Late again and another brief update. This time I blame the penguins…
I’ve spent the day drawing, trying not to be distracted by the above live webcam from Kansas City Zoo, which I discovered today. I don’t mind confessing that I love penguins. I have no idea why. I just do. The only reason I’ve ever wanted to visit a zoo — which has always seemed a paradoxical place for animal lovers to visit — was to watch the penguins. I guess there’s something about them that fits my psychology. The black and orange is a wonderful combination, probably my two favourite colours. I love how they lumber about on land but are so graceful in the water. Plus I’m a cold weather rather than hot weather person. I know people can regail me with facts on how they eat each others eyeballs or were involved in the rise of the Spice Girls but I won’t hear bad things said about penguins.
Now I think of it, my very first blog was penguin themed. I even had a really great penguin domain name that I should not have allowed to lapse. Probably worth a fortune now, though I should hasten to add, it wasn’t penguin.com. Pretty close though.
The reason I’ve been drawing is that I’ve been persuaded into submitting cartoons to magazines again. I’ve had a few people tell me recently that there’s no reason why I should keep getting rejected. I’ve had other cartoonists tell me this, as well as “cartoon professionals”, meaning they work in the industry. It’s encouraging. I’ve drawn a new cartoon today, thinking specifically about the market and I’ve sent away six, two of which are of the “if this doesn’t get in then I give up” variety. I say that every time and looking back over the years, I’ve said that about cartoons why my skills with a pen were too basic (though, of course, so many cartoons these days have “naive” styles, so I’m not sure why I’m being so damn defensive).
It’s crawling towards the end of the month so I’m trying to ease back on the throttle. I’ve written a hell of a lot this month, though probably not drawn enough. The fact I’ve managed to keep the blog going is a minor miracle. Next month, I’ll try to write more engaging pieces for the blog. I promise.
