Chewing Pencils

This week, another artist from across the Tasman shares his insite in the business of cartooning. David Fletcher’s strip The Politician has been running since 1983 and is syndicated to New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Kenya, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland.

Don’t tell anyone, but I think we have a real cartoonist on our hands….

NAME: David Fletcher
AGE: 55
LOCATION: Auckland, New Zealand
SITE URL: www.nzcartoons.co.nz

How long have you been drawing cartoons?

I didn’t really start drawing cartoons until I was at high school. It began with doodles in the margins of my exercise books during some of more boring school lessons (most of them) but like most British kids of the 60s, I was an avid fan of comics such as the Beano, Dandy, Topper etc. from an early age, I spent all my pocket money on them which left me nothing for sweets, which is why I still have all my own teeth!

What made you start to think more seriously about making some money out of it?

I moved to New Zealand in the 70s, and at that time Murray Ball was having great success with his Footrot Flats cartoon strip, so I decided to give it a go. I haven’t had quite as much success as Murray ,but it’s given me a reasonable income for all these years. It certainly beats working for a living.

Have you done any formal training? If so, what and where?

I managed to get a job with NZ’s largest daily paper, The New Zealand Herald, as an editorial illustrator where I worked alongside two of New Zealand’s top cartoonists, Sir Gordon Minhinnick and Malcolm Evans. I also did a graphics design course.

Where was your first cartoon published?

I drew a weekly strip for the education page of the Herald called ‘Smarty pants’. It was followed by a strip about a blackbird called ‘Crumb’ and then a daily strip called ‘Grasp & Co.’

What materials do you use to create your work?

I draw the roughs for the strips on 70gsm acid free Zeta paper with is designed for ink and marker work. I draw the cartoon in pencil then draw over it with medium nib markers, at that point I scan it into the computer.

What hardware and software do you use?

I use a PC with a 3000 AMD 64 processor and 1 gig of memory attached to a Wacom graphics tablet. Software consists of Photoshop, Corel Painter and Coreldraw for vector work.

From where so you draw your inspiration?

My daily strip ‘The Politician” is based loosely around events in NZ politics so it’s just a matter of reading the newspapers and watching the TV news.

What are some of the resources you’ve found most helpful?

One of the best resources you can have is another cartoonist to talk to.

What is the best piece of advice you have EVER been given? The worst?

Draw what appeals to you, not what you think will appeal to others. The worst piece of advice - ” I’ve got a great idea for a cartoon that you can use.”

Take us through the process you use to create one of your drawings:

Once the rough drawing has been scanned into the computer I open it in Photoshop and clean up the line work, fill in any large areas of black, add the lettering then I open it up in Painter and use the digital watercolour brush to add colour to the strip. It’s then saved as a tiff and emailed off to the newspapers.

How long does it generally take to create one piece?

I usually spend half an hour working up the gag then it usually takes me another hour to draw it up into its finished state.

What do you find the hardest to draw?

Caricatures.

What do your friends and family think of you being a cartoonist?

They all think it’s great to have a cartoonist in the family, but not as useful as a tradesperson.

What do you think is the best part about being a cartoonist?

Working for yourself from home.

What has been the standout post on Chewing Pencils for you? Why?

Feature artist and software tips.

Thanks for being part of our cartoon collective David!