Happy Fourth of July!

Wishing all a happy and safe Independence Day celebration!

Business Of Cartooning

As a professional cartoonist, time can be a lot more challenging a factor than many people might  think. For some aspirants, there is sometimes a perception that being a working cartoonist is an easy life of liesure. Nope - that would be incorrect. In truth, it's neither easy nor leisurely, particularly in today's environment. I'm often approached for advice by younger cartoonists who have developed the aforementioned perceptions, and only after jumping into the arena do they discover that it's not so easy after all.

One essential element in finding success as a cartoonist, and I'd imagine in most other pursuits, is organization and time management. A critical part of what we do is write. For me, I have to have quiet, I have to be well rested (an increasingly rare commodity), and for lack of a better discriptive term, I have to be inspired. I find that early mornings are most conducive to quality writing for me, before everyone wakes up, and the distractions of the day begin to flow.

For the art portion of cartooning, I tend to reserve that for evenings. I can sit at my desk and work on pencil roughs, inking, and the more mechanical end of cartooning. A little classical music, a glass of wine, and I'll work for hours and hours.

It's impossible to make a living as a cartoonist if no one sees your work. That said, submissions and marketing are a necessary part of a successful cartoonists work week. Social networking is the method du jour, although more tradional marketing techniques such as mailing postcards and advertisements are still used with varying degrees of success.

It is not entirely unusual that I start my day before 6 in the morning, and depending on what has to be done and impending deadlines, I might be working past midnight. There have been occasions, although not too many, where I worked straight through the night. Not a big fan of those. But when your mortgage and car payment are dependent on your delivering quality work on time, you do what you have to do.

With commitment, passion, and the desire to always improve, a handsome living can still be made as a cartoonist and humorous illustrator. It just takes work and must be run like any other business. But what a great way to make a living!

Cartoon Library

As a cartoonist, it's important to never stop learning and trying to perfect the art and craft. Fortunately, there are no shortage of resources available to assist in the effort. Here are a list of books I consider critical to my library, and the books all show the signs of excessive use.

I’ve mentioned them in the past, but they’re worth repeating, my first has to be “The Cartoonist’s Muse” by Mischa Richter and Harald Bakken. This book is particularly useful for gag-writing and developing ideas into single panel cartoons. Absolutely brilliant and exceptionally useful for the toughest part of being a cartoonist – good writing. Next, is Mort Gerberg’s book, “Cartooning, The Art and the Business”. Mort takes the reader through the tools of the trade: pens, pencils, paper, nibs – all of it in detail. Then he describes visual development of a cartoon and the considerations required to make it successful. Finally, he discusses uses for cartoon art and markets – a great and very useful book. Here’s more in no particular order:

“The Secrets Of Professional Cartooning” by Ken Muse – a very good book that covers in great detail the world of the syndicated cartoonist. It has a lot of unique insight and is an enjoyable read. While it’s over thirty years old, the information may still have relevence for those seeking cartoon syndication.

“The Complete Cartoons Of The New Yorker” edited by Bob Mankoff – To my mind, New Yorker cartoonists represent the finest cartoonists in the business, now or in the past. Aspiring cartoonists would do well to study the art, the humor, and the style of the thousands of examples present within this book. I’ve worn my copy mighty thin.

“Good Grief: The Story Of Charles M. Schulz” by Rheta Grimsley Johnson – An icon to so many young cartoonists, myself included, has been Charles Schulz. His “Peanuts” characters have been read in newspapers now for generations, and have become part of the fabric of our American culture. This story of his life is a fascinating read, and an inspiration.

“Charles Addams: A Cartoonist’s Life” - by Linda H. Davis – Charles Addams lived the life of a cartoonist at a time when the financial rewards and acclaim were in abundance. A very enjoyable read, and a glimpse at the world of a cartoonist at its apex.

“Artist’s & Graphic Designer’s Market” is a necessary annual purchase for the working cartoonist and artist. It is filled with many, but certainly not all, current markets, their needs, contact information, rights sought, and pay.

There are many more books piled in the shelves of my cartooning library, but this is a healthy start. I’ll update more soon!

New Business Cartoons

Thanks in large part to the absurd amount of coffee I've ingested in the last week or so, I've been exceptionally productive. I figure I'd update the blog before the caffiene wears out and my face slams into the keyboard. Here's one of the latest:



Happy Father's Day!

To all the good Dads out there, wishing you a happy, relaxing Father's Day!

Cartoon Gifts - Shameless Plug

While I chip at away at the drawing table creating new cartoons, my amazing wife creates products using my cartoons on a Zazzle store. If you're looking for a humorous gift for about any occasion you can think of, please visit the BUSINESS CARTOON STORE, of for my "Spectickles" characters, have a look around BILL CARTOONS STORE - hope you find something you like, and thanks for looking!

Becoming A Working Cartoonist

One of the joys to this art is to share it with others. Not just the finished product for those who enjoy reading cartoons, but with those who aspire to create cartoons. I try to encourage and offer advice to those who seek it, and one of the most difficult points to get across is that it's not as easy as it looks. There are many who look at what we do and see simple line art and a clever gag line and think, "That's easy - anyone can do that." Oh yeah? Try it. And when you're done, see if you can sell it. That's essentially our business, and the competition is brutal. The markets I pursue, the New Yorker, Harvard Business Review, and the like, receive thousands of submissions a month for just a few cartoon slots to be filled. Still sound easy?

The first, and in my estimation, most critical element is the writing. Particularly for magazine markets, the humor can't be over-worked cliches, simple slap-stick, or crude over-the-top gags. For the top magazine markets, the audience has a level of sophistication that requires a more thoughtful approach to the writing. Having a strong awareness and understanding of current events, and being able to translate them into a humorous visual moment, is the trick. Being an avid reader of such books as, "The Cartoonist's Muse", "Cartooning, The Art And The Business" among numerous others is a great place to start.

Art in cartoons is another grossly under-estimated skill. Some look at the simple lines and don't understand what needs to happen to make those simple lines convey a great deal of visual information. Once the gag is written, the individual elements all must be represented in as simple a presentation as possible. Look at the work of Charles Barsotti of New Yorker fame - his presentation is concise and to the point. On the opposite side of the cartoon spectrum, look at some of the more complex pieces by Mischa Richter, also of New Yorker fame, who provides a rich, if not elegant look to his cartoons. Like a movie director, you must decide where the characters are to be placed, what props are essential to convey the idea, from what perspective will the action be viewed? All these elements, all the work involved to create this single, simple visual idea that stands or fails within what is estimated to be four seconds. If you don't make your point both visually and with the text in four seconds, it's failed.

Still sound easy? Like any worthwhile pursuit, cartooning requires work, dedication, study, and a long-term commitment to reach the point of being a marketable commodity. I'm immensely grateful for being able to work as a professional cartoonist, but it wasn't a simple matter of having a funny idea pop into my head, slap it onto paper, and sell it to the long line of editors waiting to snap it out of my hands for a handsome sum. It doesn't work that way.

If you have the desire to become a cartoonist, make up your mind that you intend to be a good one, and prepare to commit yourself to the work, and never stop learning. Good luck, and enjoy the process!

Cartoons For The New Yorker

My wife and I went for a three and a half mile run early this morning, and since then I've been preparing the next batch of "The Percenters" to send off to the New Yorker. I haven't been published there yet, but from everything I've read, it's a very long road to get there. Some of the most famous and now iconic New Yorker cartoonists spent years submitting before their first cartoon was published. The competition is fierce, and the work must be your absolute best. The New Yorker subscriber is typically a sophisticated, well informed reader, and the cartoons must be a reflection of that.

The typical process of submitting is to create about a dozen single panel gag cartoons suitable to the New Yorker's market, ink them in, and submit them black and white via conventional mail once a week if you can, or less frequently as the case may be. In a relatively short period of time, you will likely receive something like this in your mailbox:

As a professional cartoonist, this is a common, regularly scheduled occurance. It isn't personal, nor is it even necessarily a rejection of your work. It could be for a host of reasons - the market is saturated, they've already purchased a cartoon with a similar theme, the piece is not timely, and on and on. As soon as your submission is dropped off at the post office, forget it and put your energy and attention on the next submission. The tenacity, commitment and creative routine will pay off in time.

The New Yorker editor, Bob Mankoff, is a professional cartoonist himself, and started the same way we all do - submitting regularly, and for a significant period of time before finally selling one to the magazine. Bob has a great sense of what is appropriate, and aften offers feedback to the aspiring New Yorker cartoonist. Here's Bob in a Youtube video at the Chicago Humanities Festival speaking about the craft of cartooning - a long video but well worth the time. It also features some of the other big name cartoonists:

Keep up the cartooning and best of luck! Back to the drawing board!

Creating Business Cartoons - Tools Of The Trade

Every cartoonist has his own unique way of writing and drawing his/her material. I start out with a pencil sketch of the ideas as I come up with them to hash out the character placement, their gestures, the props to include within the gag, the perspective I'd like the viewer to view it from, and centering all the components so the eye will gravitate toward the elements to make the gag work. Once I've figured all that out, I do a refined pencil sketch, adding detail before I commit the drawing to ink. I pencil with a Rotring 600 0.5mm mechanical pencil.

It's heavier than other pencils and, for whatever reason, is the best one for me.

For pens, depending on what I'm working on, and what paper I'm using, I have several I prefer. My mainstay is an antique Pelikan 120 fountain pen. It is an absolute pleasure to work with - think ink flow is even and predictable, the line width can be varied and appears fluid - an excellent, well crafted pen. Other times, I love using an old-fashioned dip pen. The lines can be even more expressive depending on the amount of downward pressure you apply. The drawback is the drying time and the occasional ink blot which can ruin an otherwise well-rendered drawing. For the "Percenters", I primarily use a Pigma Micron black 05. The ink is a rich black, it dries almost immediately, and makes inking easy.

Next time, I'll cover paper, erasers, miscellanous drawing tools, and software. Thanks for stopping by!