We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Seth Abair. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Seth below.
Seth , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
Theres for a sure a disconnect between “being a full time artist” and the reality that most full time artists still have a part time job, or some other assistance at home. I was able to drop from a full time job to a 3 day a week part time because my art and small business began to take off, but I didn’t quit that job. That job was a safety net that covered my bills, and rent and even covered cost of items for my shop or convention set ups. I see a lot of art influencers leave out the fact that they still have a part time job or they have a spouse, or partner, or even still live at home with their parents so they can focus on their art. It’s a lot like other influencers online. You see the pretty photos that make it seem they have this amazing life, but you don’t see the mound of garbage or 30 other tourists just off screen.
I’ve been working hard at my art and my business for over 11 years now and I don’t gatekeep what it’s really like. It is a struggle, and not everyone is gonna make it. Or like myself, I went in to be a tattoo artist and came out a comic book artist and creator of my own merch. Unexpected things happen along the way and you gotta adapt, and not look down on others who are on the struggle bus a bit longer and need a regular job to survive.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a freelance artist from Michigan. I grew up in a very creative family. My grandparents and parents all did or made things that they would sell for extra money along with whatever job/s they had at the time. So growing up I realized fast that I could turn my art into a way to make money. I just didn’t realize until my late 20’s that I could make a career from my art, so I got a late start there. I specialize in making merch from my cute and creepy art. My main audience are female or fem presenting individuals.
I love to do comics and have been working a bit in the Indie Comicbook realm for a few years now, but I ultimately just enjoy creating cute and cool designs for stickers and keychains, and attending conventions to sell at.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I have had to put my art on the back burner a few times over the years. At one point I had lost everything in a house fire. I had nothing and was stuck in an abusive relationship and because I had no home, I had to move in with this person and their parents. Art was the only thing that kept me together. Because of that situation I did get my hands on a tattoo machine and was able to make money that way. I lived so far from any town that I couldn’t get a regular job but people were willing to come to me for a tattoo. I eventually got in a position that I had the means and money to get myself out and away from that relationship.
I did eventually quit tattooing to return to my original love of drawing comics after my first comic con, and realizing I could create my own comic books and didn’t have to fight to get into Marvel or DC.
I much like doing things on my own terms and creating things I would want to buy or keep. Over the years I have had to move up management at various jobs or full time, forcing art to get in the back seat, but I always kept working at my ideas and small business. It started with cheaply made art prints, stickers and some keychains, and now I work 3 days a week at my regular job, and have entire lines of merch and now sell at stores across the country, and have customers around the world.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I worked hard to build an online audience and I suck at it. I had to finally get “Lucky” and did some art for someone huge on TikTok, they reacted and the followers flooded in. However, luck is a great thing, but all that hard work I put in up until then helped save me. I’ve seen people on that app go viral right off jump with their small business. They are huge for a week or so, and sell out of all their stuff so they buy thousands of dollars of restock, and by the time that restock comes in, they are no longer trending and now struggling to sell that merch without taking a huge loss. They didn’t have the experience of the hard work getting their that would have helped them pace themselves and not get in over their head or help them keep up that momentum and for each 100 followers that drop off or stop watching, you add maybe 20 new ones who are invested in what you have. I had put in a ton of work and was lucky, but lost my main account at 50k followers and had to start over. I had a loyal small following by then that I cultivated in that wave, and they returned. They are my best supporters still and if I had just had a melt down after losing my account and expected to go viral again on a new one, I would still be on the new account complaining about no followers.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/goblingrimm
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goblingrimm/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550256954905
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-abair-b86430ab/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVDYmZJ6BoWPuDzY9TSFUew
- Other: https://faire.com/direct/goblingrimmgifts
Image Credits
I took all my own photos.