Like the title says, when do you become a professional artist? Its really hard to say when you truly are a professional artist.
Is it years under the belt? A college degree? Having a fan base? Having made thousands off of your art? When your dead?

Discusse!

The simple answer is when you're paid for it.

Of course, you can argue forever about whether your art needs to be your sole source of income, your main source of income, something that generates a bit of extra "pin money" or even whether you qualify as soon as you sell your first piece. I guess different people will have different views on that.

If you're not earning from your art, though, then you're an amateur - i.e. someone who does it because they enjoy it.

My chances of going 'professional artist' are slim to none.

I see devart. I see drunkduck. I see onlinecomics.net. I see all those nice art out there. And there is no way in the next 5 years I will climb to that level.

Unless maybe I dedicate 8 hours a day just doing art art art and more art. Of course under the supervision of some professional artist. Because experience (and these boards) will only teach you so much. As there are things in art that would require the guidance of a pro.

If you are paid for it and treat it as something you always work at to make better. Then you are a professional. Now, just like every type of professional, some make more than others practicing the same job. But they are both professionals. Also some are better than others doing the same job. But they are both professionals.

If you treat it as something serious, you have commitment and have been paid for it, then you are a professional artist.

I actually am a professional artist in real life, outside the world of comics. It's not that exciting to be paid. You're usually not paid enough, at least in the modern-day illustration market, for the paycheck aspect to be a source of satisfaction. In ad work, storyboards, the pay is better than in illustration, but the work is even less creatively rewarding.

But I consider my recent work in webcomics, for which I'm paid nothing, some of the most rewarding artwork I've ever done.

I also did a little paid pencilling work in print comic books before the implosion, when the industry was healthy enough that you could eke out a check or two in the indies. But, to me, it's more creatively rewarding to build a comic as a cartoonist--like Will Eisner--where you create the entire thing start to finish, than it is to be a cog in someone else's creative wheel.

Also I've met enough mid-echelon print comic artists to know that they hardly have any spare time to themselves, or time to get the pages the way they like them, under the weight of the print deadlines--the 22 pages a month. I've seen them at cons, when they should be promoting the book they're on, or doing fan art, hurriedly scrawling out those 22 pages...it doesn't look fun.

So from my perspective, being a "professional" is no big deal. What matters most is whether your heart is in the work, or not. There's something pristine and pure about being a webcomic artist that makes it more fun than any normal paid project.

That doesn't mean that I wouldn't jump for joy if someone from DC approached me and said they wanted me to do...Wonder Woman--or something like that. I doubt that happening, of course.

But I'm happy here doing this stuff for free.

When you're satisfied about it.

Maybe by technical definition it's "getting paid for art", but that's actually not hard. I got paid $2 to draw Blanka when I was in the 6th grade. To me it feels like your dominant source of income should be making art. Or maybe that it should at least be a regular source of income, if not dominant. I don't know.

A professional artist wears a suit and tie to work every day. ;)

as to education making someone a professional artist it helps but not mandatory.
I studied Studio Art when I was in college and received this message several times.
Education helps hone your craft and looks good on a resume if applying for an acutal paying position.
But it really doesn't make one a professional.

A professional can be either a person in a profession (certain types of skilled work requiring formal training/education) or in sports (a sportsman/sportwoman doing sports for payment). Sometimes it is also used to indicate a special level of quality of goods or tools, sometimes also called "commercial grade".

Taken from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional#Trades [en.wikipedia.org]

You're a professional artist when you start putting that down on your taxes.

It's a sweet gig. You can write off all kinds of movies and comics on your taxes as "refereance", and you can write off action figures as "models". Not to mention the obvious stuff, like art supplies and the like.

Just make sure if you're going to go that route you keep good records of not just work you get a real paycheck for, but simple stuff like 'Con sketches and the like. Nothing perks up Uncle Sam's ears faster than seeing someone write off unusual things on their taxes, and nothing keeps him happier than seeing he's getting his cut of everything anyway.

when you know the secret handshake.

kyupol
My chances of going 'professional artist' are slim to none.

I see devart. I see drunkduck. I see onlinecomics.net. I see all those nice art out there. And there is no way in the next 5 years I will climb to that level.

Unless maybe I dedicate 8 hours a day just doing art art art and more art. Of course under the supervision of some professional artist. Because experience (and these boards) will only teach you so much. As there are things in art that would require the guidance of a pro.

I don't want to call you stupid, but honestly that's just poor thinking. I got signed onto Platinum for a phone wallpaper contract for Christ's sake, and I'm hardly a noteworthy user on DrunkDuck.

Anyone can become professional. Its not so much about talent (although that does play a lot into it, obviously), but connections. Make the right friends and you'll go places.

Quite right.

Advertise enough, you'll get an audience.

lefarce
I don't want to call you stupid, but honestly that's just poor thinking. I got signed onto Platinum for a phone wallpaper contract for Christ's sake, and I'm hardly a noteworthy user on DrunkDuck.

Anyone can become professional. Its not so much about talent (although that does play a lot into it, obviously), but connections. Make the right friends and you'll go places.

I think it helps to discern the difference from "being professional" and "being good". I'm not accusing you of not being good, I'm just saying that I think Kyupol was talking about becoming professional by being good, which really would take practice and guidance. A person could actually become professional without being good. But would you want to?

mapaghimagsik
when you know the secret handshake.

... I thought it was a dance?

... Damnit! ><

Its accessibility really. Whoever draws things with clean lines, lays out their panels properly, that sort of thing.

If you're into the low quality or just of a lesser qaulity, no one professional cares. The reason LeFarce got in should be obvious to anyone that looks at his comic.

Just like sex appeal, comics are all about who looks good. If only I had art like that, I'd be in.

I don't want to call you stupid, but honestly that's just poor thinking. I got signed onto Platinum for a phone wallpaper contract for Christ's sake, and I'm hardly a noteworthy user on DrunkDuck.

Anyone can become professional. Its not so much about talent (although that does play a lot into it, obviously), but connections. Make the right friends and you'll go places.

lol. For you to rely on ART as bread and butter, you need a high degree of technical skill.

I've been through 1 year of 'art foundation' school. You know. Thats like 1 year to get your skill up to par enough for you to enter further fields like graphic design, digital media, or animation.

Initially, my art was good enough to enter art foundation. They made us do tests as part of the admissions just so they'd know you are at a teachable level or something. After doing it, yes I improved a great deal. I took this whole improving my art thing very dead seriously. And I improved by about at least 3x my original skill level when I entered art foundations.

So I graduated being happy and all. And so I tried getting in to graphic design, digital media, and animation. Whoever takes me!!!

But my art was not up to par with what they expect. Which got me pissed off and demoralized in actually going 'professional'. So I just decided to pursue more practical vocations that will rake me in ca$h enough to pay my bills and survive because I can't afford to be dependent on my parents at a young age because of shit family relations.

(on side note I am dead jealous of people who can afford such luxury... and pissed off at em at the same time because they take that shit for granted by doing stupid shit like fucking around in college, taking drugs, reckless driving, getting pregnant recklessly, and many other bullshit.).

So who the fuck am I kidding? If I cant even get into a decent school that will enable me to get a diploma or something, how the fuck do you expect that this whole art thingy be my bread and butter? How the fuck do you expect it to be my professional designation like a doctor, engineer, architect, or whatever 'professional' designation labelled on people practicing a skilled profession. If I quit my job and just be an 'artist' I bet I'd be making the same amount of money as a mcdonalds worker who works 1 day a week.

So that is why TECHNICAL SKILL is a MUST for being considered 'professional'.

If you make money because of connections and such, well good for you. You have a point though about saying its WHO you know. But thats only 50% of it. Just the same as technical skill.

Technical art skill - 50%
Networking - 50%

when you can afford to draw the wax fruit and not need to eat it to survive.

Try spending 10 to 16 hours a day then. practice practice and more practice.

kyupol
My chances of going 'professional artist' are slim to none.

I see devart. I see drunkduck. I see onlinecomics.net. I see all those nice art out there. And there is no way in the next 5 years I will climb to that level.

Unless maybe I dedicate 8 hours a day just doing art art art and more art. Of course under the supervision of some professional artist. Because experience (and these boards) will only teach you so much. As there are things in art that would require the guidance of a pro.

Agreed a person can become professional without being good. in fact they do all the time.

Hawk

lefarce
I don't want to call you stupid, but honestly that's just poor thinking. I got signed onto Platinum for a phone wallpaper contract for Christ's sake, and I'm hardly a noteworthy user on DrunkDuck.

Anyone can become professional. Its not so much about talent (although that does play a lot into it, obviously), but connections. Make the right friends and you'll go places.

I think it helps to discern the difference from "being professional" and "being good". I'm not accusing you of not being good, I'm just saying that I think Kyupol was talking about becoming professional by being good, which really would take practice and guidance. A person could actually become professional without being good. But would you want to?

ok... don't listen to this while professionalism and clean lines is important, teenage mutant ninja turtles, johhnny the homicidal maniac, and several, several other underground comics would have never gotten the acclaim they have.

marine
Its accessibility really. Whoever draws things with clean lines, lays out their panels properly, that sort of thing.

If you're into the low quality or just of a lesser qaulity, no one professional cares. The reason LeFarce got in should be obvious to anyone that looks at his comic.

Just like sex appeal, comics are all about who looks good. If only I had art like that, I'd be in.

try more like this technical skill- 10%
Talent- 10%
Networking- 80%

kyupol

I don't want to call you stupid, but honestly that's just poor thinking. I got signed onto Platinum for a phone wallpaper contract for Christ's sake, and I'm hardly a noteworthy user on DrunkDuck.

Anyone can become professional. Its not so much about talent (although that does play a lot into it, obviously), but connections. Make the right friends and you'll go places.

lol. For you to rely on ART as bread and butter, you need a high degree of technical skill.

I've been through 1 year of 'art foundation' school. You know. Thats like 1 year to get your skill up to par enough for you to enter further fields like graphic design, digital media, or animation.

Initially, my art was good enough to enter art foundation. They made us do tests as part of the admissions just so they'd know you are at a teachable level or something. After doing it, yes I improved a great deal. I took this whole improving my art thing very dead seriously. And I improved by about at least 3x my original skill level when I entered art foundations.

So I graduated being happy and all. And so I tried getting in to graphic design, digital media, and animation. Whoever takes me!!!

But my art was not up to par with what they expect. Which got me pissed off and demoralized in actually going 'professional'. So I just decided to pursue more practical vocations that will rake me in ca$h enough to pay my bills and survive because I can't afford to be dependent on my parents at a young age because of shit family relations.

(on side note I am dead jealous of people who can afford such luxury... and pissed off at em at the same time because they take that shit for granted by doing stupid shit like fucking around in college, taking drugs, reckless driving, getting pregnant recklessly, and many other bullshit.).

So who the fuck am I kidding? If I cant even get into a decent school that will enable me to get a diploma or something, how the fuck do you expect that this whole art thingy be my bread and butter? How the fuck do you expect it to be my professional designation like a doctor, engineer, architect, or whatever 'professional' designation labelled on people practicing a skilled profession. If I quit my job and just be an 'artist' I bet I'd be making the same amount of money as a mcdonalds worker who works 1 day a week.

So that is why TECHNICAL SKILL is a MUST for being considered 'professional'.

If you make money because of connections and such, well good for you. You have a point though about saying its WHO you know. But thats only 50% of it. Just the same as technical skill.

Technical art skill - 50%
Networking - 50%

Dark_Elf_Designs
try more like this technical skill- 10%
Talent- 10%
Networking- 80%

I'd argue that it's less networking and more skill. There comes a point when people can tell that you're just name-dropping and angling with not much actual skill to back it up.

I've covered the rent with money made through art maaaybe once, in the past two years. I know I'll always have another career as my main one, but damn did it feel nice to pay that bill with cash earned by painting.

Hawk

Dark_Elf_Designs
try more like this technical skill- 10%
Talent- 10%
Networking- 80%

I'd argue that it's less networking and more skill. There comes a point when people can tell that you're just name-dropping and angling with not much actual skill to back it up.

You're right in that a bit more skill than 10% is involved. But it depends on your field of art. For fine art it's very low, for Graphic art and illustration skill has to be high, but without the contacts and the networking you could be the most skilled person ever on the face of the earth and never make enough to live by.

Inkmonkey
You're a professional artist when you start putting that down on your taxes.

Yep. When you're getting paid on a regular basis, and an amount of money that at least qualifies as a part time income. That's what "professional" means - when it's your job. It really doesn't have anything to do with the quality of someone's work - I make a living as a schoolteacher, and sometimes I look at the cartoon illustrations in the books I use with my kids and I want to gouge my f'n eyes out because I can draw circles around these people, and they're probably making a living peddling their garbage. But that makes them professional artists and me someone who does it as a hobby. The end.