On May 21, 2022 I will be celebrating my twentieth anniversary as a comics’ creator.
That is a wild statement for me to have made, so I’m just going to repeat it in an attempt to have it sink in for me.
On May 21, 2022 I will be celebrating my twentieth anniversary as a comics’ creator!
It’s not my anniversary as a full-time creator, which would be two years later in 2024, but I’m not going to make a big deal about that. Being able to support yourself financially is not the sole measure of one’s talent as an artist. Everyone’s circumstances are different, and luck plays a huge role.
Would I be celebrating my twentieth year if I didn’t get into webcomics at just the right time in 2002? Who can say? The internet was a much different environment back then, and I happened to meet lots of people who were chasing the same dream at the same time. I found myself among supportive creators who uplifted one another, looked out for each other, celebrated each other’s successes, and rallied around those who were struggling. I can pat myself on the back for this lengthy career, but refusing to acknowledge the people who got me here would be foolish and arrogant.
Will I do anything special on the day of the twentieth anniversary? Yes, actually. It falls on a Saturday and I’ll be attending a dear friend’s wedding. So I’ll likely raise a small toast to myself during the cocktail hour, and then dance the night away. I probably won’t make a big deal of it online, save for a lengthy blog post.
Because on May 21, 2022 I will be celebrating my twentieth anniversary as a comics’ creator.
Nope. Still hasn’t fully sunk in.