Thank youuuuuu I will also be partaking in my annual tradition of drawing all the TAGS fest report graphs on the train

Well if they want to pay their rent, then yeah they probably should. Otherwise I recommend the route of the zine (the actual og zone, to be clear). The communities aren't necessarily weirder or more local in the age of the internet, but they are anti-capitalist.

Addendum: actually designers can be all those things, it just feels like in the current climate they won't strike it big in the western english speaking zeitgeist.

I guess to summarise, news designers only need to be themselves -- but they can't be controversial in ways that don't fit into a mass-approved label, and they can't be poor, and they can't be disabled/unwell, and they can't not be marketable, and they can't depend on their work.

walled gardens walled gardens walled gardens

Full-time professionals in this space are far and few between and those who saw success four years ago and went on to "go full time" are now pulling back out to return to their previous employment.

Discussion in this space ADORES using the metrics of capitalism to measure success: downloads, sales, views, attention, clout. And yet none of those qualities touch on whether art is has reached an audience, whether design is fair, whether works will be timeless.

Overwhelmingly it feels like this space is the playground of well-kept and well-paid hobbyists, who like to cosplay in the struggle of small press. Those who have to rely on their work to survive compete amongst those for whom this is fun and vanity, and the difference is paid for in burnout.

The current path to long term success is to "build community". The only way to do that is with time, dedication, and appealing content, all of which is bought with money.

(The exception to this is making common denominator work. For example 5th edition D&D house style. You don't need to have a network to grow there, you just need to be in the right place on Reddit at the right time, though you also don't have the protections of uniqueness.)

Like every other form of art in the global west right now, if you don't have an inheritance, rich family/friends, a well-earning partner, or a high paying job (usually related to tech, which is propped up by military spending, genocide tech, AI, etc), then you will struggle to work and reach people.

Personal opinions:
Designers entering this space will struggle against the illusionary demands of professionalism, when this is 99.9% a hobbyist space.

There's some sumptuous goose art inside, if you're keen for a gander 👀

🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅

Also Am*zon is evil in general. That's not a fun fact, it's just a fact.

Highest praise!!! Thank you!!!

Those damn stoats! Always galavanting around gothic architecture and asking you to turn to various pages

If it's not AI, then it's very likely it was less than a minute's google street view assessment, and a wilful confusion of Argonaut with Ancient Robot Games two doors down.