Andy Warner Interviews Me

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Blogger and dad, Andy Warner, interviewed me recently!

The intro:

Mark Anderson had meager and meandering beginnings in Iowa. He loved to create and draw, but was unable to quiet his lizard brain. Through many disgruntled professional positions and multiple years of unhappiness, Mark finally took a leap of faith in pursuing his passion, cartooning. Mark shares nuggets of success regarding pushing through negativity to achieve your true passion, being a role model for his children and never forgetting his humble coffee-table beginnings. Mark has never looked back since he left the corporate world many years ago and loves the ride he is on.

Check it out!

Lynda Barry Trib Interiview

Barry

There's just a fantastic interview with Lynda Barry in today's Trib magazine.

A snippet:

Matt Groening says he tried to get Barry to go Hollywood in the '80s. "I said to Lynda, 'Let's write a romantic comedy,' and she agreed." A pitch meeting followed at a Los Angeles movie studio. Groening remembers walking into the executive's enormous office, where Barry immediately moved toward a cagelike sculpture in the corner and stood inside it.

"That was the high point," Groening says. When they sat on the sofa,
Barry cheerfully told the exec that it was Groening's birthday.

"Happy birthday," the exec replied.

"It's not," Groening said.

"It is," Barry said.

"It's not," Groening said.

"Lynda insisted it was," Groening remembers. "I gave up and said 'Yes, it's my birthday.' I looked crazy."

Afterward, Groening was mortified. Barry remembers spittle plastering Groening's windshield. She says he was frothing at the mouth. Groening remembers his car shaking, but doesn't recall the spittle.

In any case, according to Barry, Groening felt she was torpedoing her career. He felt she wasn't taking herself seriously enough.

Go read!!!

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Mike Lynch and The Hippo

Hippocover-1No, it’s not my upcoming children’s book, it’s a really really good interview with cartoony pal, Mike Lynch, in The Hippo!

Here’s the bit that I’m still pondering the most:

“There’s probably less than a thousand people in this country who are making their living by cartooning,” Lynch said.

“Everyone gets along and everyone tends to be interested in what the other person is doing,” he said. Lynch said he knows most of his competitors, and some of his best friends are the artists whose work is seen regularly in the New Yorker or Wall Street Journal.

I’d love to know some sort of census figure, but that sounds about right.

And he’s right, for the most part, even being competitors in a very small niche, pretty much everyone is happy for the other guy when they sell.

Anyhow, go read Mike’s interview! And while you’re at it, read the other NH cartoonists’ interviews too!

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