Chewing Pencils

The Friday Feature Artist is an opportunity for any cartoonist, from the very beginner to the very professional, to share a littl about how and why they do what they do. Anyone can be part of it, so if you’d like to feature, send me an email and I’ll send you the questions!

NAME: K. A. Polzin
AGE: 43
LOCATION: New York, NY
SITE URL: http://kapolzin.wordpress.com/

How long have you been drawing cartoons?
I always liked to draw as a kid, but I began drawing cartoons in 1993, when I was 29.

What made you start to think more seriously about making some money out of it?
I read an interview with a cartoonist - I forget who it was now - and he was asked what the secret was to getting published. He said “you copy the shit, you mail the shit.” I realized it only cost the price of a stamp to submit something. Not long after that, I sent out my first packets of submissions.

Have you done any formal training? If so, what and where?
No, and honestly I’m not very good at drawing. I have what you call a “primitive” style.

Where was your first cartoon published?
After I sent out my first set of submissions, Spring Hill Review bought two. I was pretty lucky. With my second round of submissions, I included a tear sheet from Spring Hill Review as well as some postcards of my work, so I was feeling pretty confident. The second time I didn’t sell any, and I realized that I had been assuming I would.

What materials do you use to create your work?
I use acid-free drawing paper with a smooth finish. I use drawing pencils and Pigma Micron pens. I also use a ruler, erasers, white-out, an Exacto knife, glue, etc.

What hardware and software do you use?
I use a souped-up laptop PC. I use Photoshop to work with scanned drawings. I never use a tablet. I have done the layout for some pieces in Microsoft Publisher. It’s not a flexible program, but if you’re doing something that isn’t complicated, it can be very fast.

From where do you draw your inspiration?
Things people say and do. The news. People Magazine.

What are some of the resources you’ve found most helpful?
“The Artist’s Market,” which lists publications that buy cartoons and illustrations. Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics.” The Internet.

What is the best piece of advice you have EVER been given? The worst?
Best advice: “You copy the shit, you mail the shit.” I can’t think of any bad advice, but people are always telling me they have a great idea for one of my cartoons. Sometimes I suggest that they draw it.

Take us through the process you use to create one of your drawings:
First I make a rough draft. Then I start the cartoon by sketching it out in pencil. Then I draw it with Pigma Micron pens. I make corrections with white-out and sometimes by gluing a small section of drawing paper onto the piece. Sometimes the completed drawing is the master. Other times, I scan drawings and lay the piece out on the computer, so that the computer file is the master.

How long does it generally take to create one piece?
Most of my cartoons are 6 or 8 panels long, and they take a few days to complete. I make a a rough draft, usually with the basic idea sketched out, but often with no clear idea of where it will go or how it will end. Then, in the process of creating the final piece, I make a lot of changes and find the ending. I’ll often leave pieces for days with some panels unfinished while I think about what would work best there.

What do you find the hardest to draw?
That’s one advantage of not being an accomplished artist. I draw everything about equally well, so nothing is particularly challenging. I will sometimes use Google images to find a photo of something if I can’t recall exactly what it looks like. Often, it’s an animal.

What do your friends and family think of you being a cartoonist?
I publish a zine called Other People Exist, and many of my friends and family members are subscribers. Most of them like my drawings, and some even take me seriously as a cartoonist.

What do you think is the best part about being a cartoonist?
I’ve always enjoyed writing short funny pieces. Cartooning is the perfect form for the ideas I want to express. Sometimes they even get published.

What has been the standout post on Chewing Pencils for you? Why?
I’ve enjoyed them all, really.

Anything else you’d like to say….
Thank you for the opportunity to talk about cartooning.