Chewing Pencils

If you’ve been drawing for a while, you will quickly realise that the niche markets are where the money can be made.
But let me tell you a little secret here…people that occupy these niche markets are, well, a little bit niche themselves.
Put more bluntly, they’re strange. They make strange enquiries. They use your work in […]

Here’s the essence of an email conversation I’ve been having with a client who has come into some money problems and wants to renegotiate a price for some ongoing work:
Client: How much do you want for these cartoons?
Matt: The US$150 we negotiated is fine.
Client: Would you take $100?
Matt: Ok.
Client: Great. Let’s make it $75 then. […]

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 […]

My boys are growing up way to fast for my liking.
They’re growing up too fast for my wallet’s liking too!
Last week we had to, again, go out and buy some new shoes as once little feet were no longer fitting into little shoes. There was some screaming and a few tantrums, but in the end […]

Hopefully you’ve read this post on the next wave of cartoon troubles caused by our Danish friends. I don’t want to comment on whether they are right or wrong or get embroiled in another free-speech argument. But I do want to reflect briefly on the opportunity this presents for cartoonists.
When the original furore erupted, many […]

A few weeks ago in this post, I spoke about tapping into the movements in pop-culture as a potential market for cartoons. AT te time, I mentioned that I was working on a Star Wars cartoon that would hopefully coincide with the release of the theatrical version of the original movies on DVD.
As a bit […]

Now this is different….
Bob Staake has been well known for a while for his work in children’s books, animation and the like. Infact, if you look hard enough, you’re likely to find some of Bob’s work just about everywhere!
He’s also no stranger to cereal packet illustration, but now he seems to have gone one step […]

Have you heard about the phenomenon that is “Snakes on a Plane”?
Perhaps this is the first time in history that the general public have had such a huge influence in how stories are told in popular culture. The reports state that there was even a four day re-shoot based on what fans were suggesting around […]

If you’re a brave soul and don’t mind a bit of public speaking, then your local school may be an untapped source of income. A few times now I’ve taken a deep breath and stood in front of groups of 20-30 ten year olds to talk about what I do, draw a few pictures on […]