Our Cartoonist Shares Fun Tips! Getting Paid to Doodle

I have fun all day long … and yes, I have a job!

I actually get paid to sit and draw cartoons all day. When I was a young child, I would get bored, so I picked up a pencil and starting doodling, and I never stopped.

My doodles would get better, and they would gradually resemble cartoons. Not only did drawing pass the time … it was also a way for me to express my sense of humor.

I saw humor in everything. I just wasn’t a serious kid, so being a cartoonist was a natural fit. Realistic art was too difficult for me, and I just didn’t have the patience to spend hours, days or weeks on a piece of art. Cartoons were quick, loose and fun. There were no rules. A dog didn’t have to look exactly like a dog. It was my creation. It was my world. No one could criticize how my world looked.

Drawing is fun, but a cartoon’s strength is really the writing. A cartoon, after all, is a joke. So, the joke must be funny. No matter how good the art is, a cartoon will fail without a funny caption. That’s why I have a college degree in English. Most people assume I went to art school, but cartoonists are usually self-taught. I could already draw, but it was the writing I needed to learn.

Like most things, the more you practice, the better you get. I now create around 300 cartoons each month, so my creative muscles have gotten bigger and better. When I tell people I have to work, they laugh, because no one considers what I do an actual job. Why?  Because it’s fun. The best thing about drawing a cartoon is that it only requires fun and your imagination.

Take drawing a dog, for instance. Here are some tips:

Remember, this is a cartoon. The only rules are to have fun, and be creative!