How did I become a Cartoonist – Steve Barr tells his story.

Note: This post follows Steve Barr’s Interview, which you can read here 🙂

How did I become a Cartoonist?

(Steve Barr shares his story.)

I blame most of my success on my older brother. When I was still young enough to be in a playpen, my Mother went upstairs briefly to iron some clothes. I started crying, and my Mother asked my brother to quiet me down. I wouldn’t stop whining, and then suddenly I got very quiet. Just as my Mom reached the top of the stairs to investigate, she saw two year-old Rob dragging me up the stairs. He was on his back, with his arms wrapped tightly around my neck, trying to bring me to her.

According to Mom, my face was bright blue. I think that brief moment where my brain was deprived of oxygen made it work a little differently than other peoples’ minds do.

My face turned bright blue!

 

As many brothers often do, we fought on a daily basis. I think Rob’s perfectly-delivered upper cuts to my jaw jarred a few connections loose inside my head and made me a bit silly. So…thanks, Rob! You unwittingly created a Cartoonist.

When I was in fourth grade, I copied a drawing of Mickey Mouse onto the top of my desk. The other kids in my class noticed it and started complimenting me. I was quite proud of my creation, until the teacher wandered over to see what everyone was making a fuss about. Apparently, she wasn’t quite as thrilled as my classmates were. She insisted that I stay after class and scrub that desk until it was clean. I’m pretty sure she also just wanted to spend some time alone with me because I was such a fun guy. Because it wasn’t the first time I was asked to stay after school. Nor was it the last.

I was such a fun guy!

After I finally got the desk clean, she suggested that from then on I might want to consider confining my creativity to paper instead of defacing furniture. She even gave me a bunch of blank sheets to take home with me. I started to draw my own cartoon characters shortly after that, and begging my Mom to take me to the library so I could read every book about cartooning I could get my grubby little hands on.

By the time I reached fifth grade, I began making my own comic books and selling them to my classmates for their lunch money. The evidence of my success is still with me. I’m rounder than most of the people who were in my class are. But that’s okay! They say that Cartoonists drawings often take on the personality and appearance of their creator. If you look at my art, most of my characters are a bit round and chubby. Just like me. So when I teach people how to draw using basic lines and shapes, circles and ovals are used constantly.

Even my cars are a bit round and chubby.

I began locking myself away in my bedroom, drawing for hours and hours. I loved to write too, so I started drawing single panel gag cartoons and comic strips. I mailed them out to every market I could think of. One time, when I was camping with my family, I found a discarded magazine dedicated to running that had been discarded in a trash can. I didn’t know a thing about running, so I took that magazine home and studied it. I read every article, looking for catch phrases that I could turn into a funny picture. I ended up contributing regularly to them for years. My hobby of “dumpster diving” had finally paid off!

Years later, I developed a comic strip that Tribune Media Services syndicated. Although it only lasted about a year as a daily, it was a great learning experience and tons of fun to do. Once the daily ended, I continued it for over a decade as a weekly feature.

I’ve had a ton of interesting clients and projects since then. One of my favorites was when I was doing cartoons for the “Complete Idiot’s Guides”. I think I was a perfect fit for them, because when it comes to being a complete idiot, I’m totally over-qualified.

Sometimes in life, it seems that things tend to come around in full circles. I began to get lots of letters and e-mails from young people who were interested in learning how to draw cartoons and how to become a cartoonist. Remembering how the professionals I contacted all those years ago had been so helpful to me, I tried to answer every question I got as thoroughly as I could.

That led to my decision to try to write “how to” books dedicated to creating cartoons. I searched all over the Internet and all over the world for a publisher who might be interested. Eventually, that search led to Peel Productions. They were actively looking for someone to do basic cartoon instruction books for children. As it turned out, they were located in the same rural town as I live in, so I searched the earth and ended up finding someone right down the road.

IMPACT books recently approached me to begin doing a series of books for them. “Draw Crazy Creatures” came out of that collaboration, followed by “Draw Awesome Animals”. I hope I get to do even more books for them. The folks over at F&W are great to work with, and already feel like family. Fortunately, they’re not the kind of family that will drag me up the stair strangling me, like my brother did all those years ago. I think if I lost one more brain cell, I’d probably end up leaving cartooning and launch a political career.

Read Steve Barr’s Interview here. You can find his books on Amazon here or on the Barnes and Noble website and you can find and like his Facebook page here.

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Interview with a Cartoonist – Meet Steve Barr and Learn to Draw 1-2-3!

“Cartoonist, Author, Illustrator – Self-Employed and Loving it” is what Steve’s About Statement on his Facebook Page says about him. He is the author of the 1-2-3 Draw Cartoon series and if you want to learn how to draw the cutest cartoons of people, animals, faces, cars, actually anything; then let his books be your guide. Some of the 1-2-3 Draw books are now available for Nooks and Kindles.

Steve’s also written and illustrated “Draw Crazy Creatures” and “Draw Awesome Animals” for Impact Books.  His clean lines and expressive cartoons are delightful to look at, and inspiring to learn with. You can find his books on Amazon here or on the Barnes and Noble website and you can find and like his Facebook page here.

If you are wondering what he looks like (or he likes to look like) here’s Steve’s Real Picture.

There’s another one too for the serious folks who reach this caricaturist’s blog by mistake.

Yep! Another left-handed genius!

When I saw a window of opportunity to interview him for this crazy caricaturist’s blog, I jumped in, found a rope, tied him down to his chair, put a gun to his temple, and demanded that he answer my questions. (Before you ask, I didn’t tell him that I hadn’t loaded the gun, or he would have thrown me right back out of the window.)

Now the questions, the answers, and Steve’s Story in his own words 🙂

You don’t have formal education in art. How did this impact your journey towards becoming a cartoonist? Did it help or did it make things more difficult for you?

I am self-taught.  But my informal training was amazing.  As a kid, I used to write letters to every successful Cartoonist whose work I admired and ask them all sorts of questions about the craft and how they had succeeded at it.  Amazingly, every one of them took the time to thoroughly answer my questions.  Well, except one famous guy who shall remain nameless.  He wrote back telling me that he would not help someone who could potentially become his competition later.

That fueled me more than any of the positive letters I received.  At first, I was angry.  But then I realized that he had just given me high praise.  I decided that yes, I would grow up to become his competitor.

I began submitting single panel cartoons to magazines and newspapers.  I sold my first one when I was in seventh grade.  They sent me a check for the whopping sum of seven dollars and fifty cents!  But, I realized I was now a PROFESSIONAL!  I invested that whole check into more paper, pens and postage stamps.  I mailed out even more material, and later that year I sold my second cartoon to a newspaper feature for twenty-five dollars (which was a LOT of money back in the Stone Ages).  After that, there was no stopping me.  By the time I entered high school, I was contributing regularly to several publications and even got my first book illustration project.

I gave a lot of consideration to the possibility of going to college, but ended up opting not to.  There were a lot of valid reasons for my decision, but there were also some completely invalid ones.  Do I wish now that I had gone to a university?  Yes.  But I didn’t think any of the ones I looked at offered anything that would help me grow in my chosen profession.

Things are different these days.  Many colleges have incredible art classes, and computer skills are more important.  There are even some colleges that concentrate solely on the craft of cartooning.

As my seventh grade teacher so aptly pointed out to me after I sold my first cartoon, my customers would be college graduates who probably majored in English.  Spelling, grammar and punctuation would be very important to them.  So I would make more sales if everything I submitted to my editors was prepared properly and they didn’t have to spend a lot of time correcting it.  And she was right.

I’d recommend that any young person who wants to be a cartoonist give serious consideration to a college level education.  It will help prepare them for the future.  Cartooning is a very competitive field, and a lot of people in it are incredibly talented.  So anything extra you can bring to the table will go a long way in helping you to become a success.

Traditional Art vs. Digital Art? What do you prefer and why?

This will make your younger readers’ jaws drop, but when I started out there was no such thing as a home computer.  Everything was hand drawn and then sent off to the printer.  So I am still quite fond of doing my cartoons using traditional techniques.  I love the feel of a pen or pencil in my hand.  I still enjoy sketching on paper.  And quite often I’ll use colored pencils to add color to my art.

However, almost every client I have now requests that I e-mail them the art or send it on a disc, so I have to use a computer.  Digital art is the way the world is going, and I do enjoy doing my color work in either Photoshop or Illustrator, depending on what types of files the client asks for.

So I hand draw my cartoons, then scan them into my computer and digitize them.

I do have to say though, I am a HUGE fan of many cartoonists who now work exclusively in digital creation.  It is amazing to see the things they can create on their computers.  Take a look at some of the stuff Bob Staake does for the New Yorker and his children’s books.  I’m also an admirer of the work James Burks creates, especially his illustrations for Tara Lazar’s “The Monstore”.

I do think that beginning artists should learn to create their art traditionally.  It will help make their transition to learning computer art programs smoother, and give them a better understanding of the creative process.  So that actually takes us back to the education question.  The more you learn, the more you’ll have to offer later.  Writing professional correspondence is part of the key to success, so mastering grammar, punctuation and sentence structure is extremely important.  Computer programs change and are upgraded constantly.  If you can find a college that offers you training in both of these areas, go!

Stop making that face…draw one! (Click to view Steve’s How to Draw Cartoon Monsters book on Amazon.)

Most artists who didn’t go through a structured art education program, learning of techniques can be a difficult proposition. How did you decide upon your favorite drawing tools and techniques?

Like I always say in my books, “Experiment”.  Throughout my life, I have tried all sorts of coloring techniques and drawing tools.  You’re never too old or too young to improve.  Try any pen, paper, ink, paint or new product you encounter.  Some just won’t seem to suit your personal needs, and others will be so amazing you’ll wonder why you didn’t try them out sooner.  When I go to an art supply store, I’m like a plumber in a hardware store.  If I’m not very careful, I’ll leave with an empty wallet.

The Right Tool? Anything you fancy! (Click to view Steve’s How to Draw Cartoon Monsters book on Amazon.)

You say that anyone can draw. Most of us drew as kids, but then we just laid that love aside and never looked at it again. Yet some of us want to rekindle our passion for drawing but can’t take the first step towards it.  Could you give us an inspiring thought that kick-starts the process?

I think this story sums it up nicely.  Several years ago, I set up a booth at a street festival in a small southern town and taught kids how to draw.  One little boy’s parents dragged him over to my table, and he began throwing a fit.  He kept complaining that he couldn’t draw, and didn’t want to.  I just smiled at him and said, “I bet I can show you how in just a couple of minutes.  If you did draw, what would you like to create?”

He mumbled that he’d like to draw a turtle.  He followed along with the steps that I showed him, and shortly after that he created an amazing cartoon turtle that had his own touches on it.  It didn’t look exactly like mine, which was great.  He was already beginning to develop his own style.

He ran up and down the street showing his turtle to anyone who would take a peek and I heard him tell them, “Look!  I CAN DRAW!”

About three years later, I did a cartooning class at a local library.  A young guy plopped down right in front of me and began creating some of the most interesting cartoon characters I had seen.  About halfway through the class, I realized it was the same kid who had drawn that turtle years before.

When I finished my presentation, I bent down and asked him if he was the same guy.  He grinned at me and said, “Yup!  I draw all the time now.  You know why?  Because I CAN!”

I hope he never lets that fire go out.  And I have a feeling that one day soon, I’ll be competing with him for clients.  And I’ll be happy about that.  Because I’ll know he’s doing something that he absolutely loves.

Look, you can draw animals too 🙂

Steve has also shared an autobiographical story that tells us how he became a cartoonist…and that story shall be told in the next post. I know I am being stingy, but I know that my visitors don’t like long posts 🙂

If you’ve got questions for Steve, please leave them in the comments to this post, if you want to learn how to draw cartoon animals, cars, monsters, people, and enjoy the process of learning; check out his books.

Read Steve Barr’s story of his becoming a cartoonist here.