I've been asked a number of times on social media about how I color my cartoons. In my last article, "Creating a Spectickles Cartoon From Start To Finish", I described how I drew the physical, or analog version of the cartoon using old fashioned Bristol board and a fountain pen. In this multi-part article, I'll describe in detail how I color my Spectickles cartoons, starting with the foundational formatting required. First, a few notes regarding the equipment and software that I use for coloring. As mentioned above, the cartoon itself starts traditionally with pen and ink. Once the initial artwork is completed, I scan it into my computer with an older Epson Artisan 710 multi-function copier/scanner/printer. The settings for scanning are black and white at 400 dpi. The computer I use for my artwork is a Surface Pro 5, replacing my Surface Pro 4 which fell out of the backseat of my truck without any protective case. I chose poorly. My Surface Pro 5 is now encased in an Otter Box case, which, to my understanding will replace my Surface Pro if it breaks while the Otter Box is in use. I hope I don't find out. The software I use is the Clip Studio Paint Pro program from Smith Micro. It's a fantastic program for cartoonists and artists, and at a one-time cost of around $50, it's far cheaper than the Adobe Creative Suite and Photoshop, and, in my opinion, better and more intuitive for our uses. On a side note, there's a free program called Krita that I'll be writing about in the future that's stacking up very well with the other professional art program, and again, it's absolutely free. As a career military man, I've found it useful in instruction to explain things in as great a detail as possible, so that anyone could pick up a set of instructions and put into action its contents immediately. That's what I've tried to do here, so even if you have no experience with coloring digitally, these descriptions will guide you through and answer questions before they're asked. For those who are experienced and skilled in digital art, you'll almost certainly know better and more efficient ways to produce these results, and I hope you'll share that with me and our readers in the comments section below. The Surface Pro 5 tablet/computer that is the digital workhouse for my cartooning. I draw and color directly on the screen with the digital pen you see magnetically attached to the side of the Surface Pro. The digital pen that's part of the Surface Pro creative system. At the time I purchased the Surface Pro 4, the tablet came with the pen included. For some unfortunate reason, when I purchased the Surface Pro 5, the pen was a separate cost of $99. Hopefully, they'll abandon that pricing model and go back to including it with the tablet, as part of the tablet's normal functional system. Okay, getting into the meat and potatoes of coloring a Spectickles cartoon: first, I open the Clip Studio Paint Pro Program and as you see circled in red above, I go to 'file', then in the drop-down, select 'open' and choose the cartoon I just scanned as you'll see below. Here's the untouched scan of the cartoon I'd drawn in pen and ink. There's a great deal of white space around the edges that I'll need to trim away. To trim away the unnecessary white space surrounding the cartoon block, you'll see in the image above where I've circled 'edit'. When you click on that, you'll see a dropdown box with a number of editing choices. For the sake of trimming away the extra material, select, 'Change Canvas Size'. After selecting, 'Change Canvas Size', you should see something like the image above, with a small window on the left to allow you to enter a precise number of pixels for the width or height. Rather than selecting a pixel dimension in the small window, you'll see the small tabs on the edges of the image that I've circled in red. An alternative, and the method I use, is to 'grab' those tabs and pull them in to the area I want them, thereby cutting away unnecessary white space on the edges of the image, as you'll see below. Once you're satisfied with the trimming of the image, click 'okay' in the 'Change Canvas Size' window, leaving the image ready for the next step, adding dialogue. In the image above, you'll see where I circled and pointed in red 3 different areas to have a look at. First, for my Spectickles cartoons, I use Times New Roman for the gag line, and the lettering is sized at 30 pixels, as seen in the uppermost red circle. Next, in the bottom circle, I make sure the color of the text is selected; in this case, it's black. Now I'm ready to add the text, so in the middle red circle is the 'text' selection symbol. Click on that, then position your cursor at the point you wish to begin your text line. Once your text line is typed, you'll be able to resize or position using the green tabs surrounding the text box. Just click on a tab and pull it away toward the edge of the window to make it larger, or push it in on itself to reduce the size. You can also reposition the text window itself. When you're happy with your gag line, click on the circle I've indicated above. Once you've done that, you'll notice the text window is still active - just click on any of the tools on the left to deactivate. I usually just click on the top-most tool, the pen tool. Now that your gag line is complete, you'll want to trim away the extra white space below it, and just as we did before, we go to 'edit', the 'Change Canvas Size', then adjust accordingly and click 'ok' to close the window and move on to the next step. We'll cover layers in much greater detail in our next article, but for now, we need to note that the active layer, after just finishing our gag line, is the text layer. Since the next step requires us to manipulate the image, not the text, we'll need to click on the bottom layer. Once you've clicked on the bottom layer, it should be highlighted, as you see circled above, and therefore active, ready for us to make changes as necessary. For newspapers, I have to provide two versions of every Spectickles cartoon; a black and white version for print newspapers, and a full color version for their webpages. For the black and white version to work as a stand-alone cartoon, it needs more bold black to stand out and to give the image greater fullness. I've circled the areas above to indicate the items that typically appear in bold black in the black and white print version of Spectickles. Since I have to create two complete cartoons every single day, seven days a week - each one with multiple versions, I have to work as efficiently as I know how. One of the very handy tools I use to fill in areas with color (in this instance, black), is the 'paintbucket' tool, which I'll explain below. Before we use the 'paintbucket' tool, there's something we have to do first. We have to 'seal' the areas within which we intend to fill with black. As indicated by the red circles above, when I drew the hard copy version of the cartoon, I didn't extend the black lines all the way so that they connect with another black line, thereby 'sealing' that area. If you don't do this step, when you use the 'paintbucket' tool, it won't know where you want the paint to stop. Just as with real paint, if you pour it onto a surface with nothing to block its flow, it'll just keep going. In the image above you can see (compare with the image above this one) where I used the Surface Pro pen and connected the black line, effectively 'sealing' the area I intend to fill with black using the 'paintbucket' tool. On the left are the row of tools available in Clip Studio Paint Pro. You can see in the uppermost red circle the 'paintbucket' tool which looks, ironically, like a paint bucket. Below that, make sure you've selected black as the fill color for the black and white version of the cartoon. Hover the paintbucket tool over the area you wish to fill with black, left click, and there you have it - the area is filled with black. It's a super important time saver when you have a great deal of work to finish. If you've made a mistake, or forgot to 'seal' an area to be filled, the red circle above indicates the 'undo' button - click on it once and it undoes whatever you'd like undone. The nice thing about the 'undo' button in Clip Studio, is that it will undo as many things as you wish - there's no limit just in case you've made a mistake well back in your process. In Photoshop, there's a limited number of things you can 'undo'. Very, very important - don't forget to save your work - indicated in the red circle above. As I've learned the hard way many times, save frequently, so you won't have to waste lots of time doing work you'd already satisfactorily completed. In the next installment of this series, we'll get into the meaning and use of layers, how to create them, putting down the flat colors, then shading, and saving them. Thank you for reading this!
6 Comments
I've been wanting to put out a collection of my Percenters cartoons for a long time, and finally sat down to get it done and see it published. This collection is, in a way, my tribute to magazine cartoonists past and present, who've inspired me to want to be better as an artist and writer. The legendary cartoonists of The New Yorker, Barron's, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, among others - this is my humble attempt to honor them. While I've never been published in The New Yorker, there is considerable satisfaction and joy in pursuing that aim; to strive to be better, and look to those who've paved the way as the map to follow.
In the book, "The Percenters: A Cartoon Collection" I've included 150 of the most popular Percenters cartoons, along with how they came to be, how they've changed over time, and the step-by-step process I follow in creating them. For those who decide to purchase the book, it's available in both digital and hard copy versions through Amazon.com. I hope you find value in it, and I look forward to your feedback. In the world of cartooning, few things are perceived as 'ultimate success' more than syndication. Cartoon characters such as Garfield and Snoopy have woven their way into the national fabric, and made their creators wealthy beyond their wildest imaginations. Calvin and Hobbes have enjoyed an unparalleled level of success, and Calvin can still be seen desecrating the name of various auto manufacturers on the rear windows of a hefty number of pick-up trucks winding through the roads of America, much to the chagrin of their creator. So, what is syndication and how does it work? First, I must state that I am not syndicated with one of the major syndicates. My work is distributed nationally in the Funnies Extra through Ink Bottle Syndicate, led by Bill Kellogg who has made the comic Tundra one of the more successful dailies in the marketplace - over 500 newspapers. But I, like most cartoonists in the early stages of their careers, read everything I could on the subject (see resources below), and have a reasonable handle on the process and potential outcomes. A syndicate acts as a powerful sales force on behalf of a cartoonist. They represent and distribute cartoons to newspapers nationwide and, in some cases, internationally, for which they receive approximately half of the revenue generated by the comic. That figure varies depending on the success of the feature, and the negotiating skills of the attorneys involved. Gaining the interest of a syndicate is, in itself, an enormous achievement. King Features Syndicate, for one, receives thousands of submissions every month from cartoonists, covering a wide spectrum of talent levels. Much of the wave of submissions they open are of a high, professional quality, yet they still end up in the rejection pile. Not only does your cartoon need to be of the highest standard, it has to be consistent in quality, it has to have sufficiently developed characters that will be engaging to a diminishing reading public over time, and it has to be unique in a world awash with cute puppies, talking cats, and unique, kooky families. If you find yourself with an indication of interest from a major syndicate, you still must be prepared for significant challenges. As you likely already know, the newspaper markets are continuing to shrink, and those that remain have desperately tight budgets. Supposing you are offered a development deal, the income you can expect will be insufficient to pursue cartooning full time. Even after a successful launch, and a well established feature, many syndicated cartoonists now have other full time careers in order to pay their living expenses. There are still a few comic leviathans making a handsome income from their cartoons, but many of them are 'legacy strips' - those that were started long ago by a now deceased cartoonist, and continued by a family member, or an artist appointed by the syndicate. Depressed yet? Don't be. Yours may be the feature that connects with a public starving for something new and fresh, and a big syndicate may put it's massive marketing power behind you and your cartoon. But what if it doesn't? Is it the end of the road for your work? Hardly. As mentioned earlier, I'm represented by a small syndicate run by Bill Kellogg. Bill single-handedly approached newspaper editors around the country and succeeded in getting the very funny "Tundra" comic into 500 newspapers. If I'm not mistaken (and I very well could be), the average income per 100 newspapers was around $40,000 per year, give or take. That number has likely decreased since I'd heard that figure, but if it's still reasonably correct, that's $200,000 from the newspapers alone. Certainly a livable income (depending, of course, on your tastes!) Self-syndication is the process of acting as your own sales force, marketing agency, and, of course, creator - in effect, your own syndicate. While this is a challenging and time-consuming route, there are also significant benefits. First, you keep all the money rather than split it with someone else. That means that you'll need fewer newspapers to sign your feature in order to make a livable income. Second, you can be assured your strip is getting the backing it deserves. If a syndicate's sales force doesn't get behind your strip, regardless of its potential, it'll end up a flop and the syndicate will terminate your contract. With you driving sales, you'll have your fingers on the pulse of the market-place, and you will determine the ultimate outcome. Have a look at the List of Newspapers - there's links to 25,000 different papers broken down by country. By contacting their features editors or managing editors, you may find yourself with a very viable cartoon property. While the traditional syndication route has lost much of its financial potential and momentum in conventional print markets, it's hardly the end of the road. A new dynamic is emerging, and cartoonists with ambition, drive, and a good product stand to do very well. As with all things, having perseverance, a clear goal, and a vision for the future, are the ingredients for a successful and fulfilling career in cartooning. For more information, I'd recommend (among others), the following resources: Successful Syndication: A Guide for Writers and Cartoonists Your Career in the Comics How to Be a Successful Cartoonist How to Self Syndicate a Comic Strip Selling Cartoons To Newspapers Bill Kellogg Launches New Comic Syndicate Ink Bottle Syndicate NCS Syndicate Directory While syndication today has changed significantly in terms of distribution and financial rewards, for many it remains the brass ring of professional achievement. My single panel cartoon, "Spectickles" was picked up by Creators Syndicate in 2016 and launched in October of that year. More recently, my New Yorker magazine-style cartoon called The Percenters was signed into a syndication contract with Knight Features in the UK in October of 2017. While I'm certainly no expert, I frequently get asked by fellow cartoonists for advice, and it's in this spirit I put together this article of resources. First, identifying the available syndicates. To my knowledge, those listed below are still accepting submissions, presumably with the intent of signing the most marketable. Markets are in a state of rapid change, so it may be of value to email them first to be sure they are accepting submissions. If there are others that I've missed, feel free to comment below, and I'll update this article. We'll start with the major U.S. syndicates, and we'll branch out from there. United States King Features - Snail mail submissions only - Submission Guidelines Creators Syndicate - Online submissions - Submission Guidelines Andrews McMeel/Universal Uclick/GoComics - Online or snail mail - Submission Guidelines Washington Post Writer's Group - email - see near bottom of page - Submission Guidelines Tribune Content Agency - Online submissions - Submission Guidelines Canada Torstar - Submission Guidelines Canadian Artist's Syndicate - Submission Guidelines United Kingdom Knight Features - Submission Guidelines Europe Bulls Press - Submission Guidelines Australia Auspac Media - Submission Guidelines Now that we've identified who to send your comic to, we should talk about what to send them. First, I would advise reading the submission guidelines carefully, and provide exactly what they're asking for, and in the format in which they indicate. Second, in my opinion, there's no need to get elaborate or gimmicky with your submission packet - it's not going to help. Your work will speak entirely for itself, and extra stuff will be a waste of your time and theirs. My submission packet to Creators included a brief cover letter detailing my experience as a cartoonist, including published credits, 24 color Spectickles encapsulated into a PDF document, which went to them as an attachment via their submissions page (link provided above). That's it. I thought it would be wisest to be respectful of their valuable time and not pack it with material that wasn't immediately relevant to their decision. A hard copy submission would be the same material in printed form. A question that's frequently asked is whether or not to send your comic to syndicates one at a time, wait for an offer or a rejection before sending it to the next syndicate. I always advise to send out a simultaneous submission, and here's why: as a matter of percentages, you are unlikely to get a bite on your first submission. It happens, but I wouldn't count on it. In a worse case scenario, you get more than one offer, and you can decide which one best suits you. Again, this is unlikely, but you never know. Once your submission goes out, I recommend getting right back to work and forgetting about it. Keep creating your very best work, keep exploring new ideas, enhancing drawing and writing skills, and growing as a cartoonist. Some syndicates will send out a formal rejection letter, others will notify you by email, and still others will answer with unrelenting silence. Waiting in a state of vibrating anticipation will only drive you crazy, so you'd be best served thinking about what you'll be creating next. I sincerely hope this brief resource article will be helpful to those seeking syndication. More than that, I hope to see new faces in the comics pages, and new success stories from my fellow cartoonists - whether you know it or not, you bring a great deal of smiles, joy, and diversion to a world in desperate need of it, and I applaud you for your contributions. I was recently going through the catalogue of my work, and couldn't help but notice how, over the years the appearance of my main characters has changed. When I first got started about 17 years ago, I drew characters as I had learned from the books I was reading at the time: "Cartooning: The Art and the Business" by great New Yorker cartoonist Mort Gerberg, and "The Cartoonist's Muse" by Mischa Richter and Harald Bakken, also of New Yorker fame. I used India ink on Bristol board and added shading with an ink wash applied with a sable brush. It was an immensely enjoyable time as I learned the art and the various techniques employed by my favorite cartoonists. I'd started to develop a modest body of work, and since my military obligations prevented me from conducting any meaningful, consistent marketing, I submitted my work to the relatively new Cartoonstock agency in the UK. To my surprise, they were willing to represent my work, which resulted in the first cartooning-related contract I ever signed. In addition to their representation, the good people at Cartoonstock, in particular Joel Mishon, offered advice to help improve the prospects for my work, notably, making my characters more cartoonish rather than realistic. With a little experimentation, I gave my characters a rounder head and a more squat appearance, like below: Like almost every cartoonist I know, I'd hoped someday to see my cartoon in syndication. I'd submitted to all the major syndicates, and some not so major, all with the same result - not so much as a human-signed response, just a string of form rejection letters. Truthfully, when I look at my work now, it's apparent I just wasn't ready. Add to that, I continued to deploy in the military, and syndication would have resulted in disaster. As I continued to produce my work, I began to add physical features that I found humorous. I noted that whenever I saw glasses in other comics, it seemed to me, there was something just a little more visually humorous. As a person who has worn glasses all my life, I'm not sure that's a good thing. At first the glasses I drew were either round or square, as below: When I drew the glasses, I intentionally left them entirely blank - no indication of the position or shape of the eye, and no color other than a bland white. I'd read somewhere that the human mind tends to fill in the blanks when there's a piece of a picture that's missing, which for a cartoonist, could be a benefit. People import to their visual stimuli things that they've drawn from their own experiences and recollections. They actually fill in the blanks in a way that makes the visual stimuli most sensible - even personal - to them. So often I post a cartoon, and the feedback I get on what people interpret in it is varied and sometimes surprising. To me, that's a great thing - we see what we want to see, and it can make the cartoon funnier than anything I could ever draw. I'm a big fan of the cartoon "Herman" by Jim Unger, and I thought he used open space and simplicity to the point of brilliance. While I tend to draw in a fuller, less airy style, I would be remiss if I didn't mention this comic genius as someone who had a definite impact on my work. The next period in the evolution of my characters was the result of actually sitting down and reflecting on the physical characteristics and elements that I find humorous. From that, the glasses evolved into the type that my great grandparents wore - the horn-rimmed glasses of the 1950's and 60's. And since I took Joel Mishon's advice to heart, I made them big. Really big. At this point, my characters started to become identifiable as "Spectickles". With a little tweaking along the way, including the inspiration of Walter Matthau and Ethel Merman, my "Spectickles" characters were more or less complete. Since being syndicated, first by Inkbottle Syndicate in 2014, then with Creators Syndicate in 2016, "Spectickles" has been refined further still. Who knows if they'll transition more in the future - we shall see!
October 5th marks the one year anniversary of Spectickles launch with Creators Syndicate. I thought I'd take this opportunity to share primarily with my fellow cartoonists, but also with anyone with a general interest, the experiences, observations, and insights I've gained over this time. It's my hope that others seeking syndication, or cartooning as a career, find some benefit in what I write here, so here goes. First, it must be said that what follows is my experience - it's not to say that others who've been syndicated during the same time period have observed the same things - they may not. But this is one perspective that is offered sincerely and as accurately as I can recollect. In the early spring of 2016, I'd taken a step back and reassessed what I was doing as a cartoonist, and what I hoped to achieve. At that time, I'd been working with a small newspaper syndicate and had some minor successes, but wanted to know if my work had any chance at being considered by a major syndicate with international reach. Truthfully, I didn't think my chances were very good. The remaining major syndicates, King, Universal Uclick (along with GoComics), Creators, and Washington Post Writer's Group, receive thousands of submissions a year, many from exceptionally talented cartoonists. One Friday afternoon, I put 24 color Spectickles cartoons into a PDF document and followed the submission instructions on the Creators Syndicate website. As I'd mentioned, I figured my chances were slim to none, and once I clicked the 'submit' button on the bottom of the page, I'd put it out of my mind - the cartoonist's version of 'fire and forget'. Monday morning arrived and I found an email from Creators. One thing you grow accustomed to quickly as a cartoonist is rejection. Fully expecting the Creators email to be a quick, polite, thank you, but no thank you, I clicked on it with the cursor already moving toward the 'delete' button. It took a solid thirty seconds or more to register that, within the body of the email, the words, 'we'd like to offer you a contract' were written. Well, that can't be right, so I read it again. And again, and many more times before it actually sank in. Have you ever had an experience where you're somewhat bored, your heartrate is low, your breathing very relaxed, and then something happens, and all the dials in your body get cranked to 11? It's like the carnival game where you take a big, heavy mallet, and swinging it as hard as you can to try to strike the bell at the top - the electricity that goes screaming through your body and ringing the bell in your head - it was just like that. My wife and I went out to celebrate, taking full advantage of the joy a moment like this brings, then started the more down-to-earth tasks that must necessarily follow. I contacted my attorney - the only attorney, in my opinion, you want to negotiate your cartoon-related contracts, Mr. Stu Rees - a world-class cartoonist himself. Stu wrote his Harvard thesis - a must read for cartoonists - on syndication contracts. After some productive phone calls and email back-and-forths, we had struck a deal. It was decided that the launch date for Spectickles through Creators Syndicate would be October 5th, 2016. A word here about launch expectations in 2016 as compared to what might have been experienced in the past. Due to the brutally challenging nature of the newspaper business today, and the razor thin margins on which they now exist, launching with ANY papers will be tough. There are no quick decisions any longer - getting your comic in a newspaper is now a process, and often a very lengthy one, if it gets in at all. That's a stark difference from the two competing newspapers per city days, where you might launch with anywhere from 20 to 100 newspapers. That's exceptionally important to know for those seeking syndication. There once was a time when you achieved syndication, all your financial needs would be met very soon after launch. While it's possible that still happens, I haven't heard of any recent instances of it. More realistically, syndication, while still an enormous achievement, will for the foreseeable future, only represent a relatively minor second income generated from full-time work and commitment. The idea would be that, over time, you'll slowly but steadily add newspapers to your client list, and supplement that revenue through opportunities in licensing (greeting cards, calendars, books, etc.), and eventually, the income will rise to a survivable level. The other major change in syndication would be the role the cartoonist plays in his or her own success. In days past, a cartoonist would provide the daily content, to the best of his or her ability, and the syndicate would do the rest. You draw, they sell, they send you a check every quarter, you eat filet mignon from the sundeck of your yacht, repeat. Today, it's very much different. You could still do that - the syndicate, to my knowledge, makes no further demands of you, but in my opinion, your growth and potential will be severely hindered if you don't take an active role, particularly through social media. Think of it like this: how much perceived risk do you remove for a potential client, whether it's a newspaper editor or creative director at a greeting card company, when your work arrives with a dedicated following? Based on numerous conversations I've had with editors in the past, that means a great deal. Another realization that you become immediately aware of; it doesn't matter how you feel, what happens in your life, what personal tragedy might befall you - you have to deliver on-time regardless. Imagine getting up in the morning to find you've got a rough case of the flu that ends up lasting for days or more, or someone dear to you passes away, or any number of impactful, challenging possibilities - you still have to produce top-notch material to be delivered on time. If you're late, you get fined. Substantially. Enough of the doom and gloom - how about some positive stuff? When you get into your groove in syndication, you'll likely find your characters developing in ways you hadn't foreseen, and that's a joy. With that, your audience begins to identify with your creations, and communicates with you. That feedback and interaction with your audience is a reward unto itself. For me, the people who spend time on my Bill Abbott Cartoons Facebook page feel very much like an extension of my family. Their support, their enthusiasm, and their kind comments provide additional drive and motivation to do the best work I'm capable of. Again, I can speak only of my own experience, but I've found that the people at Creators Syndicate are not only top shelf professionals, they make you feel like family. I've read of some cartoonists speaking of syndication in a negative, corporate way, but I'm grateful not to have found it so. From my editor, to the sales staff, to the operations manager, to the president of the company, they've all been accessible and genuinely invested in my work. That's a great feeling. With regards to the income generated, as mentioned, in the beginning it will be light. But over time, you may see that number grow significantly. I've been very fortunate to see new newspapers added to the Spectickles client list just about every quarter so far. And I know that represents a lot of work and dedication on behalf of the Creators sales staff. Additionally, your income won't be limited to newspaper revenue only; the syndicate is constantly looking for markets for your work through licensing and new media markets. While challenging, great potential still exists. Don't forget, Hollywood pays attention to the comics pages, and some major deals have been struck there too. For my fellow cartoonists, I would summarize my advice, based on this first year of lessons learned, like this: however good your work already is, keep pushing and seeking ways to make it even better. Focus on audience-building though social media - syndicates will certainly factor that in when they decide whether or not to take you onboard. Be fully aware of what you're committing to, and prepare as needed - syndication is a wonderful achievement, but it comes at a price, and it's not negotiable. Be ready to do more for yourself - you're a business and it requires much more than if you were an employee. This is a tough one - find balance in your life. The pressures of creating quality work that will be seen, and judged by millions of people can cause stress, which impacts other areas of your life. Make and take time for the people you care about, and get away from cartooning enough to allow your batteries to recharge. Wrapping up, my first year in syndication has exceeded my expectations. I've learned a lot, improved some I think, and have reason to believe the best days as a syndicated cartoonist lie ahead. I'd also like to think that my best Spectickles cartoon has yet to be written. We've talked about this on Facebook, and I think it would be a lot of fun. At the same time, I want to keep it simple, straight forward, and sustainable. So here's how we'll do it. Every Wednesday, I'm going to post a cartoon with no caption - a cartoon that will have appeared in newspapers just a day or two previously, but has yet to be seen on social media. On Thursday, we'll all vote on our favorite caption, and on Friday, I'll post the winning caption alongside mine as it appeared in newspapers. How does that sound? While there won't be prizes, we should have a great time with it. And as always, if you have an idea for making it better or more fun, I'm all ears - just lest me know. How about them apples?
First, thank you for coming here to read this. The motivation behind going from my previous website to this is really two-fold. We've got such an amazing group of people on social media, and it's a joy to share my work every day But there's been a number of issues that, in my mind, require having at least a solid back-up plan. A place to go if, for example, Facebook suffers a continuation or expansion of the current crop of hackers who go in and steal accounts. If something doesn't appear right, it probably isn't, and so now there'll be a place where we can interact and carry on without interference. The second reason is that my previous site, while very technically advanced and well set up by the company I paid to create it, was beyond my capacity to add things and change when I wanted. While this site will be simpler, it will have a great deal more in terms of features and things I can share with you. And as needs must, I can make changes, add fun pages, and interact with you more personally and fully. I will be sharing and writing a great deal more about the art, business, history, and all things cartooning, too. I'm hoping the comments section will be actively used. Your feedback is so important. Thank you again for being here, and I look forward to building this site into a fun place to hangout! So, for Heaven's sake, please dress appropriately.
|