The reality check
Many kids grow up reading comics, watching animations and playing video games. At some point in their teen years, they’re asked “what do you want to do for a living”?
So, they ask themselves, is there a way for their adult job to involve movies, games or the stories they enjoy? There sure is! – You could be compose music for video games, draw concept art for movies, write comics… The possibilities are endless!
Back in the 80s (when I was born), through to around 2020, a career in art and design seemed to be a tough, yet viable option. So, I went for it. I decided I was going to be an artist!
From my late teens onwards, I spent 5 years in higher education, obtaining various qualifications such as A level in art, an advanced NVQ in Art and Design and a degree in Graphic Media. Back in the late 90s- early 2000s, I was told these were a necessity in order to get a full-time employed job.
I then went on to sample various art-related jobs such as: graphic designer, web designer, fine artist, freelance illustrator, and tattoo artist. Although, as much as I hate to admit it, making money with my artistic skills was seriously tough! It was especially hard to find the type of work I that wanted – creating anime inspired art. I perseverated regardless. Somehow, I garnered a few victories along the way: I built my own websites, I authored several best-selling how to draw manga books, a colouring book, created art for games, sold my artwork to hundreds of customers at comic conventions, occasionally receiving convention VIP guest invites…
After 20 struggling years, scraping a living from art, Covid happened in 2020. This was a further blow to my artistic journey by putting the final nail in the coffin to my tattoo business. A venture I’d kept up, part-time at least, for over 10 years.
I decided to instead create art to sell online and at offline events. It was perfect timing and it started to work! Sales began increasing for the first few years and it looked like I might finally be on my way to making the artistic dream sustainable. Things were finally looking up.
But then, the biggest disaster yet. AI became a thing in 2023. As a primarily digital artist, I could no longer compete with AI image generation algorithms, which could pump out an entire high-end portfolio of artwork in a single afternoon. My sales halved. The next year, they halved again. My predictions for 2025? Sales could certainly half once more!
The situation right now is completely unsustainable. Life has been like surviving on a sinking ship for decades, frantically throwing out water with a bucket to stay afloat. But now my bucket has a hole and meanwhile I’m being hit by tsunamis!
Where do I go from here?
I spent a long time wondering if I should be honest. Should I publicly admit to these struggles or fake the persona of a flourishing, in-demand artist? After all, maybe a new client will stop by and want to hire me? Therefore, I’d best look busy, in-demand and of high-value!
However, it’s been years since a decent, highly-paid work enquiry landed in my email inbox via this website. A site which receives only a modest 30 views per day. And so far as the occasional sale via the site’s shop, I don’t think most potential customers would even read this post, or particularly care whether or not I was some big-name artist or a struggling nobody.
The world now changes daily. At least online. Every day, people are bombarded with so much new content that anything I write here will be forgotten within 24 hours. I’ve now come to terms with the fact, sadly, this means I’ll never sustain a level of notoriety and significance among the changing online landscape. The good thing, however, is that it means there’s now a new level of freedom to say pretty much anything I want. No one cares. Or at least I don’t care if people are bothered by my words.
And so, at the end of 2024 I decided to post weekly about my current plight on my Youtube channel. Knowing full well that I am horrendous at presenting video content and hate being in front of a camera! Even though I only update this blog 2-3 times per year, I much prefer writing to speaking! Alternative social networks like Instagram completely dried up for me too, so I figure I’d better start making videos or otherwise my online presence will completely vanish.
My channel is there to discuss how to or if I can make a living as a fulltime artist moving forward. I’ve given myself until the end of 2025. If I can’t figure out a way to make art pay a living, it’ll be an end to a 25 year long journey.
2025 so far is bit of a s#!t show
Can I be honest again? This year is a disaster! Many back-to back disappointments. I’m going to list them in case anyone else is crazy enough to try making it as an artist in 2025, so that they know what they might be up against!
I’ve spent 52 out of 70 days so far ill with not 1, not 2, but 3 separate flus! As a freelancer, this is not good news as it means time out recovering means time not working / earning. There is no sick pay, or being able to go to work, doing the bare minimum and still get paid for the day regardless.
My laptop kept freezing and eventually wouldn’t start. I couldn’t work until I was resolved. It took 3 days for me to fix but at least I didn’t need any new parts.
I applied to sell with the online art gallery/ retailer: ‘Art Finder’. They said no.
I wrote to a number of illustration agencies to ask for representation. No replies.
I applied for several full-time related jobs via LinkedIn, e.g. creating game assets for E-Slot and Casino games. I even tried a few cold emails to similar companies. Barely received any rejection replies and no interviews.
After having built up a few decades of digital art experience, I thought I’d try offering Photoshop Art Tuition to students via crowd sourcing. Even with the first lesson given for free! No enquiries.
Art Grants
I discovered a potential opportunity- Art grants. Arts council England offers up to £12,000 to level up your art business. This was just what I needed!
I literally spent days crafting the perfect application, detailing all the things I would do to help get myself deal with the incoming tsunamis; coaching, building a new website, creating a new selection of works, market research etc. I waited. Months later, I received a reply. “No”. Since I had a chance to apply one more time, I tried again. I studied previous successful applications and adapted mine to fit, I went through my entire application form with a fine-tooth comb making sure it was spotless- that I put forward a compelling case, that every penny I asked for would be accounted for and worthwhile, tangible deliverables would be ready to show after finishing my levelling up process. “Someone has to get the grant, so why not me?”, I thought. Again, the answer was “No”. I was disappointed and confused.
I did all I could to put my best foot forward. It wasn’t enough. Instead grant funding was given to projects such as “Research Trip to Nashville to explore Queer Country Music”, “Exploring Alexithymia as an Autistic Arab Writer” and “LGBTQI+ Zimbabwe portraiture”!
You know what I learned? 20 years of struggling to make it as an artist, 20 years of practicing my craft and sacrificing a stable lifestyle without ever asking anything from anyone, until now. And then I’m basically told, “Fuck off you’re not woke enough to be an artist”!
Winning Awards
On a positive not, I am now officially the 2024 UK Manga artist of the year!
It’s true, but to be honest, it’s not really positive – it’s more like a scam.
“Lux life magazine” contacted me to tell me I was shortlisted, and then that I’d won this so call prestigious artist award… They then they wanted my money to make it ‘official’!
Basically, it was one of these ‘pay-for status’ awards whereby some random entity sets itself up, puts on an awards event then charges people to be a part of it! On this occasion, I was curious to find out if I could still receive an award before the hard-sell was inevitably introduced.
While I did receive an award, I wasn’t featured in their newsletter or whatever. And you know what? I don’t care. No one cares. No one in the history of humanity has ever gone to Lux Life to find out which UK manga artist is worth paying attention to this year! And ironically, I’ve only ever produced about 6 pages of manga (comics) in my life!
As I mentioned in my last blog post, it’s hard to know what to do next. Both in terms of, “what to draw” and how to make a living from the only thing I know- producing art. So, in the meantime, I’m working on my personal project to create Total Blast– my 2 Player head-to-head card game.
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