Martí Melcion: "I buy nice things to give the shared apartment a homey feel."

Comic book illustrator Martí Melcion (Barcelona, ​​1995) grew up in a family dedicated to teaching and the Catalan language. He already showed promise from a young age: "I drew a lot and also had a rather comical style. I remember once tracing the European countries and giving them faces, eyes, and little hands. I gave them personalities, and the adults already thought it was really funny."

Melcion began working alongside his grandfather in the family carpentry shop. He studied cinematography at Ajedrez and when he entered the workforce, he realized he preferred drawing: "The crucial moment was when I said, 'I'm leaving that art direction job and going into complete obscurity.' Then, it's true, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and I was stuck eating my brains out. No one asked for it." And so, he gained renown and a position in the sector.

"So you're combining a shitty job with classes, with a commission that's more in line with your style. And now, lately, for almost two years, I've been making a living solely from comics." The best thing about his job, he says, is "when Monday comes and I'm not sad": "I don't live in that dichotomy of being bitter until the weekend comes when you can go out. I really like being independent because routines make me deeply bitter," he explains. "The worst part is that I work in my room, here at the table and behind the bed," the artist explains. In fact, he often finds it difficult to separate his personal and professional life.

Regarding remuneration, he believes the problem isn't that the profession is poorly paid, but rather the way you must work as a freelancer: "If you're paid 300 euros for a poster and that's what you then have to pay in self-employment fees, you're doing work that's going to cost you every month because you have to pay for everything you earn."

In fact, the illustrator points out that he has often had cash flow problems: "Sometimes I know I'll have that money in two months, but now I don't have it to pay what I owe. So I've had to ask my parents for money. Then I always pay them back." He says it's "the worst part of not having a regular salary every month." "For example, right now I have quite a bit of money in the checking account, but, of course, I have to pay 5,000 euros in VAT and I have to pay my collaborator an additional 6,000 euros. A few nice little numbers in the account look great for a while, but when you see things are going down so much, you get a little desperate." "What's also happened to me is the manager collecting the VAT and telling me they realized there isn't enough money in the account to do so," the artist explains.

In this sense, he doesn't consider himself a waste of money: "I don't buy too many clothes or am an impulsive consumer, but I'm not one for going out to dinner one day or taking a taxi home." And the best investment he made was enrolling in a master's degree in illustration: "It was quite expensive. I paid for it myself, and I'm still paying 100 euros every month."

"In the world we live in, apartments are so expensive that often the precariousness isn't the money you get paid, but everything you have to pay later," the cartoonist emphasizes. "I'm now paying €370 in rent, which has already gone up—I used to pay less—and I live with three other people. And, in fact, they wanted to raise the rent by €500 when we renewed the contract. It's very frustrating. I find it very difficult to live alone." And he quickly writes four numbers: "The minimum for an apartment would be €700 or €800. And, if I have to pay €300 for self-employment, that would be €1,000 just for existing." "I'm trying to make my apartment very nice even if it's shared; I try to buy nice things to give it a homey feel," he explains.

Melcion emphasizes that living day to day is possible, but "saving and planning for the future is very complicated with this type of job": "I don't know which bank would give me a mortgage. It's really frustrating that everything is so uncertain. Even having children is a very abstract idea of the future. I think the world is much more geared toward joining a company to work and earn a salary."