A graduating college senior has turned his childhood hobby of doodling cartoon characters into a good source of income.
Jeremy Abdo is able to earn as much as $100 to $5,000 per story that he creates for major brands such as Dairy Queen and Krispy Kreme as a Snapchat influencer.
As a venture that started out as a hobby, Abdo’s first requests came from friends and classmates from the University of Texas at Austin whom he charged $5 per drawing.
Mixing photos with ridiculous versions of popular characters, he has created interesting works of Snapchat art for his clientele.
His early works ranged from one friend’s pet turtle drawn with the Super Mario Bros. to a car wrecked by the Incredible Hulk.
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After 200 drawings and pocketing over $1,000, Abdo was able to save up some money and build a strong Instagram portfolio of all his finished work. In the process, he also improved his art.
A video posted by snapchat: jeremyabdo 👻 (@jabdosnaps) on Nov 3, 2015 at 1:18am PST
“In the beginning my drawings were really basic, but over time they’ve become more complex, incorporating video and emoji art,” Abdo told Brobible. “I’ve always been involved in the arts, especially studying film the last few years at UT Austin.”
As his drawings got better, Abdo’s audience grew. People began offering money in exchange for personalized photos. Today, his Snapchat account gets an average of 20,000 views per story.
Snapchat’s popularity among millennials, who make up 70% of the app’s 200 million monthly active users, has driven companies to spend millions in marketing to reach the younger market.
A video posted by snapchat: jeremyabdo 👻 (@jabdosnaps) on Nov 17, 2015 at 4:53pm PST
With the app fast becoming a major entertainment channel and marketing tool, Abdo’s business model still has lots of room for growth.
“I’ve also invested in gadgets for my phone to make storytelling on the platform more interesting and I’ve been thinking about buying a tablet too just to make drawing a little quicker and easier,” Abdo said.
While he dreams of being a filmmaker one day, the young entrepreneur has no plans on quitting doodling for money on Snapchat any time soon.
“I never thought I’d be able to turn it into a job. Being able to express myself creatively through film, art, and music is really important to me,” he said. “It’s also gotten me back into drawing, and I enjoy thinking of creative new videos or drawings to post on my story.”
