#You can't make a masterpiece until you've made several mediocre little things

[alexis-royce]

i hope this isn’t a terribly invasive question but i toottally understand if it is and in that case im really sorry but i don’t know who else to ask so i’ll just go ahead w it: how do u support urself while doing stuff creatively ?? i admire a lot of your work (your fics and ur games — i loved serialized killer i played it like ten times xD both the art and the writing 🤌🏾🤌🏾) and i’d love to be able to do the stuff you do in the future, but i’m honestly terrified of the ‘starving artist’ thing :,D

Hey there! It's an okay question, and truth be told, I used to try to be really encouraging to people, because I want to see a lot of fun and small art. But as I get older, I want to try to be honest about it all, too.

Going to college wasn't especially helpful. Five years post-college, I was lucky to make the switch to full-time art.

Currently, my income comes from a mixture of conventions, Patreon, commissions, and game sales. I also live with my spouse Tsushi, who covers half the bills, and we don't live in a major city or expensive area. We planned a lot of stuff to keep our cost of living on the dirt cheap side.

Right now, I wouldn't say that I'm barely scraping by. Lots of people have it way, way worse than us, and I wouldn't be able to do this without favors and help from friends and family. But I do know that I'm overworked to an unhealthy extent, I haven't taken a real vacation in years, and if I stop overworking, I will lose the momentum that I currently have. Actually, switching to visual novels instead of webcomics WAS me trying to take care of myself.

I would highly advise that you enjoy your art as a hobby. It doesn't have to be a permanent decision! Building up a portfolio or an itch page is something that takes time, and that's how you'll find an audience. Even if you could drop twelve showstopper games in a weekend, it would likely take a while for those games to percolate through the community. I know it's not what you want to hear. But trust me: I've hung out socially with lots of folks who range from middling to INTENSELY popular, and overnight mainstream success is horrible for a person's soul, especially if it happens to you in your 20s.

I'm not starving, but I do eat a lot of bulk rice in my diet. XD I'm not living in squalor, but I miss when I could afford to go to GenCon. If my gamble on the VNs doesn't work, I might just end up picking up a day job of my own and having to spend nights working on stuff again, instead. Nothing's really certain. But for now, I'm doing the best that I can with the games and stories I can tell, and I'm deeply grateful for the patrons who keep my weird little raft afloat.