Okay, I’m going to sound mean, but I’ve been seeing many artist do this lately and am a little annoyed. If you need to replace a tool (digital or trad) that you use in your art job… please don’t whine. Please just do it and get it over with. You’re going to have to anyway. Why prolong it? Your readers probably don’t want to read about your media-angst and, if you’re not careful, they will get tired of it after a while and may even stop bailing you out. So just bite the bullet and do it.

Maybe I’m odd when it comes to this, but the way I see it if the tool is one you plan to use everyday, then it’s worth the price. Especially one whose output you use to generate money – be that in the form of commissions or donations.

“But, I can use the money for something else.”

True. Just like I could have used the money I spent on all those markers over the years, the Cintiq and my own computer system (Do you guys know that I’ve burned through two computers and am now on my third since starting ‘Hunter’ in color? I’m blowing through machines like Spinal Tap blew through drummers…) for something else too! Or did we not think of that? A full set of Prismas (which I would go through in 4-6 months) equal one month’s payment on my student loan. But, I needed the markers to do the comic so… markers it was and another $300+ went to the loan. Which means I couldn’t get something fun that month. Yeah, it sucks. Tell me about it!

Every artist who uses a tool with a price tag is in the same boat. We’re all in there with you man! It’s the nature of the beast. If you don’t want to spend the funds right now or really can’t afford to, that’s fine. We’ve all been there too. Many of us are there right now. But, here’s what you do…

You re-evaluate that tool. Do you truly need it? Can you work without it? Can a friend loan you the tool? Can you use another tool or a lower grade version of your original tool of choice? If you can, then make do until you’re able to pick up the one you want. If you can’t, if you need it now… then suck it up and buy it. I’m sorry, but that’s how it works. We all have to do it.

Come, be one of us.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why if you’re doing this as a business it’s a good idea to keep separate bank accounts. It’s much easier to spent the money generated by your business on your business if it’s sitting in a business specific account. This doesn’t require an actual bank account – even sticking the money away in a cookie jar will work. Just take the cookies out first, please. Because this reminds you, from the get-go, that it is not your money, it’s the business’s money. You pay your business’s expenses and, if you’re luck and there’s money left over, you cut yourself a paycheck.

*sigh* I’m sorry. I did not intend to start my day off with a rant but, that happens sometimes. I guess I just get annoyed at seeing talented people shoot themselves in the foot this way. You’re causing yourself and your readers stress over a tool. You are the artist. The art comes from you, not that tool. You are the spark. That spark won’t dissipate if you use a less pricey marker or an older version of Photoshop unless you let it.

Remember, it’s the artist who manipulates the tool. Never let it become the other way around.

“Man is a tool-using Animal. Nowhere do you find him without tools; without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.”
– Thomas Carlyle