1. Q: How did you become a cartoonist?
2. Q: Why do a comic strip about computers?
3. Q: Have you become fabulously wealthy as a cartoonist?
4. Q: What advice do you give to anyone who wants to become a cartoonist?
5. Q: How do I know if my work is any good?
6. Q: What kind of training did you get in order to become a cartoonist?
7. Q: I'm a struggling, young cartoonist. Can you help me?
8. Q: You say you are "self-syndicated." What's that compared to regular syndication?

1. Q: How did you become a cartoonist?

A: I've always drawn cartoons and other stuff. In fact, I think I'm responsible for lowering the grade averages of a bunch of friends through my school years by drawing all over their books and notes. But I never really thought of being a cartoonist. In fact, I studied to become a graphic designer and kind of felt a bit embarassed about my goofy skill in drawing cartoons.

It was really only when I came up with the GLitcH! character that I saw that I might actually be able to do a regular strip. It has been a lot of fun to do. Also, by finding out how to get paid occasionally for this stuff has essentially made me a cartoonist.

2. Q: Why do a comic strip about computers?

A: I spent some very intense early years learning the Macintosh computer (the Mac Plus: "for those who've always wanted power" - this was Apple's slogan back in 1986). Since then, I've been heavily involved with computers for producing graphic design and have experienced practically everything that can go wrong with them. So, when I started thinking of doing a comic strip, this was a natural area to draw material from.

However, I would have to say that a major step in deciding to actually produce GLitcH! was the fact that the character works so well. From the first time I drew GLitcH! I felt that I knew it's personality. My wife, when she first saw my initial drawings said, "That's a very expressive computer."

3. Q: Have you become fabulously wealthy as a cartoonist?

No. But here's a cliche that I've always winced at when anyone would use it but here goes anyway: "You do it because you love it." Anyone who gets into cartooning will find out, as I did, the shocking truth as to how little money there is in it (yes of course, unless you're the guy who produces Dilbert or any of the really big strips. They are like the Tom Cruises of the cartoon world, while we are the extras). But I look at it this way, that if someone is willing to pay you anything to do it, it justifies your time sitting in the basement creating the stuff.

4. Q: What advice do you give to anyone who wants to become a cartoonist?

A: Draw a lot. Experience a lot. Get an opinion. Also, educate yourself as much as you can about the subject. By education, I mean read some books on the subject, talk to local cartoonists and keep working and testing your cartoons with a variety of people. Also, very important - work on your writing skills. Cartoons are really more about writing humor and ideas than they are about goofy characters.

You need to know a lot about a subject before you start making fun of it. Here's a good example: When I was in college, we had one of those options where you did a self-study class (read: bogus way for the instructors to get out of actually teaching you anything). Anyway, I decided to do some cartooning.

I developed two strips. One was about weightlifing and a bodybuilding gym. I knew quite a bit about this since I had worked out a lot and even taught at a small rec centre, but the problem was that most people weren't really interested in the topic - it wasn't very universal. The second strip was about fish. I developed several really good characters but the problem was that I didn't know much about fish and it was impossible to talk about current things through the fish characters. One strip couldn't talk about anything except lifting weights and the goings-on in a gym and the other couldn't respond to anything other than what happens underwater. Obviously, they both didn't go anywhere.

Oh, yeah. One more important thing. When you read those books on cartooning and they repeat over and over how impossible it is to get your comic strip published, don't believe a word of it. File it away as some very realistic warnings but don't let it take the wind out of your sails. (It appears that most cartoonists who have ever received even a small amount of success in cartooning feel the obligation to try to scare everyone else away from attempting the very same thing that they did.) True enough, the odds of you becoming a rich and famous cartoonist are worse than winning the lottery. But look at it this way: you are not buying a ticket that looks like millions of others, you are basing your chances on your own talent and drive, your imagination and skills. This works in your favour and your odds improve with how well you can produce something that is appropriate for that mass audience out there. I see this as a great advantage and I'm sure that everyone who buys lottery tickets WISHES for some possible way to improve the odds of that ticket being chosen. Well, you can do that with your own work. You improve your own odds by trying to get as good as you can at your craft. Chances might still be equal to a lottery but YOUR ticket's chance is based on what you do with it.

5. Q: How do I know if my work is any good?

A: Largely, you have to be able to entertain yourself first. You are your best audience but you should also be your harshest critic. Do you occasionally find yourself laughing out loud after reading one of your strips? Or, do you complete a comic strip and think to yourself, "Well, I'm sure SOMEBODY out there will think this is funny."

Try to avoid the one major pitfall that everyone falls into which is losing your objectivity about your own work. During the early stages of development, it is very easy to simply be thrilled with the fact that you CAN actually do cartooning (same is true for writing). At this stage, we look at our work and we say to ourselves, "Hey, I can do this about as good as anyone out there! Therefore, I should be able to get my work published." The problem is that "...as good" isn't good enough.

In order for your work to get published, it now has to stand out overtop of what's out there now. Don't reinvent something that exists. If your work is a replica of something that's out there already, you should probably already know that it won't sell because the people who buy comic strips don't want two of the same theme. ("It's this great idea about a cat, see? He's really fat, and he loves to eat pizza. His name is Garthberg.")

Get responses from people you know and maybe even people you don't know (friend of a friend?). Keep checking back with how you feel about your work. You should slowly begin to understand how your cartoon works for other people.

6. Q: What kind of training did you get in order to become a cartoonist?

A: I am self-taught because I've drawn cartoons my whole life and have never had anyone show me how to do it. If I have anyone to credit for cartooning, it's the famous ones out there like Charles Schultz (yes, I copied drawings of Snoopy too). I also loved a Canadian Children's show called "Mr. Dressup" by the late Ernie Coombs who I credit with sparking my love of drawing.
I went to college for art and I got a University degree in graphic design but these offered no training whatsoever for the production of cartoons (or illustration, for that matter, even though each Visual Communications course desription stated that illustration was part of the course). However, that said, studying art and design in college and university has helped in making my cartoon work better because it's all applicable. There just isn't a program that you can go into that gives you what you need: a rounded program of study that includes, art, graphics, writing, business, marketing and sociology to give you a basis as to why your cartoon may work or not.

I would say that most cartoonists are self-taught. Many have no formal education in art or design and will never need it. But I think the best thing is to inform yourself on the topic as much as you can regardless of whether you never finished high school or you have a PhD.

7. Q: I'm a struggling, young cartoonist. Can you help me?

A: I have been approached by cartoonists at various stages of development. Some are fully developed and simply need to get out there and make people aware of the product - to see if it is marketable. Others, unfortunately, are starting at square one and are hoping that someone else will take them by the hand and lead them through each step from the initial concept - how to ink a line, how to plan out your captions, what materials to use, etc., - to a final product. Unfortunately, my time is taken up by family; a full-time job; several part-time jobs (GLitcH! is only one of them) and then by some of my hobbies such as writing. I am also not in the position of recommending anyone's work to the various clients that I have as I am simply not operating as an agent or syndicate. To put it bluntly, I'm still a struggling cartoonist myself. I'm still trying to improve my strip and to get published wherever I can.

I hope to offer as much information as I can within this website. Feel free to email me with any comments and general questions but please do not expect me to provide you with cartoon training over the internet. As I mentioned in the question regarding education, it's really up to each individual to get out there and get the information they need. So get some good books on the subject and start working through the development and remember what I said about not getting scared off by all the negative advice out there. And, good luck.

8. Q: You say you are "self-syndicated." What's that compared to regular syndication?

A: Self-syndication is exactly what it says. You do your own comic strip syndication by yourself. In other words, you get out there and phone, fax, email and make a pest of yourself to prospective customers by sending them packages of information, samples, whatever. All in order to convince them to buy your product. Yes, you do feel like a door-to door vacuum cleaner salesman at times and you're either totally ignored or given the boot just as many times. But, the benefits are that when you do earn something, it is all yours.

The comic syndicates are the large companies which do all that stuff on your behalf. Their advantage is that they are already selling to hundreds of newspapers, so they know their clients and if you ever want to see your comic in a hundred+ papers, then you need to work for a syndicate. The disadvantage is that, to be competitive, the syndicates sell cartoons for very little and give you generally about 50% of the net profits (after they've paid all their bills). So, even with syndication, many cartoonists may still not earn that much. Oh, yeah - one more disadvantage: they are besieged by thousands of submissions by new cartoonists each year out of which 1 or 2 might get accepted.

I have only approached one syndicate so far and was not successful and have since stayed with the self-syndication route, however that may be changing.

Ed Wiens