Rick Kirkman Mentorship
In 2011 I entered Hoxwinder Hall in another on-line comic strip competition; the CartoonistStudio’s "So You Wanna Be a Cartoonist" contest. Over the course of several weeks, my strip garnered over 23,000 public votes and I was ultimately awarded a 30-day (e-mail) mentorship with
Rick Kirkman, co-creator of the very popular syndicated
Baby Blues comic strip. This was a runner-up prize, but it felt like I had won the jackpot!
©Baby Blues Partnership Dist. by King Features Syndicate
Over the course of the next month, Rick and I exchanged e-mails and conversed about cartooning, the syndication business, and what he thought about my comic strip. Rick provided very honest (okay, brutally honest) thoughts about my strip, and ideas on how I could and should improve it. I’d be lying if I said that we agreed on everything, but in hindsight many of his insights were invaluable for helping me grow as a cartoonist. I often refer to those e-mail exchanges and glean something new from them that I did not really hear when we were having the discussions. Thanks again, Rick!
Many of my conversations with Rick Kirkman can be seen here in a
Note on my Facebook page.
