Cartoonists / Illustrators / Creative & Art Directors

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Permalink Reply by Richard Michem on October 1, 2008 at 1:38pm

since you done the work for R>D>How do you feel about the fact the Reader's Digest, no longer used cartoons on their back page.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Rosandich on October 1, 2008 at 1:44pm

Thanks Richard. It's always nice to see publications lend special attention to gag panel cartoons like on a backpage. However, it's out of the creators control in that other factors come into play....such as the editors not getting the types of humor they'd like for the back page etc. The inclusion of gag cartoons into any magazine is so subjective because so many variables come into question. It's nice when Plumber's Weekly decides to use 25 cartoons throughout an entire issue....then when one of the larger respected magazines quits using cartoons on their back cover...you scratch your head!

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Permalink Reply by David Willson on October 2, 2008 at 10:35am

Hi Dan,

I am all of the above as well. I've been the editorial cartoonist for the Palm Beach Daily News for more than 16 years and had illustrations published in many regional and trade magazines (many of them cartoon-style). I have a good sampling to look at here on Folio:Media Pro.

I really haven't tried to ply the gag cartoon market since the early '90s. How's it done now? Do you still send packets of samples? Do you set up a Web portfolio and then try to attract editors through e-mail? Do you join a freelance online resource site? ... or all of the above.

Here's my latest Palm Beach Daily News Cartoon:

Maybe we should start a cartoon and illustration group.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Rosandich on October 2, 2008 at 12:00pm

David:
Your work is above & beyond! Enjoyed browsing. I don't believe gag cartooning is dead. I believe the market has become somewhat "homogenized" via the new technologies bombarding the publishing world. When I sold my first cartoon back in 1976 to Mechanix Illustrated (now defunct), I received $35. That was a decent price for a cartoon over 30 years ago! But magazines are starving for space, paper costs are up, the eco concious publications have to pay more for special production etc. So many variables come into play with editors and publishers. This has had an impact on their ability to purchase and publish cartoons on a regular basis. So very few publications make cartoons a priority now and personally, I have had to resort to the latter part of your post and spread myself across many areas.
Like you, I offer my services to create "custom" cartoons: http://www.danscartoons.com/custom_cartoons.htm and have illustrated articles and stories for magazines and newsletters in the trade journal genre. Publishers have found me through my web page I linked here, or have found me in specialized artist directories like the Graphic Artist's Guild Directory Of Illustration. Those books are rather expensive though (here I go again, mentioning costs of paper and production and distribution)....roughly around $2700 for one color page on my last run there back about 7 years ago. Ironically enough, I got a call last month off that book from a communications firm in Connecticut who asked me to illustrate a poster (sample below). But I use alot of techniques for promotion, and it is very difficult. Your editorial work is great. Thanks for posting.

Dan

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