If you are born to a couple of artists, are given pencil & paper to play with the moment you learned to distinguish shapes, and are given plenty of encouragement for good measure, you can't help to become an artist of sorts yourself, like it or not! – In fact, if I can't create something, I'm not happy!
Breezing through art classes at school and top-marks without trying, only changed somewhat much later once I got a real art teacher scrutinising my work at art college. "Crap, do it again!", were his favourite words when he thought I needed cutting down to size a bit…
Graphic Art and Cartooning in Sydney
I always had a soft spot for cartoons and while keeping the wolves from the door with graphic art and a casual job for a while, I eventually turned to full-time freelance cartooning, and became WENZL - Cartoonist! I couldn't have picked a better city than Sydney, Australia to live in at the time. Regular publications in some 12 or so magazines and major newspapers quickly catapulted me into the ranks of the name-cartoonists of the time. I also drew for regional publications of the east coast, as well as for commercial entities and even private people. Best job I've ever had! – Until...
Not a good Move
... I decided to move west across the country to live in Perth. It was the era of "B.C." (Before Computers…), and there was absolutely no way to make a 20 minute deadline for a newspaper cartoon using the postal service! When some editor from the Sydney Morning Herald or Cleo Magazine, or Cosmopolitan, etc. needed a quick pocket-cartoon to brighten up a dry article, I was no longer a viable choice. Without being "on tap", even stand-alone cartoons for Playboy, or cartoon strips for special interests magazines become a major hassle with courier or postal services as the only delivery methods. And to keep the work flowing without being able to stay in close contact with those who had work for me, became impossible!
On top of that, there were zero cartooning opportunities on the west coast of Australia in Perth at the time. Zilch, nada, nothing! All the head offices of all publications sold there were 4000 km away on the east coast. In other words, cartooning as my main income source was out and had to take a back-seat for a while... :(
So, after many years in Web Design, it was definitely time to look for a new niche! The question was, what? "Go with the flow, but do what you know!" they say. Hmm, all very well, but what were the trends in my game? And what did I know that would fit the bill? Who or what was setting trends out there? There were mobile phones, there were games, there was the phenomenon of social sites, viral marketing was taking off, and… That's when it hit me! You guessed it, cartoons are a perfect vehicle for viral marketing, and "WENZL" was resurrected from the sidelines!
Some time later social media were taking the world by storm, and cartoons (digital or otherwise) and video graduated from the entertaining to the entertainingly useful! – and I was back in business !
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The internet has changed the way we do business. Everyone is eager to somehow establish viral marketing – and what better than a CARTOON to help market ones wares or services through social media, blogs, or newsletters and all that… Wouldn't you agree?
Artists don't die
However, the art bug never left me, and my cartooning never really "died" either. Instead it found applications in commerce and as a sideline, while I was busy climbing the ladder doing non-arty things in the corporate world of publishing. In-house publications such as we had at that multi-national mob that I worked for, were always boring. But using my cartoons for motivation and recognition, got staff to actually read the stuff! And it got me brownie points with the company too… :)
A new Interest
Then I found a new tool: COMPUTERS! Self-taught initially, I eventually made it all official by going back to school and acquiring formal qualifications in Instructional Multimedia. Combining my newly acquired know-how with the experience I had gained in sales & marketing and teaching, coupled with my inherent plethora of creativity, I specialised in Web Design as the logical next career step. A perfect outlet for my creativity!
Cartooning & the Web
As Internet technology and software improved, the web industry got more and more diverse and complicated over the years. Every five minutes a new profession was (and still is) born that wasn't there an hour ago and web designer micro-businesses were increasingly forced to specialise.