Chewing Pencils

There are times as a cartoonist when you cannot help but express some of your own questions and confusion about life through your artwork. This is one such time for me.
Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging earlier today and I’ve found myself a little disturbed about how his death unfolded and what it means for us […]

Here’s a list of the submissions so far for our January Group Drawing Project! Check back each day through January to see the cartoons and read the tips from each artist.
Remember, our judge, Matt Golding has offered one of his originals as first prize. The deadline is December 30th and the rules can be […]

In my part of Australia, the presents are opened, lunch has disappeared and we’re all about ready for an afternoon sleep.
Of course, then we’ll wake up and start eating the left overs for dinner…
Anyway, I hope your Christmas day is/was a great one with the people you love. Regardless of whether you subscribe to the […]

There’s now only a week left until submissions are closed for the January Drawing Project. As a reminder, I’m taking January off from the blog and have asked cartoonists from around the world to submit a single gag cartoon to be displayed on Chewing Pencils. A new cartoon will be displayed each day through January […]

There is no denying that cartoonists are very astute commentators on culture. Often their artwork can even sway public opinion and help shape culture. But in 2007, there is a movement that will see the cartoonist rise to new heights of power and influence in a way never thought possible.
Think about this for a […]

Just a quick wish for a happy Christmas and a safe New Year to all the readers of Chewing Pencils!
Thanks for your support and encouragement to keep this blog going. It’s been a pleasure to interact with cartoonists and illustrators of all levels of experience from all around the world. My career has certainly been […]

As a kid, I used to spend hours drawing the cartoon characters I saw on the television. Quite often, it was a character that Joe Barbera had developed with his long time friend and busines partner, Bill Hanna.
Tom and Jerry, Scooby-do and, of course, the Flintstones…I unashamedly ripped them off for all of my school […]

Our January Drawing Project judge, Matt Golding, has done a great little gag in the weekend edition of the Age Newspaper.
As a bit of background, the states of Victoria and Tasmania in Australia are battling huge bushfires at the moment - possibly the largest seen in the last one hundred years. A common sight in […]

Method 7:- Whatever you can think of…!
During this series I’ve covered numerous ways to sell your cartoon and illustration work. Most of these methods fall at least a ‘little’ into the traditional category, but as our culture changes, new media takes hold and technology goes beyond what we could have ever imagined, new markets and new […]

Method 6:- Syndication
Syndication could quite possibly be the ‘holy grail’ of cartooning.
The basic concept is simple - sell the same cartoon at a reduced rate to a large number of publications to increase your total revenue. For instance, a single panel might sell for $150 to a single newspaper. But using syndication, you might sell […]