Aging Out (of the SoCal television business)

     In a more perfect world, artists like me would  become more valuable as we get older. But in this world… younger artists are thought to have all of the fresh ideas, and they are certainly less expensive. 

     I've become okay with this. Really.

     I know that I sure didn't have a problem with it when I was a young artist! 

     In the early 90s. When the big studios pushed an old guy out the door, it meant that I got to come in and sit in his chair. 

     But if you live by the young-hire, you also die by the young-hire. It's all Karma, the Circle of Life, and All Good Things Must Come To An End [sad trombone]. 

     If I had made other choices, there might have been different options. 

     I never created, or wanted to create, an animated TV show of my own. I mean, I was certainly capable of creating one…and I was *probably* capable of selling one to a big studio. But I don't think I'd be capable of sitting through a single notes session with a studio executive. If I ever found myself in that situation, I'm afraid I'd leap across the conference room table and strangle them to death with my bare hands. 

     So my "graceful exit" strategy has to be a little different from my friends who are (still! even though they know better!) trying to sell their own show. 

     There are options for a drawing artist like me: 

     Some people teach. Some switch to fine art, children's books, or comics. Some switch careers entirely, and they happily live out the rest of their lives without drawing a single thing. 

     And some crazy bastards take a stab at this ever-changing internet thing. These intrepid souls try to build an online audience, painstakingly gathering eyeballs one at a time by posting loads of original drawings, interesting stories, or both. 

     Is this a viable career path?

     Honestly, it's so early in this game that nobody really knows. 

     But let's make it easy on ourselves and just assume that the future will work itself out if you're an artist who's willing to put in the work. 

     The first step is to see if you have it inside of you. To see if you can really create that much original content. 

     A good test of your abilities might be to see if you can create five original drawings a week for a year. 

     And then you might want to stretch it out to three years…