A Singleness of Purpose

Not veryone's as lucky as Oz, but he has

definitely succeeded through a singleness of purpose.

Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying "You can have anything you want, if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose."

And there's the rub: finding that one thing you want to do, and sticking with it. Having one goal helps you to have the strong focus needed to succeed, and also helps you to define yourself.

For me, that one goal has been newspaper syndication for a long time. That field is changing, howevcr, and the syndicates have been quiet.  I've sent material to them and haven't even recieved a reply from some.  Doesn't look promising, and it's sad because here I am, a professional, hard working, and dedicated cartoonist who would do everything I can to help me, and my syndicate, succeed in a changing world.

Well, until they come to their senses, I must adapt, and have been.  I continue to learn new things, and to improve my artistic skills, and to grow my business.  However, that business has had to be very diverse, from cartooning, to publishing, to fine art illustration.  Not exactly a singleness of purpose, but fun!

When someone asks what I do, saying I'm a cartoonist usually gets the reply "Cool!".  Saying I'm a cartoonist slash illustrator slash publisher usually gets a glazing over of the eyes.  And trying to keep your audience with an explanation usually leaves you alone with a drink in your hand, wondering why the guy you were just talking to has suddenly found an extreme interest in the Swedish stewardess across the room.

Still, I am lucky to have a job that I enjoy so much.  Or jobs, I should say.  And having a job where you are doing something different every day or week can be very stimulating, and very educational, and keeps you from ever getting bored.

If one of my cartoons, or stories, or any creative endeavor ever takes off, then you can be sure that I'll put everything into it.  Giving a hundred and ten percent will be the order of the day.  Until then, I'll do whatever project has the most audience interest, and the most potential to help me, and my business, grow.  Unfortunately, that means I don't get to draw a cartoon every day, or post new material regularly; the stuff you have to do to grow and keep an audience.  So my audience comes and goes and comes back again, with a core group who seem to stick with me.

And to those of you who do stick around?  A very sound Thank You!  I'll continue to do my best to entertain you, and bring a little laughter and art to the world... and put that 110% into all that I do. :0)

A very happy Holiday season to you all, and a marvelous new year to come!    JOHN :0)

On my iPod?  Andi Starr: the world will follow.  Very appropriate music for the person who strives to succeed inchasing their dreams. :0)

Public Speaking: Expect the Unexpected!

Today's lesson?  Be prepared!  Unless you're really really good at winging it. :0)

This morning I was supposed to be talking to a class of second graders about cartooning.  I knew I was going, but have been so busy that I hadn't given it any thought at all... until this morning.  Mistake number one.

I've done quite a bit of public speaking, and I've spoken to classes and groups about cartooning, so it's not brand new to me.  I have certain things I bring along, handouts, activities, and I know there'll always be a place to draw on, so I figure if worse comes to worse, I'll wing it.  It's just a small room of kids, right?

So, I sit down with an hour left before I have to leave, and go searching my computer for the handouts to print.  I found one, but not the one I wanted.  So, I started printing the activity page while creating a coloring page.  And that's when my computer started dying.  It's moments like these when I understand why people hate PC's so much... and Windows Vista is one of the worse.

Now I have 5 minutes until I'm late, and I've finally managed to print out the activity, the coloring page, and pack up selections of my books and comics and freelance work, grab some give-aways, grab the camera, and get to the school as fast as legally possible.  I find my way to the classroom and there is a swarm of activity!  Weren't they expecting me?

Oh yes, they were.  Except that  the teacher had told another teacher who told another teacher... and this morning they all decided their classes should see what I have to say.  FOUR classes of second graders!  A huge group of kids who all have something important to say and share and questions to ask and.... oh boy.

I'll be honest:  I love kids.  But they also terrify me.  No, not terrifying like zombies, but kids tend to be... honest. Brutally honest.  And the questions they ask?  I used to coach girl's soccer, and let me tell you how tough that was, to get a word in, for one.  "Didn't you wear that shirt yesterday?"  "How old are those shoes?"  "How's my hair?"

So, I entered this noisy classroom as if it was a shark tank, and I had no cage to hide in.  I settled in, got a drawing board, and hid my give-aways because there were just too many kids, and I don't ever want to disappoint a single child.  I looked into the audience, and just started talking.  I figured that was better than standing there looking stunned, and it was.

It turns out that that group of sharks was actually a room full of cuddly bunny rabbits!  The kids were so sweet, so much fun, and as always, had so many very intelligent questions!  There is never enough time to talk with kids about cartooning, let me tell you!

I showed them my books, talked about working, answered questions, and did a few drawings in between, to keep the flow going, and it was a wonderful experience.  We ended by me doing a drawing of my Alien, and the kids telling me what to add to it.  Again, it was so much fun!

The kids had to go to lunch, but so many held back to ask questions, and I even got a few hugs!  That was a surprise... I usually just high-five, because isn't that what kids do?

So, a potentially terrifying experience became a wonderful moment which I will always treasure.

A final word of advice?  Don't pass out bookmarks at lunchtime, because you will definitely get in trouble with the cafeteria lady!

JOHN :0)

The More Things Change... the Life of Vincent Van Gogh

I love biographies, especially those of Artists and Cartoonists.  For Christmas, all I wanted was the complete letters of Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo... not a biography, per se, but a very intimate and personal look at the life of a great Artist, life in the late 1800's, and more.  The letters cover the years between 1872 and 1890, and were written in Holland, Belgium, England, and France... fairly far away in space, and lifetimes away in time.  A history lesson, you may think, with nothing applicable to the life of an Artist in this modern age?  You'd be wrong.  As far as human nature goes, the more things change, the more so many things really do stay the same.

It's been a while since I've really studied painting and Painters.  I stare at every interesting piece of art I see, and take from it what I can, but I haven't done a lot of studying outside of drawing.  As I've seen recently, though, the work of Vincent Van Gogh is everywhere!  I just noticed the other day that I have one of his sunflowers on an oven mitt I bought a decade ago, and I see his name and his art in so many places, from vodka bottles to schoolroom walls.  I'll admit, though, that my recent fascination with the man came from that spectacular episode of Doctor Who, where Amy Pond and the Doctor meet Vincent and help brighten one of his days.  So, you see, Ma?  Television really can be educational and inspiring. :0)

Before I go further, let's clarify a few things.  If all you know about Vincent is the crap they teach in schools, then forget that and pick up any book on the man, which should immediately clarify things.  To think of Vincent Van Gogh as a crazy person who cut off his ear and gave it to a hooker is a gross misjustice, and totally disrespectful of the man himself.  I've heard variations on that above statement from various people I've spoken to recently, and it took me 5 minutes of reading to see that everything in that statement is misconstrued and taken out of context.  Oh, no doubt that Vincent had problems... for which we should be respectful.  Life with any kind of illness can be very difficult, and what we should consider is how he managed to accomplish so much by overcoming his difficulties.

Seen on the wall of the local pizza joint.


So what does any of this have to do with today's Artist, especially today's Cartoonist?  Well, quite a lot.  Vincent's journey to becoming one of the greatest Painters ever mirrors the journey of so many people today who are trying to find themselves as Artists.

I read a lot of blogs, articles, biographies, etc about Cartoonists today, and taken altogether a pattern of similarities emerges.  A person goes through many odd jobs before finally finding themselves in art.  A person lives hand to mouth trying to feed him or herself, while trying to make it as an Artist.  An Artist works hard, mostly in isolation, proud of what they are accomplishing, but not sure how it will be received, how good it is, is it good at all?  Worries about money, being looked down upon by people with 'real' jobs, wanting your family to be proud of you, wanting at all costs to succeed for so many reasons...

All of this is in Vincent's letters, in detail.  Even more like today's Artist, he looks for commercial art while studying to do the type of art he really wants to do.  He considers working as a magazine illustrator, but is frustrated by having to deal with Editors and to show his portfolio time after time.  He takes on 'freelance' assignments.  He considers making his own prints and seeing if he can sell them. He considers teaming up with other Artists in various types of collaborations.  He even considers self publishing!  I am sure that all of this will seem very familiar to anyone considering making a living today as an Artist.

The struggle is familiar, and relevant.  In raw detail he describes his life, and his choices.  Sometimes we don't have choices today or then... we need to eat, we need shelter, and we need art supplies.  Vincent often chose art supplies over food, although he tried not to compromise on shelter.  Not a bed or stove or anything, but always concerned with a studio with proper lighting.

Seen in the local liquor store.


Poor suffering soul that he was, though, Vincent had one thing that many do not have:  someone who believed in him.  He often said that his brother Theo would have been a great painter if he chose to be, and sometimes tried to push him in that direction.  But Theo chose a 'real' job, and made real money, and sent Vincent money every month of his life for food, shelter, and art supplies.  Later on for hospital bills.  This small but steady income gave Vincent the opportunity to study pure art, and not to compromise. To experiment with materials, and to have a studio with proper lighting.  It also gave him a small amount of guilt, which probably drove him to work as hard as he did.  Vincent drew or painted or studied whenever his health permitted.  At the end he was doing a painting a day, and each was awesome, from landscapes to portraits to his Starry Night.

And so the lessons of then become the lessons of now.  Do you want to be an Artist?  Do you want to make money as an Artist, or spend a lifetime trying to do so?  The answer is simple, but very difficult.  You've got to work at it, every day.  Preferably full time, with someone to support you, because let's face it... part time art will take years to get anywhere.  By working to support yourself, you are draining yourself from the energy needed to make art, and stressing yourself.  Of course, depending on others can be stressful in itself.  But you do need the determination to keep working at it, and to try new things, and to know when a new direction is wasting time. You need to learn the techniques of your trade, and how to use the tools, from T-square to computer.  And you need a dedicated work space.

Seen on the wall of a local elementary school.

Most of all, BE an Artist.  Be professional, be ready for opportunity, and make your own opportunity.  Give yourself assignments until real assignments come your way.  If you know what you want to do, then you're halfway to your goal.  If you want to illustrate children's books, then do that.  make your own books, or illustrate someone else's, but learn what it takes to do the job and do it.  Designing greeting cards is great, especially if it pays, but if you want to illustrate kid's books, then make sure you're developing a style that shows that.  Comic books, graphic novels, comic strips, greeting cards.... if you know what you want to do, then focus.  Focus, and, given time, you should reach some level of success.

If you don't know what to do, then try everything.  Learn different things, and try to get paying art jobs so that you can continue learning.  Freelancing does not often pay well, but the experience gained is invaluable.  Learning to work with others, to listen to others, to do work on demand... all these things helps one grow.

Vincent of course, didn't do most of these things.  He just drew every day, then painted every day, and studied every day, until it all became something unique within him.  He wasn't afraid to say "this is too much", or "this guy doesn't work hard enough", or "this work lacks soul or passion".  And he wasn't afraid to follow his own path.  He ventured into the realm of abstraction, and used color for it's own sake, and not necessarily how it was seen.  And because of that, created a path that so many Artists and Art Forms followed after him.

It was never easy, but he believed in himself, and his brother believed in him, and eventually his Sister in Law believed in him.  Fortunately, Vincent saw some of the praise in his work in his lifetime.  He also saw many scoff, laugh, and put him down, but he knew that one day they would all come around.  It takes time to appreciate something new and radical, he admitted, but he knew he had something good.

Unfortunately, he left this world before seeing those people 'come around'.  It took awhile, but his Sister in Law got the vindication they all needed, when Vincent's work finally became appreciated by the world at large.

So, believe in yourself.  Follow your heart.

It may not always be easy, but if you work at it, you'll eventually get somewhere.  That journey is something you just can't predict, though, nor the destination.

So good luck to you!    JOHN :0)

PS On my iPod?  Calm of Zero, Acoustic Sessions #1

PSS I'm working on a painting myself, now, but cartooning comes first.  More on all that later. :0)

Breaking the Rules

I haven't submitted to the Syndicates in some time, now, but Syndication is still my goal.  As such, I treat my Cartooning as if I were syndicated, and abide by the rules, and try to see things as not only my audience sees them, but as an Editor might. This means that I follow the conventions of a newspaper comic, and go by the inherent rules.

Now Cartoonists are a special breed, and we lke to play. One way I've seen Cartoonists play is with the 'sideways' strip... a daily comic strip (or even sunday) where you have to turn your head, or your newspaper, a complete 45 degrees to read the strip. See above.

Now, I've always hated these strips... often for the reason that the Cartoonist didn't always need to go sideways, but mostly just for the fact that we cater to the reader, and shouldn't make them turn their head just to read our comic strip.

Having said that, I was doodling in my sketchbook recently, and came up with an idea that needed some height to it.  I tossed the idea aside when I realised that I just couldn't do the strip following the basic conventions of a newspaper strip.  Unless... I went ::shudder::... sideways.

The idea stuck with me, until WOW! 

Cartoonists have complained for years about the shrinking of our little rectangle that we get to draw in, and rightly so.  I can't tell you how many times I've felt constrained by that rectangle.  Of course, there's been just as many times when I'm glad it's there, because knowing your limits can help you to quickly make decisions.

Well, let me tell you something... that little rectangle takes on a whole new dimension when turned sideways!  No wonder Cartoonists make their readers turn sideways!  I felt so.... liberated... when I saw all this space, and so excited.  Yes, excited!  After years of Cartooning, it is always fun to try new things, and go in different directions.  And this was fun!  Instead of laying out each panel, I found myself layering my layout as I 'scrolled' down, to keep the focus in the right places... yes, places, not place. Multiple focus points with the two sets of word balloons create a sense of time in one panel!  As you read downwards, time is actually moving, although the image is stationary!

I know... total geek moment, but hey... that's why I love Cartooning.  There is so much to discover when you go outside the box... or turn that box sideways. :0)

Your turn!    JOHN :0)

PS On my iPod today?  The Who, Quadrophenia

Cartooning 101: Props and Models

I remember as a kid getting a new plastic model kit like the Aurora Prehistoric Scenes or MPC Pirates of the Caribbean model kit with Snap Action! I'd tear open the box, twist pieces from the sprues, start gluing the pieces together, and then read the instructions that say "never twist pieces off the sprue" and "don't glue piece a to piece b or your model will not work" and "paint these pieces before gluing". Well, fortunately I sometimes find a bit more patience now than I had in those days. :0)



No matter what kind of Cartooning or Art that you do, chances are there will come a time when you'll need a model or prop to help you draw or paint something. In the old days we kept a photo morgue of all kinds of people and objects in various poses and situations, and now of course we have the internet where gazillions of photos can be brought up at the touch of a key. Still, photos don't always do it for me. Sometimes you just can't find a certain angle, or a high enough resolution to work out a detail. A solid understanding of how an object is made is usually necessary to draw that object correctly, or having that object readily available for study.
{Update: I've added the above cartoon which I did a long time ago, just to illustrate what happens when you can't find good reference! I had to keep the boat way up front to hide details off screen, and ended up using an unatractive aluminum skiff. The boys definitely deserve better. :0) ]



Well, with The Inquiring Minds especially, I find myself needing to draw boats, and boats are tricky! All those curves and such... and yes, there are plenty of photos of boats online, but I've never been satisfied with any of them. You can buy toys, of course, cheaply, but sometimes toys take shortcuts, are not realistic, or just don't have the details you're looking for. So... I found a wooden model kit...a Do-it-yourself from bottom up model of a skiff, which honestly left me feeling like a dinghy at times. :0)



Midwest Products Co, Inc has a line of beautiful looking boats of all sorts. Now I have a lot of projects going on, but I just couldn't resist "The Skiff" all wood display model, with a skill level of 1. HA! Okay, it wasn't that bad, but there were times I thought I was crazy for attempting this. The instructions are actually very detailed, and mostly straightforward. There are a few places I took notes where they needed to be clearer, but overall the boat came together with a lot of patience, a little cursing, and a lot of gluing my fingers together.



No, it wasn't easy, but it was rewarding. Even though the wood split at one point, and wouldn't bend at another, I had the smarts to work things out... and hope that paint would cover anything else up. :0)

And since my boat is being used by The Inquiring Minds, a few scrapes and scuffs make it all the more realistic looking. Now.... if I could only think of a name? What would two young boys interested in adventure name their boat?

Cheers, JOHN :0)

It's Like Starting Over...

I began Cartooning quite some time ago: the Earth had long cooled, life thrived in the oceans, looked up, and moved out onto the land to try crawling and walking. Sometime after that I took crayon to paper, floor and wall to search for meaning in line and circle. You would think, in all that time, I'd know what I was doing by now!

Let's look at my recent storyline, The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake, featuring The Inquiring Minds. You know... my Big Summer Adventure? (looks at calendar, and out window where snow is falling, and shrugs what can I say?) Anyways, I feel strongly that my art has improvbed since then, and I have grown as a person. Sure, you say, it HAS been awhile since you started that. Hush, I say. I'm doing my best.

Anyways, with all the forethought of a teenage boy on his first date,I started Ghost PIrates as a comic strip, and like 3 Knights in India before it, it evolved rapidly into a comic book. You know... tall art, not wide like a comic strip. Different format and hard to reconcile. Okay, so The Inquiring Minds started out as a comic strip, and I still dream of being a comic stripper (watch it!) so it was natural to begin that way. However, it seems that a nice long storyline needs a comic book format to tell it right, and besides, you have a lot more room for art and dialogue.

So, what to do? I learned my lesson with 3 Knights in India... you can't just take some comic strips, cut them up, and rearrange them in comic book format. Well, you CAN, but you have to be really careful not to get too cocky, and to pay attention to page order and how the book will come out. One little mistake, and a reviewer like Johanna Draper Carlson will let you have it between the teeth! (Those who read her first review of the 3 Knights comic book will know what I'm talking about). Anyway, thanks to fine reviewers like Johanna (see link at right for comics worth reading), people like me get the feedback we need to become better craftspeople.



The result, I will have to go back to the early pages of the comic that you see in my free download of the first part of the story, and redraw, reformat, and sometimes rewrite to make this a top notch comic book.

After all, it's the end product that counts, right? And besides, as I've blogged earlier, I always leave the end of a story slightly open to account for evolution of the storyline. This way, by going back, I can fit the beginning to match the ending even better, if necessary.

So here is the first strip, remade into the first page. More to come, as well as brand new material.

Cheers, JOHN ":0)

PS The above page isn't finished yet, actually. I am thinking of creating my own font for all my comics, and I might tweak the top Logo a bit when I can.

Public Speaking...

Or... I believe that children are our future. :0)

Okay, so I was invited to speak at a local school about my career as a Cartoonist. Apparently, one of the third grade classes had read one of my books out loud and loved it. That book was The inquiring Minds #1, a full color comic strip collection.

Excited, and a bit nervous, I put down my full load of work and headed out into the snow completely unprepared to face not one, but two classes of third graders. It was very unusual for me to be unprepared, but I happened to have a deadline on a project, and I had thought school was cancelled because of the snow.

Anyway, I got there with minutes to spare, signed in, and immediately went to the wrong classroom, on the wrong wing of the school. Breaking land speed records, and hoping there were no Hall Monitors about, I made it just in time to the correct classroom, as the teacher was just introducing me. I walked in with my box of books and swag, and saw dozens of little faces staring up at me from the floor where they were sitting. I had a little white marker board to draw on, but the swarm of children were up against it, so I ended up sketching while standing behind the board and looking down it, much to the amusement of the class.



So, I began to speak, and found myself incredibly outnumbered and up against the wall as the barrage of questions never ended. :0)

Still, their enthusiasm was wonderful, and most of the questions were pretty good, although they mostly wanted to hear about and see The Inquiring Minds. I had to draw all the characters for them, which was nice, but remember I had to almost draw upside down since I was standing behind the drawing board, which caused quite a few giggles.

After that, I was asked to draw everything from a hotdog (which made some kids hungry) to the Titanic (including Jack and Rose saying "king of the world"). I also passed out HappyGlyphs stickers, half of which immediately got attached to shirt fronts, providing me with a full day's bit of advertising for sure.

Overall it was an exhausting experience, but I'm sure after some recuperation time I will come to see it as the joyous experience it really was. Seriously, it was really nice to see so many people actually interested in my work, and they really were a great bunch of kids, who can't be faulted for their over enthusiasm. I mean, can you imagine if they just sat there?



If only I was allowed to sell some books. :0) I would have made a mint!

Hopefully they'll all go home to their parents and tell them all about HappyGlyphs.com. :0)

Cheers, JOHN :0)

PS I received a delightful package of cartoons from the kids, as thanks for speaking to them. Since I haven't revealed the school, I think it safe to publish some fan art here with names removed to protect the innocent.

Cartooning 101: Techniques and Art

It's harder to find quality art supplies, as more and more people move to the computer for illustration. Many still use traditional illustration methods, such as pen and ink, and some use programs like Photoshop and Illustrator exclusively. Somewhere in the middle, though, is where I am, and where I suspect most cartoonists and illustrators are: using traditional drawing and scanning into the computer for finishing, cleaning, coloring, or all of the above. And why not? Coloring especially is much easier on a computer, as is finishing and cleaning. Cleaning on the computer leads to laziness at the drawing table, so that the days of razor blades and white paint are gone, and your original might be quite messy.

Where does this leave the world of original art? I'm not sure, but I don't see much art out there these days, except of course with fellow Cartoonists. There are a lot of prints, however, since big syndicates have deals with online sites so that you can 'buy a print of today's strip', and many of us have art we are proud enough of to share by providing them as prints.

In my case, I work as mentioned above, drawing with ink, then scanning, then cleaning and finishing and coloring on the computer. I am embarassed to admit that my originals are not always complete, and sometimes I draw all of the panels separately, so that one cartoon may not have a piece of art worth displaying.

The upside of this is that sometimes I can concentrate on one panel and do it up nice, showing the whole scene where maybe the words might once have hid much of it. My strips are often verbose, so I struggle with the challenge, sometimes, of showing enough background to be recognizable behind the word balloons. This can be bad in black and white art, where the background may be nothing but a bunch of unrecognizable lines, unless there is a strong establishing panel for the scene. Sure, I know that this line is the top of a fence, and that squiggle is a tree, and that line over there is the side of a house, but how about the reader? Without room for an establishing shot, the background loses meaning.

With The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake, the scene is crucial to the story... at least the Pirate Ride is. To me, the idea of a Pirate Ride is cool, and I want the audience to feel like they can see it clearly. Also, by creating a good panel or two, I can visualize the ride better, and have some nice original art in the bargain. The illustration here is drawn much larger than a normal panel, and without word balloons, you can see the entire scene. Look at the finished product, and you can see how much background disappeared, and how much is covered, and maybe you can imagine how it would have been to draw this around the word balloons.

Extra work, surely, but worth it. I have a nice piece of art to sell or display, a scene I can use later perhaps, as extra art for a book, and a good establishing shot of the first part of the pirate ride.

Speaking of prints, I am making a large map of The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake ride, with much of the artwork from the story and website, and it will be available as a print when complete. It's a lot of work, but I think it will make a fine companion to the story.

And so, Happy Holidays to you, and Merry Christmas to those to whom that applies, and yes, I have finally finished illustrating the HappyGlyphs Holiday Card for 2008!

Better late than never, eh?

Have a Happy! JOHN :0)

Forgive the Delay, Part II, How To Cartoon

Cartooning often goes far beyond simply (ha!) writing and drawing a strip. The time involved in 'busy work' can be quite substantial, especially if you are drawing everyday. This does take away from your creative time, but like the paperwork of bills and taxes and other stuff, it's a necessary part of being a Cartoonist.




How I work right now:
When a new comic strip comes off of the drawing board, it is immediately scanned into Photoshop at high res, where I clean it up and make the image a true bitmap so that the blacks are black and the whites are white. I save the black and white bitmap in case I need a black and white comic strip for some project. I then color the strip in Photoshop, and save the color strip as a large high-res file, again, in case I need it for something. Once an image is finished, you are basically stuck at the current size and resolution. I've made that mistake in the past of creating images for the web only, and then finding myself redoing them from scratch when I needed them for print.

Cartoonist Tip#1: Do NOT try to make a book or other print project with low res images! This is not professional, and the end result will not look nice.

Anyway, in the current case of The Inquiring Minds, I then reduce the size of the color strip to the dimensions of the book I am working on, and save the strip a third time. THEN I reduce the strip to 72dpi (low res), increase the size slightly, add my byline and copyrite, and save it a fourth time for use on the web.

All of this takes a lot of time, but in the long run can save your butt. You never know when you may need a certain strip at a certain size, so plan ahead. Planning ahead is a smart way to run your business, and Cartooning is a business.

It may seem like a lot of work right now, but later on you'll be glad you have options. Reprint rights are a big part of a cartoonist's income, whether you sell the rights to someone else, or make a book of your collected works.

Cheers, JOHN :0)

Forgive the delay...

The Inquiring Minds' Summer Adventure continues... although at a slightly slower pace than originally schedules. Have no fear, and a lot of patience, please, as I move into one of my busiest months. However, the recent delay had nothing to do with time, believe it or not.


The latest cartoon in The Inquiring Minds' Big Summer Adventure

When I first thought of this Big Summer Adventure, it was going to be a large Sunday cartoon. Only when I started thinking about Imagineering, and the Disney theme parks, did it occur to me to make this a long adventure. Once the idea struck, though, it poured forth like water from a spigot, and I wrote out about 20 comic strips, to tell the rough story. I say rough because part of the fun of Cartooning, and especially story telling, is letting your characters chip in, and take the story where THEY want it to!

One advantage to storytelling in a comic strip is you may find time to make changes, corrections, or additions as the story goes on. If you've been following along with The Inquiring Minds, you've already met the gang. Iris was supposed to come in later, but I later decided that I wanted to introduce her earlier in the story. That change suddenly upset some of the dynamics of the storyline as written, and suddenly some of the strips appeared weaker. What to do?

I could have drawn the 3 strips and posted them as is, keeping up with my self imposed deadlines, but I didn't think that would be right. I risk losing you, the audience, by not posting frequently, but at the same time, are you going to stick around if the strips are just 'okay'? I don't think so.

So it took me two days to rearrange strips, and rewrite strips, and I'm still not back on track yet! Yes, Cartooning is harder than it looks, folks, and believe it or not, but the writing is just as much work as the art. That's why Artist/Writer partners usually get a 50/50 cut of comic strip profits, unless one is lucky enough to be 'hot' at the moment.

So when you toon in for our latest toon, and it ain't there, please don't fret... just come back again later, or the next day. I promise that even though my schedule is getting heavy, I have a commitment to finishing up The Inquiring Minds' Big Summer Adventure THIS summer. :0)

And it's gonna be good!

Cheers, JOHN :0)

A Funny Thing Happened...

Somehow or another, I started calling myself an Illustrator, instead of Cartoonist. I've been a Cartoonist for a long time now, but suddenly, my Freelance work has pulled me into new directions, somewhere between illustration and fine art. As much as I hate to admit it, but Freelancing pays more than my cartoon and cartoon book publishing does, at the moment, so most of my time goes in that direction.

The funny thing is, though, that I saw Freelancing as a way to expand myself as an Artist, and especially as a Cartoonist. My cartooning actually improved, for awhile, but now it's so hard to tell because very little of what I am currently doing is cartooning.

Am I complaining? No... I like creating, and mentally, art is art. Creating something that is nice to look at, or has something to say, or both, is very rewarding. And trying someting new and actually succeeding at it? Good stuff. And getting respect for your work, which Cartoonists very rarely get? Nice.



Then again, creating an entire world where your own characters interact within their own continuity, and events that you initiated start running off on their own, well... that's great too. Really great.

And then there's the smell of ink, and the feeling you get when you ink in panel borders and realize that you've just opened a window into that other world, and any minute now your characters will be there to share a laugh.

Yeah, that's great, too. :0)



Cheers, JOHN :0)

On my iPod right now? Echobelly - People Are Expensive

Knight and Day revisited

It's hard to believe that it's been five years since my first comic strip collection came out. Knight and Day is our flagship comic, and still holds it's own with a recent graphic novel sequel, and a host of other projects to stand beside.

Maybe because it was my first book, but it holds a very special place in my heart, and I believe it still holds the most sales. Of course, it's had a head start on the other books, and in retrospect, it is still a very strong book, full of lots of fun, lots of laughs, and lots of life.



"Take Me Away From All This!!" is the story of Steven and Amy (Day) Knight... newlyweds who are learning what it means to share everything with another person, from personal space to finances, to... everything! And they're learning that it is not easy.

Besides being my first "hit", Knight and Day had a lot of firsts for me, and a lot going for it. The comic strip was syndicated across dozens of websites, appeared in a local newspaper, and even appeared at Tribune Media's Comics Edge. This strip was my closest to beign syndicated, as well, and it was nice to receive praise from comic strip Editors... although they eventually passed on the strip. Still, the reason they passed was that it was too similar to other strips out there, in particular strips about newlyweds. Being compared to other strips already syndicated was strong praise indeed, but watching the strips I was compared to eventually end and fade away was just a little frustrating, with me wondering if I had had the chance, would I have 'made it'.

I'm sure I would have. I really wanted it, and still do. Right now, though, I'm enjoying a terrific freelance career, and am taking the time to develop my art and writing. I have a new comic strip in mind, but I won't debut it until it is ready. I learned that lesson with Knight and Day, and my earlier strips.



With Knight and Day I followed the advice of all the greats... I wrote every day, I drew every day, and I did not rush to send strips out to the Editors. I dreew several hundred strips, and even then I only drew the ones that I was absolutely sure about.

Even better, I didn't start the strip until I was ready. I spent 3 months doing nothing but taking notes and making sketches. I worked out all the problems and all the details in the preliminary stages, so that when I started the strip, I knew where I was going with it.

Belive me, if you want to create a comic strip, or similar project, this is some of the best advice anyone can give. I heard it from others, and they heard it from others, but we all pretty much learned it the hard way.

**You cannot rush greatness**

Knight and Day was a hit pretty much from day one (alright, day 6), and it was because I took the time to get it right. I've seen a lot of strips on the web that are not consistent, or have no direction. Some tell stories, which helps keep direction, but Editors are not looking for story strips because they need strips that have easily identifiable characters: strong characters that the reader can identify with, and 'know' in a short time. You simply can't make this stuff up as you go along, or you might get lost. And if you get lost, your reader's are going to get lost... in more ways than one. :0)

The book also has my first travel stories, with the ever popular trip to England, and some greta crossover work with Cartoonist Brian Hughes, and a few other special events in there, including my tributes to some of my favorite Cartoonists at the time.

Check it out at the link below. I'd really appreciate it. :0)

All the best, JOHN :0)




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