# DMA#44: Funding the Absurdity: How to Pay for Ink Without Selling Your Organs with Mason Currey

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/draw-me-anything-with-jason-chatfield-7482418/dma-44-funding-the-absurdity-how-to-pay-for-ink-without-selling-your-organs-with-mason-currey
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/draw-me-anything-with-jason-chatfield-7482418/dma-44-funding-the-absurdity-how-to-pay-for-ink-without-selling-your-organs-with-mason-currey.md
Podcast: [Draw Me Anything with Jason Chatfield](https://stenobird.com/podcast/draw-me-anything-with-jason-chatfield-7482418)
Published: 2026-04-14T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.newyorkcartoons.com/p/dma44-funding-the-absurdity-how-to
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/192246404/a79c3a3bb321e279c648fbf3d75b4030.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/draw-me-anything-with-jason-chatfield-7482418/episodes/dma-44-funding-the-absurdity-how-to-pay-for-ink-without-selling-your-organs-with-mason-currey
Duration seconds: 3402

## Resource

I live in an ancient little apartment a block from Times Square, because I love cooking dinner in my bedroom. It’s more of a ‘Pre-War Cupboard’ really. I ordered a mini fridge the other day because I needed a guest bedroom. Morris, my French bulldog, is asleep on a pile of discarded drawing paper, completely unbothered by the fact that his gourmet kibble requires legal tender. My radiator clangs with the aggressive rhythm of a stolen Citibike being dragged backwards down a flight of subway stairs. It’s a very particular kind of anxiety. You want to make art, but you also want to occasionally eat a Chipotle burrito (strictly no beans). It’s an impossible Venn diagram. I’ve made my living for twenty-one years as a freelance artist and comedian. I don’t have a day job, I don’t have a side hustle, and I don’t have a wealthy patron bankrolling my Blackwing addiction. Luckily, Mason Currey came on the show this week. He’s the author of Daily Rituals , a book I devoured during the pandemic, and his new hardcover is out right now. It’s called Making Art and Making a Living: Adventures in Funding a Creative Life . When I first saw the title, I told Mason my immediate thought process. “I initially, when I got the book, thought it was finding a creative life,” I said. “And I was like, oh no, it’s way more important. Funding ! It’s about money.” We got into the weeds of how historical geniuses paid their bills, and honestly, it’s comforting to realise they were mostly just flailing around like the rest of us. I started by asking about Arthur Schopenhauer, who managed to dodge a soul-crushing life in mercantile finance solely because his father died and left him an inheritance. I spend half my time wandering the concrete canyons of Manhattan, wondering how to pay my rent, so I had…

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## Transcript

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