Don Rosa is a cartoonist, well known for his Donald Duck comic books. His stories have a worldwide following and are highly regarded. He produced extremely detailed drawings and his plotting was equally extravagant.
He has written an heartfelt essay about his retirement from drawing linked here. In it he discusses his love of what he got to do for a living, and at the same time the costs it has had on him emotionally, physically and monetarily, working in a system where he earns not a single penny for any reprints or reuse of his work.
Below are two quotes which will resonate for many cartoonists, illustrators and writers I know.
“This is one of the personal problems I brought into my comics career — too much enthusiasm. It’s an aspect of my personality that I don’t know how to do anything without letting it consume me.”
“I don’t know if you have a similar expression in your countries, but I am what is referred to here as a workaholic. I am incapable of relaxing. Inactivity makes me feel nervous and somehow “guilty”.”
Reason #2 ALONE depressed the crap out of me.
Yeah, it’s a hard read. The reason all the old cartoonists my dads age had such bad things to say about working in comic books.