When I was first starting my cartooning career I was always looking for ways of getting printed work into my portfolio. One the most unique things I found was entering design contests. I would always submit a cartoon as my entry and I actually won several early design contests.

The largest Rock station in Oklahoma is Rock 100.5 The KATT. This radio station used to have a yearly calendar design contest to see who could create the best design for the years calendar. I entered the contest in 1988 and did not make much of a statement. I did however know the artist that won that year. That motivated me to try again the next year.

Well, I won first place in 1989 with the design displayed here. It happened to be the best selling calendar they had and turned out to be a fun promotion for the station. I used a cartoon scene to create clues to the names of 100 top rock groups. The idea hit me when I thought about drawing a plant that had a name tag with Bob written on it. Robert Plant. From there I created 99 more clues and combined them int this calendar.

The look of the design comes from my love of the old Six Flags park maps I used to collect as a kid. Click on the photo for a much larger view and see how many groups you can find.

I entered the contest for the next few years and won again being the first two time winner and also had a third place design. After winning my second time the radio station stopped having the contest. My second win was a continuation of this theme. I created a second list of 100 rock groups and built a design around those clues.

I also won a few other design contests and started to build a pretty nice looking cartoon portfolio. Once I posted these and other designs online I started getting requests from clients all over the world. That's how my own cartoon business began. Look for unique ways that you can create designs, make a little money and start building your portfolio.

P.S. I'll try to post all 100 rock group names when I get a chance. Enjoy!

Labels: Cartoon Contests, Niches