A paying career

[Cloak]

In the hopes of being a comic artist, I'm just wondering what is the usual starting sallery and what would be the average sallery of a comic artist annually?

[cateaic]

There was an article in "parade" that focused on what people make at their jobs anually. Among them was a comic artist in texas making 14,000 a year. It didnt say how long the person was in the industry though.

[Silvertone]

Depends on if you're working for a big or small company.Also depends on if the book you are working on is popular and how popular YOU are as an artist.You also get paid per page,with covers paying more.

I had a friend that guest penciled a Green Arrow issue at $125 per page(he didn't do the cover). Another friend of mine was making $400 per page on Cyberforce(pencils).So it can vary in range.These were in the mid-90s when comics were very popular- the pay range may have gone down quite a bit now.Comic books just aren't selling the way they used to.

As for your other post-
Studying animation could be a good way to train for comics.Animation will loosen your drawings up and increase your speed.The main benefit from animation I think would be getting your characters to ACT.You learn how to show emotions by pushing facial expressions and body language.Animation is essentially acting by drawing.

Storyboarding is an important part of animation because you learn how to stage your characters in environments in a very similar way to comic books.

The problem with taking animation is if you are not into animating you could lose motivation.Animating is very tedious work.12-24 drawings per second.A 6-8 second animation of only one character can seem to drag on forever!(Thats just my feeling though!)

I"m thinking you meant to say illustration instead of visual arts though.

Both are good options though - you just have to see what you enjoy more.

Jeff Smith who drew "Bone" came from an animation background, and a guy like George Pratt who did fairly recently Wolverine"Netsuke" is an illustrator who does comics.Both do comics out of a love for the medium.

Basically, it's all good!

[egerie]

One important thing : DON'T DO IT FOR THE MONEY. If you're into that, change fields.

[FlipMcgee]

As Silvertone has explained, artists for U.S. comic publishers usually have page rates as opposed to a regular salary (with the exception of a few like Crossgen).

And like in any other jobs you start off with peanuts. If you persevere and your stuff actually gains a boat load of fans, you're consistent with deadlines, and you have a long term contract with a major publisher, you can expect to get a high enough rate to buy a house, get a mortgage, etc. (I'm not a pro, but I'm basing what I wrote from what I've read about the biz, from artist bios, etc.).

I agree with egerie (rhymes?) :D don't do it primarily for the money (McFalane didn't become a millionaire overnight!). Especially if you've never drawn a 24 or 32 page comic before.