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Two more ideas for making Cartoons pay$ :

Idea#1 Cartoon publicity for events : This is not a new idea, but I just saw it carried out to an unreal degree in Dublin, during the currently ongoing exhibit on Brian Boru (First emperor of the Irish) at Trinity college. The exhibit of this famous (famous to the Irish) thousand year old King was lifted from academic obscurity by a series of awesome cartoon banners(each banner 15’ x 6’) of his famous last battle. You can see the banners on line by googling Cartoon Saloon Brian Boru images, but what I saw was a daily hoard of tourists paying $15 each to turn their backs on the actual artifacts and stare at these cartoon depictions of his life and last battle. Great cartooning is definitely paying off for Cartoon Saloon, and they’ve just opened a branch in North Hollywood.

No matter what your art style, it would be well worth your while to skim through the images which are amazingly clear yet emotional summarizations. Many of us think of doing our informational prologues as “pre-stories”; thanks to this exhibit I’m now thinking of doing my prologue as a series of splash pages.

Idea#2 Tourist center fliers: If you live near a tourist attraction or major city, chances are real good that they have a TI, Tourist Information center. The newly arrived tourists come with a thirst to learn (in an entertaining format) and a willingness to pay for it. Established businesses really haven’t or can’t dominate this market, and an amateur with a new and fun design could quickly break in with a guide to an attraction, fun map of area Bed & Breakfasts or eateries, guide to area flowers or mammals of the area.  I think a combination of one of these ideas  with a few verses or a plug for a quality local church could be a double blessing for both reader and artist.  I have noticed that color and energetic high quality design are requisite for success with these flyers. However including one or two advertisements can get the higher cost of color printing underwritten by someone else.