If you have ideas that you think are funny and you have a knack for drawing, you may want to try your hand at cartooning. A natural sense of humor is a plus but being able to translate that into funny ideas through pencil drawings is pretty much a requirement to being successful as a cartoonist. It is important to look at the humor in any given situation. That will get you on the right road to cartooning. Being able to transport that humor through sketches or drawings onto paper is the real challenge.
There Are Several Ways To Get Started
Although the cartoon often starts with an idea, there are other avenues where cartoonists get their inspiration. Some cartoonists may start with a drawing. That is, they will start with a blank sheet of paper, doodle and draw for a while. Then, they can come up with an idea attached to their drawing. Still others rely on a well formed idea. One cartoonist tells of having a stack of finished cartoons but not sure what to do with them. Like he said, you can try and sell them to magazines, you can try to get syndicated, you can get an established publishing house to print them, or you can publish your cartoons yourself. There may be other choices, but those are some of the more popular ones.
Where Do You Get The Ideas?
Ideas for cartooning can come any time day or night. It is always good to have quiet, creative moments for images, words or phrases to pop into your mind. Cartoonist Dan Trogdon (https://www.andsoitgoescartoons.com/blog/), says he can take an image and then “turn it upside down, inside out, twist it around, add or subtract something until somehow it turns into a funny idea.” He says a good example of this was when he came up with Alphabet Soup for the Blind. It actually began with him picturing a bowl of soup, and then adding the words alphabet soup. At some point shortly thereafter the idea of braille lettering entered the picture, and the idea was born. And, Trogdon says, it happened very quickly. He adds, “I don’t know why, but it seems like the really good ideas happen that way – one second there’s nothing, and then, here’s your idea, thank you very much.” Trogdon says his most creative time is in the morning, so for a specified time, he closes his eyes and simply lets his mind wander. “It’s during this time that images will pop into my mind, or words and phrases, and then I simply let my mind play around with them,” he says.
Syndicated Cartoons Require Much Work
One of the most common arenas for displaying one’s creations is through syndicated cartoons in newspapers. That, of course, requires a finished product every day, which easily might be intimidating. Taking this route requires a cartoonist to have a stack of already finished cartoons at his disposal. No matter how hard you might work, there are still times when you might be able to produce just one cartoon a day. So on those days you get behind, be prepared with a backup stack.
Cartoon Books Get Children Excited
Children love cartoon books. These books have the wonderful potential of making children who were once reluctant readers get excited about picking up a book. A number of studies show that cartoon book fans are just as proficient as text-only readers, often read above grade level, and have vocabularies that are more comprehensive.