Deep Dive: 1000 True Fans, Myths and Realities

Jake Parker

What does it take to be a financially successful illustrator? Jake Parker, Lee White, and Will Terry explore the concept of 1,000 true fans, earning potential as a freelancer, and how to make a comfortable income as a full-time illustrator in this deep-dive episode.

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Griffin McPherson

I just want to add something to what Jake brought up in the beginning about how sports fans are viewed as normal and fans of media like comic books, movies, and tv shows aren’t.

I think the reason society views media fans as more childish is because their fandom is based around something fictional whereas sports are real world events with real people involved. Anything imaginary or fictional is often correlated to childhood because that’s the time in our lives where we are imaging the most so when people see a fan of something fictional they think "weird, they’re still very attached to that stuff we all enjoyed as kids." Personally I feel that if you can’t geek out over something fictional then you’ve lost touch with your imagination.

Asyas_illos

@Griffin cheers to having an active imagination!

LauraA

@Jake-Parker

First of all, kudos to Lee's wife ! I think she hit the nail on the head. Team and fan sports are a way for men to bond without having to get personal. I also think they are a way for a community to bond. Sports are also inherently an extroverted activity, and makes even introverts feel more extroverted. It's just harder to see comic or fantasy games going on, as @Griffin points out. This is why we have (or had?) jocks and nerds in high school.

I think to get the right analogy, though, you'd have to consider all the people who went to see Star Wars (or paid to see it in some way). I'd say Luke Skywalker and Michael Jordan are both household names. And actors certainly have as many fans as sports stars do.

But, here's my real question for all of you, and it's about your main topic. I have probably been hiding under a rock (or living in another country) for the past ten years, and also I don't really know what the younger generation buys, but is this super collectors phenomenon really so pronounced? Do people really buy children’s book type prints? Collect tarot cards? What do they do with them? Do they hang the prints on their own walls? Their kids’ walls? I’m asking because if so, I probably need to make a paradigm shift. I love illustrations, but I think of them mainly as belonging in books, etc., so I would like to understand this better.

At any rate, I have considered having a print store for a while, but it's kind of hard to figure out how to pull it off from abroad in a way that allows for quality control. But that's another topic.

Great job, as usual! Cheers!

Erichousel

@Griffin Absolutely! Life gets boring if our imagination is boring. I enjoy being a sports fan and a media (comics, movies, sci-fi, fantasy) fan. I do some extra geeking out, lol! Another great 3PP episode that keeps our minds active.

Charlotte Glaze

I loved this episode. I think it's one of your best... but that might also be because I love the banter you guys get into over stuff that I have very similar opinions over (like the sports vs. comics/Star Wars).

The interviews with people are great, but I have missed the banter of the three of you together on those interview episodes.

I would like to hear more thoughts on finding your niche and really making it your own. I would love to just illustrate my own children's books, not really anything else. Is that a niche, or just a pipe dream?