Thank you, Mr. Kurtz

I just want to take this time to thank Mr. Scott Kurtz, he's provided some inspiration for me with his latest blog post. I hope he won't mind me pasting it here. Be prepared, it's a long one:

I have something to say to anyone out there who dreams to make comic books or comic strips. I don’t care what degree of success you want to achieve. You may just want to entertain your friends and family, you may have lofty goals to be the next Garfield and develop a licencing empire. Probably you want to land somewhere in the middle and find a way to make a living doing what you love.

Go for it. Swing away. I hope that you succeed and that you achieve more than I have achieved.

I mean this with 100% sincerity in my heart. I want you to succeed. I get excited about the prospect of making comics and talking comics and sitting around with other creators and doodling. It’s my prime obsession and outlet.

The notion that I am frightened, jealous or unhappy with the success of others is preposterous and untrue. In fact, the majority of the cartoonists I speak to and consider my close personal friends are vastly more successful and talented than I am. Really, I’m okay with you succeeding and surpassing anything I have achieved myself.

The truth we can not escape, however, is that most of you will not be able to succeed, despite how hard you try. Most of you just won’t be able to do it. Some of you have the ability but lack the motivation. Only a couple of you actually will break into comics. The numbers aren’t great. We didn’t choose a pursuit that is easily monetized. There are no clear paths to earning a living from it and most of us who are don’t do that great. Ask any two people how they made a career for themselves in comics and you will never get the same answer twice. We continue because we love it, but it may always remain a passion and never fully transform into a career.

And don’t think I’m kidding myself. I have no delusions as to how long this might last for me. Every day I wake up I say a little thank you prayer that it’s all still here and that people still seem interested.

But I want you to understand something, and it’s very very important that you really allow yourself to absorb this: any degree of success that you experience with your work is going to be by your hand alone. You are the only person capable of affecting your progress.

Nobody is going to swoop down and deliver success upon you. No publisher, syndicate, editor, development company or website is going to make you famous or successful. If someone is selling you that bill of goods, they are lying to you. They can provide you with an opportunity but that’s about it. When a publisher does offer you a conract, that’s not the end of the rainbow. That’s when the real make-or-break work begins for you. It’s always work. It’s always a struggle.

It’s easy to get stars in your eyes. It’s easy to get excited about the possibilities. It is exciting when someone like Platinum Studios shows interest and the NY Times writes an article full of hyperbole and pontifications about the future being bright. But it’s not very realistic. And it’s probably not real.

The people who achieve their dreams are the people who are too stupid to realize it’s impossible. However, ignoring the odds doesn’t mean you have to be willfully ignorant.

Read books. Network with other creators and make friends. Ask questions. Always ask questions. Learn about the people who are positioning themselves as the movers and shakers. Don’t sell yourself short. Be critical of yourself. Never be satisfied with your current output. Ignore the critics. Enjoy the hate mail. Don’t believe everything you hear.

When I was in college, I was home every weekend. I was a momma’s boy for sure. Every Sunday I would stand in the driveway and say goodbye to my parents. My dad would embrace me and say the same thing.

“Do great things.”

He wasn’t telling me to get good grades, or have a fun time. He was encouraging me to become something more than everyone else, and to make my mark. And that’s what I want to encourage you guys to do.

I want you all to do great things. I really do. But you’re going to have to do it on your own. And those of you that can, will. But you have to do it yourself. No snake oil salesman is going to do it for you. And no existing cartoonist can possibly hold you back.

Especially not me.

I know the post is about comics, but it applies to just about everything else too. Those questions I have suddenly seem less and less uncertain... thank you, Mr. Kurtz.