Is it posible to be a cartoonist at the age of 16?

Question:I make cartoons. I make animated cartoons, and i draw... alot!

but im only a armature!

ANYONE know of someone/somewhere where i can get a job/career in cartooning? ive been told its my talent, along with other things.

i have a lot of good ideas, i just dont know how to get started!

please help me!!! thank u, and have a kick as day!

Sanchez Inc.
(stupidity at its finest)

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I make cartoons. I make animated cartoons, and i draw... alot!

but im only a armature!

ANYONE know of someone/somewhere where i can get a job/career in cartooning? ive been told its my talent, along with other things.

i have a lot of good ideas, i just dont know how to get started!

please help me!!! thank u, and have a kick as day!

Sanchez Inc.
(stupidity at its finest)

Can you? Yes. Should you? I'm leaning against it.

Basically you want to have two full-time jobs here. One is to draw, the other is to sell yourself. That is not easy. If you can do gag cartoons, then you can send them out. Look around and you'll find most magazines which use them have submission policies. Read anything about selling to them and the advice they are going to have for you is perservere. What does that mean? It means most markets really are going to reject you until they absolutely have to buy your stuff.

All is not bleak, but, if you are really serious these are hard facts and they are hard facts you are going to have to learn fast. Also, once you get to the big markets you will find that the contracts are not all they are cracked up to be. Andy Warhol's nephew, James Warhola, left a job at Interview Magazine to do Science fiction illustration (something that upset his uncle. What does he do now? I'm told he teaches and does childrens' books. I've never been a fan of his but even I have to admit he earned a very good reputation -- period. While he liked doing this work, though, he couldn't support himself on it.

People like Joe Kubert, Jack Kirby and Frank Frazetta, who all began their professional careers as teenagers, lived in a different world, where the cost of living was much lower. I don't know about Kubert (though I know people who know him). Kirby and Frazetta's educations ended before they wanted them to. Kirby attended Pratt -- one of the best schools in the country -- for one day. Then he had to go out and get a job because this was the depression. He worked as an assistant animator, in essence, for Fleisher Studios in Manhattan which did all those black and white Popeye's. Frazetta was supposed to go to Italy to study. The man who
was going to subsidize this died suddenly and he got a job helping John Giunta. (An old time Science Fiction fan who did comics as well as SF illustrations).

The way to break in professionally right now -- well basically there are two ways. The first way is just hustle. Read Craig's List. Read your local arts and entertainment paper. You'll find literally hundreds of jobs which don't pay very well but they will give you experience selling art, making art, and pleasing customers.

Anything you can pick up in school -- for the school newspaper or yearbook will help. Sign painting will help. One of the pros I know who I won't name used to paint signs. So did Fine Art painters Ad Reinhart and Stuart Davis. Maybe you'll find a commercial artist or studio who will take you on as a letterer or other assistant. If it does not seem like what you want it is still a golden opportunity to learn the many professional shortcuts. At the same time there are still contracts. Some of them are written by some very selfish people.

So no. I do not recommend worrying about the HUGE push you are going to have to make to be a big-time professional till after you get a lot more under your belt. I was going to say even a business degree would be helpful -- but I remember sitting in a business class recently and comparing it to what my late sister studied at URI ca. 1963 (before she switched to Applied Math at Brown University) -- and these classes are such a joke it is no wonder the economy is in so much trouble. On the other hand, Colleges -- not just big ones like Pratt or RISD or CalArts -- have lots of work-study graphics jobs. So you can pick up professional chops there.

If you really want to be a professional artist, and that is what a cartoonist is, you just have to hustle. If you hustle, you shouldn't have a problem finding some work. If you do good enough work, you'll find yourself able to hustle better work. But while this is definitely a good time to start, it is not a good time to get too serious about it. Look in your neighborhood hard enough and you'll find something.

first of all u could get some how to books then after that u could look in the yellow pages or in the internet they have some good classes out there

I'm not sure but its probably possible

If you're talking about selling them, get a copy of the Artist Market 2008 (or check to see if your library has one in their reference section) and look through to see which magazines are looking for cartoons and what style and subject matter they want. You can also try emailing a sample to the editor or art editor of your local papers or local magazines. Age doesn't matter to them, it's all in how your work looks.

You can also upload your work to a free hosting site like www.drunkduck.com or www.lulu.com You'll get exposure there, and with Lulu you can sell them in sets or as a 'book' (it's a little like CafePress).