How cartoonists are surviving and thriving in 2025
A look at how cartoonists are surviving 2025: doing everything other than comics.
Dear comics friends,
It’s been the headline of 2025: the job market is abysmal. Every artist you know is struggling to find a way to balance the scales and keep art in their lives. Through the haze of rejection emails and rising rent, we are adapting like little indestructible, artistic cockroaches and finding new ways to keep making and surviving.
One of Shannon and I’s most cherished successes so far is being able to support artists and friends that we really admire. In this issue, we feature the beautiful web of our contemporaries holding CART Press together.
Despite the graphic novel sales hitting a high in the early 2020’s, cartooning is rarely a cartoonists’ sole job. The Cartoonist Co-op’s 2024 Comic Worker’s Survey found that 48% of survey participants have some other job alongside comic production to cover rising costs of living.
So, we wanna put a spotlight onto those lovely creators who have brought out their secret special side skills that help keep them fed and making comics. Keep reading for a list of ways cartoonists have come to our rescue and how they’ve been surviving through these tough times. Take notes, one day you may need their special service!
Also!!! Please leave us a comment telling us what your side hustle has been. We’re in this for the long haul and are always eager to prioritize paying other cartoonists when we can.
Here at CART Press, our experience in web design in limited to interactive shopkeeper games and Neopets webpages. Thankfully, many cartoonists seem to really excel in this area! One of those lovely folks is Gus Becker. When Shannon and I had no clue how to turn our site’s pixel icon’s into ‘.SVG’s, Gus leaped in and .... WROTE A WHOLE PYTHON PROGRAM to convert our images into the correct file (even Adobe couldn’t do it correctly with their web tool).
So, how does a coding wizard mix it up with comics?
“I actually started doing freelance illustration work when I was in grad school for materials science. Once I got my degree, I started work as a research scientist, and have mainly made cartoons as a hobby since then. However, recently I was lucky enough to connect with a company that values art and hired me to make some cartoons explaining data concepts. It’s been a really cool mixing of the two worlds that I’ve kept separate for so long!”
Yesss!! So some companies still appreciate art? Great to hear! Make sure to follow along with Gus and ensure he stays permanently in a soup of both data and cartoons.
You can contact Gus at gusbusdraws@gmail.com for illustration or web development inquires and check out his cartoons @gusbusdraws on Instagram
Shannon and I obviously love comics, but as Shannon and I continue to sharpen our editing skills (and patience) for reels, we’ve turned to an absolute superstar in this field for editing assistance - Lee Strawberry!
You’ve probably seen one of Lee’s viral videos grace your timeline before but if not, a quick scroll will convince you of why we went straight to her when we were sick of editing ourselves. Lee’s videos are poppy, bright, and a perfect representation of this generation’s humor. Here’s a little peak at the upcoming reel we are collabing on:
“Going on a bunch of side quests has helped me carry on, whether its having a job as a paint and sip lead, or doing a fun commission here and there.
When it comes to my mental health as a comic artist, I make sure that I have art and not art related hobbies and outlets outside of the part of my artwork that I monetize. Gaming, junk journaling, and doing puzzles are my go to weapon of choice.”
Lee knows best and is available for hire for illustrations, animation, video editing, and probably a whole lot more. Contact her at Lee@leestrawberry.com by email and make sure to follow her on instagram @leestawberryofficial.
Ohhhhhh Micheal Muller .... this will probably forever be our favorite thing we’ve ever commissioned. In the very first months of Cart Press’s birth, Shannon had the idea of a Gameboy-esque loading screen animation presenting the brand and our two mascots- Liver and Reggie. We didn’t even have any finished examples of the two characters, just sketches and a dream.
Michael had developed a game already in retro Gameboy style, and so Shannon thought he would be perfect for our 8-bit animation and she was So Right. You can find this lovely animation gracing the top of our website to this day:
So what’s Michael got to say about his journey through the current climate?
“How do I survive? Just barely and with the assistance of a second, significantly less fun, job. But I’m able to afford to do the thing that makes me happy. So who cares about money? Well, lots of people but let’s not get off topic.
I am available for illustrating just about anything and honestly feel like I’ve drawn just about everything. No more Wolverine commissions though, please.”
You heard it here, folks, he can draw everything but he will not be drawing Wolverine ANYMORE. Good boundaries. You can contact Michael by email at mryanmuller@gmail.com and you can find him on Instagram @michael.r.muller !
I met Quip while tabling at MICE last year, just a month before Shannon and I embarked on our Cart Press journey. When Shannon and I started to talk about how the hell we were gonna make a website, I flew to retrieve this business card. Quip and his team did a lovely job getting Cart up and running online!
How does Panel Party push through these tough times?
“At our small business, Panel Party, we put our all into helping comic creators with their website and other code-related projects — and we really do mean our ALL. Of our 4-person team, only one of us has outside employment.
We’ve had our fair share of struggles, as most ventures do, but we’ve learned a LOT about what works and what doesn’t over the past year since we started. Every day we learn a little more and get a bit better at making the web a better place for comics to live and thrive. For example, our latest project, Comix Cleric, even helps creators to make their own modern comic website.”
A new platform to host web comics, we love to hear it!! Make sure to check out and keep up with their work! You can find Panel Party here on their website!
Last (for now!) but certainly not least, is our buddy, Narciso Espiritu! Along with being an incredible cartoonist and teacher, Ciso is a sticker-making wizard. Using the beautiful assets made for Michael’s animation, Ciso put together this ADORABLE sticker sheet for us! He also surprised us with mini ones!
Sooo, Ciso, do you have any advice for your fellow cartoonists?
“I have a part-time job making and serving coffee (my love); I do freelance illustration of all kinds (for editorial, for marketing, for packaging, for me); and I have also found a joy in comics and illustration education.
If you ask me how I have time for it all, I wouldn’t know how to begin. Use tools to help measure and schedule time for work, recreation, exercise, and rest!”
You can hunt down Narciso for stickers and illustration for editorial, packaging, marketing, and more through his email- coach@narcisoespiritu.com! And check out his instagram @narcisoespiritu
Are you a cartoonist with a side hustle or 2? We want to hear from you! We’re always looking for more artists to keep in our back pocket. Sound off in the comments and let us know what side quests you’ve been on to keep the lights on! Good luck to our fellow artists struggling through this tough year.
You’ve got this!!!
-Maddie from Cart Press <3
I’ll start <3 my ~part time day job~ is decorating cookies for corporate events! I’ve learned to pipe, make/ color icing, and print on edible paper! It has yet to come in handy for Cart Press but one day… cookie skills will pull thru for me, I know it
This was such a great read!! My favorite band, Greet Death, shared an interview with one of their leads, Harper, talking about how none of the band really wants to make music their full-time job because they see how burnt out full-time musicians wind up being. I thought it was super cool of her to be transparent about that - she cooks at a restaurant in Chicago that's flexible about scheduling when she goes on tour. Badass, imo.
I don't know if this counts, because it's still in the arts, but my side-hustle has shifted to become about 40% of my work and income now. I've been making art full-time for 20 years, but 3 years into making Girls With Slingshots, I decided to focus on ONLY making comics full-time. I've always had other supplemental gigs, but comics made up 95% of my income for around 16 years.
Over the last few years, I've gone back to taking caricature gigs like I used to when I began, and some odd painting gigs here and there. I'm kind of looking forward to more of it! Live caricatures are a FLEX, and my comics are always better after all that practice. But the best part is, they're gigs that pay a dependable, hourly rate, and once those hours are finished, I get to go home and focus on comics (or having a social life!) instead of taking the job home with me!