How This Artist Gained Freedom by Building a Career Out of Their Passion

Many modern artists start off their career in a similar way — make a Tumblr for fan art of popular characters from film, TV and comics, gain a following and do commissions of favorite characters for cash. Sometimes this turns into self-publishing webcomics, going to school for animation or becoming an illustrator for picture books, comics or graphic novels. What begins as a fun hobby can become an online community for support, networking and creating a portfolio. Alex Garcia's story started this way, too, but it quickly became a means for survival.