07 Oct Can Cartoonists Make Money With The Internet?
With comic book sales in a slump and with newspaper readership steadily dropping, is it possible to be successful in comics or cartoons these days?
Certainly. In recent years a few have become quite successful, thanks to the internet. The internet is opening brand new doors for comics creators to explore. But while some doorways eventually lead to success, many others are proving to be dead ends. With the internet still in its infancy and technology changing so rapidly, there is not yet a well-trodden path that cartoonists can follow to digital success.
I’ll be part of a panel discussion at FallCon this afternoon where we will discuss this very thing. Since I’m an illustrator and animator, not a cartoonist, I’ve had to brush up on the issue. In my research I’ve found the following articles on the subject. Maybe some of them will be helpful to you aspiring cartoonists out there:
Can you make money posting your cartoons online? Here’s an interesting interview about comics and micropayments.
PVP creator Scott Kurtz discusses problems with the current syndicate system.
Here’s a blog totally devoted to helping artists make money with their webcomics. I don’t know whether the advice is good or bad, but it seems worth a once-over.
Comics guru and author Scott McCloud is trying some fascinating new things at his website. He writes that information wants to be cheap and briefly discusses Reinventing Web Comics.
Got any other links/articles to recommend? What are your thoughts? Post a comment and let me know.