This week’s edition of The Village Voice is their “The Comics Issue” containing 30 contributing artists to supplement the entire issue with comic frames, graphics and unique images. The issue focuses on the current state of cartooning.
Ward Sutton did the cover and Roy Edroso writes the article “If Cartoons Are So Big, Why Don’t They Pay?“
Yow! Quite the eye-opener. I always thought I was doing something “wrong” with my cartooning and illustration, career and that’s why I went and got a real job years ago. But even the successful household names aren’t making a living at it!
“…many of the artists in this issue aren’t getting paid, but have contributed work for the exposure.”
I think that says it all.
It is very, very, very, very difficult to make a living as a cartoonist. The pay was really lousy 20 years ago and is, from my 20 years of doing this full time, a whole heckuva lot lousier these days due to the internet exposure of talented artists available in India, Russia, China, etc. and these artists gladly accept $5/hr for work that used to be done here in the US… Heck, I’ve seen offers of $1 an hour snapped up on the various online markets that offer work to cartoonists.
It blows my mind that The Village Voice thinks it is acceptable to treat cartoonists this way – do they treat their writers that way, too? I’m thinking not…
More importantly, The Village Voice USED TO PAY cartoonists. And now, they don’t. That is a sea-change in attitude. I guess the next step for The Village Voice is to CHARGE THE ARTISTS for the privilege of appearing in their fine paper… LOL
“Also, many of the artists in this issue aren’t getting paid, but have contributed work for the exposure.”
Wow. Wheelbarrows aren’t made that are big enough to carry stones that size.
?If The Village Voice Is So Big, Why Don?t They Pay??
And as we all know, one can die from exposure
“And as we all know, one can die from exposure”
Or get put on the sexual predator watch list.
A big part of the problem is the VV just like most other newspapers who do NOT know the difference between a cartoon, a comic strip, an illustration, a humorous illustration or a piece of art.
The bigger part of the problem is the business model of publishers understanding their product and wanting to make money is dead…..and not coming back.
If you want to draw cartoons for a living… unfortunately you now have to do more than just cartoons. Either you diversify or you work at building your own digital wheel.
The bottom line is publishers/editors don’t love cartoons and cartoonists love cartoons too much.
“The bottom line is publishers/editors don?t love cartoons and cartoonists love cartoons too much.” -MPriggee
Well said.