_________________________________________________________________
MAKE MONEY FROM DRAWING – WITH NO ARTISTIC ABILITY
_________________________________________________________________
It is really quite regrettable that twice divorced Geoff Atkins is no artist and claims he never can be, because this funny chap is a constant source of material for many of the funniest cartoons you have ever seen.
He is in constant touch with commissioning editors now, and indeed approached us with a possible cover cartoon for another publication.
We asked him for more details about himself.
The fact is that someone whose mind can conjure up such humorous and satirical situations, does not necessarily also have the ability to express these ideas.
However, Geoff started by making reasonable money by selling his ideas for cartoons to artists who specialise in this type of work.
Ideas just pop out of the blue, for the most part, he says, and they are probably sparked by just such human situations as we encounter every day.
It takes someone with his keen sense of humour and imagination to visualise the expression of such amusing circumstances in a humorous sketch with a tricky caption below it.
He has accumulated from the national Thompson Local Directories (surprisingly, perhaps, rather than the Yellow Pages), a list of cartoonists (usually listed under Graphic Artists), who always pay him a flat fee and often royalties as well on the ideas he posts to them.
He also found many names in magazines which use their cartoons.
Additionally, he had a cheap circular photocopied at a local shop, which many magazines were willing to send to cartoonists who had sent their cartoons in on the ‘off chance’.
He is particularly pleased with the fax machine (rented from British Telecom) which has increased his income an amazing 8 to 10 fold, as it enables him to send topical cartoon ideas to local newspapers (all of whom can use them as so called
syndicated material) along with national magazines, where it’s the first to make an offer who’s allowed to print! To save
costs, this clever machine has what is known as a ‘polling’ feature, enabling Geoff to send the same cartoon to up to 99
different publications during the night – hence at much cheaper rates – totally automatically.
It also has the unexpected side effect of getting his cartoons always looked at by the commissioning editors first thing in the morning – it’s always good to stand out from the crowd! Getting addresses and ‘phone/fax numbers is easy if you wish to operate a similar business yourself – just ask at your local library to see BRAD, the British Rate and Data Digest, a huge book which lists every publication in Britain along with full details about it.
It’s updated on a monthly basis, believe it or not!
