Don Rosa: Why I Quit
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Don Rosa: Why I Quit
1–10 of 49 posts
Re: Don Rosa: Why I Quit
#29 volumes!
Re: Don Rosa: Why I Quit
#3It seems it all boils down to this: he didn't make as much money as he wanted.
I don't want to trivialize the issue: making money is not easy, but the guy over-plays the victim card.
He seems to be a successful artist. He quits and it's all a fault of other people, who don't pay him as much as he deserves.
Again, not to trivialize the issue, but an artist with a lot of fans should be able to find a way to make money.
Did he try to follow the steps of many cartoonists that make decent money doing daily cartoons on the web, like theotmealguy?
Did he try to create anything outside of work-for-hire arrangement that he entered (willingly, as a consenting adult) into with Disney?
No evidence of that.
According to him, it's just the system conspires against poor artist.
According to me, he's just a lousy businessman who lacks awareness of his own shortcomings and oblivious to many ways he could have made money with his art. Instead he chose a safe route of employment and as an adult he should understand that it also usually comes with limited upside.
If he wanted a bigger upside, he should have taken more risks.
Re: Don Rosa: Why I Quit
#4I grew up reading Don's comics, and my D.U.C.K. book is so worn that it doesn't have a cover anymore. Hell, in my old room I still have his (wonderfully and finely detailed, as usual) Duck genealogical tree poster. Despite all this, I knew nothing about the man himself, which - judging from this heartfelt article - is as good and intelligent as his comics. It's sad to see he stopped writing, mostly because there's no one there to fill his gap -- and it's a huge gap, as huge as those left by Floyd Gottfredson and Carl Barks.
Re: Don Rosa: Why I Quit
#5It seems it all boils down to this: he didn't make as much money as he wanted. I don't want to trivialize the issue: making money is not easy, but the guy over-plays the victim card. He seems to be a successful artist. He quits and it's all a fault of other people, who don't pay him as much as he deserves. Again, not to trivialize the issue, but an artist with a lot of fans should be able to find a way to make money.…
I don't think you read his article very well. He doesn't give a shit about making money. He's just pointing out that in the Disney comic system there are no royalties and artists get exploited.
Re: Don Rosa: Why I Quit
#6It seems it all boils down to this: he didn't make as much money as he wanted. I don't want to trivialize the issue: making money is not easy, but the guy over-plays the victim card. He seems to be a successful artist. He quits and it's all a fault of other people, who don't pay him as much as he deserves. Again, not to trivialize the issue, but an artist with a lot of fans should be able to find a way to make money.…
People seem to have this idea that the world should be "heads I win, tails you lose" in their own favor. I can't say that I blame them, it's incredibly depressing to see a company get rich off of your work. But it fails to take into account that a person might create absolutely nothing of value while they draw a paycheck/salary and in that case it's the company that loses, not them.
That's how things go in engineering, though, you generally don't get employed unless you're willing to sign over whatever IP you are going to generate at the job (and sometimes even off-the-clock ideas too).
Re: Don Rosa: Why I Quit
#7This guy's history speaks volumes about success and being good at something.
People who want to get into Software business because of money and people who want to learn how to play the guitar because of popularity have one thing in common: they only envision the outcome. They daydream of sitting on a load of cash or being surrounded by friends (and girls) when playing a tune.
People who get really successful at something enjoy the freaking process. Most of the times (if not all) they don't even realize they are heading for success: they are too busy enjoying the improvement of their craft.
Re: Don Rosa: Why I Quit
#8It seems it all boils down to this: he didn't make as much money as he wanted. I don't want to trivialize the issue: making money is not easy, but the guy over-plays the victim card. He seems to be a successful artist. He quits and it's all a fault of other people, who don't pay him as much as he deserves. Again, not to trivialize the issue, but an artist with a lot of fans should be able to find a way to make money.…
> Instead he chose a safe route of employment and as an adult he should understand that it also usually comes with limited upside.
Did you even read the article? He turned down a lucrative career in a family-owned construction company to do this. He quit largely because a detached retina makes it impossible for him to draw. He's been doing this for at least 20 years; The Oatmeal has only been in it for 3. Have some perspective and modicum of respect.
Re: Don Rosa: Why I Quit
#9It seems it all boils down to this: he didn't make as much money as he wanted. I don't want to trivialize the issue: making money is not easy, but the guy over-plays the victim card. He seems to be a successful artist. He quits and it's all a fault of other people, who don't pay him as much as he deserves. Again, not to trivialize the issue, but an artist with a lot of fans should be able to find a way to make money.…
I don't think you read his article very well. He doesn't give a shit about making money. He's just pointing out that in the Disney comic system there are no royalties and artists get exploited.
I don't think this is particular to the Disney comic. How many game developers are being paid proportionally with sales? Usually sales and marketing people are the ones with those benefits, not the content generators. On a flip side, is not like they invest any money on the final product as they are generally being paid as a regular job.
Re: Don Rosa: Why I Quit
#10I grew up reading Don's comics, and my D.U.C.K. book is so worn that it doesn't have a cover anymore. Hell, in my old room I still have his (wonderfully and finely detailed, as usual) Duck genealogical tree poster. Despite all this, I knew nothing about the man himself, which - judging from this heartfelt article - is as good and intelligent as his comics. It's sad to see he stopped writing, mostly because there's no…
I've got my old Duck comics in a box with all my Richie Richs, and the old classic Duck stories are really something even today.