Using a psuedonym

[ksfabian]

Recently I've been feeling that I might want to use a pseudonym. I have several social media accounts and a website under my current name, but for privacy and personal reasons, I feel like rebranding myself under a psudeonym. What are the pros and cons of this? (I have hardly any followers, but as I plan to be more serious as a cartoonist making a consistent webcomic, I want to make this choice now rather than waiting until I grow my audience more)

[von_Nimmermehr]

@ksfabian i used a psuedonyme since i started and i don't regret it.
I think its no problem in the end when its establsihed early.
Just look around who works under a psuedonym.

I wonder if its unprofessional when you work in the industry though, but as a cartoonist, it would'nt seem probplematic for me.

In the end i dont make a secret of my real name though, it's all over my webpage and in my impressum.

[kirsten-mcg]

@ksfabian I think it makes a lot of sense! That way you can have a life away from your public figure one day when you get famous. Just imagine everyone tripping over themselves to get your autograph when you pull out your credit card to pay at a restaurant? If only illustrators got that famous, right? Being more serious now... I think it depends on your personality. If you're somewhat private it's probably a good idea. I'm that way, and I sort of already use one. I think my married name sounds weird with my first name, so I'm already known by my maiden name in the art world. I'm thinking about changing it even more when I eventually get published. Maybe just using my first and middle initial or something, even though that does seem to be more of an author thing.

[ksfabian]

@kirsten-mcg It's not so much the fame thing. I think it's more of a professional identity thing. Like I struggle posting on social media. I tend to be more private on the internet than I do face to face. I may not like posting anything on social media, but [pseydonym] has no qualms about it. It doesn't mean that people couldn't figure out my real name, it's not hard to do that. It's just an added bonus of separating myself from my work.

[ksfabian]

@von_Nimmermehr Yeah, I know lots of artist go by other names when publishing on the internet. The name I was going to use sounds like a "regular" name. But the bonus is, I googled it and there are no other working artists with the same name. My actual name on the other hand has tons of artist with it. I don't even have a unique name in my family. My husband's cousin's wife has the same name as me. People confuse us on the social media all the time too.