We have an excellent art supply store in town that offers working artists a professional discount. Most of the time, I’m too timid to ask for it.
Although they’ve never demanded proof, I’m afraid that someday they will. What proof can I offer? Nobody issues an art license. I imagine standing at the register Googling myself while they look at my comics and sniff, “You call that art?!”
I once took part in a discussion about what other cartoonists call themselves. If you say “cartoonist,” many people will ask, “Are you in the newspaper? Do you draw Superman?” If you say “No,” folks get confused—what other types of cartoonists are there?—or quickly lose interest. The number of people impressed that I’m a cartoonist who isn’t in the newspaper and doesn’t draw Superman is disappointingly tiny.
Some cartoonists prefer to call themselves “comics creators,” "graphic artists," or “illustrators.” I’m proud to be a cartoonist but if I’m giving a talk, or I’m somewhere that folks are likely to know what a graphic novel is, I’ll call myself a graphic novelist. It’s more specific and pinpoints my niche in the larger cartooning universe.
Otherwise, I call myself a writer. I’ve written for newspapers, magazines, and trade press before, and the process feels the same to me. Sometimes I write with words, other times I write with words and drawings. Both involve solving narrative problems and making a point as clearly and economically as possible, with whatever flair I can muster.
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