Reading about Ian McGinty has me feeling all sorts of ways.
If I can't ever make my comics I'd at least want to make things better for other creators... because this is unsustainable. I know that feeling, where it grips you and won't let go. And the people who do it for a living watch their health fail because they have to keep grinding themselves down due to the lack of pay and benefits. No rest. A cartoonist's health is all they have and when its gone and you can't do the job anymore they'll drop you unceremoniously. And then you're left disabled in poverty. I've never wanted to work for any company for a lot of reasons, these being some of them.
Capitalism screws everyone. It's cruel. Creatives get left out of a lot of conversations about this cruelty because there's an idea that non-creatives have about the work being its own reward. That's not how it works though. If you're burning your wick down as fast as you can just to be able to keep doing it... ugh.
Because I've slept a whole lifetimes worth at only 40 I've built a bad habit for myself. "I've already rested enough, I can rest later." Its something I'll have to stay conscious of if I ever can get back to art. I'm liable to slip into it despite not currently having much pressure to burn myself down.
More of these, "wishin' I could win the lottery hours" lol
If I ever do you can bet in addition to helping my friends out and getting myself in a more stable situation, I'll be doing my best to help change how these things work. ๐