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Unbiased Product Review

There was a time when a cartoonist had to be newspaper syndicated to "be somebody" (with apologies to Steve Martin in "The Jerk"). But even then, as now, the real money was not in newspapers. Besides, the chances of becoming a part of a major newspaper syndication are close to a million to one. One should just buy lottery tickets.

Cartoon money is made with hard goods such as mousepads and coasters and aprson, not newspapers. Sure there are a few bucks in newspapers but not a lot. It is noted that the late great Charles Schulz of Peanuts fame made about 80 million dollars in art licensing to every million he made in newspaper syndication. This is about the average. A lunch box deal is worth a lot more than the L.A. Times in the crazy business of cartooning.

Here is the way it works (and there are various ways but these are a few examples). An artist has an idea for a piece of art to put on a company's product. The company likes the art and negotiates a royalty deal in which the artist receives a percentage of all products sold. This can be done from business to business as well. For instance Coca Cola allowing a lunch box maker to put their logo on the lunch boxes. Coke receives a percentage.

LIMA is the industry association. One does not have to be a member to be in the art licensing game but it doesn't hurt. Such associations are a great way to make contacts.

But what if the artist is not traditional. Maybe he/she is a cartoonist. Sometimes deals are done the opposite way in this situation. A manufacturer of, say collectible clocks or lunch boxes will approach Disney and ask for the exclusive licensing deal on that product for a certain image or series of images.

I startes as an unknown cartoonist thinking I would be syndicated within the first months or so because "my concepts were so good and different". I was fortunate to learn that was my ego talking. So I approached a several trade journals in need of theme cartoons with their articles and sold them for what I could. I slowly built a portfolio and finally was able to take it to a manufacturer/drop-shipper who was willing to take a chance and make the products with a royalty split. I did not have a licensing agent so my attorney handled the contract for me. It is always a good idea, if your strength is in art and not numbers to have a professional in another area (like an attorney or agent) do that part of the job.

In time I discovered more manufacturers who made different products than my first ones and was able to make deals with them, using the same contract.

The old-school tradition of cartooning was dictated by the big syndication firms. First you become syndicated, then you get to sell your products and create wealth. Those days are gone thanks to the Internet. One can enter the field in the way one feels comfortable. I am yet to be officially syndicated though my cartoons appear worldwide on a daily basis.

I highly recommend for any artist, writer or cartoonist to explore the Internet for options beyond newspaper syndication. There are so many opportunties, one can almost pick and choose. Will fortune and fame happen overnight? It could, but I sort of doubt it. In most cases, mine, at least, it took ten years just to really get started.

Ten years ago I was working and living in a metal warehouse and had less than a hundred cartoons up on a free domain (I couldn't afford a www domain). Now I have eight domains, seven stores with almost 80,000 products in about 100 different categories , and the most visited offbeat cartoon site on the Internet, Londons Times Cartoons with over 8500 original images and almost 9 million visitors. That's not so bad for ten year's work, at least not for me.

Did I pay a price? Sure. Anyone does who sets his or her goal high. Was it worth it? I wouldn't trade it for the world.

About the Author, Rick London:

Art Director Rick London and his artists has created over Over Eight Thousand Cartoons original offbeat cartoon, Londons Times Cartoons Cartooning: Where Is The Money? Unbiased business reviews.

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