Want to Teach Art?

I've been teaching comics at Harlem Children's Zone for almost a year and wanted to share some of my experiences with you.  I lead an after-school comics program for high school and middle school students 4 days a week, with a focus on entrepreneurship.  In the picture above, the students are selling the mini comics they created at the end-of-semester event in December, and donated all proceeds to charities as an "act of kindness" (which is the HCZ theme for the year).  Throughout the fall, it was great seeing the stories the kids came up with, watching them learn to fold the mini comics, get excited about games we played like "The Price Is Right" (to learn about pricing their mini comic products), and much more.  We threw a pizza party for the middle school club, who raised the most money (almost $50 for the Red Cross!), and reflected on their experiences selling their comics.  The students said it felt good to show other people their artwork and make sales.  I could go on forever about how awesome it is teaching these kids, but I'd like the focus of this blog to give you tips if you want to get started teaching comics or any kind of art.  

Some of the high school mini comics!  These comics are one sheet of paper, folded like origami, to make 8 pages.

Want to Teach Art?

1.  Have a college degree

If you want a more stable, long-term teaching job, this is essential.  I started out teaching comic workshops at MoCCA (Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art) and private tutoring, which was great for experience.  However, if you want to move to the next level and teach consistently for a part-time job, you must have some kind of college degree.  It doesn't even have to be an art-related degree or a master's.  The main goal of our program at HCZ is to get kids to college, so it's important for all employees to experience college.  Sometimes artists think they can get by without an official degree, and while that may work in some cases, not having a degree will really limit you in the future, even if you can't see it now.

2.  Have great communication skills

Not all artists can be good teachers.  Sometimes it's difficult to even explain what we're doing, let alone explain everything step-by-step to another person and guide them to create a complete project.  If you have an interest in teaching, but feel you may need to "level-up" in this area, watch YouTube art demos or Envato Tuts+ tutorials (a fantastic resource) and study how the presenters break down the material step-by-step.  

3.  Like and/or can relate to kids/teens

This may sound obvious, but we've all come across some teachers in our lives that probably made us wonder why they chose that profession.  Teaching isn't for everyone, and to weather the chaotic times, you've got to have a firm grounding in caring about the students.  I find that I relate to the high schoolers by remembering some of my high school experiences, and the middle schoolers and I can bond over animations we like (Dragon Ball Z is STILL popular!  And hey I still know about Pokemon!).

Hope you find this helpful.  Applying for arts teaching jobs will have other specific components, but I think these 3 points are universal.  The arts have been cut drastically from the public school system, but they are much needed for youth development.  There are many teaching opportunities in cities, and if there aren't many where you live, MAKE them!  If you really want to be an arts teacher, reach out to some organizations in your area and see if they'd be open to incorporating an arts element to their programs. 

Happy President's Day from (D)(R)!  When's the last time you went to a library?

Venn Diagrams of Artist Work

One of the things I've learned from being a freelance artist is that you need to have a mix of stable and variable work.  Most full-time artists these days must juggle 3 to 10 or more smaller jobs at once rather than having a 9-5 (this does not include artists that have a non-related day job).  In my Venn diagram above, "stable" means recurring - either monthly, weekly, or daily.  Teaching has set hours, but the rest of my jobs are flexible, meaning I can fit them in from home on my own time, so even though work is stable doesn't mean it's inflexible.  The key to create stable work is to align yourself with a few solid companies or non-profits and have ongoing positive relationships with them.  Now that I have a solid 3 forms of recurring work, I am finally starting to grow financially instead of just keeping afloat. 

Variable artist work is the most random.  Earlier in my comic career, I relied too much on these forms of income:  comic conventions, illustrations, and comic coloring.  These projects are fun to be involved in, but unless you have a constant client base, it's very difficult to make ends meet solely on variable, non-recurring work.  Comic cons are great, but I realize I shouldn't exhibit too often due to burnout, since I sketch on-the-spot.  Also, there's no guarantee there will be a large crowd so I may not make as much money as hoped.  Now that I have more stable work, I can target only the larger conventions I know will have good traffic flow, and not feel compelled to exhibit in every single show.  I can also fit in illustrations like custom comics in between my stable work, especially if there's a flexible deadline.  I just squeezed in a short comic coloring gig for Action Lab Comics last week.  I hired an assistant to do the flats instead of struggling to do the entire thing myself in such a short amount of time, which allowed us to meet the deadline comfortably without killing myself over no sleep.  ("Flats" are the first step to comic coloring work - like the solid colors in a coloring book.  The next step is making sure all colors harmonize, then shading/rendering.)  Before, when I didn't have the trio of stable work, I'd do almost all the flats myself to get more money, but I'd have major burnout.  Having stable work can be more freeing to consider options like hiring assistants instead of being in "survival mode" all the time, which is not healthy.

I encourage you to make an artist's Venn diagram of your own paying projects to help see your situation more clearly.  What projects are you spending most of your time in - the variable diagram or the stable diagram - and what steps can you take to improve your situation?  One step could be reaching out and reconnecting with past clients. 

You could have another Venn diagram of fun comic projects of your own that are not paid projects.  Just be careful not to spend too much time in the area of unpaid work though, because we can trick ourselves into thinking we're being more productive and making more money than we actually are.  Good luck!

A Valentine's (D)(R)!

The next in my (D)(R) series - Happy Valentine's Day!

(D)(R)

I’ve been so busy with projects that I haven’t blogged in weeks, and SO much has happened in America since then.  With the turmoil the country is in, there’s certainly plenty of fodder to fuel more Daily Misfortunes.  However, I’ve decided that I don’t want to contribute to more negativity on the internet.  I want to draw something positive and refreshing!  My new illustration series, titled (D)(R), will replace the Daily Misfortune until further notice.

The donkey here is based off a “dwarf donkey,” possibly the cutest animal on Earth!  And did you know that baby elephants can sometimes have hair on their heads?  

If you like what you see, please share this comic :)