Geoff Hassing and the humorous world of Geofftoons

Posted on September 21, 2011 by David Hurley

Geoff Hassing is a very humorous self taught cartoonist, who works as a freelance illustrator and children’s book illustrator. I was a little amazed when I found out he has learned everything he knows by himself. His comics “Film@eleven” and “Fish Tales” are some of the funniest I’ve read. Geoff is also a member of The National Cartoonist Society and worked on video games, toy design, and comic books to name just a few things under his creative belt. 

David: Hey Geoff, It’s great to be featuring you on “Don’t Pick the Flowers” blog. You have a great history working creatively with comics, cartoons, and video games, to name a few. When did you decide to make cartoons/comics your life work? 

Geoff: Hey there Dave!  Thanks for having me, it’s a real honor.  Good question… I decided I was going to be a cartoonist when I was around 6 or 7 years old and I wrote Charles Schulz a letter, and sent him some drawings too… like every other kid in the world was doing back then in the early 70’s.  Surprisingly, he wrote me back an encouraging letter to keep it up and keep practicing.  He also sent along some photocopies of Peanuts artwork which he signed, but the most exciting thing was a real Snoopy and Woodstock sketch!! I was hooked!  From that day forward, I decided I was going to be a professional cartoonist no matter what, and that’s what I’ve worked toward ever since.  Unfortunately, the letter and sketch were lost in a fire back in 1992.  Pretty sad, it was one of my prized possessions.

David: You have two comics you work regularly on, “Film @ Eleven” and “Fish Tales”, and I also know about your “Ninja Comics”, which I love. Do you have plans to make this into a comic strip in the future?

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Geoff: I’ve had quite a few comics over the years that I’ve tried to get syndicated without luck, but yeah, Film @ Eleven and Fish Tales are my most recent. But even then, I haven’t done any new strips for them in a couple years because the last 3 years I’ve been swamped illustrating children’s books for Grape City Inc. and MeySen Academy in Japan.  Unfortunately that ended back in June, so I’ve been looking for new gigs, but have worked on a few small projects since then, including an iPad game that should be out soon.

I was playing around with the Ninja comic idea, and my character “Ninja Bob, the Suburban Ninja”, but felt for a regular comic strip it would run out of material too fast to be sustainable for a long time.  But I do love Ninjas!  I still may do something with it sometime, maybe a webcomic.

I am working on developing a new strip right now that I feel has a lot of potential and that a lot of people could relate to it, but I can’t really say too much about it yet.  I’m in the process of writing material for it and figuring out the look and feel of the strip and if it will be sustainable as well. I’ll keep you posted!

David: Can you describe some of your creative process when you are at the drawing board? What are the things that inspire you to create?

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Geoff: Wow, talk about loaded questions. lol!  For example, when I’m creating a Film @ Eleven cartoon, I draw a funny cartoon.  Oh! … you mean more in-depth than that?.. Okay, lemme’ try that again.

Well, I suppose like most cartoonists, I take an everyday situation, like dating, work, relationships and so on, and put my own personal spin on it.  Which is a lot harder than people think it is.  Cartooning is very hard in the respect that you don’t know if something is funny until you put it out there, and even then, some of the cartoons that you thought were hilarious, fall flat, but the ones you thought stunk up the place are the ones that people love most.  So really, you just don’t know until you put it out there in front of people.

The most important part thing is to go with your gut.  If your gut tells you something is funny, it probably is.  It may not appeal to everyone, but that’s okay, because you’re never going to make everyone laugh, we all have different kind of humor that appeal to us, but if you can reach the people that like the same kind of humor you have, you’ll get a loyal following that will love your cartoons and support you faithfully!

David: You are a member of the National Cartoonist’s Society, which is a great honor, with a lot of awards. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement as a cartoonist?

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Geoff: I just became a member of the NCS this year, which is one of the greatest honors and achievements of my life so far. I’ve had two life-long goals as a cartoonist, the first, to have a syndicated strip, which I haven’t achieved yet, and with the current state of newspapers, I may never be able to.

The second goal was to become a member of the National Cartoonists Society.  And the biggest reason for that was because my two greatest cartooning heroes, Charles Schulz and Sergio Aragones were and are members of the NCS, and I knew if I could ever become a good enough cartoonist to be accepted as a member of the NCS, I would know within my heart that I had finally become “a professional cartoonist!”  And when you really think of it, there’s not a lot of people out there in the world that can say that.  It’s something I’m very proud of.

As far as awards, the only cartooning award I’ve received is from Cartoonist’s Northwest, a great cartooning organization in Seattle, that voted my Film @ Eleven, Homo-sapian Tarzan cartoon the “Best of the Northwest!” for 2003.  That was an exciting honor to get, and something I’m very proud of as well.

David: Besides naming a few of your cartooning hero’s, who are some of the newer cartoonist you have been paying attention to?

Geoff: Boy, another tough question.  Most of my influences are a lot of the usual suspects, Charles Schulz, Sergio Aragones, Don Martin, Duck Edwing, Gary Larson, Berke Breathed, Watterson… too many to list.  A lot of my influences these days are also my friends, known and unknown cartoonists, but incredibly talented nonetheless…  Cartoonists like Stephan Pastis, Glenn and Gary McCoy, Rick Stromoski, Randy Mcllwaine, Bucky Jones, Paul Boscocci, Mike Drinkwater, Dave Blazek, Christine Tripp, Stephanie Piro, Dave Reddick, Drew Litton, Ed Stein, Elena Steier, Dave Coverly, Bill Alger, Mike Spicer, Bob Camp, Bob Staake… way too many to list.  And I feel bad, because there are so many more I could list.  I find inspiration in all of them.

David: What’s next with Geofftoons, what’s on the horizon?

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Geoff: At the end of June I finished up a 3 year run illustrating children’s books, which was a lot of fun, and was bummed to have come to and end, but that’s the nature of the beast being a freelancer, even the best gigs eventually come to an end.

Right now I have a few different irons in a few different fires while I decide what direction to go next.  I’d like to illustrate more children’s books, but in the commercial market.  I also just completed the artwork for a small iPad game for an indie developer which should hopefully be out soon, and would love to do more gaming work in regular and casual gaming, and learn that market more since there seem to be a lot of cartooning opportunities there.

Beyond that, I haven’t given up on comics.  I’m developing some ideas for a new comic strip that I feel has some potential, but we’ll have to see how it goes.  Comics are still my first love and my passion, and I still haven’t completely given up on having a syndicated strip. After all, that’s the dream.

David: Sounds great Geoff, I love your work and I know so many others do too. You have a great drawing/cartooning style with hilarious humor. I can’t wait to see what is next. 

Find out more of Geoff Hassing and his work at: www.geofftoons.com

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Chris Flick: It’s Capes & Babes time!

Posted on September 15, 2011 by David Hurley

Chris Flick is the creator of a funny web comic called “Capes & Babes”. In Chris’ own words it’s about “a strip mall, a comic book shop and one crazy wolf”. And that’s really not even the tip of the iceberg. As you delve into the comic you begin to truly appreciate the little world Chris has created. A place where the characters Mark, Joey, a werewolf named Roy, and his girlfriend Roni invite you on a truly comical journey.  So let’s go behind the scenes and meet the man who has created “Capes & Babes”.

David: Hey Chris, You have a great web comic called “Capes & Babes”. What was the initial starting point and idea for you to come up with your own comic?

Chris: Thanks for the compliments about Capes & Babes. Capes & Babes was an idea I first started coming up with when I was either a Junior or Senior in college. At the time, I was expanding my comic book reading interests from strictly super-hero stuff to more personal, diary-type graphic novels like Box Office Poison, True Story – Swear to God and The Copybook Tales (not many people have heard of that last one so they may have to Google it).

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Capes & Babes was going to be my serious, semi-autobiographical graphic novel – but I could never commit to do a long form story like that for some reason, so I put it up on the shelf and forgot about it. A few years later, when I started getting into and discovery webcomics, I remember Capes & Babes, dusted off my original notebook of character sketches and other ideas and decided to turn it in to a humor strip instead.

The only new character I initially created was Roy, my werewolf character. Since I was turning Capes & Babes from something serious into something silly, I decided I needed some kind of funny character that might act as the mascot of the strip… so I decided to create a vegetarian, comic book reading and ultimate dork werewolf and threw him right into the strip from the very beginning.

David: There is a lot of freedom with producing your own web comic. At times its very time consuming and anything that goes wrong comes down to you.  What do you consider to be some of the pros and cons of creating your own little world?

Chris: Really, the only drawback concerning Capes & Babes is the time commitment. Now, when I say that, I’m not just talking about the actual production of art and writing of Capes & Babes. Every webcomic artist – heck, EVERY artist for that matter – has to deal with the time constraints of creating and producing art. What I’m talking about here though, is the constant requirement of pushing and advertising Capes & Babes on a shoe string or sometimes non-existent budget via Twitter, Facebook and now Google+… social media and online advertising… the constant need to try and get your name and your strip out there can sometimes take its toll on you.

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That’s what I consider to be the “work” part of Capes & Babes. Now, having worked in the graphic design and advertising side of things for a number of years, I have it a lot easier than most as I get to use a lot of those graphic design skills I acquired when I was working for an advertising agency quite a few years back. There’s a fun aspect of creating new advertising campaigns, new promotional postcards and things like that but it’s still a lot of work – work that sometimes takes you away from creating a buffer for your strip and things like that.

David: You started “Capes & Babes” a few years back. How do you feel you and your characters have grown since the beginnings of your comic?

Chris: Being, hopefully, a humorous strip (if I’ve done my job well), I don’t know if my characters have actually “grown” all that much. I certainly think, had I stayed in the “semi-autobiographical” realm, they would have matured or grown a lot faster than they have so far.

I will say I think the person that has grown the most has been me. I think my comedic writing has gotten tighter and better. And even though I was very familiar with the characters years before I ever turned Capes in to a webcomic strip, I’ve gotten a better handle on their personalities and “voices” then I did when they first appeared in that first and second year.

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All the characters have gotten a lot easier to write as well. Now that I have been doing this for a number of years, I do a lot less editing in the writing stages for each character – i know WHAT they’re going to say and HOW they are going to say it a lot more confidently than I did when I first started. But that’s more a product of repetition than anything else. I took a bunch of creative writing classes in college and we used to have exercises where we would write character biographies for people we were going to write about in short stories. We also did something similar in various acting classes I took when I was in high school. All of those things help you as a writer to know your characters inside and out.

But to specifically speak about the four main characters in Capes & Babes, what I really hope to do more of in the future is to grow the relationship more between Marc and Joey (the female hardware store owner) and compare their more reserved relationship interaction with the more violent and chaotic relationship of Roy (the werewolf) and Roni, his vampire girlfriend. And to somehow throw a bunch of humor in there while making those observations.

David: I consider one of the successes of having your own web comic as actually “doing” it; sure each cartoonist will have better comics than others. There will be some cartoonists that are more successful than others. What do you consider to be one of the great achievements of being a web cartoonist?

Chris: Well, first, the freedom to do what YOU want to do. You are your own boss so you don’t have a “Power that be” looking over your shoulder and telling you to change something that really doesn’t make a lot of sense. A lot of graphic designers and freelance artists out there know what I’m talking about. But then, the responsibility is all on your shoulders. It’s all up to you to be the best artist, the best writer, the best whatever you can be.

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For me, I love going to conventions. Economically, they may not be the best way to advertise your comic but for me, what conventions do is they give you a chance to interact with real live people who have read your comic and enjoy it. The feedback I get from them is incredible and always inspires me to inject new energy in to the strip when I get home. And conventions give you a chance to meet, interact and hang out with other fellow creators… whether they are comic book or webcomic creators.

But to get back to the question,  in terms of longevity, Capes & Babes is still a VERY young webcomic. I only just recently published my 635th strip. But last month, when I was at the Baltimore Comic Con, people found my table and started purchasing my trade paperback collections without my having to give them an elevator speech or hard selling the books to them. They started picking up and purchasing the books because they were already fans of the online strip. When experiences like that happen, that’s when you feel like you’ve accomplished something and all those late nights working on the strip are finally beginning to pay off. For me, the Baltimore Comic Con was an example of a great achievement in terms of the strip.

David: What future plans can we expect to see for yourself and “Capes & Babes”?

Chris: The cliché answer would probably be to say “grow it as much as I can” but what does that really mean? I’m probably no different than a lot of other webcomic creators out there in the sense that I would love to be able to make a full-time career out of Capes & Babes. I also know the typical webcomic creator cliché or caricature is one that looks at a small handful of creators who are making this their full-time job and they think “if so-and-so can do it, then so can I” but may not have all the same skills as those full-time creators. I think a lot of webcomics die off because the creators first think that, start doing the work and realize just how much hard work and commitment it requires and they throw in the towel.

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When I first started Capes & Babes, I was using the strip as a way to exercise a lot of creative frustration I was having at my then full-time job. And, somewhere along the way, I also fell in to the whole “I can make this my full-time gig” trap. But living in the Washington DC area, I knew that wasn’t going to happen any time soon – I had too many bills to pay, a wife and two kids to take care of. Instead of throwing in the towel though, I just kept doing the strip three times a week because I really enjoyed drawing and writing these characters.

Now, in the last year or so, something really strange has starting happening to me. I started getting less and less concerned about my stat numbers. Sure, I want them to go up just like everybody else, but I’m not checking them every hour on the hour any more. In fact, I’m only checking them once or twice a week in order to plan my Project Wonderful ads. All the extra stuff… like social media, getting on forums and trying to talk up the strip, spending a lot of internet hours getting people to come to the site… I really cut down a LOT on doing that stuff. Instead, I just started putting all that energy in to the actual strip instead!

I still have a long way to go though. I would love to somehow find the time to build up a bigger buffer that might allow me to increase my production from a consistent three days a week to five days a week. That’s the biggest goal right now… trying to figure out a way to make Capes & Babes a daily strip without completely killing me.

The secondary goal is to “grow it as much as I can”.

David: Your comic is so much fun and I expect to see your fan base keep on growing, and all the hard work pay off. Thank you for taking the time to be featured on “Don’t Pick the Flowers”. Best of luck to you and with your comic “Capes & Babes”!

For more of Chris Flick and “Capes & Babes” check out the links below:

www.capesnbabes.com

www.csfgraphics.com

twitter.com/#!/capesnbabes

www.facebook.com/CnB.Wolfpack

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Bob Ostrom: Illustrating a Child’s World

Posted on September 8, 2011 by David Hurley

Everyone has fond memories of looking at their favorite children’s books when they were growing up. Those childhood stories still bring us back to a time when everything seemed dreamlike and magical. The pictures and illustrations kept us captivated and enthralled in this mystical and “other world” with endless possibilities. In respect to those fond memories I asked Bob Ostrom, an extremely talented children’s illustrator, to be featured in this week’s blog. I personally have asked Bob in the past to share his opinion and give me guidance with helping others create their own children’s books. And if you have ever considered creating a children’s book Bob can give you a glimpse into what it’s like to illustrate for the most imaginative audience.

David: Hey Bob, I’m thrilled to feature you on “Don’t Pick the Flowers” blog. Your illustration for children’s books is astounding. Can you share a little about your work and Bob Ostrom Studio?

Bob: Thanks for the kind words David. I’ve been illustrating children’s books for a little over 20 years. I began by working mostly with licensed properties. I was fortunate enough to be able to work with lots of big companies like Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney early in my career. Having things like Rugrats,MagicSchoolbus and Ninja Turtles in my portfolio helped my credibility and made it easier to find work but doing licensed art is very demanding. Eventually I became restless and wanted to expand. So I found a new rep who helped me change directions. She was an excellent mentor and helped me pursue my dream of doing more original art. The books I work on now all feature artwork and characters that I’ve created.

David: What do you consider to be some of the rewards of being a children’s illustrator?

Bob: There are lots of great things about being a children’s illustrator but one of my favorites is being able to share my art with kids. I really enjoy teaching kids about what I do and how to draw silly stuff. I teach lots of art classes for kids. I also do appearances at schools and libraries. For kids who aren’t able to come see me or take my classes I’ve built a website. It’s got all kinds of lesson plans, videos and free coloring pages for anyone interested in art or cartooning.

bobostromstudio.com/how2draw

David: Do you ever consider it difficult at times to produce someone else’s ideas?

Bob: Not at all. My job as a children’s book illustrator is to be creative and bring those ideas to life. Designing and illustrating a book is a collaborative effort so the best part of any project is when I get to exchange creative ideas with an art director, author or client. Whenever I’m working on a project I try to make sure I’m not just painting pretty pictures. Yes, I want my illustrations to tell the story but I also want them to be fun and engaging. Sometimes I’ll build in little subplots or develop fun relationships between the characters. Richard Scary was great at that. He used to have this little worm on each page doing something silly. The trick is keep it subtle. You never want the subplot to upstage the actual storyline. Anyhow the point is if it’s fun for me then it’s usually fun for the reader too.

David: There are a couple of avenues for publishing children’s books, finding a publisher or self-publishing. For anyone who is looking to create their own children’s book, what advice would you give?

Bob: There are pluses and minuses to both.

Traditional Publishing.

Plus side- publishers and the people who work for them really know what they are doing. They understand every aspect of producing and marketing a book. They are professional, respectful and always strive to bring out the best in you.

Minus side-finding a publisher to accept your work can be very challenging. The children’s market is extremely competitive and the odds of getting published right away can be a little discouraging.

Self Publishing:

Plus side- There are no barriers. All you need to do is have an idea, a little bit of money and then follow through with it. You are in charge. Whatever you dream, you can do.

Minus side– Self publishing comes with a whole different set of challenges. As a self published author or artist you will basically need to take on all the rolls of a traditional publisher. Being a just writer or illustrator is not enough. You’ll need to understand everything it takes to produce and market a book. You’ll need to know illustration, layout and design. If you plan to make money you’ll also need to know about sales, distribution, marketing and promotion. If you can’t do all these things, you will need to pay someone else to do them for you. The costs can add up. Be aware that the less experience you have the more expenses you will incur.

Advice- I work on both traditional and self published books all the time. My advice to anyone who is truly interested in pursuing either directions is to learn as much as you can about the Industry. Do your homework and make a plan before you begin. There will be a lot of things you learn as you go but it’s a good idea to surround yourself with experienced and knowledgeable people who can help you gain understanding and eliminate some of the more costly mistakes you might make along the way. If you decide to take the self publishing route try to avoid bargain shopping. If you plan to partner up with someone be sure they can handle the task. There is no substitute for talent or experience. Above all in either case have fun and let it reflect in the work you do.

David: What is your take on books being downloaded, kindles and the like?

Bob: I can’t wait for this market to take off. We’re just at the tip of the iceberg right now and the possibilities are limitless. I love the idea of a story truly being able to come to life in an interactive way. The potential for learning and creativity are amazing. It’s the kind of thing I used to dream about as a kid. I still have a bit to learn when it comes to e-publishing but I’m really excited to bring some of the projects I’m working on to life.

David: And it does sound as exciting for the creators as it does for the kids. Thanks for being featured Bob and for helping me personally when I’ve had questions about illustrating for others who want to dive into the world of children’s literature. 

Find out more about Bob Ostrom and the world of children’s illustrations at:

Links:

Website: bobostromstudio.com

How 2 Draw site: bobostromstudio.com/how2draw

Drawn by Success: drawnbysuccess.com

Twitter: twitter.com/#!/bobostromstudio

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobostromstudio

Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/bobostromstudio

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Bill Greenhead

Posted on September 1, 2011 by David Hurley

Bill Greenhead is a multi-talented illustrator, cartoonist and animator for books, magazines, the web and TV. When I first was introduced to Bill’s work it was through a comic called “World of Cow”. This was my first impression of his work and I thought he had some really fun comics, and I was intrigued. But the more I kept digging the more I discovered. Bill has a variety of different outlets for his work and creativity, he is truly gifted and a very prolific artist. Here is just the tip of the iceberg into the world of Bill Greenhead.

David: Hey Bill, it’s so good to be featuring you on “Don’t Pick the Flowers” blog. How did you get started drawing cartoons and comics, how did it all begin?

Bill: Thanks for having me. I first started out copying my favourite artists in British comics like the Beano and Monster Fun. Then I discovered Spiderman and the Hulk. I was bought lots of Mad books with Wallace Wood and Bill Elder which blew my brain to bits. That with influences like Tex Avery and Chuck Jones thrown in the mix, I tried to copy them all. Then when I was 18 I got a job in an animation studio in London. I met some really interesting people. One of which was a woman cartoonist. I saw her work and thought I could do that sort of thing. So I took my portfolio around all the magazines and newspapers that would see me and got 2 commissions. I jacked in my job at 21 years old and never looked back.

David: You have a variety of different illustrations and comics and have worked for advertising agencies, magazines and newspapers (to name a few).  What is your favorite to work and concentrate on?

Bill: I’m currently working on a TV campaign for Latvian TV called “bite”www.youtube.com/user/BiteLV?blend=3&ob=5#p/u/0/OJOyiCAMoNE Where I have to draw onto a whiteboard whilst they film me. I have input into the images that I draw, as I storyboard and come up with lots of the concepts. It’s a challenge in so many different respects. I’m also working with Toxic comic on a number of different projects, writing and illustrating which gives me a lot of pleasure.

David: “World of Cow” is probably your pride and joy, can you give some detail about that and how you began doing those?

Bill: World of Cow started as a pitch to a cheese product called DairyLea. I was asked to come up with a cow design to relaunch the product in the late 90’s. It was between me and this other chap. I provided them with about 100 jokes to go with my design. Unfortunately they didn’t go for it…So I had these cows and these gags. I sat on them for about 8 years or so then thought I’d start a blog. I set myself a challenge to produce one Cow joke per day for a year. When the year was up, I rested a while, then I thought I’d just carry on and see how far I could go. So far I’m on my 1200th. I’m going to see if I can make it to 2000.

David: What are some of your favorite comics and inspirations?

Bill: I mentioned a few before. I Loved Larsen of course, 2000ad, the Beano, Mad Magazine, Punch and Marvel comics in general. Tex Avery is a HUGE inspiration to me.

David: What do you see next for your work and “World of Cow”?

Bill: More bite commercials. I’m working on some really interesting stuff in Toxic magazine. I did some illustrations for the next Peter Kay book coming out in September and I have childrens books coming out for US publisher Benchmark. With World of Cow I keep trying to keep it fresh and fun for everyone. It’s certainly evolved since I started doing it properly in 2006. I hope my work has also. Thank you for having me again. It’s been a pleasure talking to you, David.

David: A definite pleasure for me Bill, you have a great portfolio of work. And I can’t wait to see more “World of Cow”.

And I encourage everyone to check out the links below to discover more “World of Cow” and art by Bill Greenhead.

illustrationweb.lanticmedia.com/artists/BillGreenhead

www.zazzle.co.uk/stiktoonz

twitter.com/StiKtoonz/

www.stik.biz

 

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Bill Kellogg: The Man with a Plan

Posted on August 25, 2011 by David Hurley

Bill Kellogg is a marketing machine. He’s been the driving force behind Tundra comics and most recently launched Ink Bottle Syndicate and ComicsShowcase.com.  If you are involved with comics at all then you know his name. I asked Bill to give some insight into what’s happening with these exciting new ventures (and yes “Don’t Pick the Flowers has joined ComicsShowcase.com) and here’s what he had to say.

David: Hey Bill, such a pleasure to talk with you and learn about the exciting endeavors you have and will be doing. I guess the first place to start is Tundra comics and what your part with that is.

Bill Kellogg: Hi David. It was good talking with you too. I am the marketing director for Tundra Comics. It’s my job to try to get Tundra in newspapers, get book deals, licenses, and anything else where we might make some money. I started marketing Tundra just over five years ago and I had no clue what I was doing at the time. Not that I know what I’m doing now either, but I’ve learned how to fake it.

David: You also started Ink Bottle Syndicate, talk a little about that.

Bill Kellogg: Very shortly after we started getting Tundra in newspapers on our own, I started getting requests from other cartoonists to represent them. While I had some interest in representing other comics, I didn’t want it to adversely affect my ability to market Tundra, which is why I put it off for several years. Earlier this year though, with Tundra appearing in well over 400 newspapers and starting to do well with licensing, I discussed the idea with Chad and decided to start Ink Bottle Syndicate. With the help of Chad and a few others in the comics industry, we picked seven other strips that we felt were a good fit with each other, different enough from most of the strips out there already, and marketable to newspaper editors. This is not the typical syndicate though. I don’t have the money or the sales force that any of the real syndicates have, and truthfully, I don’t want it to get that big. My goal is to use the relationships and contact lists that I have built over the years with Tundra to try to offer some other great strips to the editors. It will be interesting to see how this goes.

David: Which leads to Comics Showcase…can you give more information about this website?

Bill Kellogg: As the marketing director for Tundra, my job is to look for ways to get more exposure for Tundra and find more ways to make money. As a cartoonist, your fans are going to be your best source for generating income. These are the people who will buy your books, t-shirts, calendars, or anything else you have to sell. They are also the people who will write to the newspapers to request that they add your strip, and pass the word around about your strip which will lead to additional fans. Comics Showcase was started for the purpose of helping cartoonists build their fan bases and get exposure. I encourage every cartoonist who wants to make a living from their comics to have a web site, Facebook pages, use Twitter, send out newsletters, etc. Use any means possible to get the word out about your comic.

In theory anyway, comics fans are generally fans of more than one comic strip. If everyone involved plugs the Comics Showcase site to their fans, some of their fans should become fans of other strips on Comics Showcase, and everyone should get more fans. This should continue to build on itself too. Though most of the strips on Comics Showcase are not part of Ink Bottle Syndicate, I do plug the site with my editor contact list periodically. This has already led to three strips not associated with Ink Bottle getting picked up by newspapers. We don’t take any percentage from any newspaper contracts either.

David: Where do you see everything going with these websites, what’s next?

Bill Kellogg: I think the Comics Showcase site will continue to grow over time. I’ve heard from a number of cartoonists that they have been adding lots of Facebook fans. Tundra has added almost 400 fans to our “Like” page and 100+ fans to our group page so far. My intent is to make it a source for editors who are looking for something different for their comics pages as well.

With Ink Bottle, I have several projects in the works that will hopefully get us some more exposure with the newspaper editors. We have picked up quite a few weekly papers so far and several dailies, but that is a long, slow process due to the economy and the current state of the newspaper industry. I don’t intend to add anything new until I see how it goes with the strips I have.

As far as other new projects, the only other thing we have planned is another “Success in the World of Comics” seminar. The last one went very well and we have a great line-up of speakers for the next one too. The information page should be up this week at www.tundracomics.com and on the Daily Cartoonist.

David: And it will be a success. A true pleasure speaking with you and to be a part of ComicsShowcase.com. It’s going to be an exciting time to watch as it grows.

And for anyone who isn’t familiar with Tundra, Ink Bottle Syndicate or ComicsShowcase.com here are the links to find out more.

www.tundracomics.com

www.inkbottlesyndicate.com

www.comicsshowcase.com


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