Making ends meet as a comic book artist can be difficult enough in good times, and it’s even harder when the economy is faltering, like it is right now. That’s why Jason Thibault, the publisher of Optimum Wound Comics has put together a ‘survival guide’ entitled 23 Ways for a Comic Artist to Survive and Thrive in any Economy.

The guide contains sections on online comics, merchandising, creating limited art prints, increasing social media and web presence and interacting with the music industry. The guide’s main focus is for the artist to realize that need to diversify, and to arm themselves against the “putting all of their eggs in one basked” syndrome.

In 2008, Optimum Wound had expanded their website to include Masters of Ink, an online magazine devoted comic artists and illustrators. Articles on drawing with pen and ink, and pushing creative boundaries are among the topics discussed, and has made the site a “go to resource” for artists looking for tools, techniques and methods to promote themselves.

For his part, Thibault wanted to write the guide as a way to help the comic book community that he feels has given so much to him.

From Optimum Wound press release

“So many artists and creators have helped me along the way that I’m always looking for ways to give back to our community out there’, said Thibault. “After the amazing response that we received in the spring from our article, The Comic and Manga Submission Guidelines for Every Publisher in North America and the UK, I knew that I should do more. When I first created this list it was primarily as a way to get myself pursuing as many avenues as possible as an artist. I thought that it might also be helpful for other creators.”

The staff at Optimum Wound plan to expand on the guide by writing longer articles and creating videos for each section to be posted on their site, and to eventually collect the entire guide into a book.

For more information about the guide, visit www.optimumwound.com.