Go read "Graphic novelist quits making graphic novels after trying to live on $10k/year for three years." by Heidi MacDonald.
It's about Hannah Berry, a British "up and coming" graphic novelist whose career was going along great: her first GN, BRITTEN & BRÜLIGHTLY, was nominated for a prestigious Angoulême prize. She has a weekly comic in the New Statesman magazine. Her new book, LIVESTOCK, is coming out this month from respected publisher Jonathan Cape.
But she's quitting.
From Heidi MacDonald's article:
"Her advance for LIVESTOCK was £10,000 (about $13,000 depending on the exchange rate.) Of that she got £5000 in advance, and she also applied for an Arts Council grant and got another £10,000. Throw in about £9000 in additional freelance income, and it comes to £24,000 over a three year period, or living on about $10,000 a year for three years."
She says she's a "simple girl with a simple lifestyle," and she thanks her "wonderful, long-suffering, devilishly handsome partner" for supporting her.
"To make a graphic novel takes me three years of blinkered, fanatical dedication, and I realised while working on LIVESTOCK that I just can’t do it again. I’m done. I’m out. And from quiet talks with many other graphic novelists, ones whose books you know and love, I can tell you that I’m far from being the only one."
There's a lot to, as they say, "unpack" here. It's a tragedy that a talented person who has achieved professional recognition is walking away from their chosen field.
She could consider radically changing her style. I was at the National Cartoonists Society Reubens weekend, and just saw Oscar award winning animator Bill Plympton present some of his short films and talk about how he's able to create a movie by himself. One thing: He can do a finished drawing in about ten minutes. With ballpoint pens. And he works A LOT; like from 8am to 10pm. So, production is key!
Has Hannah Berry considered this? Well, I bet she already thought of altering her style to a less labor-intensive one. And perhaps she dismissed it for personal reasons of integrity. It's a shame, since creating good work on an assembly line basis is key for being a creative person who wants to have a commercial career.
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