Webcomics and income

Creators of webcomics are able to do so professionally through various revenue channels. Webcomic artist may sell merchandise based on their work, such as T-shirts and toys, or they may sell print versions or compilations of their webcomic. Many webcomic creators make use of online advertisement on their websites, and some have undergone product placement deals with larger companies. Crowdfunding through Kickstarter and Patreon has become a major source of income for webcartoonists since these services have launched.

Webcomics were once seen by cartoonists as a potential path towards syndication in newspapers; however, most webcomic artist found that publishing on the Web is much more lucrative and free than syndication. In 2000, Scott McCloud predicted that micropayments would become a major source of income for webcartoonists, but this declaration never came to fruition.

Many webcomic artists started creating their online works without an intention to directly profit from it, often instead publishing through the Internet in order to get (instant) feedback on their skills. A large number of artists start creating a webcomic with the intention to become a professional, but don't succeed in part because they "put the business before the art." Meanwhile, many successful webcomic artists are diversifying their income streams in order to not be solely dependent on the webcomic itself.

The strategy of building a business around posting free comics online began in the 1980s, when Eric Millikin created the first webcomic, Witches and Stitches for CompuServe in 1985. Self-publishing on the internet allowed Millikin to avoid censorship and the demographic constraints of mass-market print publishers. Millikin's comics were instantly popular with the early internet audience around the world, inspiring other comics artists to follow. However, at that time a large online audience and influence did not necessarily translate into enough sales to reach economic success. By the 1990s, Millikin had moved to publishing comics on the then-new World Wide Web, but was homeless, living in a car, and working in an anatomy lab as an embalmer and dissectionist of human cadavers. Since then, Millikin has achieved professional webcomic success, including through turning his webcomics into award-winning print-published work and commissioned public art, and by selling original artwork in gallery exhibitions. By 1999, Millikin was one of the few, and first, webcomic creators successful enough to make a living as an artist. He now often donates a portion of his profits to charities.

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Wikipedia