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DRAWN TO SUCCESS....AN E-BOOK IN CHAPTERS BY GUY GILCHRIST. (c)2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 Guy Gilchrist Music Publishing
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Drawn to Success Preface
"ART IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE GLOBAL MARKETPLACE"
or...
"My Future's So Bright I've Got To Wear Sunglasses!"
THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME...
The 21st Century will be the greatest era for the Storytelling Arts in the History Of Mankind, and Those Who Master This Language Will Have No Limits To The Riches Placed Before Them.
That's right. You read that right.
"The 21st Century will be the greatest era for the Storytelling Arts in the History Of Mankind, and Those Who Master This Language Will Have No Limits To The Riches Placed Before Them!!"
NO LIMITS. RICHES. SUCCESS. WEALTH. HAPPINESS. A OPEN INVITATION TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE... AND EVEN CHANGE THE WHOLE WORLD!
How can I say this? Because I know that the universal language of all of mankind is art. No matter where you go in the world, a picture that is well drawn is understood. A story, that has no words, but is a series of pictures, or images, so well done that they grab your eye and won't let go can change the hearts, the moods, the souls of anyone from anywhere in the world.
HISTORY PROVES THIS TRUTH!
Egypt, 1889... Adventurous British Scientists "read" about the lifetimes of Egyptian Royalty through a series of carvings in the tomb walls.
A Movie House in France in 1934. A Mickey Mouse animated cartoon makes the crowd of Theatergoers laugh so hard they cry.
An Infantry Unit In Viet Nam pins a sheet up between two palm trees in 1968 and watches a wordless 8mm Tom and Jerry Cartoon ordered from the back of a Mexican Comic Book on a Kid's Crank Movie Projector.
1990... A father comes home from a business trip to Japan to his two small children in Connecticut with undubbed videos. His daughter immediately begins to beg for EVERYTHING she can ever find with the character from the video on it, after falling in love with "Hello Kitty", and his son begins jumping off the bed pretending to be "Ultraman"!
2007... A little 10 year old Iraqi boy smiles and points to the screen of a cell phone in an American Marine's hand, as Bart Simpson dances to a ring tone.
Cartoons, and the visual arts have always and ALWAYS WILL transcend any border, and make any language barriers disappear.
JIM HENSON AND ME
I know this from my own professional experience, going all the way back to the early 1980s when I worked for Jim Henson, drawing and writing the Muppets comic strip for him along with my younger brother, Brad.
From the very first day we were launched in newspapers with the strip, we were GLOBAL. The Muppets was the FIRST comic strip in history to be run all over the world starting the very first day. Brad and I became the first cartoonists in history to have to write every single joke for a worldwide audience. We had to work twice as far in advance as anyone else in our business at that time, because our strips had to be shipped via airmail and messenger (prior to the internet, of course) all around the world to be translated into every language of the 80 countries that read us each day.
We had to be extremely AWARE of the GLOBAL MARKETPLACE. We couldn't, for instance, write any "puns" or English language wordplay. It couldn't be translated, you see.
We were taught, from day one... that the best jokes we could tell to the world would be well drawn, easy to understand, and have as few words as possible. We were told to study the masters of early comic strip art, many of whom were European immigrants , who were master artists, but knew little of the English language. Because of this language "limitation", they were forced to tell their stories and jokes with few words, and wonderful, fully drawn, expressive artwork! This , in turn, made them among the WEALTHIEST of all turn of the century Americans! Why?? Not only were they THAT GOOD at it, but also, because the REST of America, who were ALSO in a large part immigrants to this country from all over the world, could READ the comics in the newspaper, NO MATTER WHAT LANGUAGE they spoke in their native country!
These turn of the century artists, coming to this country with almost no material possessions, with almost no knowledge of the English language, but extremely proficient at the GLOBAL LANGUAGE of ART... BECAME RICH beyond their wildest dreams.
JIM HAD STUDIED WALT, WHO STUDIED CHAPLIN, WHO STUDIED...
Walt Disney turned his little mouse, made in America, into a WORLDWIDE HIT by using gags and comedic situations that didn't rely on words to entertain the theatergoers. By using the universal language of picture comedy, and well-drawn, well-defined characters that the whole world could identify with, he created the world's largest entertainment empire. He started out in a tiny little room in Kansas City, which was so run down, mice crawled in through the holes in the walls and kept him company as he practiced his art. Good thing he decided to name one "Mickey".
Jim Henson stood on the shoulders of great storytellers and visual comedians like Chaplin, Bob Clampett, Walter Lantz and Walt Disney, and went global with Kermit and Miss Piggy as soon as he could. He always looked at the world as his stage. He always knew there were no borders to a great joke... or a great story! AND... No LIMITS to the riches that could made IF you were wise enough to always expand your audience to include the whole world!
Jim got rich with that way of thinking... and I'm grateful he took me with him.
I learned those lessons well.
A GLOBAL BASE
When I decided to come back to syndication and newspaper comics, after a few years in children's books and global sports marketing and children's entertainment licensing , I settled on redefining and relaunching NANCY, a childhood favorite. Nancy was appealing because of her GLOBAL BASE. Many of the hundreds of newspapers she had were around the world, owing to her creator's Ernie Bushmiller's knowledge of visual humor and the worldwide market for well done art with few words.
My TINY DINOS, Night Lights, and MUDPIE characters have been marketed all around the world for years. At least 1/3 of the millions in combined sales of all my book titles were from outside the USA. My Night Lights and Fairy Flights Sunday comic feature is sold around the world , with 77 of the 100 papers it has run in outside the states.
IF YOU MASTER THE ARTFORM, YOU WILL HAVE A FUTURE WITHOUT LIMITS!
Wherever you are in your life right now, wherever you are in your mastery of the arts right now, you can master your own future and make it as boundless as your creativity and imagination! Never before has there been the opportunities for the graphic artist, cartoonist and storyteller that exist right now. In this early part of the 21st Century. You, the Up and Coming Comic master... are right in the middle of what will soon be THE PERFECT STORM!
Yep. It's that time when all the elements are right. When the actions of the whole world, societies, faith, politics, pop culture, communications, technology, and CHANGE are whirling around you. THOSE that can COMMUNICATE GLOBALLY will not only survive... but thrive, and even redefine storytelling and entertainment for the future generations that will come.
THIS IS YOUR TIME.
We are living in a time of great change.
In those times of change, those that cling to the old ways and have no vision and heart to embrace the shining light of the next wave... will fall away. Those that don't have the imagination to reinvent themselves and their work will fall away. Those who refuse to accept everyday of their lives as the "present" that it is... the opportunity to learn something new... to try... to fail... and to try again, smarter... will make it easier for the ones, like you, to move forward in a less crowded field.
Newspapers as we know them are fading away. Print comic books sales have been on the decline for decades. Even TV is becoming less and less relevant everyday. So... how can I not only be optimistic, but tell you that THIS IS THE GREATEST TIME FOR ARTISTS IN HISTORY?
Because the whole world is watching, baby... and YOU have ACCESS to the whole world as YOUR audience, and YOUR MARKETPLACE!
The INTERNET has changed everything forever. The Comic Book publishers, the Comic Syndicates and Newspapers, The Movie and TV people... they don't know HOW yet. THEY don't know HOW yet to make a buck off YOUTUBE. But, since their lives and businesses depend on them figuring it out... they will. THEY don't know HOW to make enough bucks off sending comics out to cell phones, and PDAs, and all the next 752 things that Apple and Microsoft and Motorola and Sony will have invented and started marketing by the time I'm done with this chapter... but they will.
OR... YOU MIGHT FIGURE IT OUT FIRST.
Hey, Number one records have been cut in closets, basements and garages. The Beatles started in a basement. Kermit the Frog was cut and sewn from an old Pea Coat. "Mickey" was a mouse that a struggling cartoonist fed when he barely had enough food for himself. A man with hardly any family or formal education, who lost his first two elections for local office, became President Of The United States. Then he freed an entire race of people forever. I know... Lincoln wasn't an artist... but, come on? Abe was cool. You gotta go with Lincoln.
THOUGHTS ARE THINGS. You have as much right as anyone else in the universe to think great, life changing, possibly world changing thoughts. WHY NOT YOU?
Hey... The Red Sox won a World Series....two! I never dreamed I'd see that in my lifetime. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.
With focus, sincerity, persistence of vision, drive, determination... and your incredible gift of VISUALIZATION that you have as an ARTIST... ANYTHING you dare to dream, dare to do, dare to draw... can create your fate.
In coming chapters, we'll examine in greater detail, the emerging opportunities for you, the ARTIST... as you continue to be... DRAWN TO SUCCESS.
I look forward to hearing from you as you continue on your journey.
God bless you,
Guy Gilchrist
Cartoonist of NANCY, Jim Henson's Muppets, Mudpie, Tiny Dinos, YOUR ANGELS SPEAK, Night Lights and Fairy Flights , Tom and Jerry. Pink Panther, etc.
Founder
Guy Gilchrist's Cartoonist's Academy
Songwriter, Recording Artist
Nashville, TN.
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DRAWN TO SUCCESS....AN E-BOOK IN CHAPTERS BY GUY GILCHRIST. (c)2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 Guy Gilchrist Music Publishing
Drawn to Success #1
"HOW DO I GET ENOUGH EXPERIENCE TO HAVE EXPERIENCE?"
or...
"Thinking Yourself Into The BIG-TIME!"
One of the most difficult things about being taken seriously as a Cartoonist when you're just starting out is having a professional "presence" and professional portfolio that shouts to the world, "This kid's BIG-TIME!"
Let's face it, you're NOT working very much, and when you are, you're doing small-time jobs for less than small-time money.
You and I both know that we only can get better as cartoonists when we're drawing all the time. Certainly, you would be a better comic strip cartoonist AFTER you drew, inked and lettered 36 daily strips, and a month of Sunday pages. Naturally, you would be a better Children’s' Book Illustrator AFTER you had penciled, inked, and painted a 24 page Storybook!
"ALL I NEED IS A CHANCE!!" you scream at the cold, unfeeling world! But those uncreative, uptight, and narrow-minded editors can't see YOU, the next boy or girl genius, standing right before them! They don't seem to realize that if they just gave you a chance... you would change the course of cartooning history! You're the next Caniff! The next Watterson! The next"___________________" (fill in the cartoon god or goddess of your choice here)!!
But, alas... no shot.
Are you done for? Are you defeated? Should you start practicing the words, "Do you want fries with that?" for your next McCareer? No. You're only defeated if you BELIEVE it to be so. There is no mountain you can't climb... if you have faith, and are willing to work at it.
How could I possibly know what you're going through? Me," Mister Already Syndicated for a Million Years Nancy®/Muppets/Mudpie Old Guy?" Because, young grasshopper, when I first started out, I was shut out, just like you. I was living with a roommate in a tiny little apartment in Hartford, not knowing how I was even going to pay the rent. The apartment of my post-high school youth was expertly furnished with my parent's cast-off couch, chairs from tag sales, and what we found by the side of the road. Our walls were exquisitely adorned with Beer Mirrors, posters of Lynda Carter and Farrah, and my "only my friends know I'm a genius" artwork.
I worked any jobs I could find, from cook, to part time bartender, and "too skinny to bounce" Bouncer. I took my off days and walked the streets with my portfolio full of the cartoons and illustrations I had done for the small time jobs I had gotten so far. With this "small-time jobs" portfolio, I was only successful landing even more small-time jobs.
But... I WANTED THE BIG-TIME JOBS! My heart ached for the big jobs...along with my meager bank account, and my empty stomach. I created a process to get the work I so desperately wanted. Let me tell you what I did in hopes it may also work for all of you who find yourself in similar straits.
First, I decided I HAD TO stop thinking of myself as small-time! That was the first step. I was surrounded by poverty, yet I wanted riches. I began to THINK of myself as already being successful. I had years of poverty to somehow force out of my mind. I had to BELIEVE I was already successful.
So, each morning before I went to work, I wrote down in composition books and pads, a daily affirmation and an ultimate goal for my success. I began to THINK of myself as a big-time cartoonist. I had read Napoleon Hill's classic motivational book, THINK AND GROW RICH, and it was highly instrumental in my conceiving of this approach. Dr. Hill had told me that only WE alone were commander of our THOUGHTS. That what we thought about, what we filled our heads with, ultimately dictated our approach to our lives. Everyday, I wrote down my goal in my journal. Every NIGHT, when my workday was done, I wrote down my goal in my journal. Before long, I believed I was going to be successful.
In those pages each day, I began to develop plans for how I was to achieve my goal. I believed it would happen. Plans began to form in my mind. I began to write down "deadlines" on my calendar, as if I already had the work I desired. As an example, I'd write down that one week from that particular day, say, Monday, July 7th at 10:30 am, I had an appointment with the editor at Western Publishing, the publishers of Little Golden Books. It had always been a dream of mine to write and illustrate a book for them, so that's what I DECIDED I WAS DOING!
I was to have a 24 page Fairy Tale all laid out in pencil to show the editor to get his okay. Then, every night after work, just like if I really HAD this job, I worked on the pencils. For a story I picked "Rapunzel", a story everyone knew. So, I did the job.
I got photo reference. I found reference on costumes, environments, castles, and horses. I measured a Golden Book for the correct dimensions. I laid out a "dummy book" and filled it with my drawings, leaving room for text which I typed out from another version of the story, and copied at the library. I found I was challenged. I had to work hard. This job was tougher than I thought! I had to work hard at page layout, composition, anatomy, environments, light sources, mood, the works!
All were "lessons" I would never had learned had I not "had this job"! By Monday morning at 10:30, I was done. Next, I gave myself the rest of the deadlines I would have to meet to finish the job. One week for a finished cover painting, one month for the interior color pages, and so on. You get the idea. Within a few short weeks, I had the portfolio to visit Golden Books and other publishers with the big pay-off? Did I get a job with Golden Books?? Not right away. The portfolio went with me for the weeks and months immediately afterward, however, and opened the doors of every publisher in NYC, and in Connecticut where I lived. I almost immediately got a job with Weekly Reader Books. That turned into steady freelance work, and finally a 5-year contract! I was on my way! My work was now national... and my pay was good!
I would have never gotten the jobs I got had I not first BELIEVED I was already successful, and created a portfolio that looked successful. Remember, I believed I was already in possession of the job I wanted before anyone but me knew of this.
I continued to do this with other projects: Comic Books and Strips, Magazine and Newspaper Illustrations, you name it. When I met with editors, I had the demeanor, confidence, and portfolio of a successful cartoonist. It wasn't long before the outside world believed as I did, that they were dealing with a successful cartoonist, and I became that successful cartoonist.
Oh... and those guys at Golden Books? Well, grasshopper, they eventually wound up hiring me after a few years, and I wrote and illustrated a book called JUST IMAGINE: A Book Of Fairy Tale Rhymes. It sold about a half a million copies. By then, I had gotten rid of the Salvation Army furniture, the Farrah poster, and the Beer signs. I was even eating steady.
Who'da thunk it? -- I DID.
So, let me ask you this: WHAT'S HOLDING YOU BACK? If I can do it, you can do it! I was no baby genius born with a silver ink brush in my hand. Less "White Wedding Rich" and more "White Trash Poor". I had little formal training. I had no influential contacts. But, I had a brain. That's it. A brain filled with the desire to succeed!
Believe yourself to be what you want to be. Then, work like you already are! Excuses are easy. Failure is a breeze. Success? That takes brainpower, and grit. But, if you possess a burning desire to become a successful cartoonist or illustrator... you already HAVE what you need to succeed. So, like old cop Sean Connery said to young whippersnapper Kevin Cosner in "The Untouchables"..."Here endeth the lesson."
Guy Gilchrist -- Nancy®, Mudpie, Your Angels Speak, Jim Henson's Muppets
Founder, Guy Gilchrist's Cartoonist's Academy, Guy Gilchrist Music Publishing.
Recording Artist, Songwriter,
Nashville, TN.
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DRAWN TO SUCCESS....AN E-BOOK IN CHAPTERS BY GUY GILCHRIST. (c)2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 Guy Gilchrist Music Publishing
Drawn to Success
Chapter TWO
“MAKING YOUR WEAKNESSES YOUR STRENGTHS”
or...
"How I Got Pretty Girls To Model For Me, And Got Paid For It”
Okay. I’ll admit it. I like to look at pretty girls.
I know.... what a shocking confession for any red blooded American Hetero to make! Right? I’ve always liked to look at pretty girls. I liked talking to them, dreaming about them, but, alas (a Lass?).... up until a few years ago, I couldn’t DRAW them.
As I grew up, desperately wanting to be a Cartoonist, I did everything in my power to AVOID drawing women. I was lousy at it, and I knew it. All my jobs were Babeless. I knew that was wrong. I tried everything to change that.
So, in my Fortress Of Solitude.... my basement studio, with my little Sears’ stereo playing in the background...I copied Mort Walker’s Miss Buxley. I copied Milton Caniff’s Femme Fatales. I copied Will Eisner’s bevy of 40s Beauties. This went on for years, in secret. I wouldn’t even ATTEMPT to copy Stan Drake, who I thought was the best at it. Stan drew “The Heart Of Juliet Jones”, a soap strip that featured two beauties, Juliet, a brunette, and her blonde sister, Eve. Stan’s work was exquisite, and beyond the reach of mortals.
As time went on, and I was starting to be successful in cartooning, first with Weekly Reader, and then with The Muppets, I still couldn’t do it. For cryin’ out loud, the only blonde I could draw was Miss Piggy!
Yes, here I was, one of the most successful, young cartoonists of the “new breed”, with one of the biggest strips of the era,”Jim Henson’s Muppets” in papers all around the world, and I, alone, knew that I harbored this dirty, little secret. I couldn’t draw girls!
In my heart, I knew I didn’t deserve to live.
I could date ‘em, love ‘em, maybe even marry ‘em...but I couldn’t DRAW ‘em.
Then... I met Stan Drake. That’s right. I met the Master. You might even say, I MADE SURE I met him.
I did this by joining the associations and groups Stan belonged to. You see, as I achieved my first blush of success, I sought out those clubs that successful cartoonists belonged to.
I applied for membership and was accepted into The National Cartoonists Society, The Newspaper Features Council, and a Cartoonist’s recreational golfing group called Artists and Writers (years later I was elected to the Board Of Directors of the two latter organizations).
Why was this so important to me? And WHY should this be important to YOU?
No. These clubs are not peopled with male and female super-models, so it’s not about meeting and drawing pretty people, sorry.
It’s not about empty “status” either. It’s about KNOWLEDGE!
Each of these groups I now belonged to were full of people who were the tops in their field! The very field I wished to be tops in! EVERYTHING I could ever want to know about Cartooning was HERE! In the great minds of these men and women!
Why wouldn’t you or me want to be around all that talent???
Getting to know people you share common talents and dreams with, and them getting to know YOU is one of the finest things you could ever hope to do to make your life happier, and richer.
Through Professional Groups, you LEARN MORE, MAKE CONTACTS, HAVE FUN, BUILD LIFE-LONG FRIENDSHIPS and CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETY and the ultimate BETTERMENT OF THE WORLD!
I’ll write more in subsequent chapters about the benefits of these groups later on...Right now, Back to the pretty girls...
After a round of golf one day in Westport, Connecticut, where the Artists and Writers group had an outing, I approached Stan, who was standing at the bar in the Grill Room. I spoke in the softest, most confessional tones I could muster, and told him that I couldn’t draw pretty girls, and asked if he might give me some tips.
My private, dark secret was made loudly public when Stan laughed a hardy laugh, shouted my problem to the whole room, slapped me on the back, and told me he’d LOVE to tell me how to do it!
I picked my pride up off the floor, stuffed it in my pocket and listened as he confessed that once upon a long time ago, HE couldn’t draw pretty girls either... until one of HIS cartoonist heroes taught HIM how!
He told me about the correct way to pose a model (exaggerate the pose) and how to take pictures correctly (always at eye level, or with a slight UPWARD angle) and to use as much photo reference as possible. He told me to pay close attention to how a woman tilts her head, darts her eyes, uses her shoulders, and hands. He told me to take tracing paper and trace over pin-up photos in magazine ads and catalogues, because the professional photographer knew how to pose his models.
Then, he said to exaggerate all the most comely features of the lady, as much or as little as needed for the desired effect. This, Stan Drake said, was how HE learned.
Tracing over and over and over till he could draw women in his sleep (which he and I now often do... more about managing deadlines later). Stan even invited me over to watch him work in his studio. He was, by then, drawing BLONDIE.
You can bet I did everything Stan told me to... including paying for his cocktails the rest of the evening!
What a tough assignment Stan gave me, huh?
Taking photos of pretty girls, drawing them from life, and tracing over beautiful models in magazines and catalogues. The only thing that is tough about the latter is convincing your girlfriend or wife that you need that Victoria’s Secret catalogue for BUSINESS!
Practicing all the time, I eventually mastered the art of drawing women.
It was a good thing, too. Within a few years I was called on to draw Fritzi Ritz for the” Nancy®” comic strip, Fairies and Princesses in my children’s books and Night Lights feature, and later, the Angels for my inspirational feature, “Your Angels Speak”.
None of my success with Nancy®, or any of the rest would have happened if hadn’t kept within my heart and mind a burning desire to learn more! To master what was difficult.
For Mort Drucker, it was “hands”. You all know Mort Drucker of Mad magazine fame. I think he’s the greatest caricaturist who ever lived. Mort got his start in comics because he could draw HANDS. He told me that when he was starting out, he’d look at some of the guys doing comic books, and saw that many of them “hid” the fact they drew hands poorly. They would hide them in pockets, behind doors, etc. in their panels. So, Mort went about becoming an expert on drawing hands. He figured that if he could be good at that, then he could beat out some of the other fellas and get work! Mort MASTERED something that was difficult. He got work because of it.
There is no substitute for practice. You will be applauded in public for what you practice in private!
Want work?
Want to rise to the top in this field?
Minimize and even eliminate your drawing weaknesses by concentrating your practice time on those weaknesses until they become your STRENGTHS.
You might even become such a BIG SHOT Cartoonist that a supermodel might actually talk to you.
Like, totally.
Guy Gilchrist -- Nancy®, Mudpie, Muppets, Your Angels Speak
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DRAWN TO SUCCESS....AN E-BOOK IN CHAPTERS BY GUY GILCHRIST. (c)2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 Guy Gilchrist Music Publishing
Drawn to Success Chapter 3
“GIVING AND RECEIVING”
or...
“How A Connecticut Hillbilly Got To Know Miss Piggy Intimately”
Do you like to give? Or, are you like I was.... living paycheck to paycheck, never even saving for a rainy day, because everyday, in your life, it’s already pouring?
I didn’t even have enough money to buy an umbrella!
It took a long time for me to realize what I want to share with you now...that “giving” doesn’t have to be giving money. The most valuable treasures you have are your time and your talent, and those treasures can get you all the money you could ever dream of possessing.
No. I wasn’t always this philosophical. No. I was not always this smart. There was a time.....(okay, cue the dream sequence video to start spinning.....cue the music.....fade to....)
When I was just starting out in my cartooning career, when someone would show up asking for money at my tiny little apartment in Hartford, Connecticut, I’d reach quickly for my wallet.
Not to open it, but to grab it tightly, wrap it in duct tape, to keep it closed while I mixed up some concrete to encase it.
“GIVE” was a four-letter word around Cartoon-Boy’s Ponderosa in those days. I was heavily into “GETTING”. Getting anything I could, and I wasn’t giving anything away.
You see, I had been born to a hard working, proud and poor Mother and a Dad that was never working and never even on the premises. Before my mom divorced him and later remarried, we had very little. My mom worked three jobs to provide for my little brother Brad and me, and did the best she could. But I remember very clearly going to bed more than once hungry.
It’s a funny thing, once you’ve been hungry as a small child, truly hungry, you never forget it. No matter what graces God gives you for the rest of your life, you never forget.
So, even after my mother remarried and we moved on up to the sparkling lower-middle class, I guarded my meager belongings like Roy Rogers guarded the Wells Fargo box on the Noon Stage!
I’m not exactly sure of the exact moment I changed. When that time in my life came that I realized I liked giving more than getting...but it probably involved a pretty girl.
Broke, but desperate to impress the little girl of my dreams at that moment, I’m sure I probably drew her a picture, or wrote her a poem, in hopes that she’d like this kid who didn’t have enough money to buy her jewelry.
When I got that kiss on the cheek as payment, I guess I got hooked on “giving”.
That kiss, and that change of heart put me in the right place for life, I think. Maybe “giving” could do the same thing for you.
Yes. It can get you better dates. Maybe the girl or guy of your dreams. It did that for me. But, giving can also get you the career of your dreams. GIVING got me syndicated all over the world!
You know, if you read your Bible, which I strongly suggest you do, right AFTER you read this brilliant column on cartooning, you might find that it is full of really good advice from a smart, all-knowing, all-seeing being.... and no, I don’t mean your mother.
You’ll find a place where God tells you to give your full-measure, and if you do, that your full-measure will be given back to you many, many times over.
I’ll bet Mort Walker has read a Bible. He gave me the world.... and it was his to give. He has a lot, as worldly possessions go. Having comic strips in every paper ever printed for 50+ years will do that for a guy. And when Mort (Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, Boner’s Ark) gave me the world, it wasn’t on a silver platter...it was on a golf tee.
Mort was golfing with his pal Bill Yates, who was a great cartoonist in his own rite, having drawn magazine gags and a syndicated strip (Professor Phumble) for many years, and now was the Editor at the world’s biggest comic strip syndicate, King Features. Bill told Mort about a problem he was having with Jim Henson, and The Muppets. Bill said he had auditioned every good cartoonist he could think of to please Jim Henson, who had signed a deal to have his world famous “Muppet Show” adapted to a comic strip. This strip was going to be HUGE, if Bill could just find the right talent, but Jim didn’t like anybody that Bill liked, the deal was almost blown, and Bill was at his wit’s end. Mort suggested Bill call me.
ME.
It still, after 25 years, blows my mind. ME. An unknown Connecticut Hillbilly kid who drew comic books for Weekly Reader. ME. I can’t even believe the great Mort Walker even knew my name.
By now you know, through my credits, that I got the job. How I got the job, and my experiences during it and after it will fill many other columns to come. For now, I just want to tell you HOW Mort knew my name.
GIVING. Since that kiss on the cheek so long ago, I loved to draw for people. It is what I do.
So, when Weekly reader sent me around to schools all over the place to draw and teach drawing to promote our books to schools, I took to it like King Kong to Fay Wray.
Mort had opened a Museum Of Cartoons in Greenwich, Connecticut that subsequently moved to Ryebrook, NY. I went to the Museum all the time to hear the speakers they would have at special Sunday Programs in their small auditorium. The speakers were all famous cartoonists and friends of Mort’s who would do a talk about themselves and their work. I saw John Cullen Murphy (Prince Valiant), Bob Clampett ( Looney Tunes and Beany and Cecil), Dik Browne (Hi and Lois and Hagar The Horrible), Chuck Jones (Looney Tunes), and so many more there!
Every once in a while, the famous cartoonist had to cancel for travel, health or personal issues and the museum would call on local talent to fill in. I put my name on the LAST MINUTE LIST.
Every time I got a call, I went. I drove the two hours to the museum and gave a drawing lesson and talk for free. I loved it! I did it 10 times in five or so years. Mort didn’t know me, or anything about me. I found out later that he thought I lived right in the neighborhood; I was there so much. I didn’t. I lived far away. But it was truly AN HONOR to be asked to give of my time and talent. I really felt that way.
So, one day, Mort told the guy who ran the museum to tell me I could have a little art show the next time I spoke. I could hang a bunch of my work up in the foyer of the auditorium, so the folks could see what I did, (since no one had ever heard of me, probably) and as a “thank you” for all my effort.
It was those few pieces of comic book work that were hung there for that day in the museum that Mort Walker remembered when Bill Yates told him they needed to find a “Muppets” artist. Those pieces, my work ethic, and (I guess) pleasing personality were all Mort knew of me.
And you know the rest.
While I can’t guarantee anyone that if they give of themselves they will soon find themselves in 660 newspapers like I did, I can guarantee EVERYONE a few things.
If you give from your heart without desiring anything in return... you will get the greatest feeling of self-worth you can imagine. You will make your little piece of the planet a better place. You will know what it feels to be needed. You’ll get love. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?
You might like giving so much; you might even find that you get “selfish” about it, as I did. I like that feeling I get so I give all that I can.
And don’t worry, there will still be plenty of time to take care of Number One, too. Don’t give the store away... just give of yourself what you comfortably can. Let the world know how talented you are! Show off a little! The rest will all take care of itself.
I haven’t needed that rainy day umbrella for years.
Guy Gilchrist -- Creator of Nancy®, Mudpie, Your Angels Speak, Night Lights and Pillow Fights, and Jim Henson’s Muppets,etc.
Songwriter, Recording Artist
Nashville, TN.
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