Published at last

Well,  I thought I would do things backwards publish first, then blog.
I turned 49 this year and have wondered about being cartoonist since I was15, vowed to make it happen this year.
After years of scratching my head to find a product other than a cartoon strip or one boxer, as these are dependant on syndication which is, I found out a 5000 to1 chance of acceptance.
A comic !!!! these can now be self published very easily through Amazon's KDP kindle direct publishing, log in through your Amazon username if you have.
There are I'm sure other ways but this I found the easiest and least expensive.
First step in January was to purchase ( thanks to my flexible friend ) software and hardware to run it on. The program I've chosen is Manga 5EX, check out system requirements and buy PC to fit.
Manga 5EX takes you from sketch to public, comic or illustration, I paid 94.00 pounds which is a bargain compared to Photoshop or Coral and it does more, excellent support and how to video's.
to actually draw on I treated myself to a Wacom Tablet 13HD, what a lovely piece of kit this is.
So PC, Tablet and Software , it's off we go.
Google search "oliandcompo" and all will be revealed.
Website in August

A year gone by.

That year went slowly, no success with syndications....not yet anyway.Have decided to publish electronically, I have started writing the First book thorough "LULU" not gotten to grasps with this entirely yet, but it seems very user friendly and basic services look free so far, you can always spend money if you want to.
Its quite painfull waiting for rejections from syndications and definitely knocked my confidence, but its time to get back on my feet and launch ........ Plan C , I figure I need to create my own market through the internet have some fun, this is much more achievable.
Ive also asked to become an associate member of the " Cartoonist Club of Great Briton" CCGB, they will know more about this than me, application pending, it seems to me that patience levels need to be quite high in this game when starting out, or I've been knocking on the wrong doors, time to puch one open, I'll stay with this blog this time hopefullly more will be happening.

Syndication Sent

Well , that took some time to put together, my daughters chante and Caroline came to the rescue.
Save images as a jpeg file, open up microsoft paint, cut, copy and paste into a word document, add header with all neccessary info, name,email,tel.No.
For the Univesal Uclick submission ( done from their website ) you can;t send an attachment above 8mb, so mines broken down into 4, then press send, 3 more submissions to sort out and send by post .
But for now that's it , fingers crossed 1600 to 1 , the dice have been rolled , as promised :

      " O-L-I has Landed "
                                              
My name is Oli, I’ve come from the Planet Home and I have a side kick called Compo. This strip is all about our experiences here on Earth,  our interaction together and our journey through life in a culture we are yet to discover . As you can imagine that makes the scope of this strip vast to say the least. The strip is called     O-L-I  ( Other Living Intellegence ) its also my name, I have a few powers such as changing colour, a laser finger,  I can levitate and generate heat. I have a really cool spaceship that can change into all forms of transport and I’m an excellent pilot.

My name is Compo  as in Compost pile, Oli’s idea, I’m a plant life from Home. I’m definitely the more intelligent of this pair, grown from seed I can walk and talk and enjoy most food.  I have no powers other than these , which is advanced for plant life on Earth I believe , oh , I can communicate with plants and animals. We both have a great sense of humour and enjoy our travels together , experiencing each day as it comes , we are also available in black and white.

Learning , learning, learning

Great news for me  , friend coming around tomorrow to help with , cut and paste lol , resizing jpeg files , so I can get 5 strips onto one page with title, name and contact details on every page, still need to finish Character sheet also double up on cartoon strips, changing one of each back to black and white for the postal applications , so 28 colour and 28 b/w .
Still need to draw a Sunday Cartoon or two, no specific description for these , just more boxes ,  I draw with 3 , Sunday's go up to 6 to 9 boxes , should be fun/challenge/I have no idea !
The day I send off the syndication applications I shall introduce the characters here, hopefully soon am trying for Wednesday.

up to 21 strips now , hoping to send applications off on Wednesday 28 strips black and white, 4 per
a4 paper etc,etc, each request from syndications is different but specific.
Printed my second one out today and title not clear enough so need togo back and change all, be carfull here to check your  cartoons to see if everything , especially text ,is readable when minimised to newspaper size,  just made mine comic san ms , bold @ 50 , should do the job, looks massive when your drawing though..
Apparently the web site has been accepted! by search engines but takes up to 7 more weeks to get indexed, just as well because it looks very templated, loads to learn there.
So I will start a Facebook after sending applications off and reveal characters here simultaneously, I hope.
got to go its pizza night !!!!!!

This is where it all happens, far from drawing studios of old, not a piece of paper in sight, crazy. I use a wacom utuos 3 ( I think ) drawing tablet with A4 drawing size area, present from my wife about 5 years ago, second hand ones go for about 200 now, perfect for my needs and more probably,  takes some getting us to. I have an A4 drawing pad, for doodling rough sketches out on and try to carry a small note book to jot down any ideas that I have.

The key to success is a well organised plan, or not .