Did You Say You'e an Artist?

You Can't Make Any Money Doing That

Of course, I’ve been drawing since childhood, as all children do, but as I grew older, my interest in drawing stuck with me when most of my friends went on to pursue other interests and careers. A problem with an occupation in art arose, however, because I was indoctrinated as a youth to believe that a person couldn’t make a decent living in art and unfortunately, I believed it. So, for most of my adulthood my work life was a lesson in how miserable I could be with doing things I hated doing. Instead of succeeding at a career, I always wanted to find an escape from it and drawing was a way to do that accompanied with desires about earning a living with it.

Better Than Average

Getting fired isn’t the end of the world. Statistics show that a person gets fired an average of twice during their working career. I’ve got that beat. I’ve been fired four times and on one of those occasions in the late 90’s, it led to a inconsistencies in the philosophy I bought about not being able to make any decent money as an artist because over the years, thanks to the internet, I grew to discover countless artists who earn a living drawing caricatures. They get hired to attend a party or other event, set up a drawing table, bring pens and paper and start drawing people in cartoon form.

The Four-Hour Workweek

I knew I could do that too, and I decided it would be a great part-time job for extra money. Little did I know at the time that this “extra money” often turned out to pay more in 3 or 4 hours of drawing than my weekly paycheck at my regular crappy job in 40 or more hours.

I started by renting a space at Traders Village, a large flea market in Houston, and with my drawing table and supplies in tow, I set up in a small and empty 10’ x 5’ space and began drawing shoppers for $5 a head. The price soon went to $10 for black and white and $20 for color. Who said there was no money in art?

The Green Cow

That’s how I started using caricature drawing as my cash cow and this allowed me to discover other ways that drawing as a career and not just a hobby. For me it’s never been a hobby but a pursuit.

Now, it’s to the point that my cartooning is my main source of income and still growing. Not bad for a kid who was programmed to believe an artist can’t earn money.