Apparently there's a sort of debate about how it's important to know when your skills as an artist might not be ready for "professional" work. So let's discuss.

As a person who did a whole lot of learning "on the job" as a webcomic artist, I have to agree. My initial storytelling and art skills weren't good enough to convince a corporation to invest in me. BUT they WERE good enough to sell directly to readers, baby!

That's the thing. Success when speaking to people directly is not influenced by the same factors as success thru the publishing pipeline. It's a different threshold to pass, and different expectations. Compare what youtubers produce and tv series. Not all content is made the same

You can be extremely successful online and still not feel ready, still not do well on the other side, it's not ONLY about talent and social media response. It's about trends, personality and content marketability.

Furthermore, print publishing can be more unforgiving.

If you start when you are too green, and several of your projects fail to meet expectations, you won't be considered as well as new blood. Companies invest for a return. The projects can even be super fantastic... there's only so much a business is willing to invest in passion.

So, the gist is, listen to people when they tell you to keep growing. Take to heart the feedback that comes with rejections. Listen to your agents, your colleagues, your editors. Listen to other creators. And don't be shy to monetize your progress directly with patreon and KS.

It's ok to take time to grow and to know your limits, because taking on too much too fast can lead to an impasse. If you have a strength in illustration, but still need to polish up your storytelling side, look for smaller jobs in publishing, like covers and novel illustrations.

At the end of the day, creative work is just that -- CREATIVE. There's no fast way to get good. It's about experience, and time is the greatest teacher. If you feel ready now, you might be. It's different for everyone. But it's important for you to self-evaluate.

I have to add, I feel "know when you are ready and commercial / personal work is different" is only a hot take because of the screaming void telling us to be successful before 30 and that the best way to be successful is to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.

And yeah, it's hard to deal with rejection when you're young and hungry and want it now, but it's preferable to be invited to a banquet then to be served crackers and then tossed out.