Several weeks ago, I completed my 100th cartoon strip. It was a milestone in some ways but also a “what now?” since I had set that early on as a benchmark. While I didn’t feel that I was as far along as I wanted to be at this time, I had to keep reminding myself that I spent the fall of 2014 only working on sketches and ideas. It wasn’t until January of 2015 that I began to use the tools of the trade—vellum Bristol board, India ink and archival pens. I have this bad habit of being too hard on myself. Many cartoonists struggle with this apparently--the perfectionist character flaw that pervades our many thought balloons. Another common thread with cartoonists is that most of us doodled in our textbooks and workbooks as kids. Finding out that other cartoonists did this really gives me hope that I can make it!
After recently asking fellow cartoonists about their experiences and participating in a few Twitter “Ask the Artist” interviews, I am considering the Go Comics platform for my work. This will hopefully give me greater exposure and a wider readership. A big shout out to my Instagram buds and fellow Twitter cartoonists for their encouragement and taking time to answer my questions:
Justin Baglio of “No Ordinary Life”
Brad Perri of “Pirate Mike”
Dave Windsor of “Mieces”
Peter Rasmussen of “Fatherhood Badly Doodled”
The advice they gave? Love what you do, keep doing it, put your work in as many places as possible, develop a thick skin, and keep making cartoons that make you laugh, and in the end, you will make a lot of other people laugh too.