Dear listener,
In the new episode of the SneakyArt Podcast, New York-based cartoonist and comedian Jason Chatfield talks about the business of being an artist, and how he expresses his creativity across comics, writing, stand-up, and illustration. This conversation is full of essential advice and our best ideas from trying to make it all by ourselves.
In Episode 67, Jason spoke about drawing Ginger Meggs, and his journey as a cartoonist and comedian from Perth to New York City. Today’s episode is the second part of this conversation.
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Jason and I talk about a lot of the things that go into starting, building, and sustaining an independent career, whether you are an artist, a writer, a cartoonist, a comedian, or, as in Jason’s case, all of the above.
Both Jason and I started putting things online pre-social media, and it was a very different world.
The idea of getting paid to put writings and drawings online was unimaginable. Over the last couple of decades, everything has changed completely every year. The world of comics, who reads them and where, has changed again and again … The idea of comedy, how it is consumed, and what it means to make a joke, has changed. The idea of art itself in our age of virtual reproduction - how it lives in people’s minds and lives, how we own it and how we share it, physically or digitally.
Over the last couple of decades, in so many ways, the gatekeepers are gone.
In 2023, the work of being an artist is all mixed up with the business of being an artist. This is both great and terrible. But mostly, it is good. There has been no better time in human history to be an artist.
We talk about the importance of taking charge of your own career, especially for the less savoury things - like promoting yourself like a brand, talking about your work like a brand, and thinking about yourself like a brand. (ugh)
If you are in the same boat as him, as me, as us, if you are maybe somewhere else on these same seas, battling similar waves, this conversation will help you find your way.
Hang around until the end, when I explain to Jason the differences between possums and opossums. We discover that when you play possum you’re actually playing opossum, unless you’re in Australia where everything is upside down.
I would love to hear your thoughts on the episode.
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Or, buy me a coffee!
Ep 68 - Making your own Path with Jason Chatfield