Kyle Baker is an amazingly talented cartoonist, equally adept at straight-ahead superhero comics, absurdly hilarious comedy cartoons and slice-of-life gag panels. He has worked for Disney, DC, Warner Brothers, Marvel, and published a number of his own cartoons in anthologies and graphic novels.
Speaking at Hunter College Campus Schools as part of the TEDx series, he describes the future of his own career as well as the comics and animation industries. His comments are equally applicable to music, literature, film and a number of other arts and sciences. I believe he is absolutely correct in his assessment.
There’s only one question, really: what are you going to do about it?
If you’re an aspiring artist, writer, photographer, filmmaker, or other creative individual, the time has come to stop aspiring and get on with it. Instead of spending time shopping your samples around hoping some gatekeeper will give you the nod and allow you to create your great work, just go ahead and create your great work. Every day, the gatekeepers become more irrelevant. That’s why they’re nervous. That’s why they’re freaked out to the point that they bribe Congress to pass oppressive and punitive legislation like SOPA and PIPA to protect their interests. They are the past, and the individual artist-entrepreneur is the future. And as Baker says, the care of the future is yours.
When your project is ready to package, market and promote, we hope you’ll let us help you.