“Take your passions and your hobbies and turn them into a career, if you can,” urges Kyle Charles, an Edmonton, Alberta born and raised comic book artist who recently worked for Marvel Comics. He is Cree and a Whitefish First Nation member who has been a professional artist for seven years, with his comic debut taking place a year after graduating from university. Off the printed page, he’s worked on screen in TV, film, and video games as an animator, seizing every opportunity to improve. The low pay of mainstream comics prompted his departure a year and a half ago, the catalyst to his focus on Indigenous content.

“I could see that Indigenous culture would need content creators, and I definitely wanted to be one of the first people through the door,” Charles explains. He collaborated on graphic novel anthologies with other Indigenous creators, attracting the attention of Marvel. Getting their attention was part of his five year plan and he achieved it in record time.

When it comes to his career path, he didn’t see another option. As a child, he was always drawing and always wanted to be a comic book artist. Charles never had a plan B. He found himself unable to hold other jobs due to the frustration of doing work he didn’t want to do. While he wishes he had been more productive in his early twenties, he knew he wasn’t ready to go right into university. Homeless for an extended time period, he went through a lot but he found his way to the work he loves.

At first Charles tried academics at University of Alberta but found it wasn’t for him. He ended up at an art school which later became Edmonton Digital Arts College as part of a program called the Digital Illustration and Sequential Art Program. He learned a lot of helpful skills for the video game industry and many digital arts programs like Photoshop and InDesign that employers told him were needed. After ten months, he graduated and did many art jobs like henna tattoos, design commissions and video game design.

Before university, getting through high school was a struggle for Charles and he graduated from an outreach centre with the help of teachers who believed in him. High school graduation is something he sees as foundational and key to opening doors to opportunities.

When it comes to students leaving their home community to pursue their education, Charles empathizes that it would be a big step to leave one's support system behind. At the same time, he says, “Take the risk, make it happen.” He recommends moving to a new community first, finding work and getting to know people first. He suggests getting a feel for the campus to gauge your comfort level to make a decision between schools in a city.

Alternatively, Charles recommends, “If you're just needing out and you're ready for a new experience, then just jump in with both feet and see how it goes, and really try to make the best of everything. Like any opportunity you're given, take it, make the most out of it.”  He acknowledges change can be hard and for people not ready, he encourages, “ Don't feel don't feel bad about not being open to it, because it'll come in time…Some of the people are just quicker than others. Just don't be too hard on yourself.”

When it comes to obstacles, Charles struggles with overthinking and procrastinating, something he sees a lot in artists. “You just end up spending the whole day thinking about the work and not actually doing it,” he explains. Generally, he doesn’t do warm up drawings and he just gets to work. The other challenge he faces is people trying to talk him down on prices. He’s found some effective tactics to counter these situations over the years. Most challenging has been large companies wanting him to work for exposure. “If you're an artist, stay away from anyone sending exposure because it does two things, it cheats you out of your money, and it sets precedence for somebody else to go and use that same excuse….it drives prices down for people,” he warns. He’s also learned to get at least 25% deposits up front to avoid being taken advantage of.

If Charles could share a message with his younger self it would be, “having the skill isn't everything, you need to know what hard work is.” Starting out, he didn’t have the work ethic he has now. He would also say, “Be patient, it'll come with experience. It's all built into the career path.”

To balance mental wellness, Charles suggests, “know what you love, surround yourself with people who understand you or have a similar path in life or a love for you. If that's not an option, then trust in yourself.” As a kid, art got him through hard times, growing up in a troubled home. Music has also been beneficial for his mental wellness, listening and playing guitar or piano, recording and writing songs. He prescribes taking breaks, going for walks, playing video games, talking to friends and not taking things outside your career too seriously. He also encourages finding balance, offering, “It's not the most important thing in life. The people that you get to share time with is what matters.” Being mindful of issues of substance use and the impacts they can have on families and communities is also something Charles is aware of after suffering losses in his family.

When it comes to inspiration, Charles is inspired by a French artist named Moebius. He’s also inspired by the work he is doing now himself in producing Indigenous content and by his mom and her learning journey.  He also finds inspiration in shows, movies, music and books. Looking to the future, Charles is working to build a company where Indigenous artists can come and create comics and other creative media on reserve and in Wonder Harbour Comics.

He took his passions and hobbies and turned them into a career and now Kyle Charles is making a living out of his art. It wasn’t a straight line to get where he was going but great art also includes wicked curves. He tried a little of everything and his willingness to experiment and follow his heart got him noticed by Marvel, just like he planned. Now he’s setting up shop to make room for more Indigenous artistic talent that he’s sure is on the way.

Thank you to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article!