 Though the rapid pace left Povenmire afraid he was "running out of ideas", he never missed a deadline and made $14,000 a year through "Fish" merchandise, which included T-shirts, books, and calendars sold at the campus craft fair.The discipline of regular production also helped teach Povenmire to "represent something in the least amount of lines".Povenmire left USC without finishing the degree requirements, and used the money from "Fish" merchandise to fund a short-lived career as a street artist.