Being a Self-Employed Anime Artist

Being an anime artist has its perks and yet it has its depressing times.  

It's hard to take the step and become a full time anime artist, you're taking a risk.  Aside from being self-employed you're also doing an art that doesn't get too much attention in mainstream media.  It's very popular on some sites (DeviantArt, Anipan...ect) but over all its a hard job to come by. 

When you do happen to come by a job it's a chance/chance situation.  There are many other people who want that job and sometimes you won't have the art they want.  You could come across a job offer that says "Comic Artist Wanted!" but they may not want you.  They could be asking for an artist with a "western" style or a Superman vibe style, you never know whether or not you're right for the job.  It's like that in the "real" work force too, but the advantage to that is you can make an impression that you're able to do whatever the job offers in person.

Adapting to certain styles is probably the most frustrating thing with this job.  Sometimes your work isn't "quite" what they want but you feel you can tweak it to make it what the client wants.  With that process it might take you longer to actually finish the picture than it would if you were to just draw how you usually do.  But, with those sorts of jobs it gives you the opportunity to practice with adaptation.  Adaptation is an important trait to have.  It shows that you're able to do multiple things aside from just that ONE particular style you do well.  It also helps to broaden your artistic abilities.

Sometimes this job makes you wonder if you're cut out for this.  If you can say to yourself "I want to work this job for the rest of my life".  It'll make you question whether or not this job will put the bacon on the table (with a plate or without).  Risk is important in this job, if you can't fully commit and one day you just want to quit don't start in the first place.  I'm not saying doubts won't be there, we're only human and the most important thing is to survive and be happy while doing so, but you've got to realize that it's the choice you made and it has its challenges.

I've gotten to the point to where I'm actually thinking about getting a small part time job just to make some extra cash during those in between moments for jobs.  I quit my first job for this though so I'm going to go through with it without wavering.  I can tell you this, it's hard but rewarding.