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4 Days Later…And What a Difference

4 Days Later…And Thankfully Improvement

Only 361 Days to Go

On Monday when I started my political cartoons on PixelMarx.com, I felt pretty comfortable with what I’d done. However there’s something strange about posting a cartoon everyday - and that is you learn and improve. Now 4 days later (example above) , I’m tempted to delete my first attempt. It’s that bad.

This brings to question the impulse of a student to want to rush into the marketplace with their work. I’m as guilty as anyone in this area. What do other’s think? How do you know you’re there, or is it better to kick off, splash, and try to swim.

Lessons Learned

If you’re considering political cartooning yourself, I have a few keys I’ve learned in these 4 days (and I’m sure I’ll learn more over the next 361):

  • Pay attention to the concept. This is where it all resides. My first attempt I just started drawing.

  • Tell the whole story in one scene. This one’s tough, especially with political cartooning, as it usually requires the audience to bring an understanding of current events.
  • Always try to do better. Listen to criticism even when it hurts.

      • This entry was posted on Friday, August 3rd, 2007 at 1:37 am and is filed under Blogs, Comics, Politics, Current Projects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “4 Days Later…And What a Difference”

  1. Ben Says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 1:35 pm

    No, don’t delete it! It’s very cool to see the evolution. I’ve been enjoying them and showed Laura last night. The artwork is great - you’re really drawing this in CS3? Or do you pen/scan/adjust?
    -b

  2. Nate Sullivan Says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 2:09 pm

    Thanks. It’s a lot of fun. And for the most part - yes they are drawn in Photoshop. It’s faster from sketch to finished color. However I did sketch the “Fox Situation Room” the traditional way then scanned, only because it’s hard to carry my computer with me where ever I’m inspired.