If you do not know the answer to that question or cannot create vector art out of your raster (pixel) images, you may have a tough time in today's commercial cartooning industry.

I receive many submissions from newbie cartoonists wanting to know what I think about their cartooning and also wanting to know if I would hire them. I have to say that there is almost no way I could hire a cartoonist that does not know how to turn a sketch into a high resolution digital file and then turn that file into a vector art file. If you don't know Adobe Illustrator, PhotoShop or Corel Draw you most likely will not be hired as a cartoonist or be able to supply clients with the correct files they will need to have their projects printed.

Vector art is scalable and does not lose detail when resized. It is made up of lines that can be moved and stretched with a pointer tool. A vector image is much like a wire frame that creates the shape of a design. Adobe Illustrator now has Live Trace built into the program which turns most any file into a vector.

Vectorizing colored bitmaps or photographs can be pretty tough. The file output is never that clean of a file. My suggestion is to create your cartoon designs as high resolution bitmap (300 dpi) files, namely TIFF files. Clean all of your lines and make sure your TIFF file is as clean as possible. Place that image into Illustrator and Live Trace. You will then have a nice, crisp black and white vector image. Ungroup it and you can easily Fill each section of the image with color. Add shading, blends and gradients to create professional cartoon artwork.

I will provide visuals of this process in the future. Learn Illustrator and PhotoShop and get busy creating those vector art files.

Labels: Cartooning, How To, Vector Art

1. Do it. You will never be a great cartoonist if you only talk about being a great cartoonist. The day I decided I wanted to quit my job and become a full time cartoonist I pulled out a pencil and pad of paper and started developing my own characters. I drew 12 cartoons, put them in an envelope, mailed them to a magazine and then I started all over again.

2. Draw. My original cartoon drawings sucked! My characters were flat and I only had two views, complete side view or complete front view. My cartoon hands were awful. The only way to draw better is to draw MORE!

3. Don't take things to seriously. Most all cartoons are meant to be funny. You can't create funny and whimsical cartoons if you are in a bad mood or are stressed. You need to learn to relax and look at the world in a way that most people don't see. The wackier, the better. Dress funny and give your kids off the wall names.

4. Write. If you are doing gag cartoons, greeting cards, comic strips or other funny cartoons you will need to exercise your funny bone. The more you write the easier it becomes. Always write down a funny thought or observation because I promise, if you don't, you'll forget it. Many times bad cartoons can be sold with good writing, but great cartoons rarely get sold with bad writing.

5. Display. You can't sell your work if nobody is seeing it. Send it to editors, enter it into art shows, create online galleries, email samples to friends and always have a portfolio handy of your BEST work samples.

6. Create cartoons for free but never work for free. If you need to build up a portfolio or want to practice drawing, think about offering to do a few cartoons or designs for free. But only if the client will be using the designs commercially and will provide you with samples. If you are a working cartoonist and a client wants you to create a cartoon for free because they are unwilling to pay, ask them if they will offer you their service for free.

7. Don't steal. In today's world it is very difficult to create something so new and original that it has never been seen before. Ultimately your designs will in some way reflect images that you have seen over the years. But whatever you do, do not copy an exact cartoon and claim that it is your own. You will never, ever, build a business on stealing other peoples ideas and designs. Originality is what makes some cartoonists millionaires.

8. Be prepared to fail. A cartoonist will be rejected more times than most other professionals. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Getting a cartoon into a top magazine or a comic strip into a newspaper may be harder than winning the lottery. A cartoonist should take pride in his rejection file folder. If it is not full, you are not drawing enough or trying hard enough. Many clients will hate your first attempt at a design. Accept the challenge and draw better, write better and improve with each rejection. Eventually you will fail to fail.

9. Diversify. Don't put all of your cartoon eggs into one basket. A gag cartoonist can also create greeting cards. An illustrator can also do tattoo designs. A logo designer can also create cartoon fonts. Create multiple streams of income with your talent.

10. Ask questions. If you don't know what to do or how to do it, ask! Find a few professional cartoonists that are willing to answer questions as you begin your career. Stay in touch with fellow cartoonists. Build up a network of cartoonists that you can rely on. Find a mentor. Once you become the cartoonist you never thought you could become, begin answering questions and offering advice to those that will be asking you.

11. Never give up. I never sold a cartoon to the BIG magazines, I never had a comic strip syndicated and I was never hired by Hallmark. But, I draw cartoons full time for a living, I have clients all over the world and I sell my characters and clip art out of a room in my house. I have my own small greeting card company, I sell t-shirts online and people wait weeks to have me create their cartoon logos.

Good luck and much success!

Labels: Cartooning, How To