The Freelance Cartoonist
Art, Humor, Design
Hello There,
welcome to our cartoon universe:
Hi everyone. I'm here in our little cartoon universe to talk to you all today about the fabulous art of freelance cartooning.
Of course, freelance cartoonists don't have the most glorious life. There are lots of long hours spent crouched over a drawing table, or eyes glued to the computer, rendering Photoshop images over and over again until those two lines meet up just right, or those googly eyes are pointed in just the right direction. But the cartoonist has a noble tradition and place in our literary world.
Cartoonists are important threads in the fabric of society. Political and social life would simply not be the same without them. Cartoonists offer insight, humor, passion, and drive conversations that traditional journalists or media outlets would not be willing to sink their teeth into. Cartoonists can do a lot for our national and international dialogue. For example, cartoonists can:
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Shed light on an obscure or obfuscated situation.
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Illustrate a concept clearly and concisely.
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Poke fun at serious or tragic events.
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Help us cope with discomfort or confusion
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Generate trust and check dishonesty
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Add humor to otherwise unfunny situations or articles.
In fact, there are a lot of reasons why you might want to hire a cartoonist. For example, the cartoon at the right was done for an English Literature class that I was teaching during my time as a ninth-grade language arts teacher. I wanted to explain the sometimes esoteric concept of being self-reflexive, and it was taking a long time, and a long-winded approach in order to get my point across.
In fact, there are a lot of reasons why you might want to hire a cartoonist. For example, the cartoon at the right was done for an English Literature class that I was teaching during my time as a ninth-grade language arts teacher. I wanted to explain the sometimes esoteric concept of being self-reflexive, and it was taking a long time, and a long-winded approach in order to get my point across.
In this case, the cartoonist was able to illustrate the concept of being self reflexive in an absolutely perfect way. The cartoon is, in itself, an embodiment of the point it is making. I can't stress enough how much time and energy this saved me in my teaching. That old phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" didn't just pop out of nowhere. It comes from examples like this one.
There are a lot of cogent arguments for using cartoons. Fist of all, they are absolutely awesome. Second of all, they can really help you get your point across if you are having trouble communicating a specific idea. Humor is an amazing element to have in your corner if you are trying to persuade someone, teach someone, or simply relate to someone else. There are few things in this world that people love to do more than laugh. Food and sex may be the only two things that outrank laughter in that department. So, cartoonists play a really important role and fill a void that would otherwise be a severe hole in our culture as people of the world.