(Quick note here – Outstanding cartoonist and good friend Mike Lynch has agreed to take over the blog for the next five days. Unfortunately when I explained to Mike how everything worked, I neglected to tell him how wide the graphics could be. Mike did a beautiful first post with great art, but, thanks to me, the art was all just a tad too big. So, I’ve resized each piece for the blog itself, but now you can also click on each graphic to see it at the size Mike intended. Anyway, enjoy Mike’s contributions, and I’ll see you next week!)
Hi, I’m Mike Lynch and I’m subbing for Mark Anderson while he takes this week off. Please be advised that my opinions do not reflect Andertoons or its subsidiaries.
Thanks to my dad (or blame, depending on how sales are going ) handing down his “Pogo” books, and his “Barnaby” collection, I always was dabbling in cartoons.
I went to school, moved to NYC …
I began a career as a college administrator. Developed a side career illustrating recital posters for the music students at the conservatory where I worked and sold the occasional cartoon. I changed careers, doing desktop publishing and computer graphics for Goldman Sachs and Deloitte & Touche. But I always dreamed of being a full-time cartoonist and a member of the National Cartoonists Society.
In late 1999, I left my last salaried position and went freelance full-time. After a couple of attempts to get a strip syndicated, I started doing single panel cartoons and submitting them to the magazines.
After 6 months, when I had about 100 cartoons in circulation to the various markets, sales started to dribble in. Since then, I have sold hundreds of cartoons to publications in North America and Europe and am co-chair of the Long Island Chapter of the NCS (the Berndt Toast Gang).
A question cartoonists are often asked is, “Where do you get your ideas?” This guy,
Esquire cartoonist Dan A Runyan, figured out a way to answer that question and make a buck doing it. He developed the “Laugh Finder”, a Depression-era “computer” for aspiring cartoonists I recently came across on EBAY. From the cover: “The Laugh Finder is a collection of the fundamental sources of humor that keep repeating themselves in cartoons…. With this comprehensive collection of cartoon fundamentals, the variety of combinations you can create from them is almost infinite. You simply spin for your combinations.” Who needs to write gags? Who could resist?
Above is the front of the thing. It opens up like this …
… revealing long lists of characters, places, accessories — and the spinner that you use to put all the elements together:
So, by following the directions, I have all the elements I need! Hmm. I spin the dial to get my characters (dinosaur, party guest), an accessory (door) and a “basics of humor” situation (embarassment):
Yep, this thing’s gonna pay for itself in no time!
See ya tomorrow! — Mike