Sardonic Salad with Chad Isely and Kit Lowrance

Posted on August 18, 2011 by David Hurley

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One day I was clicking through some comics on an internet site and came across a cartoon about Ronald McDonald and his hidden “gothic” identity. I immediately cracked up and had to find out more of the cartoonists work. I left a reply under the comic saying I loved the humor, and it wasn’t long after that I became friends with one of the creators.  I would like to introduce to you a little of the humor I found that day. Sardonic Salad is a one panel comic written and drawn by Chad Isely and Kit Lowrance and everything is open game to their humor. I asked Chad and Kit if I could feature them on Don’t Pick the Flowers blog (and they said yes) so with great pleasure I present to you “Sardonic Salad”.

David: You have some very funny yet sarcastic comics. Tell me about Sardonic Salad comics and who is involved.
Chad: Although unnamed at the time, Sardonic Salad started ten years ago as a collaboration between myself and Kit Lowrance. Our goal initially was to win  prize money by entering (and hopefully winning..) a cartoon contest sponsored by a local weekly paper. We took second place, which was enough incentive to keep entering contests. We never won one, but came close each time. After a 7 year hiatus, we decided to give it another go, named our comic, and started submitting to editors.

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Kit: We’ve both really enjoyed the process of doing these over the last few years, especially. It’s always interesting to look back at some of our earlier work and see how we’ve changed as we’ve learned a bit more about what makes a good comic that people enjoy.
David: Sardonic Salad is a team effort. Who does the writing and who does the art work?
Chad: Kit does about 95% of the writing, and when I have ideas, I usually run them by Kit for inputand fine tuning.  I do the drawing.
Kit: There have also been a handful of times when Chad has had some good ideas for the art, and he’ll send it to me and say, “Hey, I need a caption.” Those are interesting, too.
David: How do you go about writing your comics and coming up with ideas?

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Chad: I typically don’t have to… which is a great benefit of collaborating. If an idea comes to me, I draw it, but I don’t have to depend on myself to come up with content. I have the luxury of sitting back and seeing what comes out of Kit’s delightfully twisted mind. From my standpoint, it’s quite liberating. All the fun of drawing, with none of the stress of writers block!

Kit: It’s interesting to hear Chad describe his role that way, because I can’t draw anything beyond stick figures, but I’ve usually got an idea or two cooking, and am always really pleased with what Chad does with the 2 or 3 lines of text I send him, and how he represents it visually. As far as where the ideas come from, I draw a lot of inspiration from idioms, or what some things might look like if they were taken to their most extreme conclusions. The ability to assign human characteristics to inanimate objects allows us to be pretty unrestricted in terms of the subject matter we cover.

David: Who are some of your cartooning hero’s and inspirations?
 

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Chad: Bill Watterson is at the top of that list for sure. Ever since getting my hands on The Essential Calvin and Hobbes treasury as a kid, I’ve been hooked on cartoons. Soon after I discovered the work of Gary Larson, a man who has done much to warp my sense of humor. I think certain aspects of my drawing style have been influenced by the late Belgium cartoonist Herge, who’s  Tintin comics are still a favorite of mine.  One last cartoonist I’d add is, Ryan Pagelow, who is starting to get some much deserved attention for his dark comic, buni. Seeing his hard work paying off is something that inspires me on a whole different level.
Kit: Yeah, I’d definitely have to agree with Gary Larson. I also appreciate Graham Roumieu’s books.I’m a big fan of minimalist art & humor, where you don’t have to read a whole narrative to get the story.
David: What are your future goals and plans with Sardonic Salad?

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Chad: Our focus used to primarily be getting established in print media. These days print media is drying up quickly, and so are many of the old oppurtunities for cartoonists. We have switched our focus to the internet, and are working hard to find, and fill our niche. Exactly where and what that is, isanyone’s guess, but I’m sure we’ll stumble into it sooner or later. In the meantime, if we make a few people laugh, and sell a t-shirt or two, we’re going to count it a success.

Kit: We’ve talked a lot about what we’d like to do with Sardonic Salad and where we’d like to see it go, but we also both really value the ideas of creative control and being able to produce new material at our own pace, so preserving those will likely continue to be quite important to us, whichever path we end up taking.

David: Thank you for talking with me and being featured. I love your sense of  humor and style, keep up the great work. I expect to see great things from you both and I can’t wait to see what’s next on the horizon.
For more of Sardonic Salad check out their website: sardonicsalad.com
and join the Sardonic Salad Facebook fanpage: www.facebook.com/pages/SardonicSaladcom/186838854669770
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Wil Panganiban: The Frank and Steinway Story

Posted on August 11, 2011 by David Hurley

Some times you run across a comic that you fall in love with (I do with all the comics I feature here). But sometimes you love a comic because of what it is. Wil Panganiban has created such a comic called “Frank & Steinway”. The basic premise of the story is about two classic icon characters (i.e. Dracula and Frankenstein) that are unemployed and have to face the scariest of all things life. Not only is the story great but the artwork is absolutely amazing. Wil deserves a lot of credit here…so I’m thrilled to feature the man behind these amazing characters here on Don’t Pick the Flowers blog.

David: Hey Wil, you have a very fun and nicely drawn comic “Frank & Steinway”, I love looking at your art work. Can you tell me a little history of how you started “Frank & Steinway” and your idea behind the comic?

Will: Well, if you have the time. Bear with me; it’s sort of interesting but long winded heh.

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Frank and Steinway originally, was a cartoon short idea I was pitching to Hanna Barbera, in 1995. At UCLA I made an animated cartoon short called ‘Snake Theatre’. It got Hanna Barbera’s attention which then led them to invite me to pitch for a series of cartoon shorts they were calling ‘What a Cartoon!’ My first idea was called ‘Sub-Hero’ I made it all the way to the final pitch, and lost to…drum roll please ‘Johnny Bravo’ for the final slot of the show. Johnny Bravo went on to become a series for The Cartoon Channel. If I had made it, I’d say my career might have been different. Though I lost, they invited me to pitch again, I pitched them 2 ideas, and one of those was Frank and Steinway. The cartoon premise was pretty much the same; both Frank and Steinway are laid off. However, the boss offers them one remaining open slot. The rest of the 7 minutes of that cartoon was of Frank and Steinway trying to best each other for the job (both failing of course). It would have been my Ren and Stimpy series but with monsters. Sadly, Hanna Barbera passed, but said they were interested in bringing me in as a writer. Meanwhile, I’ve been out of college for 6 months now and no job. I found it, but in the game industry as a game tester for Disney. 16 years later, I was laid off from Electronic Arts. I was in a completely different career field altogether.

At this point it was 2010, in the midst of a harsh recession. I was longing to go back into cartooning. But I needed an idea. One day, I was sifting through my old cubby hole when I came across the storyboard I used to pitch Frank and Steinway. Bam! The idea was ready made for the times. The story fit my situation perfectly; I was a bit older, afraid of fighting for my own job against newer, younger graduates. I was scared at what life would bring for me now that I was out of my secure 16 year career. So I decided to convert Frank and Steinway from an animated cartoon to a comic strip. That was one year ago, and thankfully, I still haven’t run out of ideas. The fans seem to think they are a perfect metaphor for their situation as well.

David: Can you give a description of their personalities and how you relate with them?

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Wil: Basically, Frank and Steinway is semi autobiographical. They are opposite sides of the same coin, which is me. Steinway is the conservative, often cautious side of me. It’s the side that I’m probably most identified with. He’s the dreamer, the philosophical nice guy! He yearns for the life’s simple pleasures. He’s also the shy guy, the anxious over-analyzer, and the guy that crushes over gorgeous, unattainable women time and time again!

Frank on the other hand, is the side I secretly wish I could be, wilder, more carefree and definitely more confident. He’s the guy who’ll act on instinct, regardless of the consequences. He’s got thick skin, so nothing really fazes him too much. But he’s also the jerk, the smart ass and the guy who is more often sarcastic and at times acidic. I’m a sarcastic person, I’ll admit, however, I’m not mean like him. Just ask the guys I make fun of every day! Frank is an aristocrat in his mind, so he’s unwilling to accept his lot as a new member of the middle class.

David: You have worked on other comic art, what are those and how have they helped you with your own comic?

Wil: Back in my college days at UCLA (I’d say about 1992 or 1993) I answered an ad to become a contract artist for a comic panel called ‘Choas’ which the author was self syndicating. I worked on it for a while. Later it was picked up by King Features syndicate. Meanwhile, I was slowly developing a few things simultaneously. I started working on a time travel strip called ‘The Torvald Chronicles’. I was also working on an animated pitch for Hanna Barbera. That time of my career pretty much gave me an introduction into the professional world of cartooning; it’s deadline headaches, and its perks. I learned a lot about how hard it really was to come up with an idea for a joke. I also got art tips and ideas from Jay Kennedy, who was our editor. I learned a lot! However, the comic panel I was working on was a gag a day single frame comic. The storyboards for Hanna Barbera was what forced me to learn sequential art with dynamic camera angles (which I still use today)

With Torvald Chronicles, I was mentored by another comic veteran, the late Tom Forman, of Motley’s Crew fame. He gave me advice on how to write for a multi-panel comic strip, which is drastically different from the single panel strip. He tried to get me in with Tribune Media Services, but alas, as Tom also advised me, time travel strips are a hard sell (apparently, if you have to explain a joke’s back story then it’s over). And as I found out too, Americans ironically, are not a historically conscious or observant lot (war, recession—ooo had to throw a zinger there). Therefore, historical jokes are hard to get.

I also dabbled in comic book art also. I made a comic book which I will eventually release called ‘Grace’. Again, I learned sequential art, backgrounds, storytelling in general, and pacing.

David: What are some of your favorite comics and what gives you inspiration with your own work?

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Wil: Many strips have inspired and influenced me in my career. However, if I had to pick a few, I’d have to say Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Pogo, The Far Side, The Neighborhood (later Ballard Street), Herman, The Duplex, Foxtrot, Robot Man, and Get Fuzzy.

Bill Watterson was definitely the art influence for me. Winsor McCay and Walt Kelly are others. I love Watterson and Kelly’s brushwork. McCay’s art was something that always fascinated me ever since I saw little Nemo in slumberland. I love his line work. In Frank and Steinway, I try to mix the brushwork with the nice details that Mccay place in his drawings. But for the sense of humor, I’d go with the strips mentioned above. I naturally have a weird and sick sense of humor, so I naturally gravitate to the offbeat strips like the Far Side and Herman, or to the absurd, the world of Jerry Van Amerongen. Foxtrot, Get fuzzy and the rest, were influential in my learning of the dialogue dynamic between interesting characters. I always love banter between buddies or families in the strip. I also love sarcastic or idiotic characters.

Peanuts, was the single strip that made me want to be a cartoonist to begin with. I hold a very special place for it in my heart. I pay homage to it everyday, with Frank’s modified Charlie brown shirt. I confess I own a Charlie brown shirt, but no longer wear it; otherwise, those unattainable women would laugh at me more.

David: What are your future goals and plans with “Frank & Steinway”?

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Wil: My first and foremost plan is to be syndicated. That was always my dream. I was indirectly syndicated by ‘Chaos’ but I want to make it on my own this time. After a detour of 16 years, I felt a need to return to the long lost dream. If not, then hopefully, I can get Frank and Steinway in as many papers as I can. Right now, I have a year’s worth of strips that I plan to collect in a trade paperback. Hopefully, I can get it published and then sell them digitally, or at comic con 2012! In short, I want to get Frank and Steinway recognized and accepted by the world!

The other dream was the original plan for Frank and Steinway, to make an animated cartoon about their plight. I have the basic character bibles for these characters written. I also have lots of story ideas for them. It’s a natural transition from comic strips to the television screen. Who knows maybe a feature film? Delusions of grandeur, I know.

Finally, being a veteran of the game industry, I also hope to create a video game based on these two characters. I’m slowly working on them now, but it’s a bit of a lurch.

David: It all sounds possible to me, you’ve got a great comic with great characters. I truly wish you the best with your work and appreciate you being featured on the blog.

To find out more of Frank and Steinway by Wil Panganiban check out these websites at:

www.gocomics.com/frank-and-steinway

www.facebook.com/FrankandSteinway

www.comicsshowcase.com/Frank___Steinway.php

wilsportfolio.blogspot.com/

 

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Steven Sievers and the Supa Booty Pirate Hunt

Posted on August 4, 2011 by David Hurley

Supa Pirate Booty Hunt is an extremely funny animation series by Steven Sievers and Dahveed. The themes are geared toward a young adult audience of the late night shows on Adult Swim. It’s classic slap stick humor as Captain Zack and Daniel the Turtle poke fun at current events, celebrities and the media set in a world of ancient magic and futuristic technology. I asked Steven to share a little history of his life and Supa Pirate Booty Hunt with us on Don’t Pick the Flowers blog, and here is that conversation.

David: Supa Pirate Booty Hunt is a very funny young adult animated show. How did the idea for Supa Pirate Booty Hunt come about?

 

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Steven: Supa Pirate Booty Hunt started as a skit on my internet college radio show back in 2004 called “Storytime” where I did the voices of this whacky pirate & turtle going on adventures on the seven seas every week. The skit became a hit but I didn’t realize how much to that summer when I went on the whole Vans Warped Tour all across North American for two months. I had a booth for my clothing line Level 27 I had at the time and I was surprised by how many people told me at each date how they loved the skit. It was at the Vancouver, Canada concert date that a girl asked me to record her cell phone voice mail greeting in the Daniel the Turtle voice that I knew I had to do something with this radio skit. For my grad school thesis project, I turned into a cartoon show. After I gradated from American University in Washington, DC I moved out to Los Angeles and teamed up with talented artist Dahveed to bring the project to life. We spent a year rewriting the bible and getting our characters done 100% and released our first animation in 2008.

Watch: Supa Pirate Booty Hunt Episode “Love Bites”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTKRDhPSGhI

David: You’ve also had quite a history owning your own clothing store and also working as a freelance graphic artist for Disney. Can you give me a little history of how you came to the point of making your own animation?

Steven: Yea I just touched base about the clothing  line a little bit, it was called Level 27 Clothing which we called “wearable art” and it just started as a hobby between two best friends that snow balled into a business. We did it from 2000 – 2009 and had a great run. We were sold at Hot Topic, Disney’s Vault 28 at downtown Disney, and tons of stores worldwide. I didn’t know what I was doing half the time but I learned some valuable lessons on marketing that I have used to Supa Pirate Booty Hunt’s success. Thanks to the clothing line’s success I was able to land a freelance graphic design gig at Disney. I must say, working for Disney was a dream come true! I also worked at a special effects company that made these head pieces for Disney’s Pixar Play parade at Disney’s California Adventure theme park, so another big Disney deal. As for animation, we started pre production around the end of 2007 on our first animation and by March 2008 we had our first episode up on YouTube. It was one of the greatest feelings finally seeing it come to life. So far people are really into the animation.
Watch: Supa Pirate Booty Hunt Episode “Holiday Fight Club”
David: Your animation has a classic slapstick style. Has animation been a life long dream of yours and what are some of your favorite animations to watch and inspirations?

Steven: I defly grew up watching all the classic Disney animation and watching Saturday morning cartoons, especially Loony Tones! That’s where the classic slapstick style comes from.

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The biggest animation that has had an influence on me is The Simpsons; I basically plan on my day around when the reruns come on TV. It’s more excited to me watching them on TV or DVD because I don’t know what episode it is going to be but I can figure it out with in the first minute of the episode. I so look forward to when a new episode comes out, I honestly don’t know what I will do with myself if the show every goes off the air. I also really loved the 90’s comic book animated series of Batman, Spiderman, & X-men. They were done so well! I really got into Adult Swim in my college years watching Sealab 2012, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, & The Brak Show. I figure if I watch so much animation and love it so much, why not try it for myself.

 

Watch: Supa Pirate Booty Hunt / Music Saves Lives Animated PSA Episode “Nurse Boobies Please” featuring guest appearance by the band 3oh!3

www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5s4YfOElzQ&

David: What’s it like for you on a daily basis working on Supa Pirate Booty Hunt?

Steven: It depends on what is going on in Supa Pirate Booty Hunt world. I defly spend some hours each day doing online marketing for Supa Pirate Booty Hunt. You can’t just put something on YouTube and expect people to find it out on their own. So I use all the social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, message blogs, and yes I still use MySpace to promote SPBH latest animation & video blogs. Other days I might be doing script writing, color pages in comic book, doing actually animation in Flash, recording Daniel the Turtle lines, mixing sound of animation in pro-tools, planning upcoming SPBH events, going to SPBH events, or editing video blogs for SPBH. I’m always busy because there is always something going on in SPBH world.

David: What kind of plans do you have for the animated series in the future?

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It’s been a busy summer for SPBH. We are now working for the non-profit Music Saves Lives and trying to get young adults to donate blood. Each donation can save up to three lives. We produced an animated PSA for them called “Nurse Boobies Please” and also turned it into a comic book. Both the comic & animation feature guest appearance by the band 3oh!3. The animation has been featured on 3oh!3 website, Vans Warped Tour Website, Monster Energy Website, and on Clevver TV. A shorter version of the episode will be airing late nights on TV as a PSA commercial. The comic book was given out on every date of the Vans Warped Tour this summer and blood centers through out the country. I did a comic book signing on 5 dates of the tour with one more coming up next week. We also gave out a bunch at our booth at San Diego Comic Con. Our animation will be screened at the iTV Fest and Burbank Film Festival. I’ll also be flying out to Chicago Comic Con Wizard World this month as an invited voice actor guest. We are going to make future Supa Pirate Booty Hunt episodes for Music Saves Lives with Dave Mastaine from Megadeth, Chuck Billy from Testament, & Steve-O from Jack-Ass.

David: Thanks so much Steven for talking with me about Supa Pirate Booty Hunt. Your animation series is absolutely hilarious. You have every reason to be proud of your work and to expect even greater success in the future.

 

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Frank Page and a Squirrel named Bob

Posted on July 28, 2011 by David Hurley

Frank Page is one talented artist and cartoonist. His comic “Bob the Squirrel” tells of a squirrel with attitude and Frank’s own inner voice coming to the surface. The character Bob originated while Frank watched a squirrel scamper across a power line and inevitably became the starring role in one of the funniest and well drawn comics I’ve seen. So what a thrill it is to have Frank Page featured on “Don’t Pick the Flowers” and answer a few questions about his life and “Bob”.

 David: Hey Frank! What a privilege to talk with you about your comic “Bob the Squirrel”. When did you become interested in being a cartoonist and decide to start your own comic strip? 

Frank: I think it’s safe to say that cartoonists don’t decide to start comic strips, panels, comic books…it just sort of happens one day.  I’ve drawn my whole life.  I was a very shy little kid; but, with a pencil and piece of paper in front of me I was unstoppable.  Drawing helped me get through some very lonely years, it was (and still is) my dearest and closest companion.  It was my form of communication to the world who wouldn’t necessarily look twice at me.  I had a comic strip in my high school newspaper, then college, then after college. It’s just something I’ve always done.  It’s like breathing to me.

David: I really like Bob the Squirrel and he has a bit of an attitude. Where do most of your ideas for the comic come from?

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Frank: Bob the Squirrel was the culmination of many, many failed attempts at creating a comic strip…rather, attempts at creating a SUSTAINABLE comic strip.  Sure, you can come up with 24 great ideas and send them off to the syndicate, but if 24 is all you have… you could have a real problem.  The idea of a squirrel came to me completely by chance, one of those great: “Bruce Wayne sees a bat and becomes BATMAN” moments.  Using myself in the strip seemed to me to be pretty organic too.  I’ve always admired the work of cartoonist R. Crumb.  His line is what initially grabbed me.  But, as I got more and more into his work, I was astounded by his complete and utter honesty… bravely exposing (literally and figuratively) all of his weaknesses on the page.  Every wart, pimple, cut and bruise was there… and he hooked me forever.  Honesty is everything.  So, that’s how I approached Bob.  If I expected people to invest themselves into the strip, I should be willing to do the same.  My ideas come from my life…95% of what happens in the strip, happened to me.  Love, loss, depression, pain, triumph…all the warts are there.  Those warts make the strip real…even with a talking squirrel thrown in.  I routinely have people ask me if I have a pet squirrel… (i don’t).  Whenever I hear that, I know that I’ve done something right.

David: What’s the best description you would give of Bob and his attitude towards life?

Frank: Bob is the friend I wish I had in real life.  He’s brash and

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cute.  He says what he wants to say and pays no attention to the consequences of those words.  He’s self-centered,  needs constant attention, wants to be loved on his terms.  But he’s loyal.  He’ll do anything for you…after he throws a sarcastic comment on it.  He wants the best, but doesn’t know what the best is.  Despite all this, he’s still not completely comfortable in his own skin…if he had a choice, I don’t think he would have chosen to be a squirrel, but he does what he can with what he has.

David: What are some of your favorite comics and which have been the greatest influences on you?

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Frank: As I mentioned, R. Crumb is a huge influence.  His hand in my style came a little bit later.  I think all ink slingers of my generation would cite Bill Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes as their genesis rock.  But, comics aren’t the only things that have influenced me.  Believe it or not, the comedians of the silent film era: Chaplin, Keaton, LLoyd, Laurel and Hardy, have played a substantial role in what I do.  How do you tell a story with little to no use of dialog?  These comedians were visual to the millionth degree… not because they wanted to be… because they didn’t have a choice.  They used what they had to get the story moving…in doing so, created masterpieces that are still marveled over 100 years later.  If you’ve never checked them out, you really should.  Watching their work won’t teach you how to draw, but it will teach you pacing, comedic elements, storytelling…all vital instruments in a cartoonist’s arsenal.

David: You’ve been drawing Bob for some time now. What do you consider to be the most significant change since the origins of your comic?

Frank: I’ve been drawing Bob since 2002.  Characters, ideas, places have drifted in and out as they do in our daily lives.  Since the comic began, I’ve been married and divorced.  I’ve walked away from everything I knew and started over.  I fell hopelessly in love with a woman I thought only existed in my dreams.  I’ve gone back to school to get my Master’s of Fine Art degree, on my terms. I’ve become a homeowner, a dog owner, a father figure.  I’ve been praised and braised.  I’ve won and I’ve lost.  I’ve built another life: Frank Page v.2.0.  Throughout it all, I’ve learned.  The day you stop being a student will be the day you stop growing as an artist and human being.  I’ve become a better man…not a changed man, a better man.  That is something that only happens with experience and over time.  Do I still have my bad days?  Absolutely.  Do I still get discouraged?  Absolutely.  That’s life.  That’s my comic strip.  To answer the question, the strip has totally changed and at the same time remained the same.

David: Last question, what can we expect to see from you and Bob on the horizon?

Frank: Reliability.  No matter what, Bob is always going to be

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there.  I’m starting to dabble in exclusive electronic comic downloads…expect to see many more of those posted on a regular basis.  There will definitely be more books and a greater presence in the social media galaxy.  I might also revisit some Bob the Squirrel animation projects in the vein of my 2009 short “bob the squirrel talks to God”.  But mostly, I want to continue producing a quality strip that people can enjoy and possibly learn from.

David: Bob the Squirrel is a great comic, fun to read and fantastically drawn. Thank you for talking about your life as a cartoonist and the creation of Bob. For more information about Frank and Bob check out these websites:

facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Bob-the-Squirrel/172087696166252

twitter: www.twitter.com/btsquirrel
main page: www.bobthesquirrel.com
gocomics: www.gocomics.com/bobthesquirrel

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The Brilliant Mind of John Hambrock

Posted on July 21, 2011 by David Hurley

John Hambrock is the creator of the comic strip “The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee”. John is an amazing artist who never really intended to go in the direction of cartoons. It was while working for Chicago Loop Design Agency drawing the Keebler Elves his life was forever changed. After various attempts at creating a comic strip he found a little character named Edison Lee. In 2001 John began the development of the little character and in 2006 King Features launched “The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee” and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

David: Hey John, can you give a little history of how you got started in the cartooning world?

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John: I started experimenting around with comic strips in 1991. I knew nothing about the business of syndication (web comics were unheard of at the time), and had little experience in drawing a comic strip, but something kept nagging me to give it a try. I sat down with my wife Anne, and together we started a strip we called “Second Nature.” We did the strip for about 3 years, sending monthly mailings to a growing list of subscribers, while at the same time working to get our foot in the door of any syndicate that would have us. Getting “Second Nature” into newspapers was not to be, but we learned quite a bit talking to newspaper editors. Ultimately, “Second Nature” was shelved.

David: Where did the whole idea for Edison Lee come about?

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John: Edison grew from a boy named Everett that I had introduced as a minor character in an earlier strip I called “Bill.” It was only after observing the imaginative creations of my two boys that I began to explore building Everett into a major character. At the time I was reading the biography of Thomas Edison, and that’s what inspired me to change his name.

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David: What’s your favorite part of being a cartoonist and the most rewarding?

John: I find the writing most fullling. I’ve also made some great, lasting friendships with some really great cartoonists.

David: What do you consider to be the hardest part?

John: The hardest part of comic strip syndication is meeting the weekly deadline. You must deliver, whether you feel like it or not.

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David: John you are an extremely talented cartoonist. What advice and words of wisdom do you give to other cartoonist and aspiring cartoonist?

John: Draw from life, write what you know, and be true to your own voice. Some of my biggest comic strip failures were because I was trying to create what I thought an editor or the overall general public would want. It was only after I started writing for myself that I met with success.

David: Really great advice John. I truly appreciate you taking the time to be featured and answer a few questions. It is a true  privilege.

And there are two websites everyone should check out. The first is John’s personal website: www.edisonlee.net

and John is also one of the first cartoonist to join The Cartoonist Studio, check the website here: www.thecartooniststudio.com

 

 

 

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