Category: Cartooning

Why This Cartoon Doesn’t Work (I Think) #2

andertoons2 Comments

OK, now the flip side. Here’s one that’s an oldie and a baddie:

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The gag here is that the men are all outside, and so none of them get the inside joke.

Ahem.

Let’s look at the art:

As is usually the case with a really bad cartoon, I spent a fair amount of time on the art. There was a lot of scenery to do, four characters in different poses and nowhere to hide any bodies, and a decent amount of shading to get the night effect right.

Also, you’ll notice that I used a white airbrush in Photoshop around the border to crop a crappy composition.

Add to it that the guy talking takes a minute to find, and it’s a train wreck from start to finish.

On to the joke:

Actually, I sort of like the gag, but I’m not sure there’s a way to do the art successfully enough to really get it across quickly. And, OK, the joke is weak.

Also, it kinda gets you thinking “is the joke here that there is no joke? Is that the ‘inside joke?'” Which is just a mess.

And the sale:

Nada. Nothing. No one ever bought this, liked it, or understood it. And I really can’t blame them.

So there’s a big fat failure, and not the last. More to come soon…

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Why This Cartoon Works (I Think) #1

andertoons6 Comments

I’ve been playing with this idea for a new semi-regular feature for a while where I take a cartoon that I’ve done and explain why it works or doesn’t. The problem is I don’t want to come off sounding like “hey, look at me! I’m so cool! I know everything about cartooning! Blah blah blah!”

So, before I start, lemme get this out there – I have no art training whatsoever. I don’t know a thing about color, composition, etc… It’s also been a good while since I read any Gerberg, Richter & Bakker or even any McCloud, and I’m no cartoon historian, so, long paragraph short, this is going to be pretty much my largely uninformed theories and not much more. Enjoy!

Let’s look at this cartoon:

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A little background first: this one has sold to Teacher magazine, has been used in a number of presentations/newsletters, and has been saved as a favorite at Andertoons most often. So I think we can agree that it’s probably a pretty good cartoon.

OK, let’s look at the art:

I’ve kept the scene relatively simple, but there’s enough there to get the idea of a schoolroom setting across. The blackboard would probably have been enough, but the alphabet on top felt right.

I used a blackboard instead of a more modern whiteboard for two reasons: 1) It’s nice to have a large dark area to help the “The big dog run.” pop a little, and 2) I think it helps get the classroom idea across more quickly.

The cartoon reads from left to right pretty well I think. First you see the teacher and blackboard, then the “The big dog run.”, then the boy speaking, and then the caption. You fill in the necessary ingredients of the joke in the right order with (I hope) no ambiguity or confusion.

Now the joke:

The cartoons I like most have art and captions that wouldn’t work without the other, and I think this mostly fits in that category.

It’s basically taking two cliche phrases, “agree to disagree” and to a lesser degree “subject/verb agreement”, and mashing them together. Add the kid trying to get away with obviously incorrect grammar, and it works pretty nicely.

As I remember I started with “agree to disagree” and let my mind wander on “agree” for a while.

Honestly, it took me a little bit to get the right wording for the chalkboard sentence, and I ran it past the first-grade-teacher/Mrs. just to be sure.

The sale:

I knew when I wrote this that it would most likely be a good fit for a women’s magazine, or possibly a more general cartoon market. After those were exhausted I put together a pak of teacher cartoons and sent them to Teacher after my wife noticed they were using cartoons. (BTW, it was fun for my wife to be able to show me off a little in the teacher’s lounge!)

So that’s it. I’d love to hear any theories or arguments on what I’m right and wrong about. More soon…

The Future

andertoons2 Comments

Cartoon compatriot Rod McKie wrote a really interesting blog a few days back. I meant to comment on it immediately, but wanted to give it a little time to marinate in the crock pot of my head.

A quick peek to get you on the same page:

I don’t know about you, but I have even noticed a reduction in the number of cartoons published by some of my favoured publications. One of the high-paying publications published only 3 cartoons in a recent issue, and there is an equally small amount in this month’s issue of another, usual, gag cartoon championing publication. Adding this possible decline to the shrinking space afforded to comic strips in the home of that art, the US, and the rapid loss of Editorial cartoonists in that country, I think the demise of the 3 or 4 panel daily strip cannot be too far away, and that shortly, comic strips will follow gag cartoons into history.

And a bit more (it’s hard to give bullet points on this, you really should read the whole thing):

I look forward to the Manga revolution, and the rise of the graphic novel because having a trust-fund and being able to afford the time to write (it has always been the chosen profession of the well-to-do), or simply having been to Oxbridge or East Anglia will not enable those people to produce this new, popular, literature. This one, I’m afraid, involves a modicum of real talent. The Jaspers and Tristans cannot draw, and no amount of circle-jerk reviews by their old class-mates who have become critics will make their graphic-less attempts popular.

Vive La Revolution.

Wow, huh?

Don’t get me wrong, I think there’s always going to be a place for comic strips, gag cartoons, editorial cartoons and the like, but you can’t ignore that markets and tastes are changing radically underneath our feet, and you’d have to be a fool to ignore it.

That being said, I’m going to be happily doing my little gags for the foreseeable future as I think the web has opened thousand of thousands of mini-markets I can sell to, but I have to admit, at night before I hit the sack, sometimes I’m haunted by the graphic novel I’ve yet to address.

And it scares me.

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Anonymous Celebrity (Kinda Sort Of)

andertoons1 Comment

I was reading Tom Richmond’s blog about a local mag’s cover story on him, and this popped out at me:

The story did serve one useful purpose. Several of our neighbors who we did not know well now know what I do for a living… apparently I was previously believed to be a lawyer.

I’ve often thought/hoped that my neighbors are wondering “I dunno, he’s home all the time; what do you think he does?!”

I have to admit, I love it when people ask what I do, because, let’s face it, I have a really freakin’ cool job.

The thing I love even a little bit more is when I get something like this: “So you like do a comic for the local paper or something?”

And then I get to play what my wife calls the credibility card (I call it the badass card) and say “actually, I do a lot of work for magazines like Reader’s Digest, Good Housekeeping… I think I’m in the current Forbes. That sort of thing.”

I know, pride goeth before a fall and all that, but it’s fun watching them have to all of a sudden take me seriously.

Anyway, congrats to Tom on his cover story. Go read his blog; I’m going to go get some dessert.

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Throwing Your Invoice

andertoons1 Comment

I wish I had Mike Lynch to tach me about cartooning when I was starting out. I imagine him as the cool college prof who takes the class outside and shows up at the occasional party.

Anyway, he’s got a good primer on invoicing over at the Lynch blog!

Take heed kids, and you won’t have to fester in corporate America for 5 years like me.

*sniff*

So much wasted time…

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