tOOns MaG

PART 2: Breaking In

Art by C.F. Payne – From the Collection of The US Postal Service

Generally it's better to try breaking in at a low stress level like submitting cartoons to a magazine before you try to tackle the constant deadlines and sensory overload of a syndicated strip or comic book. When I was 20 I assisted as a penciler on the "Bullwinkle" and "Barney Rubble" comic books and it almost killed me. Then I tried selling cartoons right out of my sketchbooks to National Lampoon. …to my amazement, the Lampoon paid pretty well and the editors and art directors were very nice people, easy to talk to. If you have an opportunity to meet with an art director in person to show your work, DO IT.

Show only your best work, and show work that is appropriate for the magazine or publication you are pursuing. I showed an editor loads of things I'd done for other people, ads and stuff, and she said impatiently, "I don't want to see what you've done, I want to see what you've got for me." After that I only showed her work that I was specifically trying to sell her for publication in her magazine.

Also, show finished work. Don't show anything that the a.d. will have to use her/his imagination on… they don't want to see that you have potential, they aren't art teachers- they want to see what you've got. I don't want to make editors sound scary. They are not. They like artwork, like seeing cartoons, but they are busy people and a lot of the cartoonists who send then work haven't really thought through their presentation. A common mistake is bringing or sending EVERYTHING to the a.d. Just show your best.

PART 3: Mailing your work to a magazine

PART 4: Finagling, Schmoozing and Spitballing

Art by Mike Leste

In the meeting you'll be expected to dance (metaphorically).

As with real dancing, stay on your toes, off his or her toes, try not to exhaust your partner and if the art director wants to lead, you follow.

If you do manage to swing a meeting with an a.d., listen to what she/he is saying, ask questions, look for opportunities. If nothing happens, see if you can come back in a month and pitch more material.
Try to never leave a meeting completely empty handed: without being obnoxious, see if you can get something out of the a.d., like another appointment in a few weeks, the name of another a.d. who might be looking for work.

Be human, ask human questions like "What do you think I should do? If you were in my shoes, what would you advise me to bring in to show you next time, what sort of materials?"
The human approach sometimes will bear great fruit.

PART 5: Keep Moving Forward

Art by Tom Richmond © Mad Magazine

Soup To Nutz © Rick Stromoski Dist. by NEA, Inc

The main newspaper syndicates are:

Creators Syndicate (B.C., Wizard of ID)
King Features Syndicate (Hagar, Zits)
Tribune Media Services (Lola, Dick Tracy)
United Media (Peanuts, Dilbert)
Universal Press Syndicate (Foxtrot, Doonesbury)
Washington Post Writers Group (Opus)

(For detailed submission guidelines for each of these syndicates, please click here.)="">

In putting together a syndicated strip, there are many, many methods of working- here's one:

1) Work up your characters and concept. Let your work arise from the characters. Charles Schulz advised me once not to fall in love with a cute idea; the writing should come out of the character, not the other way around. Fill your sketchbooks with drawing of your characters. Don't tell them what to do; ask them what they want to do.

2) Try to write a minimum of six gags a day, with rough drawings.

3) At the end of each week pick the six best daily gags and the one best Sunday gag in that batch. File the rest.

4) Roughly draw up the dailies and Sundays. For now, just rough in the layouts including the lettering. Then go back and finish the artwork. Then go back and add touches.

5) Ink the weeks work. You ink like this: Before you first dip your pen, make sure the nib is clean. Scrape off old ink with a razor or X-acto knife. If it's anew pen nib wash it in soap and warm water. Why? Because pen nibs are sprayed with oil to keep them from rusting while they sit in store rooms for years; if you don't clean off the oil the ink will fly off your pen and destroy your artwork. Always keep your ink bottle in a clean spot on your desk or side table, always LOWER than your artwork. If you keep it higher, you'll spill it. Ink loves to jump onto artwork. When you actually ink: a little bit on this daily, then set it aside and while that much dries, do a little bit on the next one, and so on. Don't try to ink a whole cartoon at one sitting. You'll get tired, bored, sloppy, your hand will smear a line you thought was dry.

6) Check the work. Go back and erase the pencil line after all the ink's dry. Go back over the work again and look at it. Indicate with pencil any place you feel you need to fill in with black. Put a tiny "x" there, then go back and spot the blacks all at one sitting. Add any texture.

PART 7: Closing Thoughts