Today we’d like to introduce you to Anderson Carman.
Anderson, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I used to draw and make books as a kid but I really took off in senior year of high school. Since then I have devoted myself to my craft, Illustration. I am a Comic book and Children’s Book Illustrator. I am originally from Charlotte, NC but I moved down to Atlanta to attend school at SCAD in Midtown.
There I earned my B.F.A. in Sequential Art from SCAD, graduating Summa Cum Laude with an Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement. While at SCAD, I won several awards for my work in the student magazine, including best Cover Art and Political Cartoon. Shortly after graduating, I met my wife and we have now been married for three years, we are expecting our first child in early 2021. When I am not drawing, I enjoy taking walks, playing board games and D&D, and rock climbing.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I was terrified to suggest to my parents that I wanted to pursue art as a career, but they were incredibly supportive and have continued to be. Since then it has been a constant grind with ups and downs. The freelance artist’s life often looked at with fear of being a “starving artist” but I choose to buck that trend and constantly hustle for the next gig. It can be exhausting, but really it is quite exhilarating! I love my work and find it very satisfying but I have to constantly be working on lining up the next project to ensure a full work schedule. So yes, it has been tricky, but I am super grateful to my wife for her business sense and managerial prowess. She is a CPA and we have a fantastic partnership that extends from our marriage to business.
We’d love to hear more about your art.
My main areas of work as a freelance artist are Comic book art, and illustration. I have illustrated three children’s picture books and innumerable technical and scientific figures published by Apologia Educational Ministries. I created a 150 page Graphic Novel, “Fear Hunters” which was funded via a crowdfunding campaign that raised 152% of its initial goal. I have also created and self-published over 15 different mini-comics and sketchbook collections. Fear Hunters is available on my online store in print as well as on Comixology in digital format. Although this year has been a bust on comic cons, I am excited to get back on the con circuit next year and would love to see you in person with my books.
I teach comic art and cartooning to middle and high school students at a local homeschool co-op. I currently have several projects in the hopper to hopefully be published next year. It is all about having multiple projects in the works. One of my favorite things to do is commission work. I have people reaching out all the time to draw their D&D character or a favorite character from pop-culture. I have a series with #andersonsfigs where you can see most of them on Instagram.
On my Instagram, I share process videos and I participate in month-long drawing challenges regularly. This year I have done 29 Phobias for FEARbruary (This was connected to my Fear Hunters Kickstarter), 31 Mermaids for MerMAY, 3 Unicorns for JUNicorn, 31 Dragons for SmAUGUST, and soon I will be participating in Inktober for the 5th year in a row. One of my personal projects that I am really proud of is a daily sketch journal that I have kept for the last 7 years. In it I draw highlights from the previous day, I look forward to keeping this visual history of my life for decades to come.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Having a child early next year has really helped me focus on what I want to make as an artist, mainly Children’s books. I have a book agent currently who is shopping around a book I wrote and illustrated and I hope that it is the start of many more to come. I finished the 150 first pages of Fear Hunters, but I have plans for another 300. I hope that I can have the bandwidth in the near future to complete this story for the fans. I have several other comics that I am currently working on that should be hitting shelves in the next few years. Long term I would love to teach at the collegiate level. I love teaching my students at Metro Academic Studies and they inspire me to explore that childlike wonder that was easier as a kid. I am also currently developing a card game, that has been super fun and a dream of mine for a while, playtesting has been arduous but engaging.
Pricing:
- Watercolor Fig Commission – $60
- Black and White Ink Illustration $30 – $100
Contact Info:
- Website: www.andersoncarman.com
- Email: anderson.carman@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andersoncarman/
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