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FAQs
May I post your cartoon on my blog?
If a particular cartoon strikes your fancy, you may copy it from my website and post it to your personal blog, provided you include a link back to this site. Kindly host the image yourself so as not to use up my bandwidth, and refrain from posting them on a regular basis, unless you wish to pay me.
If the blog in question is a for a professional publication, I do request a small usage fee. You may post, but please email me to arrange payment.
Can we swap links?
I hate to be a snob about this, but if I added links to everyone who requested one, my links list would quickly become meaningless. So, probably not. You can link to me, though! Yeah I know, I'm a taker, not a giver.
Who are your influences?
Carl Barks, Jack Davis, Matt Groening, B. Kliban, Hunt Emerson, Dr. Seuss, Roz Chast, Edward Gorey, Bill Watterson, Gary Larson, Tom Toles, the book Humans by Mike Dowdall and Pat Welch, R. Crumb, Peter Bagge, Leslie Sternbergh, Gahan Wilson.
How do you get your ideas?
I wish I could tell you something intriguing that involves smoking banana peels, but the truth is fairly mundane: I get my ideas from reading newspapers, from conversations, and from random thoughts that pop into my head as I'm doing other things.
I'm a young, aspiring cartoonist looking for advice. Please help!
My first piece of advice is to take up the guitar, since your chances of being a rock star are greater than your chances of making a living as a cartoonist. You'll pick up more dudes/babes that way, too. I don't say this to gloat; it's just the harsh reality of the business. As my colleague Ruben Bolling once put it, cartoonists are at the bottom of the entertainment food chain. Also, the newspaper industry is going down the crapper right now. But if you're going to be stubborn about it, I would recommend honing your craft while living frugally and hoarding away as much money as you can from your day job. If you're still in school, take a lot of different classes; become well-rounded. Cartooning is about writing at least as much as drawing. Read a lot and go to comic conventions like the Small Press Expo, Alternative Press Expo, or MoCCA. If you're submitting to papers, send maybe 8-10 clean copies of your cartoons along with a nice cover letter or info sheet. If you're trying to break into some other genre, I'm probably not the best person to ask.
Did you go to art school?
No, but I wore a lot of black in high school.
Do you draw your cartoons by hand or on the computer?
I draw Slowpoke by hand. I use a dual-tipped black marker called the TOMBO N15 and the cheap-but-effective Paper Mate Ultra Fine Flair on 11 x 14" bristol board. Then I scan it into Photoshop, where I add various elements like the panel borders, the Slowpoke logo, shading and color, and sometimes text.