The Unemployment Diaries: Part One

Since 2018, I have longed for the day that my art and comics would be the main source of income in my life. My confidence in this dream really started to bloom as my Patreon grew, the sites where I host my webcomic began sending me ad revenue, and I ran not one but two successful Kickstarter campaigns. Maybe I'm not the biggest artist online, but I certainly managed to achieve a lot! And then, to my shock and surprise, this week my dream officially came true. (Just obviously not the way I expected.)

Welcome to the Unemployment Diaries: a series in which I candidly share my experience of unexpectedly losing my job and throwing myself into the world of full-time content creation! Now that I am unemployed, my art and comics have technically become my main source of income. Unfortunately, that income is significantly less that what I can support myself and my cats with.

Worry not though! A new budget has been created. A job hunt has ensued. The DoorDasher app is loaded on my phone. I am taking every step I can to turn this tragic life event into an adventure. Here's where things get fun:

From Part-Time to Full-Time Artist

I started considering myself a real freelance artist sometime in 2021 when I earned enough money as an artist to justify quitting one of the two jobs I was working at the time. (Three jobs if you consider all the time and effort I was putting into Sunkissed.) And it was a definite game changer going from 50 hour work weeks to 40 hour work weeks, but I've only ever known being an artist on the weekend, on lunch breaks, or after I had spent all day giving a huge chunk of my energy towards a bi-weekly paycheck. It. Was. Exhausting.

Now? I suddenly have no alarms, no schedule, no need to stay up a little late to squeeze out extra time to finish a page. Even assuming I have to dedicate a few hours a day to DoorDash in order to pay rent, that still leaves me with way more time than I've ever had to focus on art. Why not use this an opportunity?

Finishing my fourth book ahead of schedule? I have time for that now. Creating new rewards to incentivize more support on my Patreon? I have time for that now. Daily instagram posts? I have TIME for that now! Dusting off this blog? You guessed it! And all of the other goals I've had set for so long but could not achieve with the number of hours left in a day after you subtract work and sleep... I have time for them now.

The Unemployment Diaries: Status Report

Currently, I'm figuring out how to structure my day so I don't lose myself to a timeless void. The occasional sleep-in-till-whenever is a treat, but I'm a firm believer in making lists and following a schedule. (I'm fortunate to have a dedicated space for working at home, which makes creating and sticking to that schedule much easier. Whether I need to dedicate a certain amount of time and energy to finishing a task, or I need to take a real break from it by walking away.) This is only Day Three, so I've got exactly zero systems down yet. Maybe I'll have more to speak on with my next update!

Besides that, I'm just been jumping into things. Setting goals is well and good, but if you don't make actionable steps and take the time to complete them then they aren't really helping. (Again, it's only day three so I don't exactly have a whole list of accomplishments yet. Come back later for those!)

What Lies Ahead

I'd like to use this space to share more personal anecdotes. (Maybe the occasional advice or educational material, but not to the extent that I originally planned for this blog.) My current situation is lending itself to be a very big and very ongoing anecdote. I honestly don't know what to expect though! I'm hopeful, but realistic. Perhaps I will be able to share my inspiring story of conquering uncertainty and creating your own future! Or it's possible I'll be left so wasted and frail by a forlorn job market that I stop posting altogether. Truly only time will tell!!

In summary: no, this was not the ideal way for things to play out. I'm here now though, and I'm going to make the most of it. If you made it this far, then I'm happy you're here for the ride!