51 year old attempting to start cartooning

[ivor]

hi
i am a 51 year old who was always interested in cartoons and drawing but never developed it as a career
family and work took most of my time but now i find i have more free time
i want to see if i can create cartoons and develop a little career at this late stage

can someone set out the steps needed

i have cartoon ideas but need to create the cartoons from these

what is the best process .....draw scan etc

what process is used by most cartoonists ?

is there a preferred software used?

i had a look at illustrator CS5 but found it very hard to follow

i would love to be able to create cartoons and sell them

i need to at least find out if i could have been a cartoonist

at least if i give it my best shot i can be satisfied even at 51

i live in a remote area in Ireland so i have no aCcess to courses etc

thanks for reading

ivor

[CharlesBogle]

Ivor-
I, too am a 50-something who decided a year and a half ago that I had had enough of corporate America. I started a webcomic called "Hello, Cleveland!" www.hellocleveland.biz.
I was fortunate that I had a spouse who sanctioned my semi-retirement and said 'go for it'.
For the complete novice, get "How To Make Webcomics" by Guigar, Kellet, Kurtz and Straub.
It generally takes about three years to start gathering a following. I am a year and a half in and have just started attending ComicCons where you can sell your wares and gain publicity for your strip. At my first show, I sold out of my first self-published collection of strips called "Hello, Cleveland!" So it is possible to start at this stage of the game and become fairly successful if you have a good strip with original ideas. But the Webcomic book is a good place to start.
Good Luck. -Charles Bogle

[CharlesBogle]

Hi Ivor, Charles again- To try and answer some of your questions:

-The best process is whatever you're comfortable with, and it depends on who or what you're aiming at. If you're trying for a shot at getting into the newspapers, you'll notice that not many of them are digitally or computer drawn. They're usually done by hand and then inked and then colored digitally. That's the medium I use.
I use Fanboy comic strip boards 5"x17" by Canson.. They come with all the measurements you need for the average comic strip. There is no set formula for turning out a comic strip. You need to decide what your strip will look like. However the Canson boards are a great place to start.

You can also go to the main comic syndicate websites to get their submission requirements: King Features, Tribune Media, Creators Syndicate, United Features Syndicate are the main ones.

You have to test different pens and inks until you come up with the look you want for you strip. After a year and a half, I just recently settled on the pens I will be using from now on, so its trial and error. Look at the early Peanuts cartoons to what they eventually ended up looking like. Its all in the evolution of a strip.
- Charles Bogle, somewhere in Massachusetts

[ivor]

Hi Charles
thanks for your reply i will take your advice on board
i had a look at the book you recommended and will get a copy to read as a starting point

i have started jotting down cartoon gag ideas over the last two months and i now need to get them on paper to see how they look ...this will be the hard part

i tried to look at your website but invalid host name comes up

thanks again for your help

ivor

[CharlesBogle]

Hey Ivor-

Have you drawn before? I had the advantage of drawing all my life and even had a contract with a minor syndicate some years ago, but like you said, life gets in the way sometimes.

Try www.hellocleveland.biz. Lots of people use '.com'. Trust me, the site is there.

If you need any help with ideas, art etc...let me know.

The greatest feeling is when you look at your completed strip, the artwork is good and it makes YOU laugh. I have found that if you have to convince yourself the strip is good, it probably isn't and I tear it up and start over. Now the next problem is trying to convince a syndicate that I'm a genius. Even if I never get a syndicate contract, I have a forum where I can express my views and a fanbase that seems to enjoy the work.

Are you anywhere near the mull of Kintyre? (Big Macca fan!)

-Charles

[ivor]

Charles

had a look at your site ....very professional looking

im not up to that standard

i must try now to get my ideas on paper

once i draw the cartoon roughly what are the stages after that to get to your strips standard

thanks

ivor

Charles the Mull of Kyntyre is in Scotland (north of) i am in south west of Ireland
an area of similar beauty(wee bit biased)

[Simon Lake]

Hi Ivor and Charles and welcome to the Forum! Ivor that is really good advice in a nutshell for anyone thinking of starting out. Also be prepared to take a few knocks. You have to be pretty thick- skinned in this Industry. The Forum has a wealth of information regarding materials, methods, out- sourcing etc etc. If you need to know something try typing it into the search bar and chances are you will find a related thread. We are always here anyway for any questoons you may have.

[CharlesBogle]

Ivor-

Thanks for the compliments.

Good advice from Simon.

To get started, I would strongly urge you to use the Canson Fanboy comic strip boards. They are the standard size most cartoonists use to draw a panel strip. They are pre-measured so you can draw a multiple paneled strip or one big strip as I often do. It will also get you used to drawing in 3" or 4" panels. If you are thinking about one-panel editorial-type cartoons, go to one of the syndicates I mentioned previously to see what their submission requirements are.

To answer a previous question,:

I basically use a regular lead pencil to get a rough outline for the art.

Then I go over it with a blue pencil because blue pencils generally are invisible when you go to copy your strip.

Then I erase the lead pencil, leaving only the blue pencil outline.

Then ink the art with whatever works best for you. Some use pen and a bottle of ink, but I found I have greater control of the ink flow using a regular drawing pen you find in art stores. Again, its all up to what YOU want your strip to look like. But remember, it has to be darker than you might like. Copied or printed art shows up differently than the original art, so I ink it very dark.

Sometimes I will produce a color strip, but because I have neither the time nor the inclination to learn how to do that on the the Internet, I have a friend color those strips.

So that's it, about as low-tech as you can get. You'll find that a lot of readers appreciate a hand-drawn comic better that a computer generated one, but it's all up to what you like personally.

But no matter what, draw. Every day. You will find eventually that your strip will find its own look and its own voice.

-and Failte. ( I think I spelled that right)

-Charles

[Leah-Admin]

Hello Charles and Charles,

very warm welcome to you both.

Ivor - when it comes to earning money from cartooning if you don't restrict yourself to a speciifc supply path you can earn through other services. Set sights lower while building a portfolio etc.

For example:

If you look at my site http://www.funkykiss-design.com you will see a variety of commercial cartoon services offered.

I also only started cartooning a year and a half ago and with daily practice you will see rapid improvement and that is the key also reading 'how to draw cartoons' books help massively.

I myself draw in pencil then do my lines with balck fibre tip pen.
I scan at 200 dpi black and white.
I then convert the line drawing to vector image and shade digitally.

This is not the reccomended route it's just what I find suits me.

Easier programs you can use are Pixia (free) or Inkscape (also Free).

Good luck

Leah

[DaD O Matic]

Hello Ivor! Ronnie Leon a.k.a. DaD O Matic here, I'm pushing that 50 something # too. Welcome! Folks here are real nice. I've been MIA for a while gotta pay those pesky bills, I don't like Bill, Kill Bill.(good movie) I happy to be drawing again,if you have any questions, I'll try and answer them. DaD O Matic.

[garygreen]

Hello Everybody. Just joined this forum. Looks like a great site. I am 54 and have intermittently been drawing cartoons for a long time. Last fall I drew up about 25 gag cartoons and submitted them to 2 of the big syndications. No luck though (just as I had figured). I do want to get my stuff 'out there' though. So what's the best way? I've seen people selling lists newspaper editors emails, etc. I'm not sure if that's the best way to go. Is web comics a good way to go? What's the best way to put a website together? Unfortunately I still have to do real work, so I'm doing this part time. Can I put comics on this site?

Thanks,

Gary

[Simon Lake]

Hello Everybody. Just joined this forum. Looks like a great site. I am 54 and have intermittently been drawing cartoons for a long time. Last fall I drew up about 25 gag cartoons and submitted them to 2 of the big syndications. No luck though (just as I had figured). I do want to get my stuff 'out there' though. So what's the best way? I've seen people selling lists newspaper editors emails, etc. I'm not sure if that's the best way to go. Is web comics a good way to go? What's the best way to put a website together? Unfortunately I still have to do real work, so I'm doing this part time. Can I put comics on this site?

Gary

Hi Gary.
By gag cartoons I take it you mean single panels? I think Syndicates are far more open to Strips. It stands to reason really. They are looking for something that is going to sustain an idea and have legs. Also something obviously people will relate to and become familiar with. The funnier the better. http://www.kingfeatures.com/subg_comic.htm

Forget Newspapers but maybe consider small local rags. Even if they don't do cartoons yet suggest it to them. Be specific with the audience you want to reach and go with something that interests you. If you are into fishing then devise a strip or even just do single panels of that and submit to Fishing Magazines on or off line no diffs. I'm still trying to grasp the concept of the financial side of having a web comic. I did my website on http://www.create.net/ It has a lot of cool features and even a Forum as well. It was a lot of fun to put together and costs me £5 a Month. It comes with a 30 Day free trial as well.

You can put as many comics as you like on this site. Bring it on!

[Simon Lake]

If you all really want to get into the age thing, (I'm 50 0n 7th of July don't forget) I want to tell you that this can be very much an older Man's game (Not too many Female Cartoonists). Think about it. You build up your liitle Empire over the years and suffer rejection. One Day is one Day. I beleive Charles Shulz was only syndicated when he was about 56 0r something. He died as a Multi- Millionaire at 77. We live the dream. It's what keeps us going. On and on and on till the end of time.

http://lambiek.net/artists/s/schulz.htm

http://www.punoftheday.com/charles-schulz.html

[Simon Lake]

Hello Charles and Charles

Leah

Two Charleses?

[Leah-Admin]

Yes, two! Woo hoo

On the age thing, I am 41 and I fully expect to be properly good at this by the time I am 60 (before then would be nice!!) which means I'll have a way of making a nice living long into retirement age and beyond. It's a great way to wile away the retirement years!

This is the great thing about this inudstry and all art related industries, it is NOT ageist and it's something many will do with pleasure until the day they die. It is for this reason I do not worry about how to afford to live when I am a pensioner. I fully expect to be working, doing what I enjoy and doing well by that time.

The art of cartooning takes practice but more than this, these days it means keeping up with technological advances and so the challenges and learning curve is endless.