We recently connected with Allison Conway and have shared our conversation below.

Allison, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I feel like I am taking a risk every year living in Brooklyn. I work part time at a company called Court16. I help make the arts and crafts for kids. It is the perfect part time gig for a cartoonist and illustrator! But it does not cover all of my expenses every month and so every month feels like a gamble. My career is at a steady(ish) flow job wise but it is still hard to make money. When I graduated college I lived at home for a year and then moved to Brooklyn without a job fully expecting to immediately run out of money and have to leave after a year. I have managed to stay in NYC ever since and that was 6 years ago. Every year I resign my lease it feels like a risk but it’s a risk I happily keep taking.

Allison, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a cartoonist and illustrator. Lately I am more a cartoonist who has been pursuing writing, illustrating, and publishing my own stories. I studied Illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design but soon after graduation found myself drawn to comics. It can be more difficult to make money as a cartoonist, so it has been a slow transition. Not to mention I do want to keep the illustration door open for myself. There are illustration gigs that I am passionate about like album covers, illustrations related to weed, anything with bugs, book covers, and any project with an art director that is excited for me to get weird with the art. To make money and meet new people in the comics community I will bring my original drawings, prints and stickers to independent comic conventions to sell. There are many of these events in New York City like MoCCA, Comic Arts Brooklyn, and The Brooklyn Independent Showcase. Sometimes I do travel for conventions. For example, in September I will be tabling at the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo and I will have my recently published mini comic titled The Island. I published the comic with publisher Fieldmouse Press who will also have a table at the convention, and I will sign copies of my mini comic.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I think I am a stubborn person, which has its benefits and negatives for pursuing an entrepreneurial career. When I first started out after college I found the contact for the art editor at Vice at the time. Vice was publishing comics so I contacted him with some comics I whipped up and he didn’t accept them. So, I drew more comics and eventually he did accept them. It can be easy to get a rejection and give up, but I have had multiple times where trying again and not letting an idea die can work out in the end. It might not be the way you planned or hoped for but at least it is finished, and the idea exists. My first graphic novel, The Lab, was a similar story. The editor accepted the idea I sent him and then changed his mind and said he needed to see more. I did more artwork, and he still wasn’t sure. I think I sketched out the whole book and then contacted him again and he accepted it! I have a book coming out next year called A Pillbug Story. I have been drawing pillbug comics since I graduated college in 2016 and finally found a publisher who is interested in the book. It is a lot of work but it is work I am excited to do and you never know where making something you’re excited about can take you. I think with our short time on this planet why not stubbornly follow your ideas/ dreams :).

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

It would be amazing if artists were taken more seriously. Sometimes it is hard for people to offer fair pay for the work you are doing and to see the artwork as work and not just a thing artists do in their spare time for fun. If it is your career, it is your income and your life and it’s expensive to be alive. It’s an extreme privilege to be able to pursue this career, don’t get me wrong, but if I can’t pay rent I need to get another job and won’t have energy to draw. We need art in our lives! It’s everywhere you look at any moment in a city or park or building. The world would be so much less interesting to look at if we didn’t make art. No cool book covers anymore!      

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