Advice

In one of my more lengthy topics, I recently blogged about my journey to syndication. The, “How did it happen?” question came up a lot in e-mails from readers and fellow cartoonists – so I addressed it in my blog. Another question I frequently receive is from new cartoonists asking for advice, so again, I’ll use my blog to tackle that topic as well.

However, before anything else, let me first say a few things regarding the subject of advice:

1) I’m probably not the best person to ask. I’m not sure that being newly syndicated necessarily makes me an authoritative voice on how to make comics. There are a number of cartoonists, more qualified than myself, who have in the past, been open to giving advice to aspiring cartoonists through message boards or e-mail correspondence.

2) Obviously, for general advice about getting started or about the business, you can ask most any cartoonist. However, if you draw a strip and are seeking technical advice, you should probably seek out a cartoonist that also draws a strip. If you draw a panel and want technical advice, you should probably seek out that advice from another single panelist. Panels and strips are very different from each other and most cartoonists’ brains are wired to excel at one or the other. There are always exceptions – most notably, Glenn McCoy, who is incredibly adept at both – but generally speaking, it’s one or the other. If I remember correctly, I think it was the late, great Arnold Wagner that explained it best (and if I’m attributing this comparison to the wrong person, forgive me). Essentially, he said that drawing single panels, which are gag-centric, is like doing stand-up comedy – while drawing strips, which are character and plot-centric, is more like a sitcom. Some comedic actors are great in sitcoms but would fail miserably at stand-up while many stand-up comedians aren’t necessarily right for situational comedy.

3) General advice, which is what I’ll talk about here, is much easier than giving specific technical advice or critiques. A lot of cartoonists won’t even consider doing the latter because of the emotional attachment many cartoonists have to their work. Many aspiring cartoonists are much less interested in hearing how to improve their work as they are in having someone tell them how good it is. Having a thick skin and an open mind is vital to any cartoonist, but especially to those asking for professional opinions.

With that said, here’s my advice (it’s pretty simple, really):

1) Write and draw every day. Especially the writing part. Cartooning is really about the writing. It’s been said a million times before by other cartoonists, but I’ll say it again… good writing helps weak art, more than good art helps weak writing.

2) Show your work to people OTHER than your friends and family. Friends and family are good for support and boosting your confidence, but if you want to know what the rest of the world thinks, start your own website or submit your work to communities like Comics Sherpa.

For all the negative that’s been said about Comics Sherpa, it does what it’s supposed to do: It gives amateur cartoonists an opportunity to show their work on a larger scale, get feedback from readers and other cartoonists, gain exposure and grow an audience, learn what works and what doesn’t work, set and meet self-imposed deadlines and meet and network with other amateur cartoonists. It really is an invaluable and eye-opening experience that I’d recommend to any artist with the $50 (or whatever the amount is now) to try it out.

3) If your goal is syndication, it’s a looong, hard road and the odds aren’t in your favor. There are only 5 or 6 major syndicates out there and with each of them receiving between 3000 to 6000 submissions per year and only working with one or two, those are completely illogical and unrealistic goals, but to paraphrase a quote from Jim Tierney, creator of Jetpacks and Time Machines, if we were completely logical and realistic, we wouldn’t have wanted to be cartoonists in the first place.

Never give up.