Friday, March 25, 2016

   It's been awhile since I posted on my cartoon blog so thought to jot a note.

   The life of a cartoonist can be quite lonely. First, of course, is hours of toiling over the cartoon itself, a solitary pursuit. Then, sure, we can share our cartoons with Friends on Facebook or with our families...but any cartoonist with some ambition sends their cartoons in to newspapers and magazines in hopes they will get published.

   That is where life gets lonely. Normally you mail or email in your cartoons...and hear nothing back. You know, even a rejection slip is much us much better than just.....nothing. You at least know you can now send out those cartoons to some other agency, which is valuable. Many high end  magazines won't print stuff that has been published before, so when you send your cartoons into those, they are out of commission indefinitely.

   And where does that leave the cartoonist? It's no fun to make cartoons that never see the light of day and no one gets to share the laugh. After awhile, what's the point? We got into cartooning to have fun and brighten up our own life and those of others.

   One of the things that kept me going in my early days of cartooning was one editor who seemed to enjoy my witty cover letters and would almost always respond to my emails, answering with humorous replies. It let me know someone was out  there in the cartoon ether. Had she not done that, I probably would have given up long ago.

   Since then I've gotten many cartoons published, but I send most to the publications that actually answer up and are, well...friendly. OK, I don't expect the Holy Grail of cartoon mags like the New Yorker to answer up, as they surely get thousands of cartoons each week. But I noticed that even they now have a very artist-friendly site where you can submit a cartoon electronically, track its progress and see when it has been viewed and accepted or rejected. You get closure!

   If any Editor should happen to read this, please consider taking a moment to reply when someone sends in their work. You may end up getting the best out of that artist and get some treasures to print that you might not have gotten otherwise. Letting a submitting artist or writer know the Submission Guidelines if their work is rejected is also a plus.

   That said, now, onto my next cartoon! I'll insert below my latest, which is pure and dorky fun with no pithy message at all. You can see many more quirky cartoons at my website, www.QLCartoons.com:

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