
I'm a
17-year-old senior in high school without a job. The only thing I think
I'm good at is drawing my little own individual comic strip. I'd like
to publish it and make a little money off it as a job, but where do I
start?
Jay
This is hard to do, especially while you're still a senior in high school.
I would keep doing the strip,
especially if people tell you that you have talent, but I would get a
job, too. That will start to give you the income and security you'll
need. I bet you'll find that you're good at more things.
Keep drawing, and try to get published closest to home -- the school
paper, papers in the area. Those can be stepping stones to bigger
venues.
If you haven't already, learn to do your work digitally. This will
open whole worlds for you, as it will let you e-mail your strips
anywhere.
I'd definitely go to college, and I'd take art courses and content
courses that will feed your strip. They could be in politics, pop
culture, history -- whatever subject area you'd like to comment on in
your strips. The art courses might show you other areas, such as page
or Web design, illustration or informational graphics, that will
sustain you as you go down that long, tough road toward syndication.
Even some of the best-known artists had a very tough time breaking in. You've got to be tenacious, as well as good.