Making it a living?

[Yahnke]

do any of you do puppetry for a living? Or do you have a group that is incorporated? How do you fund such a group.

Or is this just a hobby for many of you- a hobby that is sometimes confused for a job?

 

[Teenager's]

In my highschool I run a Puppetry Club that meets after school and does one performance a year. We build all the puppets for the show as well as the set pieces thoughout the year. Really the sets are built a week before the show.

Our show costs around 1,200 to produce because of materials and advertising (more materials though) So we use Coporate Sponsors because we're non-profit and also a highschool and then we also use the profit from the show. This year was our second year, and I wanted to see if we could remain afloat without sponsors, and we really can't. I think we have only $300 in our account after the last show.

Needless to say, This year we're having sponsors

 

[ravagefrackle]

do any of you do puppetry for a living? Or do you have a group that is incorporated? How do you fund such a group.

Or is this just a hobby for many of you- a hobby that is sometimes confused for a job?

I do do this for a living, (not at all a easy way to make a living though)
im not incorporated , but have been looking in to it , i have never considered myself a business man,for the most part people in suits(just about any one i used to have to commute with on buses, and trains that generally represent the Business world) make me want to hit things with a bat.

anyway to answer your question, yes i do this for a living

 

[Punch'n'Judy]

Have just turned full time. And it's a precarious living I can tell you!

 

[Fozzie Bear]

It's all part-time for me. My money job is here: www.westmemorials.com

The cartooning and puppetry is side-gigs for fun.

 

[aaronmojo]

I'm working on starting a business towards the end of this year. The day-to-day corporate office job is nice and reliable but no way to live life. I gotta get out of there.

My Dad is a freelance artist and he tells me to expect a good 2 to 3 years of hardship and struggling until you start to make a comfortable living at it... I'm currently a freelance artist as well so I think once I make the plunge I should be all right... (Gulp!)

 

[Yahnke]

Thanks for the replies guys. I agree, doing what you don't really want to do, just because it pays the bills isn't the ideal way to live. Although i know many men and women who do it that way.

But what if somebody's love isn't something they can make a living off from. For example puppetry.

i was just wondering how many actually make this their living, or if they "living" simply pays the bills and supplies the funds to feed their puppetry hobby.

i am aslo wondering, for those of you who have made this full time, now that puppetry is how you pay the bills, did it kill the "love of it" for you since now you have to do it?

thanks
blessing to you all in your puppetry ventures!

 

[gfarkwort]

You know....everytime I hear or read about people worrying about making their art their living I like to think about the show "Sunday in the Park with George" If you haven't seen the show I suggest you rent the DVD. Anyway the message in that show is that George is working and doing his art because he has to. Then the question to ask is how do you become an artist while remaining solvent but keeping your integrity. One of the lines is;

"Work is what you do for other people, Art is what you do for yourself"


If you're not able to rent it just listen to the songs or read the lyrics....
its a Sondheim Show.

 

[Yahnke]

perhaps this should be under a new thread, but i'll tack it up here. I am getting bored with making puppets from other people's patterns. I think they are a GREAT way to build your first few puppets, but now i really want to make my own stuff....but i don't know how to get what i sketch to turn into a pattern on flat foam...

so i do a lot by trial and error....and it gets expensive. i was wondering how much do you guys drop on a puppet that you are working on...for yourself, not one to sell. and when you are making one for yourself, do you always make sure everything is done perfectly...ie the mouthplate, the glue job, the perfect stiching? Or do you every sacrifice quality for just getting a prototype and pattern made?

thanks

 

[ravagefrackle]

all depends, thats part of the reason that a custom built professional puppet can cost a lot more than people think, the hours that go in to getting the shap just right really stack up, (not to mention the foam and glue bill)