what are the odds you make it as an independent comic artist?

Im 21, having just finished my degree, and my families egging me on to become a full time wagie, which is gonna take away alot of my time. During days I don't work my casual job, I usually able to get atleast a page of my comic done, but working full times gonna cut down on my time alot. Put simply I just wanna draw all day, but while they like my art, they all say how shit the industry is.

Talked to some professionals a few days ago for some portfolio reviews, and the consensus was that it was better than most, and needs a bit more refinement and detail before it could be published, (which is fine cause im all about the grind).

Is trying to make money through building a fanbase, and using patreon/ physical sales, viable to ever get a livable wage. I wanna be similar to Terry Moore, in terms of selling indie comics (and that what I writes pretty similar to his stuff, except without an obsession with lesbians)

Put simply, how do I become Terry Moore. do I need to wear his skin? Dance around his house with his clothes on? I dont wanna do anything weird so I reckon Ill try the clothes thing,
but if I wanna become a comic artist like Terry, is it possible, and what should I try to do?

1. Learn Japanese.
2. Enroll in an art school in Japan.
3. Keeps submitting oneshots to newcomer’s award.
4. Get a manga assistant job with your editor’s help.
5. Make youtube vlogs about being a gaijin mangaka in Japan.
6. Self-publish your comic on amazon, lulu, gumroad. Make a patreon and kickstarter too.
It’s really that simple. It helps if you’re not ugly and not a Pajeet.

>>7606594 (OP)
Well, no matter what you do, it's going to be a lot of time and work before you make any money at all from comics, let alone anything livable. Even if your work is a cut above the rest, it will still take years to slowly build an audience on your own. Other than getting hired to draw somebody else's comics, >>7606601 is so wrong but also kind of right. A japanese publisher is genuinely somebody's best bet at getting paid in a reasonable timeframe, though even in the dream scenario of applying to a publisher and getting a serialization right away it'll still likely take a year or more before any money comes in and even then it won't be much. You don't need to do any of the shit that guy's saying btw, language is no barrier anymore and the rest of that shit are not at all necessary steps.
But ignoring Japan, let's talk about patreon.
>Put simply, how do I become Terry Moore.
Well, you need to start yesterday. If your family is pressuring you then it may already be too late unless you already have a fair amount of comicwork under your belt. You're talking about showing your portfolio to pros so let's say the actual comicmaking won't be a problem. Terry Moore has been around for a long, long time. He has built a readership that trusts him to deliver. You, somebody who hasn't been around long at all, has no such history for readers to trust. So you need to work on building that trust. Make stuff and release it consistently. That's the backbone of whatever your strategy for building an audience ends up being: it's all pointless unless someone clicks on your page and sees consistent, high quality work and a decent backlog of it. Otherwise it's tough to get people invested in a story, because from their perspective you could just get bored and drop the story. There's a million dead webcomics out there, because it takes a long time of working for free before it starts to pay off, and most give up or can't continue.
So, the golden word here is "perseverance".

try to find somewhere part time. an extra day can make alot of difference

>>7606594 (OP)
I dont know enough about the industry to give you a road map, we're kind of sailing through unknown waters right now culturally and economically so there may not be a road map any one can give you.

I'd talk to your family first because if this is a real and earnest dream of yours they should support it, but they do have a genuine concern. If you can pitch a sort of business plan to them outlining your goals and what you're going to do with a time frame where you'll start looking for a real wagie job they ought to support you for a few years. Say something along the lines of "I'm going to work on making art a full time career for the next two years and if I don't make it by then I'll find a wagie gig." If you show them a full-time effort they may be willing to support you.