However, this is his style, and it is unique. His storytelling ability is well developed and he is popular amongst the Australian public.

At the other end of the scale, Australian Cartoonist of the Year for 2005, Peter Broelman, has a very polished style. His line work, perspective, use of colour, storytelling and overall sense of composition is, in my opinion, superb. Peter is just as popular amongst the Australian public.
Some might say that while Broelman can draw, Petty couldn’t to save his life. The reality is though, that both can draw. They just have very different styles.

Having a unique and consistent style is important. It might seem to make more sense to be comfortable with a variety of styles to appeal to a wider audience. There is some truth in this, but as your work becomes more widely known, your style will become recognizable. The more successful you become, the more people will look for and request that style. If you become really, really famous, your style will define cartoons for a whole segment of the market - I’ve lost count of how many clients have asked for “Something like Larson…”

Here’s a few tips to help you develop your drawing style and take a few more steps towards becoming a money-making, professional cartoonist:

Get some art training.
I don’t mean doing a full-on fine arts degree at university, but taking a drawing class at the local Arts centre or society or perhaps doing some night classes at the local college. Like writing, there are rules associated with good drawing technique. These rules can be broken, but it’s good to know what the rules are so they can be broken properly.

If you’re really keen, life drawing classes are a great way to learn how to draw the human body, but it does involves a bit of nudity!

Read some “How to draw” books.
Even if you can make it to an art class, and particularly if you can’t, reading about the skills and techniques others have successfully used is always good. Of particuar note is the famous Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards - this is an essential addition to a cartoonist’s library. I’ve also found the work of Chris Hart and Bruce Blitz to be helpful.

Study the styles of other cartoonists.
As a kid, I used to cut cartoons out of the paper and then draw them myself over and over again. I don’t recommend ripping off other artists’ work, but studying the techniques of others is a great way to develop your own style. Look at, for instance, how hands are drawn or where speech balloons are placed or how movement/action is drawn. You might find that a technique somebody else uses might help you overcome one of the problem areas of your own style.

Visit galleries.
Again, to study the techniques of great artists. And you will find that as you develop your own style, your appreciation for great drawings and paintings increases dramatically. Suddenly you realise just how much skill goes into producing such amazing work.

Experiment with different tools and media.
Some styles can be enhanced by using particular media, so be bold and try as many different things as you can get your hands on. Pencils and markers are the obvious choice, but even within this field there are lots, and I mean LOTS of choices. Charcoal produces some great results, as does pastel, nib pens, air brush and even your kid’s crayons. Experiment and see what you firstly feel comfortable with and then what you like the results of. With the computer age, drawing digitally is also an option.

Experiment with different styles.
Don’t be scared to try a few different styles from time to time. Even if you’ve been drawing for years, try something new. Looking back over my work from the last ten years, my style has changed gradually with time. Much of this has happened without me consciously aware of it, but other times I’ve played around and hit upon something that I have liked, incorporating it into my style from that point on.

If you’re a “big nose” cartoonist, have a go at some more realistic, anime or comic book style drawing. You may never use it professionally, but your experiments can add some useful things to your unique style.

Define your audience
Your style will, in some ways, dictate what sort of audience will best connect with your work. We can never really be sure who will be reading our stuff, but if we take some time to work through who we think our audience might be, we can save ourselves a lot of potentially wasted energy.
For instance, if you think your main audience might be children, the messages you seek to send and the style of drawing you employ will be child friendly. Over time, with this audience in mind, you will find yourself thinking more and more of your audience as you produce your work.
Other potential audiences could be teens, single mothers, football players, quilting groups and so on. If you can manage to find a niche audience and draw specifically for them, you’re in a great position to generate an ongoing income.

Seek honest feedback.
When it’s all said and done, your audience will tell you if they like your style. If you’re submitting to a publication of some sort, the editor is the one to please. In either case, you’ll get people who love what you do, and others who will screw their noses at it. Don’t be offended - just get used to it. That’s the nature of the business.

But don’t be scared to show people your work to seek their feedback. Sometimes we get so ‘close’ to our work, we can’t see some obvious areas for improvement. The story or message might be clear in our minds, but it’s not until we show it to somebody else that we know if we’ve communicated it properly. Feedback is a powerful, and sometimes painful, way to develop your style.

When I need a chuckle, I try to watch a sitcom or read the funnies. When my need for comedy is greater, then I invest my time in watching a complete movie. But when nothing but the funniest will do, I just observe the so-called real world around me.

The fact that this is really happening makes all the weird stuff all the more funny. To begin with, one tends to have a basic expectation of common sense from people. But the word common is misleading, as most often what we would classify as common sense is fairly uncommon.

What? Are you having trouble believing me? Well just turn to the weird news section of any newspaper or portal web site. Honestly, I used to think that all this was just made up. But I finally got to meet some of the people in these real world snafus and became a believer.

What would you say of the owner who claims that her cat dialed 911 thereby calling the police in time to save her life? Or the person who called Nine One One and claimed to not be able to find the Eleven button on his phone, thereby not being able to call Nine-Eleven, Or the bank robber who had his name prominently labeled across the motor bike helmet he wore to a bank? If I keep extending this list, you will soon get convinced that I am making this up as I am going along.

I am reminded of the words of Ernest Hemingway when we would sit on the steps of, whatever he sat on the steps of, and "see the world walk by." Well, Hemingway and I share that in common, except that it seems like I am more entertained than Hemingway was, as I do not just see the world walk by, but also make a fool of itself all along the way.

So, when you feel that things are all so sad and boring, just look around. Do not bother about reading a joke book. Instead consider reading a news paper. Knowing what happened when a duck went to the bar and asked for a drink can be fun the first time you hear it. Responding to a "Knock Knock" can be fun the first hundred times you hear it. But, a constant, evergreen, and "unreal" source of chuckles is the real world.

It is no wonder then that movie makers spend time, energy, and money in including bloopers at the end of all movies. Many people claim that these bloopers are more fun than the actual movie.

Most ideas used in cartoons are old jokes rehashed. For instance you may hear a good joke at the theatre, or when mixing with friends, on the street even, and then go home and write it up with any additional ridiculous detail you can imagine and add.

To be really successful a cartoon should contain an element of truth as well as something funny. Many cartoonists succeed by using animals instead of people for their subjects, and making them say and do the funny things that people have said and done.

Remember, to be successful every detail of your cartoon should be funny. Study the well known cartoonists in the papers, and notice the many little humorous touches in a single drawing. Unless you have a natural sense of humour it would be difficult to become a cartoonist, but these suggestions may help.

A budding cartoonist left to their own devices is apt to choose quite unsuitable studies for copying. You might copy Mutt and Jeff till you could do them as well as the originals, and you still wouldn't be worth ten dollars a week as an artist. It's the ideas that sell your work, not the ability to draw. Many comic strips are actually poorly drawn. However that doesn't mean that a poorly drawn picture is necessarily funny.

It is much more difficult to draw good original cartoons on a different subject each day than to use the same characters, and put them through their paces in a comic strip. Don't run away with the idea that every idea you come up with will be published. You'll be lucky if half your ideas meet with success, and often an editor will change your caption or heading entirely. Don't see this as a bad thing, a good managing editor can often improve an artists original idea.

Next to the idea itself, action and character are the most important things to consider in cartooning. Study the actors in movie comedies for examples of character, and try to get good action, not only in your figures, but in animals as well.

When you are capable of making saleable cartons or other drawings you should adopt a signature for your work, this can be your own name or a pen name. Whichever you decide to use just make sure it is legible. When you are doing regular cartoon work the advertising you get from your signature is very valuable.

A good tip is to study the best work you can find. Check it out thoroughly and decide what makes it good. Don't waste time finding fault with poor work. You tend to find what you want in this world, so look for the best and study that.

If the same amount of system were applied to the teaching of various forms of drawing that is devoted to the teaching of writing, You wouldn't so often hear people say, "Oh no, I could never learn to draw! They tried to teach me at school, but I was no good, I had to give it up as a bad job."

What would you think about the same person who said the same thing about learning to write? You'd probably think that it was a pretty stupid thing to say, and you'd be right. Now, that's not necessarily the students fault. The number of failures in drawing classes is no doubt due to an almost total lack of system in teaching the fundamentals, and the denial to students of basic teaching aids.

So called "freehand drawing" is at the bottom of most failures to grasp the groundwork knowledge necessary to enable almost anyone to make simple, accurate, drawings from copies or other models. "Freehand" drawing should probably becalled "Hap-Hazard" drawing.

A teacher of handwriting instructs according to a recognised system. He/she requires the use of guide lines for the formation of the written characters.

Cartooning is great fun, and having aquired the skill, is a wonderful way of making a good living. However, everyone needs to start at the beginning, and here are a few pointers to bear in mind as you set off.

Always use good quality materials, this should be pretty obvious, but it's surprising how many people try to cut corners by skimping. As with most crafts it is always much easier to use the best tools. You will be using ink pens, the kind that hold a nib and you dip into Ink, sounds old fashioned but this is still the way to get best results and is used by most cartoonists today. You will require a broad, medium, and fine nib, those recommended are Hunt No.512, Hunt No.513, and Esterbrook No 359. New pens (nibs) should be moistened before use, you can use a damp fine cloth or tissue, or traditionally, your lips. This removes the film of fine oil used in packing to prevent rust, and enables the ink to adhere to the nib. Ink should be black and permanent, good quality of course, maybe Higgins.

Pencils of course, you should always start with pencil drawings and continue with pencil to develop your craft until you feel confident to proceed to ink. As a general rule it is best to start all drawings with light pencil lines that can later be inked over and erased. It is much easier to darken and strengthen a line than to do the opposite. Pencils should be "H" and as they are pretty cheap, keep a good stock. Keep them sharp, using a good quality sharprner, and throw (or give) them away when they are not much more than half way down. As mentioned before, they are cheap, and using a stub of a pencil cramps the hand.

When making a drawing (in pencil) with the intention of the finished piece being in Ink, make your pencil lines as inconspicuous as possible. For reproductive purposes the lines obviously have to be erased. Again a good quality eraser should be used, there are many to choose from, but soft is to be preferred to hard, you do not want to damage the paper/card. The paler your pencil lines, the less rubbing out is required, and the less the danger of partially obliterating your inked lines, or damaging the surface. Also a heavy pencil line can make things confusing when going over it with ink.

A softish pencil like the "H" gives freedom to the stroke. The harder the pencil the more stilted the result, and also the more difficult to erase. In the first instance doodle as much as you can, don't worry too much about what you are drawing, just get the feeling of the pencil over the paper/card and the types of effect that can be got by varying pressure, using the pint and side of the lead etc. This way you will gradually develop your own individual style as you did when you were learning to write.

Keep a piece of white paper under your hand when it rests on a part of the drawing in which the pencil lines appear, this will prevent smudging. Makes erasures deliberately and gently.

Author: Chris Haycock
Source:Articles Base

The usual term for the spaces in which spoken words are contained in cartoons is a "balloon". This is so called whatever the actual shape of the space. Lettering in a cartoon is an important feature, and it is well worth studying a few simple rules to make your cartoons look professional and easy to read.

Firstly your letters should be very plain and simple. Compare them to the use of Arial or Helvetica typestyles in printing, or on the web. These two styles are among the most popular because of their plain, non fussy style, and are pretty easy to read in most sizes. So, avoid fancy flourishes and curlicues, and capital letters should be the rule rather than the exception.

You do not need much space between your letters in a balloon, but on the other hand do not crowd your letters and words. Make all your letters vertical, and avoid mixing slanting (italic) letters with vertical.

For the sake of neatness do not attempt to letter without first drawing some faint parallel guidelines, sketch the letters in lightly with pencil before inking. A good tip is to cut slots in the form of parallel guidelines out of a piece of thin card. A standard business card is ideal. Cut out two or three of these for letters of different heights. Use a pen whose point has become blunted with use for lettering. A new broad-nibbed pen may be used, but never a new fine pointed pen.

When you are lettering your cartoons, you should bear in mind that all drawings intended for publication, with rare exceptions, will be reduced in size before the printing process. Usually your drawing will be reduced by one half, although occasionally it will be a little more or less. So an original drawing of four by four inches will appear as a two by two inch drawing.

The smallest type generally in use in newspapers and magazines is six point type, that is six seventy-seconds of an inch in height. So you can see that in a half reduction scenario you should be drawing your letters no less than twelve point type in size, or twelve seventy-seconds of an inch. If the reduction is to be a bit less than a half then your letters should be drawn about an eighth of an inch high. Smaller type may be used sometimes , but it is always better to err on the side of safety and make your letters slightly too big, rather than too small.

If you cut the slots in your card to these guidelines you won't go far wrong. You will never be thought the worse of (quite the opposite in fact, it shows professionalism) if you ask the paper or magazine you wish to submit to what reduction they usually use. Finally don't forget that it is easier to sketch your words with pencil before inking. You can easily make changes which will not be noticeable, using a good quality eraser prior to inking.

Chris Haycock is an information publisher, one of whose hobbies is cartooning. For more information on cartooning, including details of a very special insiders course on cartooning, go to http://www.cartoonsforfunandprofit.com/

I watched on TV the Oscar Awards night. It was fun. With a lot of laughs courtesy of the always dependable Jon Stewart.

But that fun was ruined when Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi lost in the Animated Feature Film category. Persepolis is among the best films of 2007, I believe.

Anyway, it was Ratatouille who won and it didn't deserve it. I stand by my belief. Ratatouille didn't deserve the award. Sure, it was a great film with great visual effects but that's just it. It is the Harry Potter of animated movies. Nice effects but very flat.

Persepolis on the other hand is a beautiful film based on the graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi of the same title. It may have lacked the technical superiority of Ratatouille but it was very smart, witty, it makes you think and ponder unlike Ratatouille that only makes you laugh.

Persepolis is a movie that shall stay with me for a very long time. I'm looking forward to a home video or DVD release so I can watch it maybe a few more times.

I also loved the graphic novel upon which the movie was based.

You should secure a copy of it too. I assure you, you will enjoy every page of it.

First of all before I go on I wish to inform you that I am not at all a braggart. I don't brag about the things that I have, the achievements I reached and the goals I I accomplished. I am a very shy guy and therefore I really hate it to be the center of attention. I prefer to be alone whether I'm at work or watching a movie. That is why I enter movie theaters at the very last screening because at this time the people aren't that many.

I'm currently taking my studies at a university here and it's really pretty hard for me because as we all know school means dealing with a lot of people-classmates, professors, chicks and a lot more. But don't worry coz I'm handling the pressure pretty well. I really love sitting at the very back during classes though. I just hate having someone behind when I'm doing something like taking notes and doodling when I'm not taking notes.

I repeat, I'm not a braggart.

But today is an exception.

Because today, as of this very moment while I'm typing this article I'm number one on Googlefor the search phrase "best cartoon blog." I believe this is worth bragging for. I know that the position isn't permanent and maybe tomorrow I'll be number 25 again as I always was but I am hoping that won't happen.

Every cartoonist, in one way or another has used "awful singing scenarios" as his/her subject in drawing a funny cartoon. Making fun of bad singers equals good and effective comedy. Take American Idol for example. The best parts of the show are probably the individual auditions wherein a lot of the applicants are so humorously bad that you laugh at them as if you're watching the The Roadrunner Show .
Same with cartooning. Bad singers make good inspiration for great cartoons.

This is the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary's definition of a Bomb

:" a fused explosive device designed to detonate under specefied conditions"

This should be the definition

:" a fused explosive device designed to put an end to peoples' lives"

Ask the person next to you about a cat named Garfieldand there is no way in hell that person has no idea about who Garfield is. That is unless that person isn't actually a person but an alien wearing the skin of somebody it killed just around the corner. Or a member of some tribe living in a remote village in some jungle in Brazil .

Who wouldn't know Garfield, the fat, upright-walking and yellowish cat. He is on the level of Snoopy , Dilbert and ....uummmm...Britney Spears in terms of popularity. Yes, Garfield the cat with no nipples and a belly similar to that of Michael Moore's is one famous feline bastard. No offense but where in Indiana did Jim Davis get the idea of a nippleless cat when it's supposed to have eight. But it's a cartoon of course. Mickey Mouse for instance has ears bigger than George Bush's considering Bush is a human being with larger-than-life ears. Mickey is of course a mouse although sometimes he's a noodle. Mickey Noodle.

It's very disappointing that today's mainstream music is so full of crap and nonsense. The stupid and foolish behavior of the singers make it even crappier. It's ironic that the real good music and real artists out there are less known and labeled as either indie or underground.