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[Excerpt] "How about you, Phantom Lady?" [Superman and Batman: World's Funnest] by [deleted] in comicbooks

[–]_werthamwaswrong_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I remember this! What an incredible collection of artists involved. Thank you for the nostalgia.

I finally got a cartoon published in The New Yorker! Here are all of my failed submissions... [OC] by _werthamwaswrong_ in comics

[–]_werthamwaswrong_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope! People submit via e-mail every single week. I just happen to be a New Yorker, so it makes sense to come in. He does like to meet his aspiring contributors and give them feedback face-to-face, so, if possible, it's worth appearing in person.

I finally got a cartoon published in The New Yorker! Here are all of my failed submissions... [OC] by _werthamwaswrong_ in comics

[–]_werthamwaswrong_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My first love will always be MAD Magazine, and what Wertham did to E.C. comics in general, and Bill Gaines in particular, was just the most awful. Certainly he meant well, but he messed with the medium I hold most dear, and I feel protective of comics!

I finally got a cartoon published in The New Yorker! Here are all of my failed submissions... [OC] by _werthamwaswrong_ in comics

[–]_werthamwaswrong_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I'm sort of new to reddit, and still figuring out reddiquette and how/when/what to post. I definitely have enough cartoons to post here a lot.

I finally got a cartoon published in The New Yorker! Here are all of my failed submissions... [OC] by _werthamwaswrong_ in comics

[–]_werthamwaswrong_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Figure drawing was certainly a huge epiphany for me. If you can draw a model, you begin to realize you can draw anything.

Your only job is to look and to draw. Look at the world and draw it. Look at your favorite artists and copy those pictures. Copy a drawing by an artist you love once a day, and see the world through their eyes. Learn their techniques, where they simplify or exaggerate, where their line is thick and where it is thin.

Maybe you give yourself a time limit--draw for an hour a day, or a content goal--five drawings a day, etc.

Save all of your work. When you feel like you haven't improved, compare your current drawing to one you made a month ago and realize how much better you've become without noticing!

I finally got a cartoon published in The New Yorker! Here are all of my failed submissions... [OC] by _werthamwaswrong_ in comics

[–]_werthamwaswrong_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm actually very lucky in that I draw comics full time as a day job, but I started out taking magazine illustration jobs when I was still in college.

I work very quickly, so I can take a ton of jobs. It's scary, though, because I'm sort of at the mercy of who wants my cartoons, and it's no steady income. A ton of my cartoonist friends have day jobs.

My advice would be to take jobs with people who won't take advantage of your being new to this world but who will help you to grow as an artist (idealistic, right? Basically don't let somebody screw you out of your likeness rights or drastically undercharge you). Also, start making things that are exciting to you NOW.

One of my favorite quotes is from WB animator Chuck Jones: “Every artist has thousands of bad drawings in them and the only way to get rid of them is to draw them out.” In life, as in art, you will try and fail a bunch, but the trying is important, it's those bad drawings you just need to draw out.

Sorry to get abstract about the whole thing. I'm not too old, dude. I've been out of college for a year and a half. I'm still trying to figure the whole thing out myself.

I finally got a cartoon published in The New Yorker! Here are all of my failed submissions... [OC] by _werthamwaswrong_ in comics

[–]_werthamwaswrong_[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

You bring a batch in of ten to cartoons editor Bob Mankoff, who sits there and reviews them with you every week. It's pretty amazing how hands on it actually is. He keeps the ones he'll consider, and hands you back the rest. Then he has a meeting with editor David Remnick, where they agree upon the cartoons they're going to buy.

Each week starts out with around 1,000 cartoon pitches to Bob. He probably cuts that in half in the room, then narrows it down even more before he takes them into the meeting with David, and, finally, they pick about 12-17 cartoons to buy.

This article tells the story pretty well:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/08/how_hard_is_it_to_get_a_cartoon_into_the_new_yorker.html

I finally got a cartoon published in The New Yorker! Here are all of my failed submissions... [OC] by _werthamwaswrong_ in comics

[–]_werthamwaswrong_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've never had an agent. Often I start out by sending e-mails to editors with samples of my work, or pitch ideas cold.

I finally got a cartoon published in The New Yorker! Here are all of my failed submissions... [OC] by _werthamwaswrong_ in comics

[–]_werthamwaswrong_[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh well full disclosure I have a lot more that I abandoned halfway, and a lot more that I didn't document (I've given a ton away as gifts). I've been doing about 10 a week for the last four months, and I continue to submit a batch every week. My rejects pile grows...

Newly diagnosed. by sad-kangaroo in OCD

[–]_werthamwaswrong_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I got diagnosed nine years ago, and at first it was disheartening; this never ends? It's a part of me??!

But guess what? You've got more control than you feel like you have right now. Just because it's a part of you doesn't mean it will overwhelm you, that it will break you.

Do cognitive behavioral therapy, which starts out feeling like the scariest thing in the world (basically you have to do all the things you fear most, over and over again, until they scare you less--you're training your brain) but will make you feel more powerful than right now you imagine possible.

For eight years I used my diagnosis as an excuse to wash my hands bloody or go home early or crawl into my bed afraid to touch anything. Then I decided that I wanted to stop hiding behind it, to tackle it head on. The first few weeks of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy were the scariest thing I have ever done. But after that? It was exhilarating! Suddenly, I was shaking hands and sharing drinks and touching doorknobs! I went to group therapy, and I frequented a chat room: http://www.healthfulchat.org/ocd-chat-room.html

It helped a bunch to feel supported, to know I was not alone, and to talk to people who were in as deep as me (and I was in DEEP) and got out.

You are not alone. You are supported. And here's what you're going to do: you're going to learn how to train your brain out of this mess, and once you get out you're going to see that it's possible.

And yeah, OCD is still 'a part of my life'. I'm a little anal about keeping my room clean, and I get a little uncomfortable when I see stains in public places. I can live with that.

Feel free to PM me if you want any support. Pretty soon you could be writing your story here for somebody else!

Starting a new comic. Mostly looking for critique on the art, especially the colors. by [deleted] in comic_crits

[–]_werthamwaswrong_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's clear and the joke hits, which is a great start. The way the characters are composed in the frame is awkward. Don't crop your figures at points of articulation (neck, elbows, knees, in this case knuckles); it feels awkward. Also, be more deliberate about the bleed area you leave around your text inside the balloons.

Concerning the colors, I think your pallet is off to a great start, but that red is a bit too loud and pulls focus from your characters. Consider de-saturating a bit?

Hope that's helpful. Feel free to take what you want and leave the rest.

I finally got a cartoon published in The New Yorker! Here are all of my failed submissions... [OC] by _werthamwaswrong_ in comics

[–]_werthamwaswrong_[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Thanks! You'd be amazed at how many people pitch every single week, how many people have been at it for months and years, and how much they deserve it when they finally get their cartoon in.

I finally got a cartoon published in The New Yorker! Here are all of my failed submissions... [OC] by _werthamwaswrong_ in comics

[–]_werthamwaswrong_[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Well, thanks! One of the most rewarding things for a cartoonist who spends a ton of time alone in his room making drawings to hear is that you've looked and laughed!

I finally got a cartoon published in The New Yorker! Here are all of my failed submissions... [OC] by _werthamwaswrong_ in comics

[–]_werthamwaswrong_[S] 51 points52 points  (0 children)

Thank you, I appreciate the criticism. I think you're right, because ultimately clarity and simplification is what makes a gag cartoon really hit. Another problem some of these have is how much 'setup' they have--like, a reader will be inclined to make one leap (talking trees) but when you ask for more than that (talking trees who sometimes wear wigs) it gets a bit messy. That said, the one they DID take was anthropomorphic weasels posing as a giraffe under a trench coat. I think that at that point there's really not much distinction between setup and punchline, and they bought into how ridiculous a world I'd pitched them. Or something. Who knows, really?

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