Cartooning Advice For Beginners
Every week I get a few e-mails asking me for advice on how to become a cartoonist. Here are a few of the most common questions:
Q: What kind of training do I need to become a professional cartoonist?
A: None! Most cartoonists are self-taught. They grew up doodling and drawing because they enjoyed it. They copied their favorite comic strips, bought some How To Draw Cartoons books, maybe took an art class or two along the way, but mostly learned by practicing day after day, year after year. I interviewed dozens of top cartoonists for my book How To Be A Successful Cartoonist (North Light Books) and they all started out as something else, a teacher, an engineer, a psychologist, a grocer, college professor, etc. Cartooning usually begins as a hobby, then becomes a career when it generates enough income to support a home or family. Learning how to draw is important for a cartoonist, but learning how to write funny ideas is also important (probably more important) so it’s necessary to practice both!
Q: How can I start selling my own cartoons?
A: The best way to get started is to get started. Sit down, write some ideas, then draw funny pictures to illustrate your idea. When you’ve done a dozen or so, send them to a company that publishes something similar. If you’ve done some single-panel magazine style cartoons, send them to a magazine like The New Yorker or Woman’s World. If you’ve done a comic strip, send it to a comic strip syndicate like King Features, Creators Syndicate or Universal Press. If you’ve created some fun greeting cards, mail them to Recycled Paper Greetings or other greeting card company. (Always mail photocopies, never sent original art.) Then forget about all of it and start over with something new to send out. Do this over and over, week after week, month after month. Your work may not be very good at first and you may get plenty of rejection, but you’re probably going to improve with time so keep at it. As you get started, it can be very hard not to get discouraged and quit, but your favorite cartoonists got past this point and you can do it too.
Another great way to get started is to create a web page to showcase your cartoons. In addition to building a fan base for your work, your website may attract the attention of editors or sponsors who can help you start generating income. You can also set up a Cafe Press shop to sell cartoon merchandise or place Google ads on your site to bring in some cash. If you’re into non-traditional cartoons made especially for Internet readers, I highly recommend How To Make Web Comics by Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub. If your work is good, readers will share it with their friends and family and your popularity will grow.
New technology and devices may open up more opportunities for cartoonists and new ways to display your own work. Cartoon apps for the iPhone are a cutting-edge way to self-publish. Tablet computers like the Kindle and iPad have the potential to revolutionize the way we read our newspapers and magazines, which could lead to fresh opportunities for new cartoonists and established professionals.
Q: What kind of computer do I need to draw cartoons?
A: Although some cartoonist like Scott “Dilbert” Adams draw and assemble their cartoons on a computer, you really don’t need a computer to draw cartoons. Most cartoons are still drawn the old fashioned way with pencil and pen, sheets of paper, and a big wooden drawing table. Once you’ve drawn your cartoon, computers are a great way to enhance your work with color, Flash animation, Photoshop effects. You’ll also want to scan all of your cartoons to keep a digital copy on file for your website and e-mail. I use a Canon 8800F scanner, not very expensive and works great for cartoon line art. My computer is a 24-inch iMac with a Brother color laser printer (MFC-9840CDW). For my drawings, I use ordinary pencils, black felt-tip Flair pens, and Southworth 100% cotton 24 pound paper.
If you’d like more information about the art and business of cartooning, look for my books at your public library or on Amazon.com. The titles are How To Be a Successful Cartoonist, Getting Started Drawing and Selling Cartoons and Toons! How To Draw Wild and Lively Characters For All Kinds of Cartoons. Each book features interviews and advice from top professional cartoonists like Lynn Johnston, Rick Kirkman, Tom Cheney, Charles Schulz, Bil Keane, John McPherson, Mort Walker and Brian Crane.
Glasbergen Cartoon Service is a cartoon bank of more than 2500 cartoons, cartoon stock for any occasion, a cartoon resource for any type of print or electronic media. Specializing in business cartoons, health and fitness cartoons, medical cartoons, education cartoons, family cartoons, love and marriage cartoons, lawyer cartoons, real estate cartoons, holiday cartoons and animal cartoons. Custom cartoons are available with cartoonist for hire service. Glasbergen Cartoon Service is the exclusive online distributor of cartoons by Randy Glasbergen, one of America’s most widely and frequently published freelance cartoonists.
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Cartooning Advice, cartooning careers, drawing web comics, freelance cartoons, how to be a successful cartoonist, how to get started as a cartoonist, how to make money with cartoons, how to sell cartoons, magazine cartoons, selling cartoons
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If you know someone who is interested in a career in cartooning, please click my “SHARE” button to forward a copy of this blog post. I’ll be happy to answer any other questions in future blog posts. Suggestions are always welcome!
You’ve done a great job at keeping your blog updated and I love the daily content
This is great information. Ill have to bookmark this. Thanks!.
Did you create your own blog or did a program do it? Could you please respond? 44
My blog and entire site was created in WordPress. I hired someone to set it up for me, but I update and maintain the site myself.
Hi Randy
Congratulations on the new website. It is fantastic.
I work as a full-time frelance cartoonist and draw all my cartoons on a computer.
I draw sketch, the finished drawing and coloring directly on the computer without using paper. For me it’s the perfect way to work.
I admire cartoonists who can draw with a computer and graphics tablet. I’ve tried it, but find that I need to do a lot of pencil work, erasing, and more pencil work to arrive at a sketch I like before I ink it in. I’ve been doing it this way for 30+ years, but if I were starting out as a beginner I could probably learn to draw with a computer, giving it the kind of practice that I gave to pens and brushes when I was getting started.
The thing I like about drawing with a pencil first, I can keep my lines really loose and accidentally come up with a really great facial expression or posture or hair style. I don’t think I could have the same kind of “good accidents” if I were drawing more deliberately with a Wacom tablet and stylus.
I draw with a pencil first, but on the computer. Then I draw with ink but on the computer before I finish with the color.
Basic for a good cartoon is still the pencil drawing – It does not matter whether it´s on paper or on computer.
Do you use a wacom, Rene? I can’t draw very well with that pen! I can color, select, etc, but not draw. I think it’s something to do with the proportion on the tablet compared to the monitor, but it makes me sad.
I tried a Cintiq and didn’t care for that either. When I draw on a tablet, I don’t feel like I have much control over my lines like I do with a pencil or pen. I spent a lot of money for the Cintiq, but after 2 weeks I gave it to my son in law who uses it as an extra monitor for his computer.
Yes, I use a Wacom tablet and a laptop computer and I work with the same ease as if I’m working on paper. The proportion on the tablet compared to the monitor is only a matter of that after awhile you do not think about it anymore. I’ve used Wacom tablets since 1996 and when I started, I made my cartoons with a pencil on paper and then a scanner, but in 2007 I chose to drop the scanner and draw directly on the computer. It has made my job much easier than before
Rene, I went to your website and was very impressed with the work you’ve created by drawing on a tablet with a stylus. Very clean, deliberate and confident lines. If I didn’t know better, I would just assume they were created the old fashioned way. Very nice! Here is the URL if anyone else wants to see your cartoons: http://www.rb-tegnestue.com/
Randy, thanks for all the kind words about my work.
It’s nice to see people put effort into their blogs, nicely written
Hi. this is kind of an “unconventional” question , but have other visitors asked you how get the menu bar to look like you’ve got it? I also have a blog and am really looking to alter around the theme, however am scared to death to mess with it for fear of the search engines punishing me. I am very new to all of this …so i am just not positive exactly how to try to to it all yet. I’ll just keep working on it one day at a time.
Hi, thanks so much for these tips! My blogs usually do bring readers and responses. One thing I do is engage with the readers. Answer questions in responses and make clarifications where needed. I think they appreciate that I take the time to talk to them.
Great tips to follow. Being professional and showing them there’s more to come I think are the most important. You need to give them a great article, that makes them want to come back. And then make sure you don’t disappoint.
I believe when you need a dictionary to read the first paragraph of a blog post, you really wouldn’t want to continue, especially when you’re in a rush.
It’s good site, great work.
You got a really useful blog I have been here reading for about an hour. I am a newbie and your success is very much an inspiration for me.