I am not a real comic artist but I decided to draw every day until I achieved something and now 6 months later I have two books out and people actually enjoy them :) AMA!

Congratulations on following your dream! Could you provide a bit more details on the process you went through to get your work published?

He spam posts on reddit frequently and makes many AMAs, if they don't get enough traction he deletes them. He also has many fake accounts to comment, look at his history.

This made me pretty sad. I read the post (which was pretty inspirational), but now I feel somewhat cheated

Why? Because he's doing his own pr? Would it be better if he payed someone else to do it? The dude works hard to make a book, self publishes, and does his own pr. Seems like he's trying his best to make it work. Maybe I'm missing something, but to me I'm thinking good for him.

Fake accounts to pump your own karma cross the line.

You are getting this false information from a guy who seems to ironically run his own reddit farm who has an unhealthy interest in my posts. I have no idea where he gets that from but I only have this and /u/beastflaps account and you can see that is rarely used.

This ^

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And calling it 'published' while self-publishing through Amazon is laughable.

I like the comics though; they have a nice style to it. But yes, the spam is getting annoying af.

You can easily unfollow/block me on /r/funny. But I enjoy posting my original content there and will continue to do so.

It's probably better for your mental health not to engage with these people, dude :)

yeah, you're right :). I think it's just one guy actually.

I post my cartoons daily on /r/funny. That is correct. (You do not need to see them, you can easily block by username). I have a verified artist account on /r/funny and they encourage posting my original content. I have another account /u/beastflaps which I wanted to use to keep things straightforward but I never had the time to move all posts onto that one so have stuck with this. I have no other reddit accounts. But ironically, do you?

Looked at his "first drawing" on his IG from 26 weeks ago. Doesn't really look like someone who has never done this before like it appears from reading this post.

I have ALWAYS enjoyed drawing. I said I decided to draw every day. Instead of here and there when I had time.

Dude, I know you're getting this advice throughout the thread, but you gotta just ignore these shitheels. I truly understand the desire to clap back at morons, but you have to understand that a large large percent of reddit, and especially this sub, is miserable lifelong retail employees who are bitter and envious, Karens, and literal children. There's really nothing to be gained from trying to get them to understand anything outside their own narcissism.

Anyway, great job on living the dream. Hope your success only grows!

Thanks. I forgot where I was for a sec and tried to be reasonable. :) Thanks, normal human.

Out of interest how do you tell he has fake accounts from his profile? Thanks

They can’t. I haven’t. Just /u/beastflaps

sure, the hard work was actually in creating the material, because I went with Amazon’s independent publishing route and they made it very easy to get the book onto the shelves worldwide. I did have an agent friend from a previous project who could have helped find a traditional publisher but I knew that could be a long waiting game and I had ants in my pants.

ants in my pants

There's a comic right there.

jots down in ideas book

Have you started to make a decent income? Can you tell us what percentage you make off of your book sales? So did Amazon actually make a printing run, and they are not just print on demand?

Congratulations by the way, I'd like to publish a book one day.

Nobody was more surprised than I was when I actually made a decent income from it. Amazon take 40% but then the cost of the print comes out of my share. If the sale is at an external non-amazon store, they take 60% and I have to cover costs of printing in that situation also. They are print on demand but with a certain amount of sales they print bulk and stockpile them. I saw estimated shipping dates decrease from within 5 days to 1-3 days to “in stock/same day”

Great to hear something positive in these times man. Good luck with your future in comics, it looks like its going to be bright! My question: For someone who has no idea about the process of making comics, particularly on simply the drawing part of it, how does one go about it? If you do it digitally, what apps and hardware do you use? And how long does it take to draw once you have an idea of the storyline.

Also, what are some of your favourite comics

Thank you! I always start with paper and pen or pencil. I’m still getting used to the digital drawing tablet and pen. Which I then use to trace, and then photoshop for coloring. My comics (so far) are one panel scenes/gags. So I don’t have to worry about the storyline yet. And one panel or page usually takes an hour or so depending on the mood of the equipment ;). A Death in The Family by DC.

Your title lies. You are now a real comic artist.

Why do you say that you are not a real comic artist when you obviously are now a professional one?

I don’t think of myself as any kind of artist. I draw for fun, so any possibility that I could now do this and nothing else is bewildering to me. I wouldn’t dare call myself a real comic artist, not when there’s so many real ones out there producing amazing work daily.

Were you into drawing before this?

I have always enjoyed drawing and so yes, even when it isn’t needed for work or a project I’d be doodling or creating something. If not with my children, then just absentmindedly for myself.

While you were making these what kind of marketing efforts did you do to grow your audience from 0 to upwards?

I posted a few on twitter, instagram, reddit and then people started asking to see more. It snowballed from there :)

Something about your drawings remind me of The Far Side. I think it's the one panel comics along with the slightly inappropriate humor. Was Gary Larson an inspiration? What artists do you think have influenced your art?

we actually used to have a few Larson books sitting around the office around early 2000s but I haven’t read any in a while. Unless they worked their way into my subconscious!

What is your best advice on going head first into your dream gig when leaving your comfy day job? I’m considering the same route but I let my fear get the best of me!

apparently this is only something you should do if you have 6 months of wages lined up or in reserve. I don’t know much more than that, it certainly is terrifying to think about

What advice do you have for beginners who are looking to start drawing comics?

same advice I gave myself after years of dreaming about it: just get on with it. If it’s good or bad, just put something on paper. Easier to improve on a bad idea than imagine a great one.

Are your drawings Digital or actual pen/pencil, paint? I guess I mean, what medium do you use? Also, how much time do you spend a day drawing? Thanks

The bug doodles are purely pen on paper, the grumpy animals are digital pen and ink, with maybe an original sketch on paper as a reference or starting point. I’d say an hour or two, although my whole day seems to sometimes be thinking and sketching things that don’t actually work out.

Would you accept the rule of God-Empress Dolly Parton, Voice of the Sky, Singer of Blues, Mother of the Forest, Silencer of Heathens, Shackler of Stars, Queen of the Alpha Quadrant, and the one true heir to the Iron Throne?

I’ve heard she’s big on letting kids read so she’s okay in my book

How did you manage to get people actually purchase from you? Do you have some sort of social media audience? How did you gather it?

after a few sales amazon started recommending it to similar audiences with their algorithms. I also have a few following me on ig, I guess that helped along the way.

First off, Congratulations on living your dream. My question is, were you still working your dead end job, when you decided to start drawing once a day? Also, how did you make time in your busy schedule, working a full time job, taking care of the family, to draw one picture a day. I've started drawing once a day the other month, but I wish I lost the motivation to "Go All For It" like you did. Kudos again to you fine sir.

you could either wake up earlier or go to bed later. I struggle with early mornings so I stayed up later and put an hour in before bed. Also we cut out TV. We would still watch one half hour episode of something every evening but after that TV off and so we had the whole evening to be productive.

I’ve followed you on Instagram for a while, and love your stuff. I’m unsure if you’re still answering questions, but I’m an artist, and I’m currently in a huge creative block. How did you overcome creative block, especially when you were drawing everyday? I want to draw everyday, I guess I just don’t know how to get the motivation to do so/overcome creative droughts.

I had weeks of creative drought while doing this actually. But I knew I couldn’t wait for inspiration to come because the whole project would quickly fall apart. So I would just turn on the computer and start drawing. It’s hard but still, it’s only drawing, and even at the times when you don’t enjoy it, there are much harder things you could be doing. You could be out in the rain, digging a hole. :)

Wow man, congrats on doing that, right now I'm exploring making music I hope the best for you and I am really glad that people are finding things to do staying at home. I have a question though, are you working on another book because I would love to buy it?

I am working on “100 other grumpy animals” and “100 more bug doodles” while also trying to decide which of my other ideas I will start developing next.

Marvel or DC ?

Christopher Reeve as Superman, Michael Keaton’s Batman, but love them all except “that” Justice League. Love all the Marvel movies. Will read either universe in comic form. :) no favourites. Except BATMAN. And maybe Spiderman for nostalgia’s sake. And Superman...

Late to the party but I bought 2 of your 100 Grumpy Animals and sent them to my kids away at college...my personal grumpy animals. Next up, the rhinoceros/unicorn tee for me! Thanks to you for letting us watch your progression and congratulations!

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And if you see my post...

What is your favorite Grumpy Beast?

Thank you. That’s wonderful. From the book? Has to be the sloth. Or maybe the stingray. In real life, my dog. She’s old and as grumpy as they get and will show her teeth if any other living creature tries to stand between her and me.

Have you considered doing something like Redbubble (stickers, t-shirts, etc)?

I do a few tshirts and mugs and so on at beastflaps.com but just for fun

Hmmm this looks like you've been listening to Scott Adams lol Did you happen to know about Law of Attraction to do this?

No, is he a motivational speaker? I just like to get on with things and try and get things done.

I see. He is a comic artist creator of Dilbert and similar to you he had no experience with comics and didn't know how to draw prior becoming a top selling syndicated artist. He used affirmations and law of attraction.

yikes I feel stupid now. Dilbert is so good