Most of us have grown up
reading several comic strips in our newspapers. Almost every major newspaper,
local or national, has an entertainment section that features either a daily or
a sunday comic strip. If you have lived and/or grown up in India especially in
Punjab, the comic strips that you might remember reading at some point in your
life could be Dennis the Menace, Blondie, Mutt & Jeff, Love is.., Peanuts
and Garfield.
My two favorite comic strips of all times happen to be Calvin & Hobbes and Dilbert. Calvin & Hobbes is a strip that revolves around the every day life events of a really smart but silly six year old boy, Calvin from an American middle class family and his stuffed toy, Hobbes, a tiger who can interestingly not only understand but also converse with Calvin. Dilbert, on the other hand, is a comic strip on satirical office humor with a smart engineer named Dilbert and how he finds himself stuck in everyday office situations that revolve around micro mismanagement. Here is a strip each from both my favorites:
Various cartoonists have
tried to explain what a comic strip is but the shortest and best explanation I
like is the one by Will Eisner, who defines a comic strip as "sequential
art". On the surface, comic strips might seem like the quick work of a
poor & idle artist but if you take a deep look inside, you will realize
that drawing few boxes of cartoons with some text in it, in reality, are great
literary works of art created by some really smart people. The best part is
that these cartoonists are not only having fun with what they do but also
building great careers in this industry and making tons of money.
The first American comic
strip, The Katzenjammer Kids, created by German immigrant Rudolph Dirks and
drawn by Harold Knerr made its debut on December 12, 1897 in the American
Humorist, the sunday supplement of the New York Journal. It is still being
distributed by King Features making it the oldest and longest running comic
strip still in syndication. Comic strips might have been around since 1897 but
their popularity and possibility to turn itself into loads of cash in the past
couple of decades has turned several artists to now pursue it as a serious
full-time career.
Given the popularity of
comic strips amongst people of all ages and the revenue that this art is
generating in the new digital era, comic studies are now being taken seriously
even in the academic field. Scholars now regard comics as sophisticated texts
and sites of complex literacy that deserve serious scholarly study. Many
universities such as University of Florida, University of California Santa Cruz
and University of Toronto, Mississauga are now offering formal degrees,
programs and individual courses in comic studies. There are many publications
in circulation dedicated to this subject both in print and online media. Some
examples of such publications are the European Comic Art, International Journal
of Comic Art, Image Text and Image & Narrative. If you are a comic
enthusiast, literary academician or someone working in this field, there are
several conferences held around the world annually such as the International
Comic Art Forum (ICAF) at Georgetown University and the Gesellschaft für
Comicforschun in Germany with international focus and scholarly rigor that can
provide you unparalleled opportunities to learn from and network with some of
the top professionals in this industry.
Courtesy: www.gocomics.com
Courtesy: www.dilbert.com
Comic Strips are a serious business. Bill Watterson, the cartoonist behind Calvin & Hobbes ran an amazing decade from 1985 – 1995 with his little boy & stuffed tiger when University Press Syndicate circulated the comic strip in 2400 newspapers worldwide. Watterson being a true artist was headstrong against commercialization of Calvin & Hobbes and refused to convert his characters into merchandising, TV shows or cartoon films which eventually led him to put a final end to the strip in 1995 leaving a hole in the comics page that no strip has been able to replace. Watterson did however convert his entire strip collection into a total of 18 books that sold 45 million copies worldwide. In spite of staying against the concept of commercializing his characters, Bill Watterson still managed to earn a net worth of $450 million with Calvin & Hobbes with re-runs of the strip still appearing today in newspapers of over 50 countries.
In comparison to the traditional minded Bill Watterson, the artists of the modern society such as Scott Adams, cartoonist of Dilbert and Mathhew Inman, the man better known as 'The Oatmeal' are all for commercialization and have voluntarily turned their art into lucrative businesses.
Scott Adams turned the popular office comic strip, Dilbert, that debuted in 1989 into a brand through several hardback books, a video game, an animated television series and hundreds of Dilbert-themed merchandise items. Dilbert currently appears in 2000 newspapers worldwide in 65 countries and 25 languages. Scott Adams’ current net worth is estimated at $75 million, vast majority of which is Dilbert money.
While most cartoonists in the past made money majorly through the print media, Matthew Inman is one man who decided to use the internet in this new digital age to publish his art. This 29-year old computer programmer created a website in 2009 called theoatmeal.com to publish his self-created web comic strips that attracted an average of 4.6 million unique visitors and draws more than 20 million page views per month. Inman writes & draws comic strips on several topics ranging from technology, food, animals and grammar. Some of his most popular comic strips include "What's its like to own an Apple product", "15 things worth knowing about Coffee" and "Why working from home is both awesome and horrible?" amongst others. Inman's web comic strips monetize from internet ads and merchandise - everything from posters, shirts, buttons to magnets, making Inman over $1/2 million annually. I must say, that's pretty good living for a man who calls himself ‘The Oatmeal’! :)
Comic Strips are a serious business. Bill Watterson, the cartoonist behind Calvin & Hobbes ran an amazing decade from 1985 – 1995 with his little boy & stuffed tiger when University Press Syndicate circulated the comic strip in 2400 newspapers worldwide. Watterson being a true artist was headstrong against commercialization of Calvin & Hobbes and refused to convert his characters into merchandising, TV shows or cartoon films which eventually led him to put a final end to the strip in 1995 leaving a hole in the comics page that no strip has been able to replace. Watterson did however convert his entire strip collection into a total of 18 books that sold 45 million copies worldwide. In spite of staying against the concept of commercializing his characters, Bill Watterson still managed to earn a net worth of $450 million with Calvin & Hobbes with re-runs of the strip still appearing today in newspapers of over 50 countries.
In comparison to the traditional minded Bill Watterson, the artists of the modern society such as Scott Adams, cartoonist of Dilbert and Mathhew Inman, the man better known as 'The Oatmeal' are all for commercialization and have voluntarily turned their art into lucrative businesses.
Scott Adams turned the popular office comic strip, Dilbert, that debuted in 1989 into a brand through several hardback books, a video game, an animated television series and hundreds of Dilbert-themed merchandise items. Dilbert currently appears in 2000 newspapers worldwide in 65 countries and 25 languages. Scott Adams’ current net worth is estimated at $75 million, vast majority of which is Dilbert money.
While most cartoonists in the past made money majorly through the print media, Matthew Inman is one man who decided to use the internet in this new digital age to publish his art. This 29-year old computer programmer created a website in 2009 called theoatmeal.com to publish his self-created web comic strips that attracted an average of 4.6 million unique visitors and draws more than 20 million page views per month. Inman writes & draws comic strips on several topics ranging from technology, food, animals and grammar. Some of his most popular comic strips include "What's its like to own an Apple product", "15 things worth knowing about Coffee" and "Why working from home is both awesome and horrible?" amongst others. Inman's web comic strips monetize from internet ads and merchandise - everything from posters, shirts, buttons to magnets, making Inman over $1/2 million annually. I must say, that's pretty good living for a man who calls himself ‘The Oatmeal’! :)
So, as you can see, creating comic strips is not just about drawing
funny pictures. It has been and can be a very successful & lucrative business
that can make tons of money for the artist who has the talent, passion and the
vision for creating & turning great art into a strong brand. Perhaps
something you would like to try with your doodles????? :)
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