Dying Artform

Recently, one of my readers asked me if I'd ever gathered up some of my cartoons and submitted them to a syndicate/major newspaper/magazines whatever. I wasn't sure what to say- lack of time, lack of confidence, fear of rejection, disorganization... I basically muttered something about what a difficult field it is to break into and thanked him for the compliment.

I'll admit, it is a distant dream. Who wouldn't rather make a living drawing funny pictures, even if you really like your job?

It meant a lot to me because basically it was the first time anyone other than my mother has suggested that I do something like that. It's also just about the first time anyone has said "boo" to me about my cartoons. Almost every week I'll hear from people who tell me that they read my column, but pretty much no one ever says anything about the cartoons, even though they've been appearing in the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper and the Schleswig LEADER for over a year now.

Who knows, maybe now that I have amassed enough samples, it's finally time to start sending out copies with cover letters. But it's still a narrow, competitive field which is only shrinking. And I'm still unorganized, undisciplined and deathly afraid of rejection.

Meanwhile, I'm really fortunate, truly blessed to be published in a couple of tiny home-town newspapers in Iowa and to live at a time when I can self-publish on the internet so that I can delude myself into thinking that occasionally one or two strangers will surf by and take a look at what I write or draw.

As long as I'm here- here are a few of other people's cartoons and my comments on them as a life-long fan and hopefully an educated aficionado (I double-majored in History and Art);

Here's the thing- everybody always wants to blame the teachers. "Our schools are failing," they pine- but nobody ever stops to think that maybe parents, the student themselves, and a society that is more interested in Paris, Lindsay, and Anna Nichole than in poverty, war, genocide, climate change or political corruption?
This cartoonist is amazing. Such an economy of line, clean, spartan, and SO stylized. It's like a old Al Hirschfeld caricature and yet she has both her George W. and Dick Cheney down pat. I especially love the cultural reference to Slim Pickens cowboy ride on an A-Bomb in the closing scenes of Stanly Kubrick's 1964 black comedy, "Dr. Strangelove; How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb." See below-
And finally, the sad, cruel truth about all of us:

Maybe it's a bad idea to show so many really good cartoonists on my blog if I want to get serious about doing something with my own cartooning. I hope that it's not a huge breech in intellectual property rights or anything- I certainly don't make any money off of it. I like to think of it as clipping them out an taping them to my fridge. If you'd like to see more you can visit http://editorialcartoonists.com Or better, you could donate a hundred bucks to me so that I could join the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists too, that way maybe they'd post my cartoons there too!

Meanwhile, if you want to see over 130 of MY cartoons visit http://tmal.multiply.com/photos/album/2 and please, leave a comment. Remember, as far as I know, I've only got one reader who gives a rip about my cartoons. I have a desperate, pathological need to know that I actually have an audience. And hey, here's an idea- if bands and musicians and film makers can start their careers with an online following, maybe you can help make me get somewhere by downloading, saving, posting, and emailing my cartoons or by bookmarking, linking and forwarding either this website or my multiply site to as many people as you think would like to read some cartoons. Have at it, my fate is in YOUR hands. Thanks.