Part 5: Keep Moving Forward
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It's the easiest thing in the world to slow down, or to become overwhelmed by the void. Don't. Keep moving forward. Make a call, make a contract, go sit in a magazine's lobby, drop off copies of your work, take an editor out for coffee, hang with other cartoonists, try everything. A great thing to do is to get together with another cartoonist for a bull session. You both bring sketchbooks, you go to a deli or other relaxed place for lunch, you talk and laugh, you write down the funny stuff and then later at home you try to mold those informal gems into cartoons. It works and it's fun.

Listening to your editor or art director can lead to some magical alchemy. My editor at a syndicate liked the little Scotty dog that appeared in some early examples of my comic strip "Chris Browne's Comic Strip". I tried to write some additional material for the character of the dog, MacDuff, and soon he became the most popular character in the strip. Now that comic strip has gone bye-bye but I'm developing children's books with the MacDuff character. Remember- you too can recycle!


Part 6