Chewing Pencils

Fellow Australian cartoonist, Grant Brown, has found a unique market for his cartoon work that not only earns him some good money, but generates the type of exposure that most of us only dream of.
Each Christmas, the shop fronts around the rural Australian township of Bendigo are decorated with Grant’s original work, creating a wonderful […]

Don’t forget!
While there are still two weeks left to get your entry into the January Drawing Project, there is this little thing called Christmas and a slightly smaller (or bigger, depending on where you are) thing called the New Year coming up!
Both of these will take away lots of your drawing time, so for your chance to […]

Megan Jeffery celebrated 17 years in freelance work by posting 17 things she’s learnt from her years in the business. It’s a fantastic list, with many themes similar to those I’ve mentioned here.
Go and check out Megan’s post and take a look around her site as well. She’s a talented girl!

I’ve touched briefly on this before, but leading up to Christmas is probably a good time to mention it again.
If you’re a freelance artist of any nature, you have to learn to manage your time well. And you have to do it yourself because nobody will do it for you.
One of the most attractive things […]

Method 5:- Online Selling
The internet has given rise to all sorts of markets for cartoonists to exploit. In addition, it has also seen a number of ways for cartoonists to sell work directly to the general public without having to go through a publisher, editor or advertising firm.
For example, some of the more unusual things […]

Here’s the prize for the Chewing Pencils January Group Drawing Project. It’s an original by our judge, Matt Golding.
Drool.
Make sure you get your submission in to be eligible! Click here for details.

We’ve all probably got a pet cartoon project or character that we spend more time on than anything else. We spend most of our creative energy on developing the particular piece and, all modesty aside, we think it’s the best thing on paper for years.
Then, when you get multiple rejection letters saying your work is […]

Matt Golding, the judge for our latest Group Drawing Project, wrote a piece recently to help aspiring gag cartoonists in their never-ending search for jokes. Matt has kindly agreed to let me reproduce the article here. Be inspired!
A laugh is a SURPRISE!
A laugh is reaction to an unexpected event. A cartoon works on the same […]

I’m taking some time off over January, but rather than leave the blog quiet, I thought it would be a good opportunity to run another Group Drawing Project.
Here’s what you’ll need to do to participate:
1. Create a gag cartoon with the dimensions of 5cm wide by 8cm high (the size to the left). This smaller size […]