Mailbag
November 25th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q; I am an artist who also has a son who is interested in becoming an artist for a living. Do you have any advice on how to teach him the skills necessary to pursue this career? A: I don’t know how young your son is, but with kids the most important thing is just to encourage them to keep exploring their art and artistic interests. Pablo Picasso once said: “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.“ I believe that wholeheartedly. Children see and interpret the world through eyes unclouded by preconceptions eventually forced on them… READ MORE
November 18th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Have you ever considered creating a comic strip to submit for syndication, since this is a more stable job for a cartoonist than it is to freelance? Have you ever submitted cartoons to magazines or to a syndicate and if so where? A: I have never submitted any gag cartoons for either syndication or for magazines. That is something very different from what i do, and it’s never been something I have tried to pursue nor that I feel I could do effectively… just not my bag. As for the syndicated strip, I actually have been kicking an idea around for that for some… READ MORE
November 11th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Is there a celebrity that no matter how many times you attempt to capture their likeness it just eludes you? I see posts from artists a lot (ones that do incredible work) that seem to have at least one subject that they just can’t seem to capture. Conversely is their a person that you find hard to do an original caricature of because their features have been beaten to death; ex: Jay Leno always is drawn with a big chin etc. A: Some faces are easier to draw than others but there is no face that cannot be caricatured with a good likeness. That… READ MORE
November 4th, 2007 | Posted in Freelancing
Q: Are you ever distracted working out of your home, and have you ever considered getting a studio outside your house? A: Having a studio in my home is both good and bad. It’s good in that I do not have to drive anywhere, the studio is always close and ready to go, and I do not have to miss family things like the baby’s first step or my kids getting home from school, etc. It’s bad in that I am never really away from the office… work is always calling to me from the other side of the door, distractions abound from the telephone… READ MORE
October 28th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Do any of your children share an interest in cartooning or art? Would you encourage or discourage them from that interest? Would or do you employ them at any of your concessions? A: All of my kids are creatively talented and interested in the arts. They all draw and do it very well, but none of them have much of an interest in being a professional artist. My oldest Elizabeth, 17, is autistic and very musical. She can hear a song and sing or hum it without missing a note right after. Victoria, 15, draws very well and is thinking about doing caricatures when… READ MORE
October 21st, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: You mentioned a few weeks ago that you don’t mention your MAD work when you draw at the park. Has anyone recognized your signature or art style after you’ve drawn them at one of your locations? A: Yes, that happened once. The first job I ever did for MAD was called “MAD‘s Cable TV Betting Odds”, which consisted of several spot illustrations of shows from different networks and odds of this or that taking place with those shows. In one panel I did a caricature of Tom Green eating rats out of a take out container for the MTV channel. The job got put… READ MORE
October 14th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I’m wondering if you can recall which issue of MAD ( either by number or cover subject ) you first read. Which was the first artist that captured your interest? I think I can recall my first MAD. A: Yes, I clearly remember my first look at MAD. I was in 5th grade, living in a small town in Wisconsin. A friend of mine from school and I used to get together and draw comics and such over at his house. He had a very liberal single mom who worked a lot, so he was left to his own devices quite often, and we… READ MORE
October 7th, 2007 | Posted in Freelancing
Q: Sorry for the boring question, but how do you deal with income taxes as a freelancer? I see by your logo you are incorporated. Are there tax benefits to that over being self employed? Do you have to pay quarterly estimated taxes? A: Taxes? Boring? Surely you jest! Being self employed is great except for the paperwork, especially the estimated tax payments. Somehow when your tax payments appear as numbers on your check stub as an employee, and you never get the money in the first place, it’s less painful than to have to remove it from your checking account. It’s like you didn’t… READ MORE
