It
is really quite regrettable that twice divorced Geoff Atkins is
no
artist and claims he never can be, because this funny chap is a
constant
source of material for many of the funniest cartoons you
have
ever seen.
He
is in constant touch with commissioning editors now, and indeed
approached
us with a possible cover cartoon for another
publication.
We
asked him for more details about himself.
The
fact is that someone whose mind can conjure up such humorous
and
satirical situations, does not necessarily also have the
ability
to express these ideas.
However,
Geoff started by making reasonable money by selling his
ideas
for cartoons to artists who specialise in this type of work.
Ideas
just pop out of the blue, for the most part, he says, and
they
are probably sparked by just such human situations as we
encounter
every day.
It
takes someone with his keen sense of humour and imagination to
visualise
the expression of such amusing circumstances in a
humorous
sketch with a tricky caption below it.
He
has accumulated from the national Thompson Local Directories
(surprisingly,
perhaps, rather than the Yellow Pages), a list of
cartoonists
(usually listed under Graphic Artists), who always pay
him
a flat fee and often royalties as well on the ideas he posts
to
them.
He
also found many names in magazines which use their cartoons.
Additionally,
he had a cheap circular photocopied at a local shop,
which
many magazines were willing to send to cartoonists who had
sent
their cartoons in on the 'off chance'.
He
is particularly pleased with the fax machine (rented from
British
Telecom) which has increased his income an amazing 8 to 10
fold,
as it enables him to send topical cartoon ideas to local
newspapers
(all of whom can use them as so called syndicated
material)
along with national magazines, where it's the first to
make
an offer who's allowed to print! To save
costs, this clever
machine
has what is known as a 'polling' feature, enabling Geoff
to
send the same cartoon to up to 99 different publications during
the
night - hence at much cheaper rates - totally automatically.
It
also has the unexpected side effect of getting his cartoons
always
looked at by the commissioning editors first thing in the
morning
- it's always good to stand out from the crowd!
Getting
addresses and 'phone/fax numbers is easy if you wish to
operate
a similar business yourself - just ask at your local
library
to see BRAD, the British Rate and Data Digest, a huge book
which
lists every publication in Britain along with full details
about
it.
It's
updated on a monthly basis, believe it or not!
No comments:
Post a Comment