Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Patrick Carlson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Patrick, thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?
I was a child of the 70’s. I watched Superfriends on Saturday morning and Tom and Jerry after school. I knew from an early age that I wanted to draw cartoons. But, it wasn’t the shows on tv that inspired me. It was the comic strip page in the local newspaper. Strips like Peanuts, Garfield, and Hagar the Horrible inspired me more than any other artwork. I loved the simplicity of the art and the humor. That was my goal from age 11. However, the biggest problem of that career path turned out to be the one thing that shaped the career that I have today. The internet.
I graduated college in 1993. It was around this time that the internet was gaining momentum in homes around the world. I was planning on teachng while my art career took off. I had created several comic strips and was in the process of sending them out to syndicates across the country. But, as I received one rejection letter after another, the internet was gaining popularity. Soon, stories of newspapers going out of business or cutting budgets became everyday news. I had sold many of my cartoons to t-shirt companies, making a few bucks here and there, but my goal remained the same: get a comic strip syndicated. After years of teaching, and many summers and late nights working on my art career, I finally came to the realization that the comic strip was becoming a lost art form. Yes, there were still comic strips online, but nothing like the heyday of the Sunday comics pages. It took me a while to accept that reality but that caused me to shift my art into other areas. I continued the t-shirt designs but moved into cartoon mascots, logos and eventually children’s books.
Over the last 20 years, I’ve had to learn to move with the times. There are seasons in my career where certain forms of cartooning are popular, then not, but it’s important to keep moving. Learn new skills, styles and techniques. You’ll find some that sitck with you and others that don’t.
I still have a special place in my heart for the old comic strips of the 70s and 80s. If it weren’t for the artists of those strips, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I even kept the stack of rejection letters from syndicates (about 30 in total!)
Patrick, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Patrick Carlson. I live in Valdosta, Georgia. Since I was a child, I have loved the art of cartooning. I remember creating my own comic strips and comic books and dreaming of the day I could have my own characters in thousands of newspapers across the world. Throughout my school years, I took art classes, entered drawing contests, and planned out my own storylines and characters. I entered my freshman year of college as an art major but that lasted a year. I wasn’t happy with the focus on the abstract side of art. All I wanted to do was draw cartoons. I even had an art professor suggest that I choose another major! This was the first regret of my art career: not learning the basics of art or the importance of other styles. I then moved into education. I thought if my art career didn’t take off, at least I could teach. I completed college, took a few teaching positions, all while drawing at night and during the summers. After about 10 years of teaching, I had finally built up a decent foundation of clients and in 2004, I quite teaching to pursue my art full-time. I’ve been drawing ever since.
In the past 20 years of my art career, I’ve slowly taught myself different aspects of cartooning. Since the decline of newspapers and comics pages, the age of the comic strip has, in my opinion, died. So, I began dabbling in different styles and mediums of cartooning. Most of my work now is digital, although I enjoy watercolor when I have the chance. I’ve touched just about every area of cartooning: T-shirt designs, mascots, cartoon logos, children’s books, political cartoons. Some I enjoy, others not so much. At this season in my career, I’m doing a lot of college and university mascots. I really enjoy the characters, the humor of college rivalries and the exaggerated style of the art. A lot of what I do in school mascots is the same as what attracted me to comic strip art.
As far as my style, I’ve been told that my work has a distinct 80s feel to it. When considering that’s where most of the influence of my work originated, I’m proud to keep that look alive. I like to focus on exaggerated movements, expressive facial appearances, and, of course, humor in the scenarios and characters that I create.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I’ve learned two things about social media in my journey as a digitial artist. First, social media is essential in promoting yourself. Second, I struggle with it! I only began building a social media audience a few years ago. My biggest surprise is that it can be a full-time job. You must keep up with trends, regular posts, and audience engagement. It can be overwhelming. Persistence is the key. Don’t quit. Even when it feels like noone is reading or responding, keep at it. There are some days where a post will fall flat and others when the post spreads like wildfire. I’ve tried to make posting a habit, rather than a chore. If you train your brain to post daily or weekly, then that consistency will eventually pay off. Now, that’s not to say that I follow my own rules religiously. There are weeks where I miss posts or I’m busy with paying projects and posting slips my mind. If you can afford it, a social media manager can help but they can be another expense to add to you business. I am constantly working on social media. I’m far from where I want to be but I’ve learned to make it a regular part of my work week. Even if it’s a quick post, it’s important to keep your social media active.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Before the internet (and before my creative career began), all of my cartooning was done with paper and pencil. All sketching, inking, lettering and coloring was done by hand with physical tools. When my full-time cartooning career began in 2004, the internet had been around for some time and digital art was popular. I quickly taught myself digital art. Drawing tablets, art programs, like Adobe Illustrator, and keyboard shortcuts were now the way to create art. Since then, all of my work has been digital and online. I quicklly forgot the feeling of pen to paper. I now depended on the ‘undo’ button to correct any mistakes I made. I could easily repeat patterns with ‘copy and paste’. The days of drawing with a pencil, erasing with an actual eraser, and living with mistakes were gone. The ease of the digital process was all I knew. I wish I had not abandoned the non-digital side of art.
Don’t get me wrong, I love digital art and will continue with it as long as I can draw, but there’s something about traditional cartooning that can help develop your skills. The feel of pen to paper, the fear of making a mistake that can’t be easily fixed, and the hand control of a pencil or brush are things that just feel different with traditional cartooning. In the past year or so, I have started playing around with watercolor. I enjoy learning (or relearning) what it feels like to draw and paint on actual paper! And the fact that I have an actual, physical piece of art when I’m done is satisfying. I wish I had continued with traditional art practices, rather than focusing completely on digital art. It’s important to keep your creative juices flowing with new techniques and new mediums.
I also wish I had used the knowledge and lessons from other artists. There are so many great cartoonists online with advice and techniques I can learn from. It’s easy to get wrapped up in your own work and style that you ignore what you can learn from someone else. Don’t let your ego keep you from learning from someone better than you or that has a different style. A lot of times, you can incorporate other styles into your own work and create a completely new style all it’s own. Art is not meant to be constrained. Mix things up and see what comes out on the other end. You may be surprised!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.patrickcarlson.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patrickcarlson/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.carlson.71
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-carlson-5a4b142/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cartoonboy11
- Other: Tik Tok – https://www.tiktok.com/@patrickcarlson66
Image Credits
All photos and art are mine.