Distant work every person's dream. But without special skills, the income will be too small not to look for additional sources of income.
There are many types of earnings for people who have the skills, talent and ability. People with abilities who work remotely are called freelancers.
Many people who have an art education or even those who have brought their skills to the professional level without a university want to realize themselves. Now there is a situation where supply exceeds demand, as a result of finding a good place work is difficult for art specialists, so they go to the Internet for implementation.
Unfortunately, even on the Internet, a sad situation is now observed - there are few customers, and there are more than enough performers. But this does not mean at all that it is impossible to break through and take an honorable place in this profession. For this, you need to follow a few tips:
- Build a portfolio. This is the most important point, the so-called the starting point, without which your further development and income from your favorite business will not grow. Just put yourself in the place of the customer, you need interesting illustrations for an article about psychology or advertising so that the site attracts more users, you see a lot of performers who promise to do the job quickly and on time with high quality. But how can you trust this or that performer, if he did not provide a single work, maybe he is just a schoolboy who wants to deceive you. In general, remember the portfolio is your face.
- Do not make too expensive a price at the beginning of your career, low price will make you stand out competitive environment and attract customers, thanks to which you will gain a huge amount of experience and gain an excellent reputation. Well, when you are firmly on your feet, you can set your own rates, just don't overdo it.
- Try to be more flexible, don't wait to be found, try to actively offer your services to a wide range of customers, who knows, maybe one of them will be your client.
- On the initial stage try to take any orders, even if they are not to your taste. Thanks to this desire, you can be proud of yourself, because you can do any creative work, and so you will earn a reputation faster.
- If you are going to work through a freelance site, try to describe the questionnaire in as much detail as possible, the range of your work and skills, add a photo, such trifles will increase the credibility of customers in you.
Work, work and work again. Only the most assiduous, patient, sociable people who do not stand still and develop, look at their mistakes and correct them, will be able to make an excellent career in this area.
In addition to the freelance site, talented illustrators can at first upload their creations to microstocks, of course, the income is not great. On average, from 0.5 cents = 38 rubles to 1 dollar = 76 rubles, but this is a good starting point, besides, illustrations that customers did not like or did not find their application can be implemented there. We practically don’t have microstocks in Russia, so we have to upload works to foreign ones, but on the one hand, this is good, the audience there is wider. If you manage to get good reputation, you can sell your creations for 10, 20 dollars, and you will agree that 1600 rubles for one illustration is more or less a normal price.
Web comics as a way to make money
But talents of an artistic profile can draw not only illustrations, but also web comics. Therefore, the question that is relevant today is: “Is it possible to earn enough on web comics in Russia?” Before analyzing everything in detail, it is worth saying that in Russia comics as a genre are developing very slowly, we practically do not treat it as an art, unlike France, Germany or Japan, where it is recognized as the highest subject of art.
The first idea of a webcomic writer who wants to make money from it is to create a paid subscription. This idea works as follows, the user goes to your site, he is given access to either the first few pages, or pages with tempting events, and then to finish reading this creation, he must subscribe or buy an electronic comic. Ideally, this idea is simply excellent, but in reality it may not work, because copyright is still bad in our country, and if one person still pays you money, then there is no guarantee that he will not make it publicly available. Such an idea will work more effectively abroad than in Russia.
For example, there is an American manga and comics site that found a very interesting way to keep the reader on their toes. He publishes new comics, and deletes old ones after a certain time. And the reader hurries to this site so as not to miss the next issue with their favorite characters.
The most real way to make money on comics that you create on your own is to make money on the site where you will post the comic or in a group on social networks. Networks where you will publish.
- You can only make money on a webcomic site if you have at least 1000 unique visitors per month and your site is not hosted on a free platform like Ucoz.
- Advertising. The main income on the site revolves around advertising, the more visitors and fans you have, the more advertisers will offer you for advertising.
- Hiden advertisment. You can offer hidden advertising to advertisers, that is, for a certain amount you will depict one or another trademark in your comics.
- Sale of souvenirs. If you have a lot of fans, then perhaps many of them would like to have a mug or pillow with the image of their favorite characters and quotes.
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Andrey started doing comics in 2014 - then he opened a small island in a shopping center.
Now he has two stores of 150 m² in Stavropol and Krasnodar, in October 2017 he opened another store, and by the end of 2018 he plans to launch a franchise.
Asya Chelovan
talked to the owner of the comic book store
Andrey brought the idea to open a store for geeks from America. He went there in 2013 and was inspired by the popularity of Think Geek and Newbury Comics. Sink Geek specializes in geeky cultural merchandise, selling Doctor Who and The Big Bang Theory T-shirts, Star Wars figurines, gaming mice and keyboards, and office supplies. The Newbury Comics range is centered around vinyl and CDs, but they also sell posters, t-shirts, action figures, and accessories featuring popular characters.
Andrey himself has been fond of computer games and comics since childhood. In the US, he looked at the comic book industry and decided that this was a chance to turn his hobby into a source of income. I tried it and this is what happened.
room
Andrey rents premises in popular shopping centers with cinemas due to high traffic.
This has its drawbacks: repairs in such shopping centers can only be done at night, and goods can be delivered at night too. And even a video for his own YouTube channel, he can shoot only after closing shopping center. These are the terms of the lease: all work at night.
The cost of renting the premises is pegged to the dollar, but with the proviso that the price cannot be indexed by more than one and a half rubles a year. Now in the shopping center one dollar costs about 45 R. The landlord also takes an annual advertising fee - about 90,000 R.
Utility costs for one store - 30-50 thousand rubles, depending on the season. 80% of this amount is electricity: the store must have good lighting.
Premises for rent
Rent per month
320 000 R
640 000 R
90 000 R
Utilities per month
40 000 R
900 000 R
Equipment
As in any store, you need a cash register and merchant acquiring. About 30% of purchases in the store are made with cards.
To equip the store, you need stands for any small items such as stickers and key rings, as well as racks for clothes.
For larger souvenirs and comics, a different type of display case is needed. In total Andrey ordered 103 racks different types. They cost 472,520 R.
For rare collectible figurines, special closed display cases are needed. Without them, the action figures quickly become unmarketable as visitors can't help but toy with the rare collectible Batman figurine.
Store equipment
Shelving, 103 pieces
472 520 R
Seller's place
6350 R
Cash desk, acquiring
15 000 R
Staff
Now 22 people work for Andrey: sellers, logisticians, merchandisers, SMM managers, an auditor, an accountant-economist. The fixed minimum salary of the seller is 20,000 R, then - interest. During the high season, under New Year, "star" sellers receive more than 100,000 R.
In August 2017, Andrei paid salaries for 1.4 million rubles for all stores - this is without taxes. But these are not all expenses: for employees of the Krasnodar store who come from small towns, Andrey rents a private house close to the store.
Such concern is due to the fact that, according to Andrey, the staff is his biggest headache. The job of a comic book salesman looks deceptively simple. From the outside - you just chat and take a selfie with Thor's hammer, in fact - you spend 10 hours on your feet. You also need to be able to talk to people, select an interesting product for them and, no matter how ridiculous, sell.
Andrey is looking for new employees in several stages. First, he makes an advertising post on social networks. This post on Vkontakte is shown to people who are in thematic groups and comic books.
Everyone who responded and wrote a letter is sent a task. As a rule, you need to record a short video with a short self-presentation - tell a funny story from life, sing an excerpt from your favorite song. The video allows you to evaluate how sociable and charming a person is.
After completing the task, the applicant is invited to a personal meeting; if all is well, they are issued for a three-month internship. If everyone is satisfied with everything, then the contract is extended.
Store assortment
Now in Andrey's stores you can find any souvenirs related to the heroes of comics or games. The most marginal - cheap goods: stickers, calendars and badges. The margin on them is 300%.
Notebooks, mugs and clothes bring 150-200%. For comics and collectible figurines markup from 30 to 100%.
There are topics that do not lose popularity: star Wars”, “Star Trek”, “Back to the Future”, “Warcraft”, the heroes of the comics “Marvel” and “DC”. The popularity of goods with characters grows a little when a movie about them comes out. At the same time, there are always trends that you need to guess in order to earn money - for example, Minecraft.
Andrey monitors marginality, so he tries to order exceptionally large consignments of goods. In order not to be mistaken, he communicates with gamers and bloggers - people who have the opportunity to see the new product before the premiere. So far they have never been wrong.
For example, Andrei did not buy a crazy amount of goods with Pokemon - he settled on standard positions such as Pokeballs. There are no spinners in the store either. But there are attributes of "Minecraft" and "Far-edge".
Goods are brought from all over the world: from other cities of Russia, from the USA, China, Turkey. Andrey makes some of the goods himself: he has a small Foundry- silver figures of comic book characters. They also make wooden and plastic badges, mugs and some T-shirts on their own.
New lines of business
The peculiarity of working with comics made Andrey think about his own publishing house.
The fact is that the first volumes of comics are always in short supply, and the next ones, on the contrary, are too many. This is due to the fact that all volumes of comics are published in equal editions. Let's say 100 people buy the first volume of the comic book. Of these, only 70 will like the plot and buy next volume. Another 30 will want to know how it ends, and they will buy the third, and only 15 fans will reach the fourth volume.
Andrey wants to make a publishing house with more flexible system circulation formation.
Exhibitions
We talked with Andrey at the Igromir and Comic-Con exhibitions in the fall of 2017. This is Andrey's third trip to such an event. For the first time, he was looking for partners. The second and third time I came with the Lootcase project.
Andrey bought the Lutcase project from his partners in 2016. "Lutcase" is a box that contains a random set of geek paraphernalia - t-shirts, mugs, badges, posters. The color and composition of the box depends on the price.
The simplest box is green - it contains 6-8 items, it costs 1099 rubles. A cooler box - blue, 8-9 items, 1599 rubles. Purple - 10-12 items, 2199 rubles. The coolest is orange, 12-16 items for 2599 rubles.
According to Andrey, at the last Comic-Con he brought a truckload of boxes every day - that's about 1,500 pieces a day. This year the boxes also went well: in 4 days he sold more than 5,000 pieces. Some of the goods in the box are made on own production Andrew.
This year, Andrey shared a booth with friends who sell furniture for gamers, so he was able to sit in the main hall for reasonable money. For each of the four days of the exhibition, Andrei earned up to 1 million rubles, and spent only 714 thousand on the event.
According to Andrey, "Comic-Con" for him is an opportunity to show his goods, especially since he brings an unusual thing for Moscow. You can buy a box of "Lutcase" only on the Internet or directly in a Krasnodar store.
Muscovites Vasily Shevchenko and Ivan Chernyavsky on borrowed 30 thousand rubles. in 2011, they opened a comic book store. Now two points bring them about 0.5 million rubles. profit monthly
Vasily Shevchenko (left) and Ivan Chernyavsky, co-owners of the Chuk and Geek comic book store
RSUH graduates Vasily Shevchenko and Ivan Chernyavsky were never fans of comics, but they loved to read. In 2010, Shevchenko, who worked as an editor at the Komiks publishing house for four years, decided to change the type of activity. “I was just tired, just like Vanya, I was tired of working in the record label (music studio) Snegiri,” Shevchenko recalls in an interview with RBC. During a joint trip to India, the guys came up with the idea to open their own bookstore. “Some at the age of 18 dream of opening a bar, but we dreamed of our own bookstore,” Shevchenko explains.
Two racks at the start
Preparations for the opening took two months. Shevchenko's former employer managed to get a significant discount on a batch of comics, which were purchased with 30,000 rubles borrowed from friends. The shop itself was decided to open on the territory of the Novodel gallery in Bolshoy Palashevsky Lane. “This is a very old gift gallery that has long felt like it takes up a little more space than it wants,” Shevchenko explains the choice. “Before us, Pangloss sold foreign books here. So this place has always been sympathetic towards live book projects.” To get started, the gallery offered aspiring entrepreneurs two shelves and three free weeks of rental: from the opening on December 8, 2010 until the new year.
The meaningless name of the shop "Chuk and Geek", Shevchenko admits, was born in communication with friends: "It caused the most emotions and disputes." Friends of friends who learned about the store from social networks came to the opening of the store. A tiny note about the new bookstore appeared in Time Out and on some specialized sites. Shevchenko admits that at the start of the project, the partners used their acquaintances with might and main.
Figures "Chuk and Geek"
30 thousand rubles- initial investment in the first shop
1.5 thousand comics are presented in stores of the network
From 100 pages- volume of modern comics
3.5 million rubles per month - the revenue of two shops "Chuk and Gik"
800-900 rub.— average check
Near 5 thousand purchases per month are made in two shops
Source: company data
Already in December, sales amounted to 60 thousand rubles, which made it possible to return the debt taken at the start. In January, "Chuk and Geek" already had three racks, in March - four, and by the summer it occupied a separate room of 20 square meters. m, to which a warehouse of 50 sq. “Then comics were sold mainly by bookstores that made fantastic markups, and with a normal discount and the absence of insane greed, we managed to set prices much lower than book prices,” Shevchenko explains the rapid growth in sales. For the first three months, the guys themselves stood behind the counter, but then they hired a salesman. “I still remember how in the spring of 2011 I received a symbolic salary of 5 thousand rubles. in his shop,” Shevchenko recalls. “We invested everything we earned in expanding the range, living on what we earned freelancing as journalists. I was saved by the fact that I love three things: kefir, buckwheat and seaweed.
Comic book store economy
The increased interest of the metropolitan public in comics prompted Shevchenko and Chernyavsky to open a second point. “The opening of the first shop next door to the gallery allowed us to avoid many of the mistakes that we made when creating the new Chuk and Geek,” says Shevchenko. Maxim Andrianov, a new partner of Chuk and Geek, was looking for premises for a new shop. “The requirements were simple: central location, more space, adequate rent,” Shevchenko recalls. 80 sq. m was found in Klimentovsky lane near the Novokuznetskaya metro station.
Investments in the launch of the second point amounted to about 1.2 million rubles, of which 300 thousand rubles. went for repairs, 350 thousand - for the purchase of furniture and commercial equipment, and 550 thousand - for rent payments before opening. “We were offered bookcases from 350,000 to 2 million rubles,” Shevchenko says. “I didn’t understand the difference, but we learned that money can be invested in a project endlessly.” About 1.1 million rubles. required for the purchase of the first batch of goods. Already in the third month of operation, the new point reached breakeven. This is largely due to the fact that on a large area of the second "Chuk and Geek" not only comics are sold, but also ordinary books in the genre of science fiction, fantasy, children's books, related products, such as designers and key rings.
Now both shops bring about 3.5 million rubles. revenue per month. The average check in a store in the Novodel gallery is 900 rubles, on Novokuznetskaya - 800 rubles. Total checks is about 5 thousand per month, of which 15% is provided by an online store opened in 2012. The backbone of the Chuk and Geek audience is young people aged 14 to 25 (60%). “There are slightly more boys than girls,” Shevchenko says. “There are some super-weird characters, but they’re cool—once two big, bearded men in kangaroo costumes showed up.”
Vasily Shevchenko (above) and Ivan Chernyavsky, co-owners of the Chuk and Geek comic book store. (Photo: Vlad Shatilo for RBC)
Chuk and Geek has many regular visitors whom Shevchenko knows by face and by name. "I have always admired family business in Europe where the buyer knows the seller. Yes, we are small shopkeepers, but I am not ashamed of it,” Shevchenko smiles. Good personal relationships with the buyer and within the team, according to him, help the business more than advertising and various motivational programs.
"Chook and Geek" - oldest shop comics in Moscow and the most hospitable, says Artem Gabrelyanov, co-owner and Chief Editor Bubble Publishers - the largest manufacturer original Russian comics. “You can often see a situation where the owners bake a cake for their regular customers or treat them to hot coffee in the winter cold. Chuk i Gik is more than just a store. It has become a second home for many comic book lovers."
The average markup at Chuk and Geek is 50% versus 100% at ordinary bookstores, Shevchenko says: “Now we buy comics directly from publishers who ask us not to dump. We can put a price of 880 rubles, but the publisher asks for 920 rubles. The business operates as an individual entrepreneur Ivan Chernyavsky and pays tax under the simplified taxation system (15% of the difference between income and expenses).
An average of 2.2 million rubles is spent on the purchase of goods. per month. Comics are bought into the store every week, at least once a month a large supply is made. Unlike the book market, where payment is based on the fact of sales, comic book publishers ask for a 100% advance payment. “We usually try to keep 500 thousand rubles in reserve in order to be able to buy something suddenly,” Shevchenko says. About 320 thousand rubles are spent on rent. per month, for the wages of four salespeople, an accountant - 200 thousand rubles. About 30 thousand rubles are spent on advertising. taxes and sales tax- up to 90 thousand rubles. per month. Of the average profit of 500 thousand rubles. per month, Shevchenko and Chernyavsky keep half for themselves, and invest the other in business development.
The interior of the Chook and Geek comic book store. (Photo: Vlad Shatilo for RBC)
Not only sales
Back in 2014, up to 35% of the assortment of "Chuk and Geek" were comics on foreign languages. But due to the devaluation, the price for them has more than doubled, so now the assortment is almost 100% made up of domestic products (including translated ones). At the end of 2015, the co-owners of Chuk and Geek became partners and investors in the new Jellyfish Jam comics publishing house, which was organized by Beata Kotashevskaya, a former employee of Chuk and Geek. “So far, only three people work in it: me and Beata as editors and translators and Technical Director", Shevchenko says. The main advantage of the new publishing house is the partnership with Marvel. “We managed to grab some good licenses,” Shevchenko boasts, without revealing how he did it. According to him, in 2015, Jellyfish Jam released several comics - Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy - with a total circulation of 50 thousand copies, of which 30 thousand have already been sold. Shevchenko estimates investments in the launch of the project at 1.5 million rubles.
“The tandem of the store and the publishing house gives greater independence and stability: sometimes the publisher feeds the store, sometimes the store feeds the publisher,” Mikhail Bogdanov, director of the St. Petersburg comic book publishing house Komilfo and the twenty-eighth store, tells RBC. “Some comic publishing projects require so much investment that you have to take out loans until the project is completed – the store becomes the only source of income that helps the company stay afloat.”
Many believe that the United States is the birthplace of comics. In fact, this is not true at all. The first stories in pictures appeared on the territory of Europe in the distant XVI century. Then in Spain they began to produce the so-called "pictures for the people." Most often, the first comics displayed religious themes, but "comics" were also produced on secular subjects. The new literary and artistic genre of art was called hallelujah. The volume of such a work was 48 episodic pictures with captions.
The very first "large-scale" production of "stories in pictures" was launched in the French town of Epinal in the 19th century. In total, 600 different stories were "published", each of which consisted of 16 episodes. And from 1830 to 1836, comics about the adventures of Jabot and Crepin were published in Switzerland.
In 1892 comics finally come to America. The San Francisco Examiner publishes the first American comic strip, Bear Cubs and Tiger. The twentieth century was a turning point in the history of comics in the United States. At this time, the main genres were already defined - adventure, action, horror, detective stories. And in 1938, a new genre of comics appeared - the adventures of superheroes with superhuman abilities and fighting evil. And the first character of such stories was the world-famous Superman. The period from 38 to 56 of the last century was called the "Golden Age of Comic Books". At this time, after Superman, there were about four hundred different superheroes. Some of them are known to this day. In the 60s of the XX century, a new player appeared on the comic book market - Marvel (founded in 1939, but received universal recognition only in the 60s). At this time, such world-famous characters as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk and Thor are created.
The USA is not the birthplace of "picture stories", but it is to this country that we owe the emergence of a new popular genre - comics about the adventures of superheroes.
At the end of the 20th century, comics expanded due to a new genre that was gaining popularity - Japanese manga. It should be noted that this species picture stories has become very widespread in our country.
The comic book genre itself is an interweaving of two completely different, at first glance, areas - literature and. It is also interesting that some comics do without text at all. The pictures in them are arranged so logically and consistently that there are no difficulties in "reading" them. A striking example of a "story without words" is a comic book from the 70s by the famous French author Jean Giraud called "Arzak".
Perhaps enough history. It's time to get down to business. Rather, to several business ideas that can be implemented with the help of which do not lose their popularity in the 21st century.
The first business idea is to open a comic book store
Organization similar business not much different from opening a bookstore. The only difference is that selling comics is somewhat more difficult. It is very important to be a fan of this literary and artistic genre yourself, to understand genres and characters, to know the target audiences of certain comics. After all, today's market for stories in pictures is incredibly diverse. Everything is presented here - from short sketches about the adventures of another adventurer to entire novels in pictures or huge series with an evolving plot.
You can, of course, start with everything at once. But it is better, in our opinion, to allocate a certain niche for yourself, and only then, gradually, expand. In our time, the most relevant comics about superheroes (which never lost popularity) and Japanese manga. Separately, it must be said about the original American comics on English language. Conduct a survey of potential customers - are they ready to read "works" in the original? If so, then the range of products in your store will expand significantly. After all, many comics are not printed in Russian.
The room of the future comic book store should be beautifully and brightly decorated. Signage design and should immediately speak about the focus of the store. Inside you can hang posters with the heroes of the most popular comics. Everything is simple and clear here. But the location of the store should be considered more seriously. It should be located not so much in a place where a large number of people gather, but where your the target audience. The main audience of customers in our country are schoolchildren and students. Occasionally young people under the age of 30 years. In this regard, we are far behind the United States, where almost all segments of the population are consumers of comics - from children to pensioners. Therefore, you need to open a comic book store near schools, universities, colleges, cinemas.
It is not worth counting on excess profit. Since this genre in our country is not yet as popular as in the same States. Comics will become more of a profitable hobby than a main activity. Although, everything is in your hands.
As for the assortment of goods, it should not be limited to magazines. Add here collectible figures of superheroes, and animated series based on comics, various related paraphernalia (T-shirts, scarves, baseball caps), and then you will be able to increase the profit of your store by 1.5-2 times.
Another way to start a business is to organize an online comic book store. The difference is in the uselessness of the premises, but in the need to organize a delivery service and electronic payment.
The second business idea is the organization of a comic book library
Your task is to create a library that will contain hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of comics of various genres and times. From classics to modern series, from children's books to serious publications for adults.
To organize such an institution, you will need the following attributes. First, the room. Its size depends on the planned scale. Best of all, "take with a margin" for expansion in the future. Secondly, it is necessary to put the racks where the comics will be located. Thirdly, a computer is needed to keep records of comedians, customer base and counting financial indicators. Fourth, we need the comics themselves. It is best to start the library when you already have at least a thousand good comics. You can buy them in specialized publishing houses or in comic book stores.
Earnings will come either from paid rental of comics, or from the entrance fee to the reading room (if you do not want your comics to be taken home), or from paying subscriptions for a certain period. What to choose from this (or even come up with new way profit) - it's up to you.
The third business idea is to open a comics club
This is the largest business opportunity. It can combine the above ideas with the addition of many new elements. To be a member of such a club, a member must purchase club card, which is issued for a certain period (for example, for a year or a month).
And in order to attract the maximum number of club members, you must offer them a truly grandiose set of a wide variety of comic elements. It should have its own comic book library, a theme store, and a cinema for screenings of new films and animated series based on comic book plots. In addition, you can organize some themed games, contests with prizes or parties on certain days. In general, to recreate a unique atmosphere for lovers of "stories in pictures".
Hello!
I decided to send a question to your section, maybe you can advise me something?)
Question about creativity.
The fact is that I am finishing my studies as a designer, because of an illness, it happened to me with a break, so I am not quite a few years old. During the breaks, I managed to work a little, never as a designer, but as an illustrator and a little with applications and games. That is, design is not even my specialty, although it is somehow interesting and useful to me. At the same time, I am not one of those, I don’t know, happy or vice versa, creative people who have nothing of their own. In addition to the usual trendy squiggles, I want and draw comics, although I'm just starting out and I don't have anything very popular and finished, but a lot of stories and inspiration and good productivity. For the most part, from these works for myself, I draw ideas and grow the skill, which I then use in commercial work. But I have no illusions, to be honest, that comics will ever feed me. I talked quite a lot in this environment, and just looked at how the authors worked, and I see that such non-commercial ideological things bring little money. There are a lot of webcomics, a lot of printed ones too, it’s difficult to become noticeable there, prints are now also sold through intermediaries and so, and, as far as I can judge by prices, this is not very big income although I may not know. In general, how to explain this, it is important for me not so much to make a commercial product, if we talk about comics, but to express my thoughts accurately enough and tell the story that I consider necessary and useful to tell. And I think I will make certain concessions to make this thing understandable to a wider mass of people, of course, but I don’t think it will be so trendy or popular idea, in order to provide me well financially, that is, I mentally prepare to simultaneously draw for someone else, and commercial things, but to be honest, this idea and the need to constantly break makes me depressed. In addition, perhaps this is the specificity of the fact that I worked only in my own country, and it is very poor, but I came across the fact that the work of an artist is not very appreciated, there is a lot of dumping and it is insidious, and you have to literally gnaw out even a small amount of money with your teeth for their own work, because there is an opinion that it’s like the process itself is just a joy for me, and that it’s very easy, and that it’s still not at the level that top studios have, so you don’t have to pay normally. In general, a lot of problems.
And, if we take the sphere that interests me, the authors of comics, then I don’t even know, it seems, a single person who would earn a living from this. I mean, people of my level, not very famous figures. I mean, I can't figure out if it's even possible to live on this, on comics or on non-commercial prints, just as an author and as an artist, except for a small chance, which is still very small, that I'm some kind of terrible nugget who is terrible good luck and everything will be fine. In general, I understand that with a diploma, I will be sort of a slightly more status specialist and will be able to try to look for a better paid job, but I know that I still won’t be able to get carried away with some commercial project with all my heart, and I will only dream, how to get home as soon as possible and draw your projects for another working day. I mean, I'm not even sure what it is. a good idea, to count on it, and that it is worth planning something like that, because my health is far from so hot. Well, at the same time, you know, all these stories about the fact that no one needs you and your world and your ideas at all, blah blah, and so they have already been fully drawn, the world needs commerce and salable products, and the Lord of the Rings has already been written and the whole manga has already been drawn.
In the end, I feel like I've been lied to.
Well, I aspired so much, I went through so much, in order to do the work of my life, which I really love very much, which brings me inspiration and happiness, and in black periods it was the only one that supported me, and it seemed to me that I most happy man on earth when I first entered art or when I first got my first job. But the reality is too harsh, I can't feed myself on this. I cannot provide a normal standard of living for myself. According to reviews, I have a good level of work and good taste, and everything is in place, but in the process there are a lot of different difficulties, which is why I don’t have money, and a continuous blockage of offers to work "for PR" or for micro money. And I want to at least eat tasty food sometimes. Not to mention I thought it was terrible prestigious profession, but it turned out that it was quite the opposite, and, it seems like a doctor or a lawyer or someone else is much more important, and why society needs me is not clear. I understand that this is again not entirely true, and Mass culture shapes public opinion, and it's as important as journalism, I guess. But on the other hand, I heard too often that I am a parasite, and that just as a toy will be successfully sold without an artist, because sometimes it’s interesting to play just with squares, so society will successfully live without artists, because it’s just leisure. Not to mention those artists who do not fulfill the social order for popular things now, but something of their own, like Kafka, scribbles into a box.
I even began to think between times that maybe, well, I’ll finish my studies and retrain, for example, as a programmer. I'm kind of good with logic and exact sciences too, so in theory it's not a problem, but I really love to draw with all my heart, and my only motivation here is only money and discouragement from the art market. In fact, the idea of retraining also makes me discouraged, but maybe then I can still provide for myself, and life has taught me that this is more important, alas, than my favorite thing, although I doubt that an unloved profession will not drive me into depression even more. In general, a stupor and I don’t know how to be here and whether there are any chances for enlightenment.
Maybe you can advise something?
Thank you for your attention and time.
(and yes, anonymous, if anything, please)
I'll show you!)
Here's a couple, I guess. In fact, people complain a lot that it's too dark, and I have more positive things, honestly. It’s just that when I draw something commercial, I get the maximum here (I paint this for stocks out of grief), and this is my limit of self-motivation, self-persuasion and attempts to understand what the general consumer needs and what they want from me.
Just really don’t show it, otherwise a bunch of trolls follow me, they will find out - they will eat it with jam. ^^
For my part, I will write that in the attachment to the second letter there was a smartly drawn comic book. Those. The author knows how to draw perfectly, the pictures are interesting, marketable, everything is fine with them. (I would even say that it’s too good for a big comic - you draw a whole story of such quality - but there are people who do not feel sorry for the work.
So:
Yes, there are people living on drawing comics. At least in Europe and America - there is. I won’t say that there are millions of them directly - but thousands - for sure.
And they know how to earn a salary for themselves and a cat, and usually a baby or two is possible. I personally know two of them. Of which one just went the way described above6 drew stories in pictures, so funny-philosophical, and dumped them on the Internet. When the number of pictures and their fans reached a critical mass, the publisher noticed him and began to do what they do in such cases: a book, another book, and then a handbag, a mug, a T-shirt, and everything else.
The other came second possible ways, conceived the plot, worked it out in its entirety (by the way, he was taught this, because he graduated from the university in the animation class). I created a normal such thriller with all the cases, and drew it. Received such a volume-history, and found a publisher. Then another year I painted the next one. Both painted, while working on a salary "in another place" - namely, a seller at the checkout in a supermarket. Because until it was published, there was nothing to live on. starting from the second published book, income from books began to be enough to draw the next one every year, or rather, he alternates - one year he draws a large one, the next year - 4-5 small ones.
Of course, any more or less fine story finds its publisher. And of course, some stories sell better than others. For example, there are a great many touching and wonderful stories, but the author of the story tekkonkinkreet quickly broke through to special fame, with this comic book with a total length of 600 pages, and all subsequent ones, passionately developing the theme of orphans living on the street. (Or rather, in the new books he now has orphans living in an orphanage). And of course, many have already said that he draws absolutely brilliantly, but hundreds of other Japanese people draw just as brilliantly. And he broke through, of course, because he took on the theme of poor orphans on the street. Well, yes. May be so. But they made a full-length cartoon out of his comics, and now he not only lives on his work, he is also a completely non-poor person.
And yeah, well, of course, the mouse comic book became famous because of fascism and a concentration camp. Well, yes, well, yes, if it were about anything else, no one would be interested in these mice. But a comic about it - they should have noticed, they wrote about it everywhere, everyone read it, and now the author has succeeded. Many condemned him for the fact that in such a "cheap" way he "gained fame for himself." However - the idea is brilliant and the author is well done. I could draw anything, but I drew this, and developed the theme in such an interesting way, thought through all the details.
And dada, of course, there are still such cunning ones who sit down for sex, because "this market never has a crisis" - they settled well. But they also succeed there, because they draw their pictures with all their heart, because they like and want to draw exactly this, and their imagination and inspiration work well in this direction. And the fact that there is a market for this has never been a secret. At the same time, it would seem that there is such a market, such a market, but the famous "fathers" of this genre, who are known there and do not get out of it for decades - there are 20 known people, and not 1000 and not 10,000. this is what it is. that not everyone can.
And that's how much you don't shout about "successful topics", and our Yamiri (/Jan Michael Richter) became famous for such a banal story that it's hard to believe. His wife left, and he drew a long and muddy comic about the suffering of a man in four walls, who had just been abandoned by a woman. All the details of male whining, self-pity, interspersed with bouts of anger, drains, boredom, etc. 160 pages of whining. However, it has been reprinted and sold for more than 10 years and does not fall in the ratings.
In general - yes, it is necessary, of course, to find good topic. Which will potentially be of interest to more than 10 readers, and if all this has some other deep social or political aspect, this will also contribute to sales.
But on the other hand, experience shows that any topic can work if done skillfully, with soul and with the right amount of wit and depth. Look, my beloved Bastien Vives sells everything in general - both a ballerina girl and love story in a swimming pool.
In general, yes, there are many topics in the world on which you can draw comics so that they are published and sold, and this is enough for the life of the author. How realistic this is in Russia - I do not know, and I am even ready to believe that it is unrealistic. But we live in the age of the Internet - if you have a good story, translate it into some German-French-English (you yourself or give money to someone) and send it to all publishers - you will definitely find someone with a good book.
And of course, on the one hand, no one said that it would be easy. Drawing (any) is work within one human resource. Those. There are boundaries beyond which you cannot draw. There are some hours in a day that we can draw - multiply them by top speed, when the quality does not fall yet, plus for maximum productivity and inspiration - and you can’t draw more of this, at least kill yourself. On the one hand, this is not so little at all (for all sorts of Mobius and Manar, you can see HOW MUCH you can draw in some 40 years, if you sit and draw continuously - do not review it !!!). But it's a job, one of those. when you get up every day, sit down at the table, and the first thing you do for many hours is draw-draw-draw. And happy that there is something to draw. But it's a favorite thing.
Those. You can live on it, but as long as you live by your own work, you will work hard for a long time (several decades) a lot every day. And then you can continue to live more calmly on the results only if you sell what you drew earlier in time.
However, it seems to me that the whole drama of Russian illustrators is not in this at all.
In Europe, where they teach drawing in a certain genre, they always immediately teach themselves to sell themselves. From the very beginning. For me, it was once a revelation - that's how these guys know what to do already at the age of 20. where to hit, where to meddle, so that their work appears here and there. It turns out that they are not only explained this in detail - they are also helped to get through there, this is part of the program. I went to study - they will teach you and show you the ways where to apply it. All schools and professors have their own "channels" - there are galleries that regularly make exhibitions, and publishing houses, and agents. and professors give their students a chance to show their work there, and offer here. And in these exhibitions they take - at first one exhibition for 20 people. Then, of those from whom at least something was bought, they make an exhibition for 8-10 people, then for three, then a personal one. And so a person, a year or two before graduation, already exhibited in several places. And, if he is persistent and asks for more, brings new work, offers, then they take him more, put him in the plan, begin to apply. the same with illustrations - they show a portfolio of works of those wishing to participate to a familiar agent or publisher. When the illustrator gets the first assignment, you can still go to the professor and discuss how to do it better, so that they would give him more. And again, these are already doors that open, and it remains to climb through them. Of course, everyone should climb through on their own - to catch chances, to be active. but at least it's clear where to go! This first step is always the decisive one.
So I recently looked with interest at the blog of another such girl who is studying at a comic book school in Brussels. Chuuya, she receives a specialized education, she is made precisely the author of comics, not just an illustrator. And I look and think) once again the same thing) - this is necessary. So young, and she already has such a clear style. And she obviously already knows where to row. and rowing there quite actively. And so she writes about the tasks that she was given - they are offered to develop characters there. To wholesale these characters to settle in some kind of story, and to develop stories with them. And they have already been given some principles according to which types can be built - for example, among others, "the inverted hero." the girl there turned the fairy tale about the little red riding hood upside down, and her main character is a poor little wolf cub in a red hood - mimimi. But they explain the whole principle to them, how this hero is created, what options there are, what he could be. What could be the plots in which it will participate. And I remember how Dominik studied at his animation school, and they were taught storyboarding there: building and developing a plot to any scale, with any number of branches and parallels, and how to make the reader's interest grow regularly, and the tension does not fall, and. etc. In the same place, they are already taught to think in the direction of "no one needs this" or "this will be sold." not like "draw only the box office", but they teach you to "correct" stories, characters and plots, and direct them in the right way. for example, so that they do not fall out of some target group. That is, for example, if you "feed" one group, then feed it with what it likes to eat, within the framework of the genre.
In general - yes, where they live on it, there part of education is the science of how to live on it. They help students count. On the one hand, I taught students how to plan a project so that it had a chance to meet the deadline. On the other hand, she herself took a course quite recently - how to calculate the cost of an illustration, based on all possible rights, limited, such and such, there are these prices for each illustration - 15 pieces possible. And the course was for students of an illustrative university in the second year. :-) I was sitting, and like a schoolgirl, I tried to understand everything, finally, even now. And before that, I myself traded my illustrations in three versions - I was guided by them - exclusive, non-exclusive, and exclusive with a limited time. And taaam...
And it is clear that people in the local market live in a completely different way. They do not have the feeling that they were deceived, but there is a feeling that they need to work and try - but there are several obvious directions in which to row, and then it will work out. And if it doesn’t work out for a long time, there are specialists who can look and say what a person is doing wrong. Because there is some mysticism in the behavior of the market, but not to such an extent that it is not at all clear where the mistake is. For some
the average level, when certain rules are followed, everyone rakes out.
And I understand that this is not enough for those who simply dive into this market. I don’t have enough either, because I studied for something else. And therefore, in German realities, I still know how to sell something else (which I no longer do) better than illustrations. I still feel this gap. But I see that it can be replenished. You can look at colleagues who managed to sell something similar to mine. And watch how they acted, where they started, in what order they did what. Many things can be asked and you will receive an answer - many do not feel sorry (this is especially expressed in Berlin, here everyone is very generous in sharing contacts and advice).
I can't advise the author of comics in Russia. This is a question for you dear readers- Do you know at least one Russian author who would live in Russia to draw his comics?
I would advise such an author to create good stories, translate them into languages, and try to publish in those countries where it makes sense. And no one bothers to publish the Russian version in parallel.
And I advise you to learn English, communicate with colleagues in other countries, ask them questions, make friends with blogs. So that someday he would be invited to a project as a friend, or share a job, or a recommendation, or an order, or some other chance.
And when the first successes appear - go to where he was published, go to exhibitions (all kinds of comic-con), make friends there with like-minded people. In the same place, by the way, to new publishers to show their new things. And ask them in the forehead, who lives on it and how. :-) I think that a lot of interesting things can be learned. :-)
P.S. And stock is not the place to make any money until you make money from comics. It is an erroneous opinion that drains are some kind of place. where you can earn "easy money" on fine "production waste". Someone earns on stocks - but these are those who wholeheartedly put a lot of work into it, with the same return as in any other work. This cannot be done "on the side" or in between. If you need to earn a little money to have something to live on. while you draw your comics in the evenings - by God, it’s easier to really become a seller in a supermarket or a technical designer somewhere. There will immediately be some kind of measured salary that you can count on. And drains are things that need to be patiently watered and looked after for a long, long time before something blooms there. And if you don't like it, then it's better not to even try.
