I feel like it's a combination of more than just hard work or luck.
It's like a mix of hard work, luck, opportunity, and who you know. Sometimes, a lot of stars have to align in order to to pave the way for success.
I'm hardly successful, but I'd like to share two experiences I've had within the past 5 years that I think have been "successes" in my small world:
First, my published graphic novel. I was working as a QA Tester, and unfortunately, that career path was a dead end, and I was feeling disheartened and miserable. I've been an artist my entire life, and it was always a dream of mine since high school to have a published book. Oh, I had started dozens and dozens of projects in the past, but never finished a single one, yet I still called myself a "comic book artist." I felt like a fraud, so I threw the gauntlet down at myself. Even if it was just a 22 page book, I just wanted to prove to myself that I could finish something. So I started work on my project.
I spent the next year working on the premise, characters, plot for the first issue, then script. Eventually, I had written a 4 issue mini-series, and moved on to actually producing pages. I would pencil, ink, letter, and color the pages whenever I could squeeze in the time. After 3 months. I finished the first 22 page issue. As rough as it was, I was just so proud that I had actually finished something! I proved to myself that yes, I could complete a comic book after all! It then filled me with the confidence to tackle the other three issues in the mini series. I was inspired and fired up! I then decided I would self publish that first issue, just so I could have a physical copy of the book to hold in my hands, as I had produced the first book completely digital on my Surface Pro. I used this service called Kablam, that did print on demand comic books. I got the first issue printed, and it was such a wonderful feeling to be able to flip through the pages of my book and just look at it. It truly felt real at that moment. Then I got to work on Issue #2.
It was during the production of issue #2 that a dear friend of mine introduced me to Barbra and Bryant Dillon of Fanbase Press. He had met them due to his work on his podcast, Comics on Comics. They were the owners of their own independent comic book company, and while they had published a few books, they were looking to expand into more all ages type books (most of their comics were for mature audiences; horror books, that sort of thing). So me and my now ex-wife met with them, we hit it off and had great rapport, and they really enjoyed issue #1 of my book. They thought it was a series that'd fit in with their goal of expanding their readership to a wider audience, and loved that my book had diversity and a strong anti-bullying sentiment.
I showed them the work in progress pages of Issue #2, and took a chance, asking them if they'd be interested in publishing The Gamma Gals under their Fanbase Press (then, Fanboy Comics), banner. They agreed. I then spent the next 3 years working on issues #2-4, and they published them digitally on comixology. While they were working on plans for the physical graphic novel release of The Gamma Gals, I pitched the idea that instead of adding concept art and sketches to the back of graphic novel, I'd write and draw 2 bonus issues to give the graphic novel more value. They thought that was a great idea, so I set to work scripting and drawing the 2 stand alone stories. It took 4 years to complete, but I now have a published graphic novel that I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into, and I can hold it in my hands and put it on my bookshelf. It's also available at two different comic book shops here in Los Angeles, and a comic book store in Canada! 14 year old me would be losing his shit if he could see that. Never in a million years did I ever expect to see something I created on a comic book shelf (and the shelf of a comic book store I used to shop at when I first move to LA, no less!) The point is that I put in the work to produce something, and then opportunity via who I knew, and luck opened the door for me to realize a childhood dream and get the book published.
The second story I'd like to share revolves around my current career. While I was working on The Gamma Gals, I ended up starting a job as a QA tester on Marvel Strikeforce. I got that job because of a former coworker reaching out to me and asking me if I wanted to be his first QA hire on a "secret project". I was burned out on the gaming industry at that time, but I desperately needed a new job. Early on, he told me that he couldn't make any promises, but there was opportunity at this company to perhaps pursue my other dream of becoming a game designer.
I worked QA for about 6 months, and then an opportunity in the combat pod opened itself up to me. It was small, just doing ability descriptions because the lead combat designer was overwhelmed with her duties of working on the combat data, combat balance, and ability descriptions for 80 something characters. My QA Lead told me to make myself invaluable to the combat pod, and there was a chance that I could move over to that pod permanently, perhaps moving from QA to design. But again, no promises or guarantees. While writing ability descriptions, I learned how to read json files, and understanding how to read them evolved into me learning how to write the combat data myself. My work was split between my QA tasks and my combat pod tasks, but eventually, because of my ability to write combat data, I was able to ease the load of the overworked lead combat designer, and became her support. She trained me in writing combat data, as well as how to balance characters for combat, and create gear data. By the end of my first 10 months at the company, I was officially moved over from QA to the design team as an associate game designer for the combat pod. Then, from within the combat pod I moved on to integration.
Integration, for those that don't know, is like digital LEGOS. I take all of the aspects of a character (character model, animations, VFX, props, ability runners and modules), and assemble them so that the character loads into combat, and does what they're supposed to do when the player presses the buttons. I was also tasked with creating combat cameras, so my comic book and storyboard background served me well, and the other combat designers hate working with cameras lol. Integrators are also the designer that leads the direction of the particular character they've been assigned. So I work with the producer, animators, and the VFX artists, and take point on communicating with them the design goals of the character, and then put all of those elements together. So, the next time you fire up Ghost Rider or Emma Frost in Marvel Strikeforce, those are just two characters I've integrated and created cameras for for the game.
Again, the point is that hard work, luck, opportunity, and who I know, is how I've managed to get to where I'm at now. It 100% was not solely my own efforts and gumption, but a combination of a lot of things. I'm far from being some massive success in terms of, say, money, but in terms of attaining two lifelong dreams, I like to think I'm successful. The real trick is to not get in your own way. I'm constantly working to combat my own self doubt, fear of failure (or fear of success), and I'm always keeping an eye out for opportunities that may present themselves to me so I can achieve my next set of goals and dreams.
It may have taken me over a decade to get to this point in my career, but I am so grateful and fortunate to have had people that cared enough for me to open the doors of opportunity for me. So, yeah, a mix of hard work, luck, opportunity, and people willing to give me a chance to prove myself.
Anyway, that's my experience, at least. Sorry it was such a long rant.
