Interesting article about Artists vs. Business responsibilities

[DarkArtist81]

This was an article by Scott Kurtz, the creator of a web comic called PVP... It is basically talking about the struggle that artists go through internally when they attempt to make their art a legitimate business. If you replace the webcomic theme and put in Custom artists... you will see why I posted this.

It's a good explanation of why the bubble burst here at SSC, and why it seems like damn near all of the top customizers of the board have crumbled under our own weight. Very interesting read.

Finding safe harbor...
Author: Scott Kurtz

Over the last couple of months, I’ve observed a sentiment rising among independent cartoonists. There seems to be a growing movement to separate the role of artist from that of businessman. People are looking to go back to the days when a cartoonist only had to wear one hat.

During the Zuda Comics panel at this year’s Comic-Con International, panelist Kevin Colden drove the point home in a gruff and troubled tone.

“From a creator’s perspective, it boils down to...I’m an artist, I want to be an artist. If I wanted to be a PR guy I’d be a PR guy, so...Do you want to spend your day drawing or do you want to spend your day doing PR?”

Over at dailycartoonist.com, editor Alan Gardner comments on what he sees as a “maturing” of the Webcomics Business Model, stating:

“I’ve always maintained that the webcomic business model will have successfully matured when it outgrows the do-it-yourself business stage that it’s currently in and support industries are able to move in and allow artists to do focus on being artists and businessmen take care of business.”

Hervé St-Louis, founder of The Comic Book Bin adds:

“Why does one assume that it takes years of training and practice to become a competent cartoonist or writer, while no one questions the fact that every day, some cartoonist thinks he can manage his own business, without having any business training and experience?”

He continues on, stating:

“I honestly think that perpetuating this ideal has slowed down the progress of many comic book properties in the past as many creators think of themselves as capable business heads when they are not.”

I myself am not immune to this line of thinking. PvP is over 11 years old and has grown to a size where I feel like I’m drowning in responsibilities I don’t want. As a one-man show (with considerable help from the wife), I feel often that it would be nice to just focus solely again on my art.

On a daily basis, I talk to my peers and colleagues and find we’re all in the same boat. As our businesses grow, our time to create wanes. We could all use some help. But where should we turn for it?

We’ve certainly broken into two distinct camps over the subject lately: Those looking to sign up with a larger publisher or syndicate who can take on the business end of things, and those looking to do it all themselves.

During the 80’s, black-and-white independents lead a whole movement of thought, teaching artists and writers they didn’t have to settle for work-for-hire conditions. Then the Internet came along and completely leveled the playing field, allowing us to remove not only the publisher, but the distributor and other middlemen from the equation.

Could it be that the pendulum has reached the end of this arc and must inevitably swing back in the other direction towards more traditional models? Maybe we’ve gone as far as do-it-yourself can go.

If the gap between business and creative responsibilities continues to widen -- after having been so nearly bridged -- if independent artists decide to find more ways to remove themselves from the responsibilities of running their own businesses, how can we make sure we don’t return to a time where we lose all our power and ownership in the process?

Can we find a safe harbor in the middle?

 

[MaulFan]

Good read Josh, and that's actually a large reason why I haven't seriously explored doing my graphic design independently as a sole income. As much as it'd be nice to just do what I want to do, how I want to do it without bosses and all, there's just no way to do a serious ammount of jobs as a business person and not get caught up in all the non-art work that goes with it, which means I'd have to higher people to handle that aspect of business for me and when you start higher people for help, it pads expenses.

While a lot of people at this site make customizing a business, most of them got into it because it was an art for them. A client here or there and it can still be art, but once you get into dozens of clients/projects, there's those added responsibilities, which isn't what artists want. We want the independence of working for ourselves but that's impossible on a large scale without non-art stuff having to be done, so basically we can't be independent, at most just in charge, unless your some magical combination of an artist and businessman in 1 and like being involved with everything.

 

[DarkArtist81]

Yeah, most people are one or the other. It is very rare you find a great artist who is also a very competent and organized businessman. Now, there have been mediocre artists who were good businessmen or extremely knowledgeable businessmen who learned art to make money.

But seldom do the two go hand in hand. It just doesn't happen. Most of us are artists who did art because we enjoyed it... and later found we could make some money and share the wealth if we made it a "pseudo" business online. But eventually, once the clientele list grows to extraordinary sizes... things get out of hand.

Personally, I wish I could hire a secretary to answer my emails and post pics and updates for me. Or an apprentice who could do the base paint for me and build figures up for me, maybe prep the clothes, etc. I would have more time for work.

But once you start answering emails, doing work, ordering stuff, posting updates and pics, organizing parts, printing invoices or writing down addresses, shipping, prepping for shipping, etc.... the work tends to suffer a bit, as far as time allowed for it.

And then it leads to less emails answered or less posted updates... which in turn make the customers nervous... so it's a vicious cycle that can easily get out of hand. Especially for guys like us who have no earthly idea how to do business.

 

[KatyaR]

Makes a great deal of sense...of the webcomics I normally read, the best organized and fiscally successful of them are partnerships, one spouse handling the art and the other taking care of the other responsibilities. (or at least serving as cat herder to make the other responsibilities easier.)