Between Friends Blog

Cartooning Women Conversations: Stephanie Piro

Stephanie Piro has to be one of the most prolific cartoonists in the business today.  She is the Saturday Chick for the syndicated comic strip, Six Chix.  She also self-syndicates a gag panel called "Fair Game".  Stephanie also has her own T-shirt company, the award-winning Strip-T Designs, which feature her own gorgeous cartoon designs.  In addition to all of this, she has illustrated numerous cartoon books (My Cat Loves me Naked,  Paws for Thought, 101 Cool Games For Cats to name a few), runs cartooning classes for children at her local library and is active in a multitude of other cartoon-related activities in her area.  Stephanie was very gracious in agreeing to answer some questions about her career.

 

(I first met Stephanie, in an online cartoon chat forum way back in the late nineties.  The first time we actually met in person,was at the NCS Reubens weekend in Boca Raton, Florida in 2000.)

 

Stephanie, I don't know how you find the time to do it all.  Could we begin by you telling us where you went to school?  Didn't you go to the School of Visual Arts in New York?  Have you ever had a "real" job other than in the cartooning business? 

Hi Sandra,

 

Yes, we met on the Wisenheimer, (private online cartoon chat forum) and, if I remember correctly, you were my NCS sponsor! So, thanks, again for that!

 

I went to SVA in 1969. I was in love with the city and had the best time at SVA while I was there. It was the 60's and NY was the most exciting place to be. There were Be-Ins, there were peace rallies and great used book stores and clothing stores all over. There was the first earth day, and some of the streets were closed, so I remember sitting in the middle of ...maybe third Ave with friends.

 

At SVA, I couldn't get into any cartooning classes. I don't think there were many. I had Berne Hogarth for Art History. I took fine art the first year and Illustration the second. I had Robert DiNiro's Dad for a teacher, too.

 

I started selling my artwork when I was 19. I'd met my future husband and his Mom hooked me up with a gallery on Long Island called Cherubinis. I sold there exclusvely for several years, so, that was my first real job. I sold watercolors and clay sculptures of wealthy people's pets. 

 

 After a while, I also sold my work in other small galleries around LI and the city and Connecticut.

 

I met a woman who was a decorator who had seen my work at  Cherubinis and hired me to make lamps and mirrors that matched her swatches for fabric and wallpaper. That was fun.

 

By the mid to late 70's, there was a recession, and there were gas lines, and several of the small galleries went under. This is when I started supplementing my art with waitressing.

 

It was in the late 70's that I started cartooning seriously, and started trying to submit my work to

magazines. But you may bring that up in a later question, so I'll hold off on that for now.

 

 

Which magazines did your cartoons appear in?  Was the mag cartooning enough to make a self-supporting income?  Were the mag cartoons the catalyst for beginning your silk-screened T-shirt business? 

It was actually the other way around, Sandra. The first magazine I sold to was Glamour, I think that was in the late 80's. I know I've mentioned before that I started myt-shirt business when my cartoons continued to be rejected by editors, even with great rejections and one editor from Cosmo, whose name I wish I could remember, even tried to interest other editors and gave me the idea to do a theme book which became "Men! Ha!", and he even tried to market that!

 

In 1984, after my daughter was born, I taught myself silk screening, very basic stuff, and printed a few dozen tees and took them to a craft show. Women LOVED them! I sold everything, and Strip T's was born. Women related because they really hadn't seen humor they identified with before.

This began a number of boom years when I was actually earning a decent income from marketing my cartoons, without the editor middle-man, and going directly to the public. I also started licensing to card and calendar companies. This was all before that first sale to Glamour.

 

Once Glamour started buying, they continued to use my work for a long time, until they eventually dropped the cartoon, and eventually brought it back with a NYer cartoonist doing it exclusively.

 

 I was also lucky to connect with Roz Warren in the early 90's who published a wonderful feminist series of anthologies "Women's Glibber" and my work appeared in all her books except the first one, and she went on to publish two collections of my cartoons "Men! Ha!" and "Caffeinated Cartoons".

 

I've tried submitting to the NYer off and on. I've had notes from editors saying "Please Send More"! but they never bought and I write in a way that I can't submit on a weekly basis. Once I had this great idea. I took an issue of the NYer and pasted over all the cartoons with my cartoons (no offense intended NYer cartoonists!) including the cover and sent a note saying "Here is a visual aid showing you how great my cartoons would look in the NYer!"

I never heard a thing for over 3 months! Then it came back in the mail. With nothing! I thought at least I'd get a note or even a standard rejection slip!

 

 

Through a chain of events, you've had your cartoons syndicated with Chronicle Features, Universal Press and now King Features.  Impressive company!  You began your syndicated career with a panel called "Fair Game" with Chronicle.  Did you just pitch that feature through the mail?  How did you go from "Fair Game" with Chronicle to "Six Chix" with King Features?

 

 

It's funny how it all happened, Sandra. After selling to magazines etc. and having books published, I started researching syndicates, and the two that seemed the most compatible with what I wanted were King Features and Chronicle Features so I sent off packages and I was floored when I got a call from Jay Kennedy at King. He said he knew my work and could I develop a panel about the friendship of two women, and that one of them should have a cat.I came up with "Charmers" . The two women were friends, one was a hair stylist (who had the cat, Glasgow) and one was a Sci Fi writer. I did about 70 samples and sent them in...and never heard a word!

Then, I got a call from Stuart Dodds of Chronicle Features. He said, "We love what you do, sign with us and we'll let you do anything you want!" so...I called Jay and said I was signing with Chronicle, and he apologised and said it was hard for them to get back to people they liked, which I didn't quite understand, but also said I should be with a bigger syndicate.

I signed with Chronicle and my husband actually came up with the title "Fair Game". I had a great launch and they added papers, but behind the scenes... syndicates are a business, and Chronicle was in trouble. United Media was selling for them but didn't come through when Chronicle decided to sell, and my contract ended up being sold to Universal, along with Gail Machlis's panel "Quality Time" and a feature on disasters around the world.

It was very sad, as Stuart was a great hands on person to work with and just a gentleman, so, he retired.

I had a great editor at Universal, but no sales. In fact, my editor told me he'd asked the sales people why and they said "We have these two panels by wmen and we can't tell them apart"!!! Then when my contract was up they dropped "Fair Game". They also dropped Gail's panel, and I believe Nina Paley's strip "Fluff".

I was feeling down, although, on Stuart Dodd's advice, I called my client list and managed to keep a number of them. 

And then, this amazing thing happened! I got another call from Jay! He said he noticed Fair Game wasn't renewed (not sure how he knew that?) and that he had this great idea where six women cartoonists would do a strip/panel a week and rotate the Sundays. It was Kathryn (Lemieux) who came up with "Six Chix" a very cool title. So, of course I said yes, and have been enjoying being part of such an incredibly talented team. I feel lucky every day!

 

 

Your cartoons have appeared in all kinds of book collections . . . some with other cartoonists, some with just your own work and some as illustrated cartoons for other authors.  What are some of these titles?

 

My first published work in book form was probably in Roz Warren's Women's Glibber books. Except for the first, Roz used my cartoons in all the other anthologies which included "What is This Thing Called Sex" and my own 2 collections "Men! Ha!" and "Caffeinated Cartoons".

 

Early on, Page One published 2 graphic novels I did, "Blank Tapes" and "Boots and Salads" in one volume. These are two of my favorite works, but published rather on the small side.

 

There have been numerous other collections I've had work included in.Then Donna Barstow and I collaborated on a book idea based on one I had self-published called "Love Me or Go to Hell", which included Anne Gibbons, Lynn Williams  and Liza Donnelly.

 

My latest collection was my own, "My Cat Loves Me Naked", a personal favorite as it included  my writing as well as my favorite cat cartoons, many I wrote just for this book.

 

I've illustrated a few books including "Understanding What My Cat is Thinking" by Anne Leighton and "101 Cool Games for Cool Cats" by Elissa Wolfson, which is both a challenge and fun.

 I have more ideas on the back burner as I've been very busy recently!

 

 

 

Your cartoon art has a very lovely loose style with flowing line work.  I would also classify it as being very feminine.  I think your style enhances your cartoons because it seems to me that your writing would have a distinct appeal to women.  While acknowledging that humour crosses over all boundaries, what do you think about "women's humour"?  Does some humour  have more appeal for women than men?  Do you think there is a difference in gender perspective at times?

 

 

Thanks, Sandra, what a nice way to have one's work described! I really think of women readers when I write and hope they enjoy what I have to say, but you'd be surprised to hear that a lot of the fan mail I've received over the years came from men.

They were very complimentary about the art and the women I draw and a few, I think, may have harbored crushes on some of my women!

I do believe there is a difference in perception. Not always, because I think Rina (Piccolo) can write some of the best gags out there, but I think women tend to enjoy more character driven or point of view humor and men often like the punch of a gag. I realize I'm generalising, here, because some gags make me laugh out loud, but I really enjoy more intimate humor like "Between Friends"!

 

 

 

You have quite an extensive variety of work available at your Cafe Press store.  (online store)  Any thoughts on how the web is impacting on your career?  What are your thoughts on what's happening in the newspaper industry at the moment?

 

I sell far more gift items through my cafepress site than I do on my own, partly because I now experiment there with all the new designs there, like my library line and the baby and musician items.

The Strip T's line on my site I primarily sell to cat shelters for fundraisers. They are a good and inexpensive way for even small shelters to buy a mixed dozen shirts and earn a little extra money.

 

I'm sad about the newspaper industry because I grew up reading newspaper comics. They were an important part of my life, and it's a thrill to see my work appear in the papers. It never gets old. Not to mention syndication is all quantity and adding papers, so, the fewer papers there are the harder it is to earn a living through newspaper syndication. 

 I suppose the next generations of cartoonists feel connected to the web, instead of newspapers.

 

 

I saw you draw cartoons once and I was amazed to watch your create your art on a drawing board on your lap.  Do you still work this way?  What are your tools of the trade and what's your schedule like?

 

I know, I'm archaic! I could never draw at a drawing table, maybe because I'm short, but it's the whole freeing up of the way I draw. I can get right into the art when I'm working on my drawing board. My studio is an art cart overflowing with pens and ink and always a scissors and glue stick for a quick paste-up if I need it. I have to have natural light to work, and quiet. I sit on a futon surrounded by 3 huge windows, and it is ideal for working. I'm lucky to have a nice quiet house and the space I need whenever I want to work.

As for schedule... I work 20 hrs at the library, that's 2 evenings, an afternoon and Saturday till 2, so I've learned to work around that. I'd love a real studio to keep all my tools and accessories organized instead of spread all over the house. Maybe some day. That would be nice.

 

Thanks, Stephanie! 

 

Visit Stephanie's web site here and you have to go and visit her Cafe Press store here.  Also, you can catch up with her on the Six Chix blog here!

 

Cartooning Women Conversations: Kim Warp

Kim was born April 27, 1959 in Seattle, Washington and lived there until about five years ago.  She now lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia with her husband and two daughters.  (She lived with them in Seattle too. :) ) She has a degree in art with a concentration in Graphic Design from Western Washington University.   Her cartoons have appeared in many publications including The New Yorker, TIME, Barron’s, Reader’s Digest, Harvard Business Review, Funny Times, AARP Bulletin and USA Weekend.

She received the National Cartoonist Society Reuben award in the best gag cartoon division in 2000. 

Like many other cartoonists, I first met Kim online.  We met for the first time in person at the NCS Reuben weekend in Boca Raton, Florida in 2000.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 Did you draw cartoons when you were a kid?  Was cartooning something you aspired to as a career or did you just fall into it?

Yes, I drew all the time as a kid. I have two older sisters, Alison is a year older than me and Jennifer is two years older. Mom used to get big rolls of butcher paper and tape paper over the entire kitchen table and let us draw every morning. Probably just so she could sit down for a minute. This was when we all still preschoolers, I was so little I was standing on the chair to draw. The entire goal of drawing to us was to try and crack each other up. Preferably to get someone to laugh so hard that milk came out of their nose. We would draw silly people, unflattering pictures of our family, anything that might work. I was the youngest and totally infuriated that my sisters could draw better than me. Also, Mom’s mother had a book where she wrote down the funny things we said or did as little kids. This would probably be considered unhealthy these days but it fired competition between us to get in Grandma’s ‘little red book’. She was trying to record the unintentional funny things we said or did and wouldn’t write it down if we were attempting to be funny so we tried to have a natural delivery, which of course, is something you try for in cartoon captions. So I was trying to draw and write funny from an early age. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence I wound up in a somewhat competitive form of cartooning. It’s all sibling rivalry gone wild.

I think I got the idea of being a magazine cartoonist because my parents had a ‘Colliers Collects Its Wits’ cartoon collection in the bookcase. I remember looking at it for hours, loving the subversive cartoons by Charles Addams and Richard Taylor in particular. Richard Taylor had one of a family being seated at a restaurant and the line was “Put us in the corner, we’ll likely make a scene” which I found hilarious because it was about real life and you got the whole story in one drawing. And that you could take something unpleasant and find the humor in it. Well, I think that now, at the time it just cracked me up. The book had a few pages of cartoonist bios with a paragraph and a sketch they had done about themselves. A few of the cartoonists were women and I thought if they could do it so could I. I also wanted to be a scientist, a brain surgeon and a fighter pilot but only the cartooning stuck. See the danger of having cartoon collections in the house?

Where and when was your first cartoon published? Did you go at this with the intention of carving out a career or just as a hobby?

My first cartoon was published in Playgirl in 1981. I had just graduated from college with a degree in graphic design but really wanted to be a cartoonist. I felt that if I didn’t try cartooning first it would be something I would always regret. My early cartoons were also published in Cosmopolitan, New Woman, Good Housekeeping…a lot of the women’s magazines. I lived at home and tried cartooning for a few years but got frustrated that I couldn’t break into the more serious cartoon markets if there is such a thing. I was really just floundering around submitting work to publications. I tried the New Yorker some and actually got some hand written notes back of the “Sorry nothing this time” variety from Lee Lorenz but didn’t realize that was a good sign. I eventually took a graphics job at Boeing with the intention to keep cartooning on the side but stopped drawing for quite a few years.

When I met my ( to be ) husband, I put my strip away for a couple of years too.  I was just distracted.  After we were married, Tim was the one who encouraged me to try sending my strip out again.  (Actually, I was complaining to him that I wasn't getting anywhere with my cartoons and he told that was because I wasn't doing anything about it.  Which I wasn't.)  What made you decide to give things another shot?  Was your husband supportive of your cartooning?

Actually my husband was instrumental in getting me cartooning again also. I had quit Boeing to stay home with my first daughter, Sara, thinking that I could draw cartoons when she napped in her cradle. I was misinformed about babies to say the least. I remember collapsing and falling asleep whenever she did for the first year or so. We had our second daughter, Kate, a few years later and I remember feeling like cartooning was something in my past that I would never do again. Then, the internet started to get big and my husband, Rufe, was trying to think of a web site to build just as a way to learn how to do it. He asked if he could do a site with my cartoons and I, prophetically, said ‘whatever’. Once the site was up, cartoonist started emailing me and even some editors contacted me wanting work. Then Ted Goff, a wonderful cartoonist that runs the chat room for the National Cartoonist Society, invited me to join the online forum. I met a bunch of cartoonists there including you, Ann Farrell and Benita Epstein. At first I was just sharing my experiences with other people and not thinking I would cartoon again myself. Regular submitting is a huge commitment and I wanted to enjoy the kids when they were little. But somehow I got sucked back into drawing again. I guess I couldn’t repress it any longer and was much happier when I started drawing again. I remember deciding that if I started cartooning again I was only going to draw stuff that made me laugh and not do drawings with the intent of getting into a specific market or anything. I started selling right away. I have to say it was very thrilling to meet other cartoonists, especially women cartoonists after having cartooned in total isolation before. That’s been the great thing about the internet. Cartooning is a very solitary thing and now we can all talk to each other. To answer your question, clearly, my husband has always been very supportive of my cartooning and frequently the inspiration as well. And I feel like the years of being a stay at home Mom and my years working in the corporate world at Boeing were probably instrumental in my cartooning success as well. It definitely gives you something to talk about.

Being true to your own idea of what was funny was obviously the right path to follow. You won the NCS Division Award for Best Gag Cartoon in 2000 and not long after that you sold to the New Yorker.  Have you ever met Lee Lorenz, Bob Mankoff or any of the other New Yorker cartoonists? (what a lame question, but I'm personally just curious...do you have any new  yorker stories?

I’ve met quite a few New Yorker cartoonists. I’ve gone to a couple of the Tuesday cartoon meetings where you can go in and show your work to Bob. (Going to this meeting and the lunch that follows is a pretty common fantasy among gag cartoonists) I found him funny and perceptive and as kind as someone can be that’s trying to tell you how you can improve your work, heh. I went to the cartoonist lunch also and met many cartoonists I’ve admired. I’ve also been fortunate enough to participate in books with Sam Gross, Matt Diffee, Liza Donnelly and Mort Gerberg. The first time I went to New York, Sam Gross and Pete Mueller took me to the Metropolitan Museum…the most exciting thing to me, of course, was going there with them. All the New Yorker guys are as hilarious as you imagine them to be.

How do you work? Do you have a set schedule? -and what are your tools of the trade?

I think a part of my brain is always cruising for cartoon ideas no matter what I’m doing. I’m sure you know what I mean doing a syndicated cartoon with that kind of deadline pressure. The New Yorker deadline is Tuesday afternoon so Monday and Tuesday are my big drawing days. You remember that old Daffy Duck cartoon where the gangsters lock him in a room and demand that he lay a golden egg? It feels like that…nobody here but us ducks. And yet by Tuesday afternoon I have a cartoon batch. As Daffy says, “You never know what you can do till you try.” I used to always write ideas first but I’ve started just drawing what I feel like drawing lately and seeing what happens. Frequently I find that I’m getting the urge to draw something because it’s connected up with something I’ve been trying to write about but my conscious mind hasn’t put it together yet. I get the cartoon done and then I see why I was wanting to draw something in particular. So I try to go with the flow and get out of my own way more and not box myself in. As far as tools, I like to draw with a pentel uniball micro on smooth paper. Wouldn’t it be great if we got big deals for endorsing pens like athletes do for endorsing shoes? Some people try to make you think you have to use a certain kind of pen if you’re a ‘real’ artist, but I haven’t felt guilty about not using a dip pen since I learned George Booth draws with a Bic pen. Ballpoints are very fast and you don’t have to break your drawing to dip. And George Booth is an Artist with a capital ‘A’ right? Okay, enough ranting. Once I get the line drawing pretty close I scan it into Photoshop and play with it there and add the gray or color. I might put a few drawings together on the computer to get what I want. As far as other tools, I use lists, digital photos I’ve taken and stream of consciousness writing as ways to get started if I’m stuck. The dictionary can be fun too.

The newspaper industry is facing upheaval with the increasing influence of the web and this isaffecting syndicated comic strips and editorial cartoons.  What is the market like in the magazine cartooning business?  Are you noticing a major decline of markets?  Do you utilize the web for sales or do you see yourself doing this in the future?

I think the magazine market might migrate to the web. It’s really just a different delivery system. I do some work for clients now that only have online publications and many of the magazines have both print and electronic versions. I very much see more work being on the web in the future. So the markets aren’t declining but they are definitely changing. Also, a lot of people are experimenting with photo montages and other forms of graphic humor and I think this trend will continue. But that urge to doodle and make fun isn’t going anywhere.

Thanks, Kim!

Visit Kim's web site here. 

Check out some of the book collections that include Kim's work:

Sex and Sensibility

Mort Gerberg's Last Laughs

Matt Diffee's Rejection Collection

Rejection Collection 2

   

Cartooning Women Conversations: Patricia Storms

Words and pictures have always been a big part of Patricia Storms' life, ever since she was a little kid. Patricia has always loved to write and draw, especially cartoons and humorous illustrations. Her teachers in school enjoyed her cartoon work, but often encouraged her to move beyond cartoons into more respected forms of art. As soon as she finds a more respected form of art, she promises to drop the cartooning. Patricia worked for 10 years in libraries, and 5 years as a graphic designer before she got into children's books. In fact, she used to catalogue children's books for the Toronto Public Library when she worked as a Library Technician. So she is extremely delighted to be fortunate enough to create children's books that are now in libraries across Canada. As well as illustrating children’s books, Patricia also draws editorial cartoons and provides illustrations for magazines, newspapers and humour gift books. Patricia has worked for Scholastic Canada, Kids Can Press, Owlkids Books,TD Bank, ChickaDEE Magazine, American Greetings, Barnes and Noble, and Chronicle Books. She lives and creates in Toronto, Ontario, with her husband Guy, and two fat cats in a 93-year-old house that’s full to the brim with books.

----------------------------------

Patricia, we first met at an NCS Christmas party in Toronto, right?  At the time, you were building a freelance magazine gag career and had some success with publications like Reader's Digest.  You were also working on a comic strip idea.  Were you committed to the idea of syndication and gag cartooning at that time or were you just trying to find a way to make cartooning a career?

Yup, we did meet at an NCS Christmas party! In fact, it was YOU who invited me, after reading my ramblings on the Wisenheimer (an online forum for cartoonists).

And yes, back then I really was committed and determined to focus my cartooning career on syndication and gag cartooning. I sent out a few comic strip ideas to syndicates, and got back some kind rejections, and I did manage to publish quite a few gag cartoons in a variety of Canadian and US magazines. But as time wore on, quite frankly, this kind of spec work just wore me out. I found it was so very, very hard taking the time to create a comic strip concept, write and draw 24 samples and mail them off to syndicates and then wait months and months for the usual “no thanks”. And mailing out numerous gag cartoons to magazines was time-consuming, too, and for me, just not worth the pay-off in the end. I had to really start re-thinking my goals. As I was going through this period of doubt, I began to notice that the magazine and newspaper industry was changing, too, and not for the better. I don’t want to sound negative (because, hey, you and some of my cartoonist friends are syndicated cartoonists) but I just did not see a viable future for me in newspaper comic strips. And let’s face it – being a syndicated cartoonist is a very, very hard job. You’ve got to think of a new funny idea every day, keep your artwork fresh, and stay ahead of that merciless deadline. And after all this hard work, the syndicate takes 50% of the cut? Not for me. I do think that cartoonists who are already established in this field will manage ok, but for a new person to break into this field, and hope to earn a decent living – I think it’s a tough slog. So that’s why I turned my energies to illustration, editorial cartoons, and writing picture books. Not that those areas are any easier, but, I do think the survivability stats are a bit better. Time will tell if I am right on that.

 
I think all syndicated cartoonists are wondering what the future holds for us in the newspaper industry right now.  I don't think print is going to completely disappear but it's very apparent that the web is going to play an important part in our careers in future.  Exactly how is anyone's guess at the moment.  You began writing your blog "Book Lust" about the time you were rethinking your cartooning career, didn't you?  What aspirations did you have for the blog? . . . or was it strictly a "I'll give it a shot and see what happens" type of thing?  Has your blog had any impact on your career?

 

It's a bit of a catch-22, isn't it?  The blog is responsible for career success and the career success is responsible for a lack of time for the blog.  There's never enough time, is there?  The really fantastic thing is that you're making such inroads in the areas you've chosen to focus on.  You recently won an award for one of your editorial cartoons.  You were surprised by this as you hadn't entered the competition. 

 I started my blog ‘BookLust’ in May 2004 (Yikes! I’ve been doing this for a while, haven’t I?) Definitely I felt that I was at a turning point in my career when I started that blog. I wasn’t entirely sure of what I wanted to achieve by starting up the blog, but I know I did want to share my cartoons and silly ideas to a much wider audience. So yes, I think it was certainly more of a “I’ll give it a shot and see what happens” attitude. Because back then, we pretty much all had no idea of the great potential there was in having a blog.

Definitely the blog has had an impact on my career. It was through my blog that I (briefly!) acquired a New York agent, got interviewed by Rex Murphy and had lovely email communications with authors like Michael Chabon, Jonathan Lethem, and Malcolm Gladwell. A children’s book editor found my blog, and liked my writing, and it really was because of her interest and encouragement that I had the confidence to continue to pursue writing for kids. (I’ve yet to be able to get anything published with her publisher, but I remain hopeful!). I’ve also connected with many talented writers and cartoonists through BookLust, which has enriched my life in so many ways.

Sadly, these days I am just so very busy with working on my career, that the quality of the blog has suffered. I just don’t have the time or energy to write as much as I used to on BookLust, but I still want to maintain the blog, and connect to whoever still might be out there reading it.

 
I was awarded Cartoon of the Year (over 10,000 circulation) for the Ontario Community Newspapers Association 2008 Better Newspaper Awards. (That’s a lot to try and remember – even I had to double-check online to get it right!)

Yes, the nomination for this cartoon award was a total surprise – the Managing Editor of the Town Crier, Gordon Cameron, entered some of my cartoons without my knowledge, and then out of the blue I received this email with the subject heading ‘Congratulations Patricia’. I was just about to trash the email, figuring it was just spam, but thankfully my curiosity got the best of me! That’s when I was told that I was a finalist for this award. So on April 17th, Guy (my husband) and I went to the Marriott Hotel in Yorkville in downtown Toronto to attend the awards dinner. It was a wonderful evening, and yes, I ended up winning in my category, and it really was a fabulous experience, especially because my husband with there with me to share in all the excitement. That’s the first time I’ve ever been nominated for an award, and the first time I’ve ever won an award.

 

You've also illustrated some cartoon collections and quite a number of children's books, one of which won an award.  Could you tell us about these books?

I don’t believe in limiting oneself, so I do cartoon/illustration work for adult books as well as kid’s books. The award you’re mentioning is for my first trade illustrated picture book, ‘13 Ghosts of Halloween’, which was published by Scholastic Canada in 2007. The French edition of this book recently was named one of the Great Books for 2009 by the Canadian Toy Testing Council, and so all the new editions get a nice sticker on it with that honour. ‘13 Ghosts’ has done quite well, and the publishers recently sold the US rights as well as the Indonesian rights for the book. My 2nd trade illustrated book, ‘Edward and the Eureka Lucky Wish Company’, published by Kids Can Press, came out this year in February. I’ve also illustrated a few educational kid’s books, in fact, that’s how I got started in this field.

Probably my favourite illustrated adult humour book is ‘Good Granny/Bad Granny’, published by Chronicle Books in 2007. It was lots of fun to do, and Chronicle is an amazing publisher to work for (Hello, Chronicle! I’d love to work for you again!) and the response from the book has been just amazing. And I also wrote and illustrated a little cartoon book, called ‘You’re My Guy Because...’, which is published by Red Rock Press.

 

The really big news recently is your new book coming out called "The Pirate and the Penguin".  Not only did you illustrate this children's book, you wrote it!  Isn't this unusual in the children's book industry . . . to both write and illustrate your own book?  How did you make the leap from illustrator to writer?  Where did the idea for "The Pirate and the Penguin" come from?

I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s unusual to write and illustrate a picture book – I’m sure there are plenty of talented artists/cartoonists who are skilled at writing, too. And I know that publishers do like finding artists who can also write – it means just working with one person! Heh. Also some people would argue that an artist who is also an author has a better chance of creating a better quality picture book, because they will have a much more intimate relationship with both the words and pictures. The same theory obviously applies for a cartoonist creating a comic strip.

Making the leap from writer to illustrator didn’t happen out of the blue, mind you. I knew that I wanted to write my own picture book stories, because I have plenty of silly ideas bouncing around in my head that would love to see the light of day. I suppose the first thing I did was seriously read a LOT of picture books, both old and new ones, so that I could get a sense of what was getting published, and what kind of stories I was drawn to. I joined an online critiquing group, and eventually took some courses in writing for children. During this time I was working mostly on this one story I enjoyed, called ‘The Pirate and the Penguin’.

The story of ‘The Pirate and the Penguin’ came about by pure happenstance. About two years ago I was at a café kvetching with one of my writer friends, Liam O’Donnell, about how tough it was to get something published in this business. I made a flippant comment about how if someone really wanted to tap into marketing trends in kid’s lit, that they should write a story about a pirate and a penguin. Liam immediately thought that it was a cool idea for a story, and encouraged me to pursue it. Eventually I wrote a story about a penguin who is unhappy living in the South Pole, and a pirate who is sick of treasure and travelling, and what happens when these two characters meet up by chance. It’s loosely based on the switching roles theme of ‘The Prince and the Pauper’, but with lots of changes to the original story, of course. Anyway, that’s how the story came to be, and it ended up being accepted by the 2nd publisher who read it. The book will be available September 1st, 2009, so stay tuned for information about a book launch, as well as a very fun presentation which will be taking place at Toronto’s Word on the Street, September 27th!

 

I hear you're traveling this summer . . .

Yes, I will be travelling to Nunavut, though sadly not in the summer – I’ll be going there in November!! So I had better pack good winter woolies. I’m travelling to Nunavut as part of a very special children’s author/illustrator book tour that takes place every year in November. As the web site for Children’s Book Week states: “TD Canadian Children's Book Week is the single most important national event celebrating Canadian children's books and the importance of reading. Every November, close to 35,000 children, teens and adults participate in activities held in every province and territory across the country. Hundreds of schools, public libraries, bookstores and community centres host events as part of this major literary festival.” So 26 children’s authors and/or illustrators travel to various provinces across Canada, promoting reading, writing and books. I’m very excited, and also a little nervous! Here’s the web site for those interested in the program: http://www.bookweek.ca/

Every time we talk, you have some exciting new thing happening in your career . . . and it's always something different.  Do you enjoy the variety or are you finding one area where you would like to focus your attention?

 
You know, I often say that I would prefer to just focus on one area, but I don’t know – doing different kinds of work (ie, magazine illustration, book illustration, working in film) is very interesting, and I learn so much, and never have a chance to be bored. I do think that I would like to focus a bit more time and energy just on writing and illustrating children’s books, though. And then I’d also like to do a lot more school presentations, because I have discovered that I really enjoy interacting with young kids, and connecting with teachers and librarians. It can get very lonely working alone, and the school visits really energize me (even though I’m always exhausted afterwards!)

You have a web site, a blog, a Facebook page and you twitter.  You've really embraced the web as a marketing tool.  There's no question it's time-consuming.  Do you see the social networking aspect as vital to your career?  Do you have any other plans for utilizing the web in your career?

 
I think that viral marketing is essential in my career. I’m not fortunate to be super-popular like say, JK Rowling, so I have to do a lot of the promotion of my work myself. Blogging, Facebook and Twitter are great tools to connect with fans and readers, and a great way to provide news about upcoming books and events, as well as any personal facts about myself that people may find interesting (what those facts may be, I can’t imagine. My addiction to cheese, perhaps?) I think the one area that I’d like to try out is using YouTube to create videos advertising upcoming books. I know of quite a few authors who are already doing this, and I think it is just one more creative marketing tool to help promote one’s creative projects.

What's your schedule like? 

 
For the moment, my schedule is fairly relaxed because it’s summer, so there’s no school visits, and for the moment (but hopefully not for too long) I’m not working on a specific book project (but I am writing stories, some of which will hopefully get accepted by a publisher!) Other than working on writing, I’m VERY slowly working on updating my web site, and of course, doing any freelance projects that come my way. My schedule is never consistent, and I really like it that way.

What are your tools of the trade?

 
My tools of the trade are very basic. I hand draw and ink with a brush all of my artwork (some people are quite surprised when I tell them that I don’t actually do my drawings on the computer). And then I scan my artwork, and colour it in Photoshop. One thing that I do find annoying is that there is still a percentage of people who for whatever reason think it is sacrilege to use Photoshop when illustrating children’s books. One not-so-nice review of my artwork mentioned that my art was ‘manipulated’ in Photoshop, implying that I was using some sort of nefarious, under-handed techniques in order to create my art. I find that these people are usually the same folks who are offended at the thought of illustrating kid’s books using cartoons. I have encountered this attitude every now and then – that my work is pretty much at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of artistic merit. I really find this quite tiresome. There is room for all kinds of art and writing in picture books – high realism, serious stories, as well as fun and silly stuff. And not to belabor the point too much, but in my experiences so far, kids really like the fun and silly stuff. Anyway, that’s the end of my little rant. Heh.

What are you goals for the future?

I’d really love to have my art (perhaps one of my picture books?) developed into animation. It’s a big dream, but hey – all of my accomplishments were dreams at one point in my life, so why not dream? Other than that, I just hope that I can continue to write and illustrate stories that will one day be on bookshelves for kids to enjoy.

Thanks, Patricia!

Visit Patricia's web site here.

Visit Patricia's blog, Book Lust by clicking here.

Here's an Indigo link to Patricia's upcoming book, The Pirate and the Penguin.

Check out a complete list of books that Patricia has illustrated by visiting Book Lust.

Cartooning Women Conversations: Margaret Shulock

Margaret Shulock is a busy lady.  She is the Tuesday Chick of the comic strip Six Chix, writes for the strip Snuffy Smith and also for Apartment 3-G, all with King Features.  In her spare time she creates a comic panel called Sticks for the Olean Times Herald.  I'm one of the lucky people on her list to receive a calendar of her cartoons every year.

 

I met Margaret in 2000 (I think) at an NCS (National Cartoonist Society) meeting in Upstate New York.  It was just before Six Chix was launched.   I recently had a chat with Margaret.  Do you remember when we first met , Margaret? 

Yes, we met at an NCS chapter meeting because Tim Rosenthal had called me specifically to tell me you would be the guest speaker and if I was ever going to come to a chapter meeting NOW was the time!! I thought Tim had a good point and I was right. Meeting you was a really big deal; you were the first real cartoonist I ever met AND a cool woman!

 

 

 

Can you tell everyone how you ended up becoming one of the Six Chix?

I became one of the Six Chix very nearly in spite of myself. Jay Kennedy called me one morning in "98, I think, and told me about a comic strip he wanted to create to showcase the work of women cartoonists. He explained the concept and asked me if I was interested. My answer was "gee, I don't know ; can I think about it?" He said of course I could and that was that.  I look back on that and find it unbelievable; any normal person would have screamed YES!  But I was  working on creating my own strip and thought that should be my goal and nothing should get in the way of that. Not even a sure-fire job on a King Features syndicated strip with the opportunity to work with some amazing cartoonists?! My husband helped me work through that by saying, " You told Jay WHAT?! " 
When I tell people I got into this wonderful business through sheer luck they think I'm being modest. Not for a second!

 

 

Sigh...hearing those names is kind of sad, isn't it?  Tim Rosenthal and Jay Kennedy are two very highly respected people in the cartoon industry who are no longer with us.  Tim Rosenthal worked for American Color in Buffalo, New York which is the company that prints the sunday color comics.    Tim passed away from the disease, Scleroderma.  Jay Kennedy, of course, was the Editor-in-Chief of King Features.  Jay drowned in a riptide while on vacation in Costa Rica.  We've talked before about how these two people were so instrumental in helping you launch your career in cartooning and the importance of their mentorship.  How did Tim and Jay influence your career path, and what did they mean to you?

 

I could probably talk far too long about the influence both Tim and Jay  had in my career. I'll start with Tim because Tim really was the beginning of my new life. As you know I publish an independent, little wall calendar and the first year [1995] one of my calendars found its way to Tim's desk at American Color. Tim wrote me a very encouraging letter that ended with" if there's ever any way I can help you sell your work just call." Eventually I did and Tim vetted the 30 cartoons I sent him and told me I was ready to send them out to the syndicates. He gave me King Features address and said "Start at the top and work your way down. Don't get discouraged just keep trying."
At this point Jay Kennedy entered my life on possibly the worst day ever. I had left home the day before to be with my mother who was gravely ill in hospital. When I returned to my parent's home that afternoon there was a yellow memo note on the kitchen table : "Call Jay Kennedy as soon as possible."  I made the call and had a long conversation with a kind man who must've thought he was dealing with a crazy person. But the bottom line was Jay bought 17 of the 24 cartoons I had sent for King Features "New Breed." I had no idea how big a deal that was but Tim let me know the next day  by his stunned silence on the phone. Finally, Tim said" I don't believe it!!" And then he proceeded to tell me how to deal with the contracts and the drawings. Honestly, at that point I think he was more excited than I.
Over the years that I worked with Jay I learned so much; he was a gifted teacher. And like all great teachers he never told me what to do. But over time I learned to take his criticism and his praise as the lessons they were intended to be. I learned by doing and by listening closely to Jay's carefully chosen remarks.
I miss Jay and Tim more than I can tell you but I'm grateful to have known them both. They changed my life in ways I could have never dreamed.

 

 

Now that you mention how your life changed, what did you do before cartooning?  What type of jobs did you have?  When did you decide to pick up your pencil?  You obviously had some cartooning aspirations before you met Tim Rosenthal since he noticed you through your cartoon calendar.

 

What did I do before cartooning? I had the usual crappy jobs when I was in college and the years after I dropped out. [ I couldn't see myself as an Art teacher and besides life was more fun than school! Don't tell the kids.] But I always drew from age three until forever. There was a brief period when I put my pencils away but I missed making pictures. I had a few stray jobs doing half-assed calligraphy and designing logos etc.but that was the extent of my 'artsy' career until a fateful invitation from a dear friend. 
 My friend Joan, a reporter and columnist for 2 local papers, asked me if I'd like to attend the domestic violence/ murder trial she was covering. My job would be to take notes when Joan was on the phone updating her editor. I asked if she thought it would be okay if I brought my sketch book and she said sure, why not. Joan then went to her editor and pitched me as a court illustrator ! I was hired @ $5 a drawing. The trial was a huge case and brought in reporters from all over New York,even a guy from The New York Times! It was a great experience but I knew that in my small, rural county this was a once in a lifetime gig. But it did give me confidence.
After the trial I buckled down and devoted a minimum of 1 hour a day, every day to seriously learning to draw and paint. Time passed and one day my husband said to me
" Don't you think you've practiced enough?" I laughed but he had a plan. Without my knowledge Jim gave a few of my "funny" drawings to a friend at a print company and asked what they could do with them. The head printer suggested a calendar might be a good idea and the printing company could use them as advertising.I think it was our friend Dan who dropped off a calendar in the lobby of American Color and you know the rest.
Up until then cartooning was not my focus because I didn't have a focus! I was a time wasting, dreamer who amused myself making pictures like an over-grown child and I never once thought I could make anything from my "art" but pleasure. Imagine my surprise! But best of all, it's still a pure pleasure.

 

 

In addition to Six Chix and Sticks which are gag panels, you write for both Snuffy Smith and Apartment 3-G.  These are three very different types of features.  What is your writing process?  How do you switch gears?  You told me once that Jay advised you on how to write a serial strip when he first gave you Apartment 3-G to work on . . . what types of pointers did he give you?

Actually, it's great fun swinging back and forth between the "girls" in Manhattan and the folks in Hootin' Holler; it keeps the old brain plastic. When I tried out for the Snuffy Smith gig my first question to Jay was, how do you write a gag strip? He understood that my question was about process and explained that I should create proportional panels and sketch in the characters and dialogue. The point being, everything has to fit. When I moved on the" Apartment3-G" I asked Jay if I could continue to write in the same fashion? The previous writer had only typed scripts but I felt I needed to follow my familiar process. Jay said I could work however I liked and this has remained my method.

Writing for Snuffy is essentially gag writing for established characters so firstI had to learn the history of the strip. Jay sent me Brian Walker's book,"Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 75 Years of an American Legend" and three years worth of proof sheets. Both were invaluable and enlightening.
When It came to writing " Apartment 3-G" ,a continuity strip,  things got complicated. This was my first opportunity to write a continuing story line and it was exciting and tricky. Some continuity strips have a set panel structure in the dailies and Sundays . Look at "Mary Worth" and you will see that the dailies are always and forever two evenly divided panels.God bless Karen Moy, the writer of M.W.! To my mind this is a huge obstruction to work around gracefully but Karen does it every single day. In 3-G I have the freedom to shape the daily panels and the license to keep the primary story moving while a secondary plot simmers on the back of my metaphoric stove. Jay encouraged this method for the Girls of 3G and I find it to be a wonderfully liberating and treacherously dangerous. Somedays it feels a bit like choreographing a ballet and other days it feels more like the old plate spinning trick with clowns and jugglers on the side!
But I digress, and God knows I have to watch out for that!
You asked me about Jay's pointers for writing a continuity strip and I will tell you that he didn't lay them all out for me at the beginning. I must've written about 2 weeks worth of strips before he pointed out that all my Blah Blah Blah was really boring. The trick, he told me, is to bring the reader back the next day. And then Jay gave me the rule.  I hope I'm not demo-ing the forth wall here but, since you asked, Sandra, here is the magic rule: "Give the reader a cookie at the end of each strip." A cookie translates to these three things: a question. a laugh, action. These can be interpreted in different ways but the essential idea is brilliant. Now all I have to do is make it work.
That's the challenge and it keeps me loving this job!!

 

 

 

I know we've shared a few laughs about some ideas for wilder story lines for the Apartment 3-G gals.  Aside from the normal parameters that we work within for mainstream newspaper comics do you ever feel restricted in your writing for characters that were not originally your own?

I guess I should start by saying that I understand the importance of respecting the established characters and striving to keep them true to character. That being said, the girls have not been carved in stone over the years of their existence. Like all of us their personalities have evolved. For deliciously, beautiful proof of this try this link. Be sure to click on part one and two; the last page of the series has a great drawing of Tommie slumped in a chair and smoking a cigarette ! Those were the days!
http://profmendez.tripod.com/html/apart3G2.htm
Okay, I guess cigarettes are out these days  but the girls can still have fun. An active love life is acceptable as long as it's handled subtly. There is a level of decorum that King Features needs to maintain and I walk that line mostly successfully. I HAVE stumbled, most egregiously in the "Loser Alan Does Dope" story. Let's just say I was too explicit.And speaking of explicit, I wish Margo could say"DAMN!" But that's what these #$%*!! are for.
I don't feel terribly boxed in by the original characters because I have the freedom to create new people. And kill them! Life is good.

 

What are your tools of the trade?

 

The tools of my trade are , in order of application: coffee, music and pens. The coffee like the ink should be black. The music, when I'm writing or thinking about writing, must be instrumental; lyrics conflict with the words in my head.[ The one exception is Pavorroti sings Puccini. I have no idea what he's saying so it doesn't matter.] When it comes to the pens I tend to be obsessive. I use a whole herd of different styles and sizes from big fat artist markers to my triple zero rapidographs. My basic drawing pen has been a sore subject over the years. Everytime I find the perfect,free flowing, expressive line that pen is immediately discontinued. Last year I found one of my favorite discontinued pens on a site called King Of Pens. I bought a gross, literally. Now I just have to keep praying that they don't dry up before I have the chance to use them all.
Back to the drawing board.

 

 

Thanks, Margaret!

 

You can read Margaret's work on Six Chix by clicking the widget in the top right corner of my blog.  It will take you to my Between Friends cartoon of the day but you can access Six Chix from here.

 

Also, Margaret contributes regularly for the Six Chix blog which you can visit by clicking here.

 

You might find this interesting too:  An older post on the Six Chix blog by Margaret where she talks about (and shows images of) writing a continuity strip.

 

Cartooning Women Conversations: Deborah Peyton

Deborah Peyton lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia and I thought it would be apropos to begin with her as I'm going to meeting her for lunch while I'm visiting in the Maritimes on my vacation!  Deborah is a multi-talented cartoonist who began her cartooning career creating comic panels.  She has branched out in a variety of areas such as book illustration, character design, fabric design, custom cartooning and more.  We talked about some of these things in this conversation.  There's much more at her web site, Fine-tooning.com.

 

Like many of my cartoonist friends, I met Deborah online first and then for the first time in person at the NCS Reuben weekend in Boca Raton, Florida in 2000.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Deborah, your initial career paths were completely non-cartoon related.  Can you tell us about that and how you ended up becoming a cartoonist?

 

 When I met my husband, Derrick, I had been in the hairstyling industry for ten years.  After we married we moved from New Brunswick to St. John’s, Newfoundland.  I decided, at this point, to attend University rather than start all over again as a stylist.  During my third year in school I became ill and required several surgeries.  I was studying Geology/Geophysics at the time so it didn’t take long to fall behind.  I opted to withdraw from the program to recuperate and it was during this time that I returned to my childhood love of drawing.  Essentially what began as a

“therapeutic” exercise gradually, over several years, evolved into a career. That was sixteen years ago. Ha!  It was a pretty rough way to begin but I’m so glad things worked out the way they did.

 

 

 

 

When we met, you were self-syndicating a daily panel called "Day to Day" and doing very well with merchandising Day to Day products.  I believe you said the Day to Day merchandise was making more money than the newspaper slots were paying.  I think people would find that aspect interesting since more and more web cartoonists are having success with a very similar type of business model . . .namely making money from the merchandise of your cartoon rather than the sale of the cartoon itself.   How many newspapers did you sell your feature to and how did you handle the merchandise sales?  (-and what kinds of Day to Day merchandise did you sell?)

 

 Ha!  Self-syndicating might be a generous term for what I was doing with my panel.  Other than my first weekly paper and then our local daily, I never actively pursued others.  Over time I managed to be picked up by several more papers here in Eastern Canada and a couple in the US.  I used the deadline for these papers as an incentive to keep producing cartoons on a daily basis.  Over time I eventually had enough cartoons for a collection.  My first print run was 2000 books. I acquired a regular, Saturday morning booth at our local market and just started selling.  At first it was just books but soon I began adding other merchandise to go along with them...”Day to Day” t-shirts, mugs, fridge magnets, bookmarks, calendars and greeting cards.  This worked out very well as people often purchased the merchandise to go along with the book.  I soon added a second collection, “Surviving Day to Day”.  I started attending gift shows, book fairs and craft shows.  I also exhibited at Book Expo in Toronto.  I eventually sold just over 13,000 books. So, while there was a little income from the papers, most of my revenue came from books and merchandise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Day to Day" had some attention from two of the major syndicates.  Can you tell us about that?

 

Yes, and actually, if the timing had been a bit different, I would have pursued it further.  At the time I had many irons in the fire, so to speak, and wasn’t in a position where I could focus on the suggested changes to my feature.  It was recommended I move from the single panel to a strip. It wasn’t something I wanted to throw together because of a lack of time. To do this properly would have required my full attention and I already had other commitments. 

 

    

                                                                                                           

You and a partner started a company called “PQexpressions!” which, among other things, successfully developed and licensed designs for fabric.  How did this come about?

 

This was one of the “irons in the fire” I mentioned in your previous question.  I was asked to illustrate a book for my friend and designer, Debra Quartermain. One of her areas of design is plush toys and she was working on a book called Easy to Sew Playful Toys.  She wanted several of her plush toy projects brought to life as illustrated characters giving helpful tips and hints throughout the book.  The illustrations eventually caught the eye of fabric manufacturer Northcott Silk Inc. and we were asked to design a fabric collection for babies. The collection was based on one of the book’s characters; a bunny called “Buggles” and was made up of 11 designs. The designs were licensed by Northcott and printed on bolts of fabric; one quilt panel and ten supporting fabrics.  The Buggles collection was distributed to independent fabric and quilt shops throughout North America and eventually picked up by Walmart Canada.  This was very exciting for us and it introduced me to brand new possibilities for my artwork.

 

   

 

How is your work schedule different from writing a daily panel to the design work?

 

My work schedule has changed somewhat.  Not so much in the work load but rather in the deadlines.  With the daily I was working towards deadlines that were a few weeks away whereas now the deadlines are based on seasons.  For example a collection that is going to be released in the fall is generally completed by late spring.  Also, the time I would normally spend in my pyjamas drinking coffee and writing gags is now spent on design work at the computer.  

 

 What are your tools of the trade?

 

I’m still using pen and ink when I draw the characters and decorative elements for the fabric designs.  After I draw the line art I scan it and do the colour and design work on the computer.  The design process can be a bit technical as there are quite a few specs required by the manufacturer. 

 

 

 

 

What are your plans for the future?  Have you considered trying to create a character for licensing or do you want to stay with the design aspect?  Do you ever think about trying another panel? 

 

Well, I really enjoy the fabric design so I hope to continue with that.  Now that I’ve been introduced into the world of licensing I would like to pursue some of the opportunities it has to offer.  That being said, I’ve had an idea for a strip that’s been banging around in my head for several years.  I do miss writing and drawing a daily feature.  Perhaps now that things have settled down a bit (both of our daughters are out on their own now) I can settle into my pj’s again with my coffee and write that strip...

 

Thanks Deb!

 

Visit Deborah Peyton's web site:  Fine-tooning.com