Cedric's Blog-o-Rama!

8/8/2005 - CEDRIC'S BLOG-O-RAMA HAS MOVED!

You can view the new blog HERE. Sorry for the inconvenience.

8/7/2005 - Syndicates be warned!

Newspaper syndicates may soon be a thing of the past.

Cartoonist Scott Kurtz has one of the most successful comic strips on the web. PVP is a smartly-written strip about the publishers of a gaming magazine. Scott gets about a jillion hits a month to his site, and his popular strip has recently expanded into print (through Image comics), t-shirts, and plush toys. Needless to say he's making a good living as a cartoonist.

But unlike other successful cartoonists, Kurtz has done it all without the help of a syndicate. In fact, his strip has never even appeared in a newspaper. And now he is poised to revolutionize the funny pages forever.

Syndicates are large companies that purchase cartoons from artists, sell them to newspapers, and then give some of the profit back to the artist. Problem is, the syndicate owns all the rights. So if a strip is truly successful (few are) the syndicate keeps a lot of the money. (Contrary to popular belief, it's very hard for a syndicated cartoonist to make a good living these days). Another problem: newspaper readership is down and most comic strips are rather bland anyway, so in order to save costs some papers are considering dropping the funny pages altogether (USA Today, anyone?). In other words, if an artist wants to "make it" in the funnies biz, the future looks increasingly bleak.

Enter Scott Kurtz. Thanks to the internet he has been able to build a very successful strip without any help from a syndicate, something that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. And since he owns the strip (not the syndicate), he keeps all the rights and all the profits. At this year's Comic-Con convention in San Diego, Kurtz dropped a bombshell: He plans to offer his strip free of charge to any and all newspapers for one year. Kurtz would get more exposure (and more money from books sales, merhandising, etc.), and the newspaper would get a successful strip free of charge. Bye bye syndicates.

I sincerely hope at least one large newspaper takes Kurtz up on his offer. If that happens, it will be a huge win-win for newspapers and cartoonists. The paper gets more readers, the artist gets more money, and the syndicate becomes irrelevant. Making a living as a cartoonist is a real challenge these days, but Kurtz' plan could change all that. I can't wait to see what happens.

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8/6/2005 - Sketchbook Update: Giddyup!

My warm-up sketch today was for a cowboy thread on The Drawing Board. For the color I experimented with some Photshop brushes. I really want to get a better grasp of what Photoshop can do.

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8/5/2005 - Chen Yi Chang on Character Design

This has been around for a while, but it's still a great link. In October 2002 California State Polytechnic University Pomona filmed a presentation by Disney character design supervisor Chen Yi Chang (Batman, Mulan, Tarzan). For over two hours Chang gives a multimedia discusssion covering the basics of good character design and technique. Then he reviewed student's work for another hour. There's some really good stuff here, mostly a refresher on the basics but still very inspiring!

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8/4/2005 - Doodling in the Dark

I've been working on a project illustrating Bible stories in a comic book format. Last night I went to the comic book store for inspiration, and found some great stuff! Most notably "Kyle Baker: Cartoonist" (Vol. 2) and a few comics by the legendary John Byrne.

I got home just in time for a thuderstorm to blow through and knock out my power (again!). But it turned out to be a real blessing. After weeks of non-stop craziness, there was nothing I coud do except curl up with a flashlight and read my newly-purchased comics. It was very relaxing.

Kyle Baker's stuff is really inspiring. After absorbing his book, I did this late-night doodle by flashlight. Why a barber? I have no idea. He just came out of the pencil that way.

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8/3/2005 - Speed Bump

I've been pulling all-nighters to meet deadlines, so there's not much new to report. Here's a cartoon that's been hanging in my studio for a while. Since I work at home, it really made me chuckle. It's from a great strip called "Speed Bump" by Dave Coverly, a very funny and award-winning cartoonist. If you need a smile, click on the image above to see more of his work.

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8/2/2005 - Fanboy Radio to the Rescue

One of the great things about freelancing is that you get to work at home and be your own boss. One of the not so great things is that it can get quite lonely. You miss having other artists around to talk to, joke around with, and be inspired by. So I was really excited this morning when I stumbled upon Fanboy Radio. It's a two-hour radio program dedicated to discussing comics and interviewing people in the industry. Airings have included interviews with Mike Wieringo, John Byrne, and Stan Lee just to name a few. For only 75¢ each you can download episodes as podcasts. For me It's like a breath of fresh air to hear such accomplished artists discussing their work, sharing their ideas, or just kidding around. It's not the same as having a live person to talk to, but at least I get to hear the voices of other artists in my studio (even if it is through my computer speaker). And not just any artists, but accomplished professionals whose work challenges and inspires me. So if you love comics and you're looking for something fun to listen to, check out Fanboy Radio.

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8/2/2005 - Sketchbook Update: Bridezillas

Jennie (my fiance) is into this new reality show called "Bridezillas". Normally I don't care for reality shows (especially reality shows for women), but with my own wedding only 2 months away there's a certain level of curiosity for me. In each episode a dysfunctional or highly stressed bride-to-be deals with crazy mishaps and headaches that come along as she plans for her real-life wedding. Personally I'm convinced the producers are working behind the scenes to intentionally create problems. In real life no wedding could possibly be plagued with so many disasters.

Anyway, these are two really quick sketches I did with a grease pencil while watching an episode with Jennie.

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8/1/2005 - Books every freelancer should own

It seems every month or two I get an e-mail from an eager young artist who would like some tips on getting started as a freelancer. I'm happy to give a little advice and encouragement when I can, but there is just too much information to pass on in one quick e-mail. Besides, a lot of people have written excellent books that say it all much better than I ever could. So my advice is to read, read, read. Absorb as much as you can before starting out on your own. Why make your own mistakes when you can learn so much from the experience of others?

Here's a few books every aspiring freelancer should read. Click on the image or title to order the book from Amazon.com:

Starting Your Career as a Freelance Illustrator or Graphic Designer (Revised Edition) by Micheal Fleishman
The author does a terrific job of laying out the basics.

The Business of Illustration by Steven Heller and Teresa Fernandes
Insights and interviews on making it as a freelancer.

2005 Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market
This book gives you the contact information for over 2,000 companies that hire freelancers (update yearly). Or, if you want a really big mailing list check out www.adbase.com.

The Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines (11th Edition)
Quick and easy charts to help you figure out what you should charge. Also a lot of good info on writing contracts and dealing with legal issues.

The Graphic Designer's and Illustrator's Guide to Marketing and Promotion by Maria Piscopo
This is probably the best book I have ever read on marketing yourself as a freelancer.

Legal Guide for the Visual Artist by Tad Crawford
Detailed info on issues such as copyright, contracts, taxes, etc.

Business and Legal Forms for Illustrators by Tad Crawford
You can copy the sample contracts in this book, modify them (or leave as is), and then slap your logo on them to make them your own.

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7/29/2005 - Opposite Forces

(I'm going on about 3 hours sleep so I hope this is coherent). Earlier this year I had the honor of inking two issues for the re-release of "Opposite Forces", a series created by former Disney animator extraordinaire Tom Bancroft (Aladdin, Lion King, Mulan). Tom has also done some directing and character design for VeggieTales, and he now runs Funny Pages Press and Funny Pages Productions. His work is fantastic and he's about the nicest guy around. Anyway, issue #2 should be out "any day now". I only inked the cover for issue 2, but inked the entire interior of issues 3 and 4 which should also be out soon. You can view some of Tom's pencils here. The re-release is being handled through Community Comics by my good friend Sherwin Schwartzrock, and a graphic novel version of Opposite Forces is also due out later this year. I'll post more info as soon as I get the details. In the mean time, look for Opposite Forces #2 soon at your corner comic book store!

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7/27/2005 - Sketchbook Update

Thought I'd post a few recent doodles from my sketchbook.

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7/26/2005 - Evolution: The Case of the Exploding Bugs!

Call me crazy, but I believe evolution is a poor explanation for the origin of life. Evolution says nothing became something which exploded and became everything...all by itself. Nobody knows for sure how it happened, just that it took a very long time.

To me that kind of thinking requires more faith than Christianity. Look at any building. The buidling itself is absolute proof there was a builder. Similiarly, a painting is absolute proof there was a painter. That's science in a nutshell--look at the evidence and draw the most likely conclusion. When you think about the incredible complexity of nature, it seems *scientific* to conclude there was an intelligent Designer (God).

Anyway, I came across this fascinating video clip from a series called "Creatures that Defy Evolution". These little bomb-throwing bugs are truly an incredible feat of nature. There's just no way they could have evolved. This clip is pretty amazing. Check it out!

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7/26/2005 - How to Be a Cartoonist

Life's been pretty crazy lately. The last 48 hours have included freelance projects, remodelling my bathroom, computer network problems, cleaning out my storage room, and re-arranging furniture to make room for my fiance's stuff once we're married.

But that's not going to stop me from posting a neat link. Chris Browne of "Hagar the Horrible" fame (pictured below) has posted some advice on how to break into cartooning. Should make an interesting read for all you aspiring cartoonists out there. Cheers!

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7/23/2005 - Awwwwww....

Jennie (my fiance) has been helping me remodel the bathroom. We're ripping out cheap tile from the 70's and replacing it with white panelling. Today I walked in to find this poem written by Jennie on the wall. When the bathroom is remodelled again some day in the future, someone will read this and know we were there. I've got the coolest fiance ever!

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7/23/2005 - Summer Camp

I'm illustrating a large map of a campground for a curriculum publisher. I usually work in Photshop or Painter, but have decided to try Illustrator for a change. It's a lot of work but I like the look of having no outlines (sort of like Cartoon Network's Foster's Home of Imaginary Friends and Krypto the Super Dog). I'm excited to see how it turns out! Here's a detail of the map so far.

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7/20/2005 - Children's Book finished

I've recently finished a new children's book for Living Waters Publications. It's titled "What Your Nose Shows" and written by Ray Comfort. It should be published later this summer. Apparantly a much larger publisher is considering turning this book into a series, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Here's a few sample pages.

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7/20/2005 - Animation Podcast

I am so excited! There's now a podcast devoted solely to animation. So far there are four interviews with animators Andreas Deja and Nick Ranieri, with more to come. This is a professional sounding podcast with meaty content, unlike most of the amateur-sounding podcasts flooding the internet. Very inspiring stuff! http://www.animationpodcast.com/

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