In mid-2017, I applied to a local company that sells masonry products. They needed someone to help with video production for how-to guides and restoration projects. I didn’t get the job, but the owner had a bunch of other ideas.

One of them was a comic highlighting his interest in preserving old buildings. Perhaps the main character could be a gargoyle you typically see atop such structures. I thought it was an interesting idea and heard him out.

The one thing that gave me pause was that I would be uncredited. My potential employer wanted me to serve as an underground cartoonist, with readers unsure of the comic’s source. I told him it seemed a bit shady, and he said he’d think about it after I left.

I never heard back from him, but that turned out to be the best outcome. I worked as a graphic designer from 1999 to 2007, fulfilling the wishes of various clients instead of my own. If I wouldn’t be hired to draw a comic for someone else, then I’ll just make one for myself.

The freedom to write my own story and illustrate it with original characters without anyone ordering me to make changes has been liberating. Of course, no boss or patron also means no money, but that’s less valuable to me than the creative freedom I’ve enjoyed.

Inventing an imaginary world populated with unique people with issues they need to resolve has been an imaginative endeavor. At the very least, it’s been a welcome distraction from the drudgery and problems I muddle through in the real world.

I think Bob Ross can sum up my whole experience with something he used to say: “In painting, you have unlimited power. You have the ability to move mountains. You can bend rivers. But when I get home, the only thing I have power over is the garbage.”