My most recent webcomic exploded on Imgur yesterday, ultimately rising to the level of “Most Viral” which earned it a spot on the Imgur home page. It topped out at over 6,000 likes and over 191,000 views.
Meanwhile, over on Instagram it got over 22,500 likes from 238,000 views. So cool!
Thanks a bunch everyone!
A couple of months ago I made the decision to take my foot of the gas and slow down my comic output. Because I didn’t feel right taking money from backers for such a decrease in output, I shut down my Patreon.
I assumed that my Patreon page would still exist, just in a frozen or inactive state. Instead it completely disappeared. This is a problem because most of my cartoons being shared around the internet are stamped with my Patreon URL. If people try to go to that link, they come to a dead end.
So, I’ve reactivated my Patreon. It’s about as scaled-down as you can get but at least it exists. If you want to become a backer and support me, you can. Right now there is only a $1 tier but if you want to give more you can adjust your total before confirming your pledge. Currently I can’t offer you anything more than my sincere thanks. If enough people become backers maybe that will change down the road.
This weekend (May 18-19, 2019) I’ll once again have a table at the MCBA Spring ComiCon, Minnesota’s largest comic book party. I’ll be there along with over 200 other creators selling my book of gag cartoons Mostly Nonsense as well as prints of my cartoons. Swing by the Minnesota State Fairgrounds and say “hi!” Tickets and more info at https://www.mcbacomicons.com.
Spider magazine is published by the Cricket Group for children ages 6-9. They hired me to illustrate a full-page comic for the inside cover of their May-June 2019 issue. The theme of the issue was “weather” and they gave me freedom to come up with anything I wanted related to that theme. I’ve always admired artists who can do wordless or mostly-wordless stories so I thought I’d try my hand at it. Now that the issue is out I can show what I did.
For over three years now I’ve been drawing fun and thoughtful cartoons. It’s been an experiment of sorts, allowing me to stretch creatively, try new things, and build a larger audience for my work. I’ve had a great deal of fun and enjoyed brief flashes of success with several cartoons going viral.
However, I have so far been unable to find a way to earn a sustainable income from webcomics. I successfully Kickstarted a book, licensed a few cartoons to publishers, and even worked out a small syndication deal, and yet in the grand scheme of things I’ve been losing money. I’ve given hundreds of hours to this project that I could have spent working on growing my freelance illustration business. As a result my freelance income has steadily declined and the webcomics income hasn’t come close to making up the difference.
I turned to Patreon hoping it would help turn things around. The conventional wisdom is that Patreon works best when a creator can provide bonus content for backers. So I worked hard to make exclusive backer-only cartoons, write articles, and deliver other goodies. And it wasn’t working. Instead of earning me more backers, my backers were slowly falling away. I was focusing on quantity over quality and I think it showed.
For me, launching a webcomic has felt like trying to fly a kite on a calm day. Over and over I tossed it up in the air. Every once in a while I would catch a stiff breeze, but eventually the kite kept fluttering back to the ground. I can only do that so many times before concluding that the wind just isn’t with me.
So, I’m pulling back to refocus. I’m not quitting. I still want to make comics. But I’m turning away from artificial schedules and fluffy Patreon rewards to just focus on making good comics whenever time allows. I don’t feel right taking regular payments from backers in exchange for irregular output. Eventually I may come back to Patreon but for now I’m redirecting my energies.
I want to say a ginormous THANK YOU to all of you who have gave your hard-earned money in support of my work. It really means a lot and I’m deeply grateful!
To keep up with new comics you can follow me on social media:
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/cedricstudio
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/cedrichohnstadt
INSTAGRAM: http://www.instagram.com/cedrichohnstadt
You can also get new comics emailed to you by signing up for free at https://sketchbooksilliness.com/subscribe.
If you want to support my work, you can always toss a dollar or two my way by buying me a coffee.
Thanks!
Cedric
