thoughts on Zine Fest Tokyo and Comitia
Last month, I went to Zine Fest Tokyo as a visitor because one of my friends attended as a seller. Of course I bought one of their zines, and then I also went and looked at the other booths. At the end of the day, the small tote bag that I had brought with me was full with zines, stickers, postcards and other small stuff. Seeing all these people and what they put their creative efforts into was pretty exciting. And I found myself thinking that if this event didn't exist, many people probably wouldn't have made the things they made, or I would've never discovered them.
I had the same reaction when I went to Comitia earlier this year (as well as a few times in the past). Comitia is like the more famous Tokyo Comiket / Comic Market, except it's limited to original works (no fanart). I'm always amazed by the creativity and effort that's on display there, and each time I find myself thinking that I'd like to be "on the other side" myself one time - selling, not buying.
However, last month, I also read a few posts on Bear Blog criticizing the commodification and constant monetization of hobbies (decoupling art and industry, de-commodifying creativity) and found myself strongly agreeing with the authors. So what gives?
I think a big reason for this contradiction is that while I could understand where those authors were coming from, I've never tried to monetize my hobbies so. They've always just been that, hobbies. So unlike people who have done it over and over again and have become burned out, to me the idea of selling your art still feels kind of exctiting and "fresh" to me.
Also, while I can understand the general point, I also thing the how matters. As far as I know, Zine Fest or Comitia aren't really centered around profit. I've talked to a few people who've attended Comitia in the past, and the first thing everyone tells you is that you shouldn't expect to make any money off of it. In fact, unless you already are a well-known illustrator or manga artist with a decently big online / social media presence, you're very likely to stay "in the red."
So making a zine or illustration book for Comitia is "commodification" in the sense that artworks are produced and sold as products. But because 90% of the time, you're breaking even at best. This makes it feel less caustic and hustle culture-y. Instead, it's more of an extension of the hobby: Putting your stuff out there for more people to see (and get their hands on), making new acquaintances through meeting people at the venue, or having fun by preparing for the event together in a group or with friends.
I think that's why these particular events "work" for me, and why I'd like to attend. It's not like monetisation or commodification is categorically negative, since it enables artists to make a living (even just partly) off of what they love to do.1 Instead of the concept of commodification itself, what matters is motive behind it, and how you deal with it. I think it's similar to how many bloggers on Bear are writing about the struggle of just wanting to write for themselves, but also wanting to be seen and have some kind of audience at the same time. These things are not set in stone - sometimes one side dominates, sometimes the other.
Right now, I'm at the point where I think preparing for an event like Comitia could help me develop a bit more discipline. I like being able to take my time with my hobby, but lately I also feel like I've gotten a bit aimless at it. Having something like a timeline or deadline, and the framework of a product (postcards, zines, stickers etc) is one way to give thing a direction. Coming from the hobbyist side, I'll probably draw the line at the point where monetisation and "producing for the market" becomes more important than following my own creative intuition.
Footnotes
Of course, there's an element of "it kind of sucks that this is what you're forced to do to make a living as an artist in the world we're living in," to this, but alas. For the most part, this falls under "it is what it is" for me.↩