Every Week That Was
So what does a cartoonist’s week look like?
I dunno.
I know what this cartoonist’s week looked like. Maybe sharing it with you will help you think about trying your hand at this strange thing.
MONDAY
Go to work. Yep, like many cartoonists, I have a day job. I work at The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News in a capacity only loosely related to cartooning. I leave at 7 AM, train in to the city, and return around 6 PM on a normal day.
This Monday, I walked in the door, said hello to the daughter and wife and retreated into the bedroom to write jokes. Did horribly at that and only had a few keepers before I headed off with said daughter to guitar lessons. Come back and spend an hour scanning in 24 cartoon drawings.
One day in and I’m already behind.
TUESDAY
Go to work. Come home. Hit the bedroom and start to write again. I generally lie on the bed, stare at the ceiling and listen to classical music until jokes come to me. Tonight is a little better but I’m going to need to write again another night. For now I head into my office and start shading the drawings. I have 48 cartoons due in two weeks. Why 48? Well, Loose Parts is done in two formats, panel and strip. So I have to prepare four weeks of six dailies done in two formats. I don’t know how other cartoonists work but I send Loose Parts to my syndicate in one batch every four weeks.
Practiced the guitar. I’m learning Blackbird. It’s a little hard since I cut the tip of my left index finger with an Exacto knife. Thank God for Liquid Skin. Product of the year in my book.
WEDNESDAY
Go to work. Come home. Finish shading the drawings and start assembling them in frames and adding captions and all. Watch some hockey. Play the guitar.
THURSDAY
Go to work. Come home. Start writing jokes again. Do better and finish Loose Parts. But I have another cartoon called Biz that runs in The Inquirer on Sundays and I put some time into that. Oh, and I finish off some cartoons I wanted to send on to the New Yorker in a one in a bazillion chance they would pick up a few. Get that submission ready to drop off at the post office tomorrow morning.
FRIDAY
Go to work. Come home. Play the piano for awhile. It’s really loud so anytime I have the house to myself, I try to play the piano rather than the guitar. By I come to my senses and buckle down and draw three cartoons before wife gets home. Spend lovely evening with the missus catching up. Knock back a few Rowhouse Reds from Philadelphia Brewing. Watch the finale of Battlestar Gallactica.
SATURDAY
Get up by 9. Start drawing more cartoons. Car Talk is on. Yay. Hours later, I finish drawing seven cartoons. Friends come over for merriment. Eileen and I watch Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
SUNDAY
Go play basketball for three hours. Finish assembling some daily Loose Parts. Go down to my office and begin to scan and colorize the next Sunday Loose Parts. I generally do the Sunday Loose Parts cartoons once a week. I do the colorizing and separate the black from the color plates before sending the toon down the line. I work way ahead on these. Today, I send off a Sunday cartoon for June.
Do correspondence. Send some books to Amazon. Update the website. Look for more new music for my ipod (Devotchka anyone?)
Oh, and the laundry room is just off my office so I’m doing the wash, too.
SUMMARY
All in all a pretty good week. Two bad writing days put me a little behind but I’m right on deadline schedule. This week will get a little sticky as I have to switch over to finishing Biz cartoons. Pray the Creativity Fairies visit early and often.
That was my week. Sound like something you’d like to do?
Till next time, stay Loose.
Dave
Loose Parts Blog
Sunday, March 22, 2009
