We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful George Gant. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with George below.

George, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project for me has to be by comic strip Beware of Toddler. Not only is it my most popular project to date, it is the most personal.

The comic began as a loose re-telling of my own experiences as a stay-at-home dad. In fact, it was directly inspired from a real life activity. A few days before I drew the first comic, I found myself playing a game of hide-and-seek with my then two-year-old daughter. I thought I’d be clever by hiding in a closet that I was sure she wouldn’t find me in. I was wrong–she made a beeline directly for me. I thought it was hilarious and drew it into a comic strip and posted it to social media. The reception was the warmest that I’ve seen in quite a while. This compelled me to draw another comic, which blew up online. I felt like I had something here, so I produced more and more.

In the years since I drew that comic, the series has become pretty popular, winning two Glyph comics awards while being nominated for six more, along with Ringo and Webtoon Canvas Award Nominations. Soon after, Beware of Toddler was syndicated by King Features Syndicate, appearing on their Comics Kingdom platform and in dozens of newspapers nationwide. All of this began with a game of hide-and seek.

George, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is George Gant and I am a syndicated newspaper cartoonist. I am primarily known as the creator of the comic Beware of Toddler, which is a humorous Sunday comic strip about a stay-at-home dad trying to survive daily life with a two-year-old. I am also the artist for the comic strip Angel Face Investigates, which appears in The Beano magazine every Wednesday.

Being a cartoonist is actually a goal that I’ve had since I was nine years old, reading old newspaper comics strips. Shortly after this, I realized I liked to draw. I kept it up through high school, where I won several editorial cartooning awards.

Years later when webcomics began gaining in popularity, I tried my hand at creating my own. After drawing several other webcomics over the course of thirteen years, I created Beware of Toddler, my most successful and person project to date and one of the few webcomics to make the transition to syndicated newspaper comic.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding thing when it comes to being a creative is seeing your evolution in real-time. One thing I know as a one, is there is always something you can improve on, and seeing that happen with your own eyes is a great experience.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

When it comes to drawing and drawing comics it may look simple, but it can be more time consuming and difficult to execute if you aren’t familiar with the process. That, and the fact that it’s a process in general and learning the craft takes a real commitment in my opinion.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://comicskingdom.com/beware-of-toddler
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/geogantart
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/bewareoftoddler
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geogantart/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrcHJu7lkUuD7gpaywZzkPw
• Other: https://instagram.com/bewareoftoddler
  https://geogantart.com
  https://bsky.app/profile/geogantart.com

Image Credits

Beware of Toddler ©George Gant, Distributed by King Features Syndicate