That deadline, though, kept me working and kept me in practice.
Maybe picking some kind of small challenge for yourself; a regular routine practice that will get you in a chair and producing. I notice that you make your deadlines no problem - maybe set up some deadlines for yourself, some kind of once-a-week or once-every-few-days thing, where you just do something to keep in practice. Make it publically viewable, but low-stress - like a cheeseball blog or something. Tell your friends you're doing it, so they can keep you honest about your schedule.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:41 AM on April 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
I wanted to pick writing back up again, but the thought of trying to chase for articles and hustle and follow marching orders just gave me hives. So I had a good think about things - did I need to make money writing? No, I decided - I just wanted to write. It was a part of my identity and how I processed the world that I'd let slip. So fine - I just needed to write.
A blog seemed an obvious choice; I just needed something that would get me back into the practice. I decided that some kind of challenge would spur me on - trying to do all the {x}s in {y}, something like that. A couple ideas got tried out an abandoned, and finally I found one that worked, and has been working out very well for a couple years now. It doesn't pay me diddly, but it's keeping me in practice - and down the road, who knows? And if I never get any money from it, who cares?
Similarly, I was very productive and my writing leapt forward tremendously back in college, when I had a column in the school paper for a year. They would print whatever I gave them because they were trying to fill space; it was a regular deadline, and my ass was out there whether it was good or bad. I also had friends honest enough to say things like "....I read your column today....that one took only five minutes for you to write, didn't it?" That deadline, though, kept me working and kept me in practice.
Maybe picking some kind of small challenge for yourself; a regular routine practice that will get you in a chair and producing. I notice that you make your deadlines no problem - maybe set up some deadlines for yourself, some kind of once-a-week or once-every-few-days thing, where you just do something to keep in practice. Make it publically viewable, but low-stress - like a cheeseball blog or something. Tell your friends you're doing it, so they can keep you honest about your schedule.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:41 AM on April 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
How about a challenge to yourself where you'd have an audience keeping you honest with it? Maybe an Instagram challenge where you upload a new cartoon every X number of days (or every day for X number of days)?
posted by xingcat at 7:18 AM on April 2, 2019
posted by xingcat at 7:18 AM on April 2, 2019
Came to also suggest you might use Instagram as a forum for your work (here’s one I follow that I find really fun).
posted by AnOrigamiLife at 7:47 AM on April 2, 2019
posted by AnOrigamiLife at 7:47 AM on April 2, 2019
Best answer: I'm you also. I have a full-time non-art job, and have never made significant income from my cartooning, just freelance things here and there and some mild successes. Let me tell you how I've come to deal with this.
As a kid I got a lot of praise for my drawing ability, and that reinforcement shaped my development as an artist—I grew up to be emotionally dependent on external things to feel good about my work. Things like getting a new client, making a sale, or getting Internet Points on social media gave me short-term pleasure, but at the expense of my inner life. When I made work that was meaningful to me and it didn't get validated by the outside world, I'd feel demoralized. Things were bad, even though I was experiencing relatively regular "success".
I had to think very hard about what I really wanted to get out of my work. I had to reconsider my personal endgame. What did I want? To be "discovered"? To get some kind of publishing deal, or a thriving freelance business? I was chasing some kind of ultimate, final external validation. But the more I hustled, the less I wanted to keep hustling. Hustling sucks and it never ends. The artists whom I admire are often living in precarity, even when they've "arrived".
I used to resent my day job, and I used to resent myself for not having the intrepid, bohemian attitude necessary for making a "serious" go of it. But I realized I was never going to quit my job and be a full-time artist—I can't afford it! I live in the United States and I need health insurance. Some people have the courage to risk everything fortheir dreams. Not only do I NOT have that courage, I resent the hell out of the terms of that bargain. It shouldn't be a life-or-death proposition, and too often it is. I just want to have a simple, moderately comfortable life and do my artwork at the same time.
Then I realized, wait—that's what I have now! I have a day job I enjoy enough. That gives me the freedom to make the work I want to make, not the work that's going to get me the most external success. I don't have to hustle. I can do what I actually want to do, when I want to do it, and the rest of the time I can stare into space and daydream. I can put my own work into the universe on my own terms, and if anyone else likes it, great! If they don't, oh well. I'm going to do it anyway. The only thing that ever made me truly happy was making work I liked. Not jobs, not praise, not anything else. Just the work itself. And that's pretty liberating.
I think you should trust your own instincts. If you're not looking for a new client, let yourself not look. If you don't feel like working, don't. Let yourself lie fallow, reorient around the pleasure that comes from within. It has to be allowed to emerge, like any other organic thing. As long as you maintain a mindset of what you ought to be doing, it suppresses the playful, goalless mindset that comes from spontaneous creation. Let go of the reins for a while. Just let yourself do what feels natural and see what happens.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 10:34 AM on April 2, 2019 [10 favorites]
As a kid I got a lot of praise for my drawing ability, and that reinforcement shaped my development as an artist—I grew up to be emotionally dependent on external things to feel good about my work. Things like getting a new client, making a sale, or getting Internet Points on social media gave me short-term pleasure, but at the expense of my inner life. When I made work that was meaningful to me and it didn't get validated by the outside world, I'd feel demoralized. Things were bad, even though I was experiencing relatively regular "success".
I had to think very hard about what I really wanted to get out of my work. I had to reconsider my personal endgame. What did I want? To be "discovered"? To get some kind of publishing deal, or a thriving freelance business? I was chasing some kind of ultimate, final external validation. But the more I hustled, the less I wanted to keep hustling. Hustling sucks and it never ends. The artists whom I admire are often living in precarity, even when they've "arrived".
I used to resent my day job, and I used to resent myself for not having the intrepid, bohemian attitude necessary for making a "serious" go of it. But I realized I was never going to quit my job and be a full-time artist—I can't afford it! I live in the United States and I need health insurance. Some people have the courage to risk everything fortheir dreams. Not only do I NOT have that courage, I resent the hell out of the terms of that bargain. It shouldn't be a life-or-death proposition, and too often it is. I just want to have a simple, moderately comfortable life and do my artwork at the same time.
Then I realized, wait—that's what I have now! I have a day job I enjoy enough. That gives me the freedom to make the work I want to make, not the work that's going to get me the most external success. I don't have to hustle. I can do what I actually want to do, when I want to do it, and the rest of the time I can stare into space and daydream. I can put my own work into the universe on my own terms, and if anyone else likes it, great! If they don't, oh well. I'm going to do it anyway. The only thing that ever made me truly happy was making work I liked. Not jobs, not praise, not anything else. Just the work itself. And that's pretty liberating.
I think you should trust your own instincts. If you're not looking for a new client, let yourself not look. If you don't feel like working, don't. Let yourself lie fallow, reorient around the pleasure that comes from within. It has to be allowed to emerge, like any other organic thing. As long as you maintain a mindset of what you ought to be doing, it suppresses the playful, goalless mindset that comes from spontaneous creation. Let go of the reins for a while. Just let yourself do what feels natural and see what happens.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 10:34 AM on April 2, 2019 [10 favorites]
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I think the regularity releases a bit of stress, and also adds actual time/for practice/making/etc...
Sounds simple - like eat healthy and exercise - but would imagine harder to implement. I need to do this myself for my visual art...
posted by PistachioRoux at 5:19 AM on April 2, 2019