Make Money From Drawing - With No Artistic Ability

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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!