Sunday Mailbag

Q: Did you ever consider doing anything else for a living besides illustration?

A: Yes, I’ve always wanted to be an independently wealthy, idle , international playboy. I couldn’t ever find a place to turn in an application for the job, though, so I went with cartooning.

Actually I can honestly say I never wanted to be anything else besides an artist. I cannot remember a time when I didn’t spend most of my free time drawing nor ever thinking about being anything but an artist. I never even daydreamed about being an athlete or a rock star or anything like that. Comics, cartooning and illustration was all I ever wanted to do. I cannot imagine being a young adult without any idea of what I wanted to do with my life, as so many are. All I ever wanted to be was a professional artist…

… I figure if I keep working at it I’ll make it eventually.

No matter how much you love what you do, if you do it long enough eventually it becomes work, and sometimes you’d rather be doing something else. I do have those moments…like at 4 am when I’d rather be sleeping than trying to meet some deadline. However those moments are pretty few and far between. I wouldn’t trade what I do for anything else in the world… except maybe the independently wealthy, idle , international playboy if one of those positions becomes available. And, of course…

Thanks to J Straub for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!