Caption reads:The first-ever solo Chicago exhibit of the socially conscious, educational and sometimes controversial art of Chicago cartoonist Tim Jackson will be on display beginning Friday and running through April 2 at the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library, 9525 S. Halsted St. in the Vivian Harsh Research Collection of African American History and Literature Wing. The public is invited to experience one man's vision and see a "Portrait of a Cartoonist as a Young Chicagoan."
Cartoon book speaks volumes on helping deafby Dale Huffman
"Everyone loves a cartoon," Jackson said. "They are easy to consume. It is a less clinical way to approach problems of issues, and brings it to a level that you can enjoy, while maybe learning."
Jackson, 25, a graduate of Colonel White High School in Dayton and a former Sinclair Community College student, s in his third year at the Chicago Art Institute in Chicago.
A cartoon book by Jackson titled, Friends are for Signing, has been published and released by the National association of the Deaf, Silver Springs, Md.
The book's story line concerns a young hearing girl named Dynasty [actually it was Vixanne.] who takes a sign language class in her high school [they are in Jr. High] in order to meet a deaf boy named Darren [Darrin].
In the course of the story, about 75 basic "signs" are used by comic-strip characters.
A gratifying result
Jackson said the book is an out growth of a strip he has been producing since he was a teen-ager called "What are friends for?"
"I put the cartoons... about being deaf... together in book form and sent them to the National Association of the Deaf. They decided to print the book. It is quite gratifying to see your work in print," he said.
"Actually the cartoon book is somewhat autobiographical," he said. "Only when it actually happened in school, I was the he who learned sign language and I did it to meet a girl who was hearing -impaired.
"I just hope the book helps not only those who are deaf, but might interest folks who can hear to learn sign language, so that there will be more communication available for those who can not hear."
Jackson also has concerned himself with other social issues in his cartoons. A full-page spread of a cartoon strip he created about busing to integrate in schools appeared in the Dayton Daily news in October of 1976 [1978 actually, see Dayton Daily News, 10 October, 1978].
'Just might help'
In the future he said he plans to create more cartoons that might serve a useful function in society. He said he hopes to provide insight into major life situations such as birth, dying and separation form parents.
"These are just the types of things that I want to dedicate my life and talents to," he said. "Making cartoons on various subjects that appeal to people and at the same time, just might help them.
Friends are for Signing can be obtained from the National Association of the Deaf, 814 Thayer Ave., Silver Springs, Md., 20910. Cost of the book is $1.95 plus 75 cents postage and handling. [& remember this was the price in 1983. Better still just click on the link and order from me ! tlj]
Pow! These comics deliver!By Linda Groner, Correspondent
Shazzam! Biff! Boom!
Kids love comics, a truism sometimes bemoaned by teachers and parents opposed to the values, violence, monosyllabic dialogue and cost they believe the strips and money convey.
But for some, such concerns are evaporating like matter pulverized by an alien's atom-ray smasher, with the creation of a new cartoon booklet series, What are Friends For?"
Instead of caped crusaders, goons and superhero sidekicks socking it out, its panels are peopled with ordinary kids, youths, grappling with parental divorce, drugs, sexuality and everyday pitfalls of just plain growing up.
"What are friends for?" is the brainchild of Tim Jackson, 29-year-old cartoonist-illustrator who works out of his Winthrop Avenue company, Creative License Studio.
"I've been drawing cartoons a little longer than forever," said Jackson. "I created the characters that appear in my books when I was in high school."
Jackson's cartooning is basically self-taught. He studied for a while at the Art Institute of Chicago. "It taught me there was more other there than pen and ink, but cartoon's the medium I prefer.
"I've always felt that kids like comic books. They'll read them no mater what the subject matter. What I try to do is incorporate a social message in my comics."
Jackson draws upon his four years a s neighborhood organizer and youth worker to develop his characters and themes. He worked as a VISTA volunteer, as well as for two community and youth service agencies, the North Austin Organizations and Edgewater's Alternative, Inc.
"I would listen to the kids talk, and make a story out of it. People are generally uninformed. My role is to inform them of the pressing issues facing us today, to let them know what's happening."
"Kids need to know that they have choices."
Ti, Alba, Gari and other kids in his stories are confronted with drug abuse, alcohol addiction, or parents in crisis. They learn how friends can help, how to accept the differences in people around them, and that they must take responsibility of their actions.
Each story includes an introduction and an afterword, summarizing the problem and offering specific advice in a straight forward, non-judgmental manner. It also cites community organizations that can help.
Jackson first used the cartoon concept with a book on sign language published in 1982 by the National Association of the Deaf.
All five booklets in his "What Are Friends For?" series are printed by Alternatives, a non-profit agency providing counseling, crisis intervention, employment and other services for youth in the Rogers Park/Edgewater area.
The artist would like to see his books distributed in clubs, schools, and youth organizations throughout the city. His most recent volume, "Friends and Choices," was published with a community development grant from the city's Department of Human Resources.
Jackson is seeking additional funding from foundations and agencies to print more titles and distribute them free of charge.
He founded his art service company, Creative License Studio, last year. It provides individuals and non-profit organizations with artwork for posters, pamphlets, and many other materials, including film animation and computer graphics.
Tim Jackson's cartoons educateby Earl Calloway
After reading though several of Tim Jacksons's cartoons, it became apparent that he is immeasurably gifted with a vivid imagination and through artful caricatures he emphasizes and teaches about positive and just humorous subjects in a humorous sense that make learning easy. In several of his strips, he has discussed social diseases, AIDS, drugs and remaining in school.
Most of one's life, one has habitually read comic books. In fact as a boy, we collected them by the hundreds and exchanged them with other friends. Tim has developed a dynamic and compelling manner of helping to bring understanding social and spiritual facts that is amazing.
Although Tim has talent, his ultimate desire is to bring his creativity of a larger audience so that they can benefit. Seldom does an artist of his stature bring to the mind such astonishing conceptions filled with strengths and depth.
Like the Wright Brothers, he comes from Dayton, Ohio. He doesn't remember when he really started drawing, but created the featured cartoon, "What Are Friends For?" while in his early teens at Colonel White High School. Very early he began t fashion his concepts to illiterate how he interpreted many actions and social issues. Therefore his cartoons articulated facets of life. Before he could vote, he was publishing his work "What Are Friends For?" He earned critical acclaim and his conceptions were published in a local Dayton area newspaper.
"It was in the Dayton Journal Herald that a first article about my work was printed," he said. "Later, a special comic feature was projected towards community concerns in the Dayton Daily News in 1977 [it was 1978].
"What Are Friends For?" was used in the original Dayton Black Press continuously. During the same years (1977-1979), I was employed by the city of Dayton, where my cartooning work was used to illustrate public information and posters."
Realizing that he needed to refine his technique, he decided to enroll at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1979. He continued working toward his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, but served the business and community organizations with his art. He developed and featured a different comic, "The Neighborhood" with the Chicago Defender from 1980-1982 and published his first booklet, "Friends Are for Signing" about sign language which was published by the National Association of the Deaf in 1982.
As Tim became more involved with various employment situations, he used his talent to enhance whatever was needed. At Alternatives Inc., he was a youth worker and taught a cartooning class through the Neighborhood Artist Program. It was during this period that his comic characters in "What Are Friends For?" became a tool for social awareness.
Said Tim, "After being turned down for syndication, I put stories together into comic books aimed at teaching social awareness to fill in the appalling absence of ethnic characters that youth could understand."
Eventually Tim established his own graphic art business, Creative License Studio, and introduced a series of "What Are Friends For? and Social Awareness comics.
Chicago ArtsPhoto by Charles Osgood
Cartoonist Tim Jackson publishes social awareness comic books dealing with self-esteme, substance abuse, job readieness and AIDS. He distributes them to the health department and board of education.
Photo by Jodee Harney
Caption: When taking college French, we always liked the comic strip work-book about Jean-Paul, who we were certain was modeled after Daniel Chon-Bendit. Presumably students of another language, sign language for the hearing-impaired, will find the same pleasure in Friends Are for Signing: A Story about Sign Language, written and illustrated by SAIC undergraduate Tim Jackson and published by the National Association of the Deaf. Tim thought to do the story upon making friends in high school with a hearing-impaired student. "From that relationship, I was later inspired to create this story for four of the characters from my own cartoon, "What are friends for?" Now, how does one sign, "Avant la revolution"
Local Black Cartoonists Paint Their Own Pictures of Success (excerpt)Photo by Doyle Wicks
Tim Jackson
At 34, Tim Jackson learned to turn a deaf ear to rejection and garner a
successful career from publishing social-awareness
books. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Jackson whose work was first published
in his hometown newspaper when he was 14 years old, came to Chicago in 1979.
By 1980, he had collected twenty letters of rejection for his work.
Jackson attended the School of the Art Institute [of Chicago] where he studied film and animation. He owns Creative License Studio where he does graphic illustrations and desktop publishing. He created the comic strip T-square, which appears in N'DIGO and has published eight books for grammar school, junior high school, and high school students. The Chicago Public Schools use his coloring book on understanding the AIDS epidemic. Chicago Housing Authority uses his coloring book or recycling.
Jackson has created books covering topic so coping with divorced parents, graffiti, and sexual abuse. "I chose to do this kind of subject matter because nothing was being directed at people of color. All of my characters are not Black, but the African American character is always the problem solver, not the one who has the problem."
Jackson credits his stick-to-itiveness to early encouragement from cartoonist Morrie Truner (creator of the comic strip Wee Pals) whom Jackson wrote to at the age of sixteen. "Here was a man was big and important and he cared enough to write me back."
In the future, Jackson hopes that Black cartoonists cam be seen as cartoonist who happen to be Black. For now he is working on two books about substance abuse for the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse, but he's trying to reach the right people to help him turn one of his social-awareness books into an animated cartoon.
written by Mark Heath
http://www.reuben.org/heath
cartoon reads: "Why does America find it so important to pin a label on people! My Brother--- I'll keep calling you what I've always called you; My Friend!" |
If you're like me, you've known the thrill of syndicate rejection--- reminiscent of slipping from a cliff you've spent years climbing. But don't dispair. You're not alone, and there are ropes at hand.
Selling your work directly to papers has much to recommend it. However, syndicates take 50 percent of the net earnings. When you syndicate yourself, the profit is yours, you retain all merchandising rights, and editorial control is entirely in your hands. But it's not easy.
Tim Jackson. is one cartoonist who made the decision to climb on his own. "As a child, I never wanted to do anything but cartoon. It was a single-minded obsession that never allowed me to think it wouldn't work out. 'If only the public got to see my work, they'd love it,' was my belief. Since the national syndicates weren't willing to show it to them, it was only natural to do it myself." That belief has delivered his feature, Things That Make You Go Hmm... to 11 regular clients & a dozen or so intermittent ones.
Before you begin climbing, however, Jackson suggests you develop certain techniques. In addition to drawing & writing the feature, "you're also the salesperson, marketing director, distributor & accounts receivable. Although many artists lack these skills in the beginning, one learns out of necessity. This is where city college comes in handy." The business section of a library or bookstore is also useful. And if ledger paper and sharp pencils are ill-tokens, consider one of the many software programs designed to track every facet of your business.
After you have your bookkeeping system set up, the next step is identifying your readers. "Research the papers that speak to that audience," Jackson says, "I recommend the National Directory of Publications, which breaks down papers by specialty, state & target audience." And don't limit your options. "My market in the beginning was the [B]lack press, but now it includes alternative press & social consciousness publications." Another resource is Editor & Publisher, the weekly news magazine for the newspaper industry. They publish an annual listing of papers. If you have online access, check out the Association of Alternative Newspapers site. You'll find a few hundred names and addresses for the top alternative markets.
On your way to the top, keep in mind that every climb has its hazards. Jackson's biggest mistake was trusting the publications to pay for the work they ran. "Many editors seem to be under the impression that cartooning isn't real work, & therefore we shouldn't expect money for it. My favorite comment: 'We don't need a cartoon, but if you want, we can print them to give you exposure.' " Keeping in mind that exposure is often lethal especially when dangling from a metaphorical cliff, Jackson has spun a safety net. "I've developed such a distinct style that people who are familiar with my comic(s) from legitimate papers will let me know if one shows up [illegally clipped] in some other paper. I plant my name & contact info within the artwork itself, making it difficult to white-out without leaving an obvious hole in the artwork."
Promoting your work as a self-syndicator demands the usual routine of phone calls, personal visits (make an appointment & don't expect a long meeting), & regular mailing of promotional pieces. The goal is to get your work seen. At an annual newspaper convention, says Jackson, "The publisher of the Madison Times Weekly...[saw] my cartoon in the Capital Outlook from Florida & got my number from the publisher. He [actually She!] has been my most faithful, on-time invoice payer since then." Jackson describes his sales as slow & steady. "People tend to think you're a 'real' cartoonist if your work is seen in more than one paper. Once Things That Make You Go Hmm... was appearing regularly, I began to get calls & letters about using it [from publications that ignored my first contact]."
Another marketing advantage is the Web. Jackson maintains a site that offers a portfolio of everything he creates, from editorial illustrations to his panel feature. "With the Internet, I can offer my services via the World Wide Web along with visual samples of the cartoons so [prospective buyers] know what I offer. This saves lots of long-distance calling on both ends. I think al cartoonists should have computer access, if for nothing else but to have e-mail. This is available at most public libraries."
If you go online, you should b aware of the inevitable piracy often unintentional; the typical viewer isn't aware of copyright legalities, so it's a good idea to post an explanation of copyright law on your site). Jackson chooses to see the upside of the crime. "In a way the thieves are giving me more exposure, making it appear that I'm in many more papers than I am." And because Jackson works his e-mail and snail mail address into each cartoon, he'll often hear from a fan who's spotted his work. "If it's a client [paper], fine- if it's not, I send them an invoice, suggesting that running the cartoon without permission is subject to a lawsuit, thus making the busted clipper a client," or compelling the user to pay for the cartoon. Another Internet advantage is the low resolution quality of art on the Web; once downloaded, the image degrades, discouraging illegal print use.
You have several options for distributing your work to clients. Regular mail is fine, if the deadlines aren't too tight. You can phone in your work via e-mail (though that's not always reliable.) The fastest route is the fax machine. Send the art oversize; the client can reduce it and print a clean image that's suitable for newspapers
Here are more points to keep in mind:
On occasion, self-syndication leads to regular syndication- if you demonstrate that your feature is salable, you've addressed syndicates' prime concern. Jim Toomey, for example, the creator of Sherman's Lagoon, peddled his strip for a few years before signing with Creators Syndicate. This transition isn't guaranteed, however, and it's probably best if you approach self-syndication as an end in itself, with its own rewards. For Jackson, his greatest compensation is the freedom to speak his mind. "I'm often angered by issues concerning racial injustice, & this tends to show in my editorial feature Things That Make You Go Hmm... leaving non-African American readers to feel picked upon. In fact, I am trying to expose the issue itself, & offer our perspective of it."
Finding an audience is perhaps the artist's essential dream. If you approach
self-syndication with this perspective, you're bound to find success.
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