Should I start up running Mephistos 5 in Feb or March? I half considered January- but common sense says- Its still my sabbatical time, I have a friend over from Japan- I will be writing/ drawing Mephistos 6 and January is an immensely good time to advertise your shop as most people have just got their xmas money in. Drop all your prior sales a $5 off coupon over a certain amount as a pressie, and its usually a fairly good time of year for sales. I thought Feb- but still dont know how well everyone will have set up after VATMOSS causing possible world wide reset probs with platforms [including inkblazers] but wondered if March was waaay late. Im trying to stay positive at the moment- and hope that ill still be doing work that i can enjoy and live off in a few years time. I guess Ive been doing illustration since 2003, but it feels like a big upheaval every few years where I come out of a phase of work half dead and having to look in another direction. My first was 3 years of childrens book illustration with an awful publisher. the second was after starting a masters and I found myself drawing manga style again and this got me back into illustration positively. But in 2009 when the recession started- This was around the time jobs from a lot of my usual sources- councils and museums started drying up as funding dwindled. I ended up having less illustration jobs. Also editoral jobs changed and moved away from magazines to digital. Editors commissioned less artwork. My comics and conventions side picked up between 2009 2012- I took up a job with a bunch of film directors with little interest in comics except they were cool at the time. I left after 3 years, work incomplete, but feeling free finally. I still have one client who I look to- but most of my work is now based on my own IP [and even more so next year]- but when the VATMOSS comes in- I only have a few years before they decide to put it on physical sales too- so yet again, change is on the books. I know that were never going to not have to keep up with the changes in the world, but I do feel very tired sometimes. I feel as if this will push us backwards- Im going to have to look for illustration work again in an ever dwindling pool of funded work. And Im going to have to start being inventive about where I look for work again. I think the tax and the convoluted way you have to sign up will set a barrier which will have a resounding effect on the current status of artists. Its either going to make it dry up- or its going to explode free art. Its going to probably make working as an artist a bit of a snob level like illustration 10 years ago- where it was pretty much london portfolio and interviews which meant you had to have certain resources at hand to actually get the job in the first place. With the internet firmly in place- I think the multitude of practicing artists will still be around- but art will end up having little worth because its troublesome to earn through it. Which will mean it will become harder and harder for earning artists to negotiate good fees- why pay if you can persuade a newbie to give you art for exposure? I guess I will have to find that accountant. I guess I will have to apply to be VAT registered. But for now- I am going to have to try and earn as much as I can- save and hope that when i do need to do those things- It will be still worth running my business and I will have enough set by in case it fails. Because what I was thinking today- underneath trying to be positive.. was - why am I still doing this?
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 08:03:51 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015