Category: Cartooning

More Cartoon Blogs

andertoons1 Comment

Lately I’ve been restructuring everyone’s favorite cartoon blog, and I’ve been adding some new blogs to the “Cartoon Blogs” section.

Some recent fun finds:

  • The Aaugh Blog – Info for the serious Peanuts fan since 2000 (WOW!)
  • Chewing Pencils – Matt Glover gives you the cartooning lowdown
  • A Gag a Day – Tim Harries has a great individual style and a weird sense of humor; right up my alley
  • Tom’s Mad Blog – Tom Richmond slings some serious ink

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Glorious Failure, and Plenty of It

andertoons3 Comments

I was talking about failing and failing often earlier in the week, and I ran across this Henry Martin book, “Good News – Bad News.”

Hmartincover

Martin is one of my favorite cartoonists, and goodness knows he was successful, but when I got to the back of the book, I noticed how many of the cartoons were listed as ‘previously unpublished.’ (Click on the images to see larger ones…)

Hmartin1

Hmartin2

There’s a lot of failure in the back of that book; a lot of really good, useful, necessary failure.

And that’s why Martin sold so much.

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The Last of the Flickr Rejections

andertoons2 Comments

Postcardfront-1

OK, I’ve uploaded the last of my interesting rejections to my Flickr pages.

I don’t get many anymore, and it’s not because I’m so great, I just changed how I ask editors to respond.

Instead of including a SASE for them to send me back all of my cartoons in, I ask that they recycle whatever they don’t want, and that they check a box on a much more postage efficient postcard.

True, I end up printing a lot of cartoons when I send out paks, but I don’t have to worry about storing and organizing a lot of paper, and I cut my postage costs almost in half. Nice!

I’ve included the postcard front and back in the rejections set. Enjoy!

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Practical Cartoon Advice

andertoons12 Comments

Hanging CatOK, there’s all sorts of articles, blog entries and whatnot out there to advise and inspire people who want to draw cartoons. And for the most part, they’re all pretty much the same.

  • Draw a lot
  • Read a lot of cartoons
  • Don’t give up

And, you know, it’s all good advice, but I think you could change a few words, add a few thousand more, and you’d have pretty much every self-help book clogging your local Barnes and Noble.

So, I’m going to give some real practical advice that other cartoonists aren’t going to tell you. It’s not pretty, but it’s all good to know:

  • Don’t Ask For Help – Stop emailing other cartoonists and asking for advice. Even if you get good advice, it may not be the advice you really need. The best thing you can do is try, fail, and try again until you get it right.
  • Get a Mac – I know, you know your way around a PC, and Macs are expensive and all that, but it’s worth it. Time is going to be short at first, and you need to be writing and drawing, not worrying about viruses and blue screens of death.
  • Don’t Quit Your Day Job – At least not for a good while. I know you hate it, and it’s crushing your soul, but you need the bread. Draw and write in the mornings before work, at lunch, and at night. When no one’s looking at work, you can work on your…
  • Blog – Websites take some time and money to get set up. Blogs don’t require a lot of programming know-how to get running. It’s a good way to build an online presence on the cheap.
  • Don’t Send Cartoons About Wolves in Traps Gnawing Off their Own Legs to the ASPCA – Been there, done that.
  • Writing Carries Bad Art – There’s no secret here, you need to be funny. No one buys a cartoon because that horse really really looks like a horse. Actively work on writing funnier. You can do it in your head while appearing to read that memo at work. See a pattern here?
  • It’s Not Like it Was in the Old Days – Plenty of guys are gonna tell you how bad the markets are now, and you used to be able to feed a family of 15 off of one cartoon sale to Collier’s, blah blah blah blah… The markets are there.
  • You’re Going to Fail – A lot. Like any sales gig it’s mostly about numbers. Suck it up, draw more cartoons, and mail them out.

There you have it; real, honest, and most importantly, usable advice, None of that mamby pamby “something that sparks inside of you and ignites a fire in your belly that you know is there” crap.

Be funny, draw fast, and be professional.

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