The Nicest Thing Ever Said to Me
I occasionally go to schools and teach kids how to draw cartoons. Most are just an hour long and range from 3rd to 6th grade. I also teach a 4 hour course creating their first cartoon strip and a 6 hour course creating their first book. A few years ago I decided I was going to offer a drawing course at the RV resort where we were staying. Obviously these are typically retired people like myself. We had a class of 6 to 8 people. On the last night of the class a gentlemen who had a great deal of enthusiasm at each class, came up to me and said, "Thank you for doing this class. You gave me a reason to live again." It doesn't get any better than that.
Fear of Failure
I began drawing cartoons in grade school and by the time I was in high school I was drawing a cartoon panel for my high school paper. The cartoons were successful enough that most of the kids in the school knew me as the cartoonist. So it wasn't unusual for my peers to sign my yearbook with such things as "Good Luck on your cartoons."
I was sure I was going to be a cartoonist and I moved from Springfield, Missouri to Kansas City, to become a success. I applied and was turned down at a few agencies. Finally I took a job at a silkscreen plant as a general laborer simply because I knew silkscreen printing had something to do with art.
I would draw little things like my own Christmas card etc., and friends would say, "Man, you ought to do something with those cartoons," and I would say that I would... someday. It was much safer saying I would do it someday, than actually having to try. What if I didn't make it? Then when asked if I was doing anything with the cartoons I would have to answer, "Well I tried to be a cartoonist but failed."
I attended my ten year high school reunion and many of my friends asked, "How did you ever come out on your cartoons?" I had to say I hadn't done anything. Ten years had gone by with me telling myself 'Someday.'
I spent the fall of 1976 thinking about my fear of failure and got angry. I made a New Year's Resolution to do something about it. On January 4th, 1977, I went into the office of the Iola Register, the local paper of my new hometown, Iola, Kansas. I had drawn four cartoons the night before and presented them to the owner. He liked them, and asked did I think I could do two a week. And that was the beginning. Within a year my cartoons were in the Kansas City Star.
Fear of failure prevents many of us from following our dreams. In my case, it cost me ten years.
I was sure I was going to be a cartoonist and I moved from Springfield, Missouri to Kansas City, to become a success. I applied and was turned down at a few agencies. Finally I took a job at a silkscreen plant as a general laborer simply because I knew silkscreen printing had something to do with art.
I would draw little things like my own Christmas card etc., and friends would say, "Man, you ought to do something with those cartoons," and I would say that I would... someday. It was much safer saying I would do it someday, than actually having to try. What if I didn't make it? Then when asked if I was doing anything with the cartoons I would have to answer, "Well I tried to be a cartoonist but failed."
I attended my ten year high school reunion and many of my friends asked, "How did you ever come out on your cartoons?" I had to say I hadn't done anything. Ten years had gone by with me telling myself 'Someday.'
I spent the fall of 1976 thinking about my fear of failure and got angry. I made a New Year's Resolution to do something about it. On January 4th, 1977, I went into the office of the Iola Register, the local paper of my new hometown, Iola, Kansas. I had drawn four cartoons the night before and presented them to the owner. He liked them, and asked did I think I could do two a week. And that was the beginning. Within a year my cartoons were in the Kansas City Star.
Fear of failure prevents many of us from following our dreams. In my case, it cost me ten years.
The Failures and Successes
My cartoons began in the Iola Register and soon were picked up by other area newspapers; The Chanute Tribune, The Humboldt Union, The Yates Center News. In 1978 I called on the Kansas City Star. I told them I had hesitated to call on them fearing I'd be turned down. They said, "You should have come in sooner." They loved my cartoons and they began to run them in their Sunday supplement, Star Magazine. I remember driving home that day with tears in my eyes from the excitement. My books had sold well in Iola, and I figured if I appealed to the same percentage of households in Kansas City, as I did in Iola, I would be rich. I was able to use the prestige of appearing in the Star to get my foot in the door to my former hometown of Springfield MO, and soon the Springfield Leader & Press began running Strahle's Bailiwick. At the height of my career, I was in seven newspapers.
The money was awful. Newspapers pay in proportion to their circulation numbers and the smaller papers paid $2.50 each. Even with the seven papers running them, I was only making around $40.00 per cartoon.
The Kansas City Star went through a major reorganization just six months after my cartoons began running in Star Magazine. They told me they wanted to produce a more upscale magazine to attract a higher grade of advertisers. My cartoon was dropped and CowTown began running in its place.
The money was awful. Newspapers pay in proportion to their circulation numbers and the smaller papers paid $2.50 each. Even with the seven papers running them, I was only making around $40.00 per cartoon.
The Kansas City Star went through a major reorganization just six months after my cartoons began running in Star Magazine. They told me they wanted to produce a more upscale magazine to attract a higher grade of advertisers. My cartoon was dropped and CowTown began running in its place.
1000 to 1
I sent sample cartoons to the major cartoon syndicates such as Universal Press and King Features. Universal gave me an interview but declined to make me an offer. The largest syndicate in the world, King Features contacted me. They told me I was a great gag writer. (That is also another way of saying, "Your drawing sucks.")
At first I was hurt that they didn't care for my drawing, but King Features told me they hear from over 1000 cartoonists a year. Out of that 1000, they will contact less than a dozen. I was able to put it in perspective. It meant that out of 1000 writers, they thought I was in the top one percent. If I was also in a pool of 1000 people who could draw, would I be in the top ten? Not a chance.
King Features first teamed me with another cartoonist that the syndicate had told he was a great artist. (Yep, that meant they thought his writing sucked) The two of us began to work on a strip together. It wasn't successful. He was not yet willing to give up on the idea that he could write and I had difficulty telling him his jokes weren't funny. Next they teamed me up with a cartoonist from Norway. He sent me a sample of his art. I sent him a set of my books. I never heard from him again. I had, after all, just sent him 1000 cartoon ideas that he could redraw and sell in Europe and I'd never know it.
At first I was hurt that they didn't care for my drawing, but King Features told me they hear from over 1000 cartoonists a year. Out of that 1000, they will contact less than a dozen. I was able to put it in perspective. It meant that out of 1000 writers, they thought I was in the top one percent. If I was also in a pool of 1000 people who could draw, would I be in the top ten? Not a chance.
King Features first teamed me with another cartoonist that the syndicate had told he was a great artist. (Yep, that meant they thought his writing sucked) The two of us began to work on a strip together. It wasn't successful. He was not yet willing to give up on the idea that he could write and I had difficulty telling him his jokes weren't funny. Next they teamed me up with a cartoonist from Norway. He sent me a sample of his art. I sent him a set of my books. I never heard from him again. I had, after all, just sent him 1000 cartoon ideas that he could redraw and sell in Europe and I'd never know it.
My Favorite Rejection Letter
I continued to send cartoons to other magazines only to get back rejection notices. I have over 300 of them. My favorite was an editor who used a form to save time. It had multiple choice boxes for him to check off the reason your material couldn't be used. There was a box that said, "We can not use your material at this time." He was kind enough to spend a little more time on mine by drawing through the 'at this time," in other words letting me know he would NEVER use my material.
I did however get in to some rather popular magazines including Woman's World, Soap Opera Digest and Highlights for Children. It is quite a kick to go through the check out line at Walmart and know my cartoons are in the magazines there.
I did however get in to some rather popular magazines including Woman's World, Soap Opera Digest and Highlights for Children. It is quite a kick to go through the check out line at Walmart and know my cartoons are in the magazines there.
I Shudda Been a Baseball Player
Mort Walker of Beetle Bailey fame, once told me there are probably only 100 cartoonists in the Cartoonists Guild and perhaps only 50 of them are able to make a living at it. For every kid who thinks he wants to play professional baseball, his odds are much better. Even once you come up with a successful strip, you then need to knock out someone else's space in the paper. With standards like Blondie, Beetle Bailey, and Peanuts and you can see there isn't much room for new talent.
Still, it is interesting to measure the impact the cartoons had on my life. For something that only took a couple of hours a week, I've appeared on TV shows in Wichita and Topeka, met two Kansas governors, published six books, and managed to draw over 1600 cartoons without ever missing a deadline.
Still, it is interesting to measure the impact the cartoons had on my life. For something that only took a couple of hours a week, I've appeared on TV shows in Wichita and Topeka, met two Kansas governors, published six books, and managed to draw over 1600 cartoons without ever missing a deadline.
Intellectual Property
Ideas are hard to protect. Several of my cartoons were stolen. Most offensive of all was Bill Keane, the cartoonist of Family Circus. In 1982 I sent him my first book along with a letter telling him how great he was and how I was sure he didn't need any help, but should he ever want help with writing, I'd be glad to submit ideas. I never heard from him.
However, soon one of my cartoons in the book I sent him appeared in Family Circus. It was a drawing of two little kids arguing. One of them is saying to the parent, "She hit me back first!" My cartoon and his cartoon were drawn pretty much the same way with exactly the same caption. Coincidence? I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Then a few months later another cartoon appeared, also from the book I'd sent him. This one was a drawing of a kid flying a kite. The string had knots every few feet. Through a window in the house was one of the parents talking. The caption; "George, I wonder what happened to all our dental floss." His cartoon was laid out almost exactly the same with a slight difference in the caption.
However, soon one of my cartoons in the book I sent him appeared in Family Circus. It was a drawing of two little kids arguing. One of them is saying to the parent, "She hit me back first!" My cartoon and his cartoon were drawn pretty much the same way with exactly the same caption. Coincidence? I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Then a few months later another cartoon appeared, also from the book I'd sent him. This one was a drawing of a kid flying a kite. The string had knots every few feet. Through a window in the house was one of the parents talking. The caption; "George, I wonder what happened to all our dental floss." His cartoon was laid out almost exactly the same with a slight difference in the caption.
I fired off a letter telling Bill Keane I didn't think much of him stealing ideas. He claimed he never received my book. I had no proof he did. But I do have two copyrighted, published cartoons identical to his, with my copyright dating four years earlier.
One other funny story about ideas....I was once making a copy of computer software at a friend's computer store. A couple that had moved away from the area came in to the shop and were excited to see me. They said they loved seeing my cartoons in their local newspaper back in Nebraska. I told them they were mistaken and that I didn't have any papers running my cartoons in Nebraska. "Oh yes you do! We showed everyone your name and told them how we knew you." I started to get mad. I had already stopped a newspaper in South Dakota from running them without paying me and now this. Then it struck me; here I was stealing someone's intellectual property and getting mad that some one else was stealing mine.
One other funny story about ideas....I was once making a copy of computer software at a friend's computer store. A couple that had moved away from the area came in to the shop and were excited to see me. They said they loved seeing my cartoons in their local newspaper back in Nebraska. I told them they were mistaken and that I didn't have any papers running my cartoons in Nebraska. "Oh yes you do! We showed everyone your name and told them how we knew you." I started to get mad. I had already stopped a newspaper in South Dakota from running them without paying me and now this. Then it struck me; here I was stealing someone's intellectual property and getting mad that some one else was stealing mine.