I feel like cartoonist "worlds" are at risk of fading.
A cartoonist needs to experiment, exercise patience, and stay true to themselves in order to cultivate their own world. This is hard enough, but the lack of opportunity in the market, high competition, and the presence of social media makes it even harder. I also question if there is a demand for new worlds in modern gag cartooning and if stylistic trends prevent richer worlds from being created.
Anyway, I'd hate to see them go and hope new ones are uncovered soon.
Is there patience in our field anymore? (or any profession?) When I started (1880s), you would have to first break in in Parade or Barron's or a secondary "minor league" venue...whether that was real or perception is up for debate. But if you follow Inkspill dot com, which records and tracks the stats of how many new people are coming in and what those numbers were in other decades, one gets the impression everything is moving much faster. I can only guess this may be that artists wouldn't be expected to wait for their turn and hone their skills and style over years. In football we would wait for a quarterback to develop over 3 or 4 years. Now you're traded or cut if you don't get to the playoffs in one year.
Love your newsletter, especially the cat page. However: you've misspelled the name of my late friend Joan, biographer of Highsmith. It should be Schenkar. She was Jewish, not South Asian....
Dear Elizabeth, So sorry. It was a typo everyone missed. I feel terrible about that. (I actually had someone at Times check spelling and assumed there were no typos)
I like the new Bobb. That cartoon is good but the bedside lamp is ugly.
I've contacted the cartoonist and he is working on a new version.
I don't mind at all when my books become coasters. They're multi-functional like that. It's one of their main selling points.
I feel like cartoonist "worlds" are at risk of fading.
A cartoonist needs to experiment, exercise patience, and stay true to themselves in order to cultivate their own world. This is hard enough, but the lack of opportunity in the market, high competition, and the presence of social media makes it even harder. I also question if there is a demand for new worlds in modern gag cartooning and if stylistic trends prevent richer worlds from being created.
Anyway, I'd hate to see them go and hope new ones are uncovered soon.
Is there patience in our field anymore? (or any profession?) When I started (1880s), you would have to first break in in Parade or Barron's or a secondary "minor league" venue...whether that was real or perception is up for debate. But if you follow Inkspill dot com, which records and tracks the stats of how many new people are coming in and what those numbers were in other decades, one gets the impression everything is moving much faster. I can only guess this may be that artists wouldn't be expected to wait for their turn and hone their skills and style over years. In football we would wait for a quarterback to develop over 3 or 4 years. Now you're traded or cut if you don't get to the playoffs in one year.
Love your newsletter, especially the cat page. However: you've misspelled the name of my late friend Joan, biographer of Highsmith. It should be Schenkar. She was Jewish, not South Asian....
Cheers, ez
Dear Elizabeth, So sorry. It was a typo everyone missed. I feel terrible about that. (I actually had someone at Times check spelling and assumed there were no typos)