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SO YOU WANNA BE A CARTOONIST?

We often get requests from people wanting to become cartoonists. It's a tough industry to get into, and for most the pay's not so great. But for those who are passionate about cartooning, the flexibility of being self employed and able to work from home and generally at times of their own choosing bring great job satisfaction. 
Bright ideas for cartoonists [from Dr Jack & Curtis] 

HERE ARE SOME BROAD TIPS FOR STARTERS (We hope to add to them in time)...

1] Don’t give up your day job until you’re sure you can sustain yourself as a cartoonist.
2] There are many disciplines of cartooning: Editorial (Political) Cartooning, Illustrative (for Books, magazines and newspapers), Caricatures (for events, corporate or private commissions, publications), Single Panel Gag (joke) cartoons, Comics, Comic Strips, Graphic Novels, Animation - to mention a few. Decide what you’d like to focus on, or play around with a few to help you decide.
3] You’ll also need to decide what mediums you’d like to work with; digital or traditional, and if the latter, which ones? There’s lots to learn about this on the internet.
4] Read and follow the work of cartoonists you admire, and start by emulating their styles, but work quickly at developing your own by integrating other styles and bringing your own ideas to the drawing board. Experiment us much as you can.
5] Bounce your ideas off other people and see how they respond to your work. Keep a healthy balance between listening to their criticisms and maintaining your confidence (this is a tough ask, even for the most experienced cartoonists!).
6] Start putting together a portfolio of your best work. As you decide which form of cartooning you’d like to focus on, taylor your portfolio to suit. As you add better, new work to your portfolio, remove the not so good stuff. This way, you’ll start building a focussed, professional collection of 10 - 12 works which keeps on getting better.
7] By this stage you should have an idea of what cartooning work you’d like to do, for whom, and you’ll be on the (endless) road to developing your style. You’ll also have a good idea as to whether you’d like to pursue cartooning as a serious career.
8 ] Did we mention the downside? Very few cartoonists get rich from their profession (in fact, most are poor!), but the job satisfaction and flexible work hours and ability to work from home makes up for that.
9] If you’re sure this is what you want to do, now’s a good time to knock on doors to find work. Try everything: emails, phone calls, cold calls trying to meet publishers and editors (easier said than done), and prostituting yourself. Some cartoonists have started off offering their work for free just to get their foot in the door and earn some street cred. But if you do this, be sure to make it clear that it’s for a limited time only - 1 to 3 months max, after which you’ll continue (if you and the publisher are happy with one another) at a fair, pre determined rate.
10] But most of all, to be a great cartoonist, you need to do these three things, every day: DRAW, DRAW, DRAW!


SOME RESOURCES [Please send us others to post here]:
AFRICARTOONIVERSITY: Our cartoonists share tips insights and methods.
Africartoons on Facebook - Meet our cartoonists, and learn from their styles.
Information for Cartoonists - LinkedIn group (American).
Character Design References - a brilliant Pinterest resource of thousands of well selected references, carefully filed for quick access.