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Ireland asks: What if artists could ditch their day jobs?
Ian Fay had toiled for years to make it as a comic book artist and illustrator, and last fall, he was ready to call it a day.
Fay, 32, who lives in Kilkenny in southern Ireland and specializes in drawing muscular superheroes, was only earning enough money to pay his bills, he recalled recently.
He couldn’t afford vacations.
He was considering boxing up his art supplies and getting a job in a grocery store.
Then, in September, a lifeline appeared in his email inbox.
A message from Ireland’s government said that Fay had been selected for a program guaranteeing 2,000 artists a…