March 30, 2015
Go, Read: How To Become A Cartoonist
Nigel Parkinson works in traditional UK kids' comics. So
when asked to give his advice on how to become a cartoonist, he basically explains how he ended up where he is: in some ways it's the world's least helpful column, the description of a unique path hacked through a woodland where the path has closed up and the woods is nearly gone.
On the other hand, there is something to the advice in general. Most cartoonists get to the point of making a living by keeping cartooning until the world curves slightly around them to accommodate that talent and persistence. And Parkinson is right in identifying a second step
after being persistent for what may seem like forever: consolidating one's early opportunities and nascent skills until they begin to resemble something like a career.
If it all sounds impossible, it pretty much is -- there's no guarantee that if you do all of these things 100 percent perfectly that the ground won't open under you at some future date right where you standing or right where you need to be standing next for the previous steps to have made any sense at all. I think this is infinitely more so in an era without any real industry of any type; there are very few places into which one can settle, very few pieces of ground guaranteed to be there five years from now.
You also have to be able to draw and write, either surpassingly well at one or professionally able at both. It's really not fair.
posted 12:05 am PST |
Permalink
Daily Blog Archives
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
Full Archives