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Making graphic novels?
What's the best option as far as drawing cartoons for a living or at least for supplemental income? I'm a middle-aged guy who absolutely hates his job. My workplace is disturbingly similar to "Dilbert." I can draw cartoons pretty well. I had an editorial cartoon published in the local paper. The problem there: I don't have a lot of political ideas to work with. A daily comic strip would be great but there are two problems with that: trying to compete against 40,000 other artists and coming up with something funny for every day of the week. Sure, "Cathy" and "Broom-Hilda" aren't funny, but I'd want to do better.
So that leaves either a web comic (not real crazy about that idea) or graphic novels. Does this sound interesting?: A "horror" story with a lot of humor in it, and more of a cartoony style. I seem to write better comedy when I write something serious, so I'd approach it that way. Would my book have a chance or would it sit there unsold on the shelf? Any Ideas/advice would be appreciated!
Oh, and this wouldn't be anime/manga either. I prefer to just work with my own style.
1 Answer
- Elaine MLv 77 years agoFavorite Answer
Actually, if you stick with your own humor you won't be copying anyone if you make the effort to be unique.
I started doing a strip, decided I was NOT going to duplicate what anyone else was doing, and in 5 years I've surprised myself at how little overlap I did with what's considered published 'funny' strips. What's in syndication isn't very funny at all, and seem to rehash the same 15 or 20 things ad infinitum.
Yes, you can do better. Ignore what's published and work on your own stuff. There are similar things to Dilbert (User Friendly comes to mind) and a wide range of subject matter. Take a look over at the Drunk Duck cartooning site for what people are doing.
As for sitting unsold on the shelf, it's up to a publisher to push the graphic novel. That's their job. If you self publish, you keep more of the profits but have to do work getting the word out. The print on demand is the better way to go. Posting a graphic novel OR cartoon strip up online is done first to get an audience, then publish your collected novel/strips. SluggyFreelance does it. Hark A Vagrant does it. Narbonic does it. Many do it that way and make money at it (the artist of SluggyFreelance makes a living at it).
