A greeting, and bio

[verias]

Good morning/afternoon/evening, depending on your part of the world.

My name is Keith W., illustrator of Mysteries of the Arcana (http://www.mysteriesofthearcana.com) and also author of the article that is, as of this posting, featured on the mainpage (http://forum.webcomicscommunity.com/index.php/topic,321.0.html).

My goal here is to tell you all a bit about myself, as well as hopefully answer the question "Who is this schmuck and why should I listen to what he has to say?".

So, let's start with the basics. I'm 30 years old, and have been an avid comic fan all my life. This actually requires some clarification. I was more of a fan of the business and medium, not the comics themselves. I was never much of one for buying and collecting comics.
I spent most of my time reading what I could about the business from comic related magazines, like "Heroes Magazine" (now defunct) and "Wizard Magazine".
My experiences with the comics business encompasses both good and bad, and my goal in the articles I'm writing is to impart some of my experiences onto others, hopefully saving them some heavy footwork.

In mid-2000 I was exposed to the webcomic medium, and later that year launched my first endeavor into the field. It was a little, poorly thought out adventure comic, inspired by several D&D sessions, which I titled, appropriately enough, PowerTrip. Due to both my unfamiliarity with working on a deadline, as well as my own lack of self-discipline, by 2003, it fell to the wayside, and eventually I just let it go entirely.

In 2005, I landed my first "work-for-hire" job as an artist, working on concept designs and pitch pages for a minicomic for a gentleman by the name of Darwin Garrison. This is important, because it was my first real "paying work" since I'd spent so much time trying to foot my way into the comics business. Also importantly, this work fell to the wayside, because of outside influences on Darwin's end. He had several things running at once, working with other artists as well, and he had gotten overwhelmed. I still keep in constant touch with him, as he has expressed interest in picking the project back up at some point.

In 2008 I was introduced to J. Gray through a mutual friend, and began work on Mysteries of the Arcana. I work closely with J, and have for about a year and a half total now, and yes, I do get paid, however, not a large amount. My other income comes from commission work and my work-for-hire endeavors, which keeps me quite busy at times. I'm also on contract to KnightShift Entertainment for a comic book series, though that project is presently on hold through the publisher.

It is noteworthy to mention that during this mentioned period, I worked as a manager, full-time, at a restaurant. Close to a year ago, circumstances changed, and I was let go from the job. It was at that point that I decided to take my art more seriously, and see what steps I could take to turn it into something I could make money with. I began sifting the vast depths of the internet, to find effective, and worthwhile venues in which to pursue "work for hire" art and comic related work.

So here it is, 1 year later, and the most important things I can say are as follows:
1: How I define the term "profession". I do make money from my art, I file taxes on it, and it is my -personal- primary source of income. However, I also have a loving girlfriend who helps me, as this is not an overnight success story. I make roughly 400-600 dollars a month on my art, when I am actively pursuing work-for-hire opportunities.
What I'm saying is this. To make it work, it takes work.
2: Don't rush out to quit your dayjob. With the expansion of comics onto the internet, as well as people willing to work for little, or no money, just to get exposure, it has heavily driven the offered payrates for work-for-hire artists down. This makes it important to constantly be actively looking for work opportunities. The larger your body of works, the stronger your portfolio, the better chances of being chosen for a job.
3: The 3 "P's". This is probably the ranting phrase no one likes to hear, yet every professional will tell you, and not only will I say it, I'll give you a primary illustration. Practice, practice, practice. To advocate this, I ask anyone reading this to go to http://www.mysteriesofthearcana.com and look at the first 6-10 pages, then look at the current ones. The level of artistic change on my own part still staggers me, but it came about simply by drawing every day, several hours a day, a task I had never really taken seriously until I signed on with J.

If you have any questions about my work history, how I go about finding work, what I mean about down-driven payrates, or anything at all, drop me a line here, or via messenger. I'm almost always available for answering questions, and hopefully you guys will stick around for the rest of this article series.


Regards,
Verias, a.k.a. Keith W.
Illustrator, Mysteries of the Arcana
http://www.mysteriesofthearcana.com

[Dr. BlkKnight]

Welcome to the site!

[verias]

Haha! Thanks BK, nice to see a familiar face.

[raerae]

Hi, welcome to the forums!

Hah, sadly your advice about not quitting one's dayjob is one I've been hearing since before I had a job. :lol: Certainly one I have down at the moment. Although it's really hard to find time to draw the the comic between commissions and dayjobs at times.

[amanda]

Hey, it's Keith!  Welcome to the fun ^.^

[verias]

Raerae,
Don't stress it. I heard a lot of that same schtick too, but when I did wind up jobless, I made up my mind to try and discern the ins and outs of this business and do what I love. Thus far, it's slowly building up, and I just hope others can take something away from my experience.

[Nuke]

Welcome! And what a helpful first few posts! Nice article, you're going to be a great contributor!

You're definitely right about not quitting your day job. Even if you are lucky enough to be one of the few that make a viable business out of your webcomic, it will take you years to build the fan base and the content up. Be patient, and do it on the side.

Also, simply by maintaining your own webcomic, I think everyone's getting the basics for the three Ps. I hear many describe working on a web comic as getting art lessons on crack and with deadlines. Just remember to always push yourself with every update.

[raerae]

Yeah, webcomics are a good way to get the 3 P's down. Whenever I hear people go 'I want to make a webcomic but I'm not good enough', I tell them to do it anyway. I think it's kind of evidenced by the art evolution thread we have in the art forum.

I do think webcomics are a good way to find your limits and test them.

[Dragon Powered]

Hey there Keith, glad to see you here.  I must be in the right place.