How To Start A Creative Project….Again
It seems I was aware in my twenties,that I wanted to spend my life in cartooning. Though I was not a great cartoon artist, I was prolific at writing and blueprinting offbeat cartoons long before The Far Side was born, probably from my great admiration of Mad Magazinein my youth. I also learned that many cartoonist work as teams, such as Disney did. Disney could draw, but not to the level as to what he envisioned his cartoon so he hired illustrators. That would eventually be the model of my cartoons, which would be still panels, not animation, but same model. That was in the early 1970s when I was a business student in Dallas because my parents told me I should be. I stored my shoebox of at least a thousand cartoon concepts in a shoebox for another quarter century or so and worked “grown-up” jobs such as real estate, marketing, tv and radio production, owning my own bus tour company in Washington, and several other entrepreneurial ventures that would have made anyone motivated by money only content and living like a king. I was miserable. All I could think about was my, now dusty, pile of cartoon concepts put away somewhere of which I’d long forgotten.
I lived and worked in nearly every major city in the U.S. and then one day while in Los Angeles, I received a call from my Mom immediately after the Northridge Earthquake which had swallowed my home, She had terminal cancer. My dreams immediately dissolved of making movies. I drove home home to take on the role of caretaker. The four last years of my Mom’s life were my hardest. But they also were my most educational. I felt all alone because I had been so focused on caring for her, I didn’t have time to maintain close friendships, though I did learn who my close friends were as they made up the difference given the fact that I was too exhausted at the end of the day.
Within three weeks I found a rescue dog (or he found me) who was sort of a cross between Benji and The Shaggy Dog, which I named Thor because he was petrified and barked loudly at Thunder. I had dog or cats all my life and received unconditional love and joy from all my dogs. Since I was a kid, they were my babies, and that never changed.
Being in my hometown of birth, Hattiesburg, Ms., I figured I’d rent a small apartment or a home, even though my favorite aunt who never has a negative word to say about anyone or anything said, “Be wary, it’s a bad scene down there”. I should have listened and left the moment Mom died. Nobody would rent to me because “I owned a dog”. I knew the real reason. They thought I was insane. My own brother, who owns the largest commercial and apartment real estate business in the state wouldn’t even rent to me. A couple who were my friends, a retired IRS agent and his wife a social worker owned an abandoned metal warehouse west of town with electricity, running cold water, and a phone line. I owned a used IBM clone 286 pc worth about $75, a book titled “Internet For Dummies”, a few pieces of way out of style wrinkled clothing, a sleeping bag that would not zip shut, and of course my new best friend “Thor”. For the first day, I just sat on the floor, not do much of anything and cuddle with Thor when he came over for attention. I could tell he was depressed too. He kept putting his face under my chin as if to motivate me or make me feel feel like I was okay. I didn’t feel like I was okay living in a large metal warehouse. Nothing felt okay. The concrete floor was cold. Then I had to wake up to a cold “shower” sitting next to a sink. It was the closest thing to a living hell I had ever experienced.
I looked at a large pile of taped boxes and opened one of them that was labeled “Creative” and unpacked it. He was jumping up and down. I guess he thought it was people food. I was then feeding him dry dog food, only because I did not know better. I pulled out a 20 year old shoebox full of cartoon concepts. I had no idea what to do with them. I read “Internet For Dummies” that night and learned how to find web sites and email their owners. I found some important ones. One of the first I found was that of the late Marc Cohen, then the private art dealer for Peanut’s creator Charles Schulz. I talked him into putting me in touch with Schulz who became one of my major mentors along with Rubes creator Leigh Rubin, Close To Home creator Jon McPherson, and Speed Bump creator Dave Coverly. I was in talented company, no doubt and they were all as generous with their knowledge as the day is long.
They taught me it is okay not to draw ones own cartoons, many don’t, and to recruit the very best illustrators on the net through running ad on art forums and other means. I did. The first artist I found, ironically was in my hometown and went to my same college USM. He drew 88 of my concepts before he was forced to stop due to family issues. But not before a San Diego Tshirt company paid us $10,000 for the licensing usage of 12 of our images for tees which Richard (Larson) and I split. Richard was my only illustrator/partner then. After he had to stop, friends told me to give it up and find a regular job. I was just getting started.
I put ads on bulletin boards and participated on the few forums available on the web at the time, and received at least 500 portfolios from interested artists. I chose 12. I had enough concepts to keep them busy for quite awhile. We all worked in robotic form, and I learned to barter to keep the project alive. Time went by as did the years and we had 2000, 3000, and finally 4500 cartoons by 2005. I was a full-time student at Western Governor’s University then and had put my cartoons on the back burner. My illustrators had other projects and were working on them. Then it happened. Fans, charities, and people from all over the world wanted autographed cartoons for one reason or another. Collectors were collecting them. Charities, religious groupos, and schools, and many other 501c3 nonprofits needed them to raise money for auctions. I complied with their wishes. After all they were the ones who put me on the map. I would not find out for another few months that they not only put me on the map, but by January 2005, my cartoon was Google’s #1 ranked offbeat cartoon where it has remained ever since. In 2008, Bing named it #1 also, where it has also remained.
A lot of water had traveled under the bridge during that time. I had a major heart attack in 2001 and almost died. I recovered (obviously), thank God. I had a vagus nerve stimulator installed in 2005, appendix taken out that nearly busted in 2006, and another major heart attack with two stents in April 2010. Again, near-death. This time my fiance, now wife, Lee Hiller-London was with me so had someone to help take care of me during recovery which is still in process. During the time, she saw I was bored and watching a lot of news, and she figured that was not a good thing. She was right. I had mentioned I was thinking about starting back up Londons Times Cartoons (several times) but I also knew the hassles of restarting such a monster.
After our marriage in June, I decided to launch Londons Times Gen 2 series. It took awhile to find the right illustrators, and I went through the regular egos, start and stops, etc., but finally the team came together, and we have created about 200 or so cartoons in 4.5 months. When I first started Londons Times in 1997, there was no Google, no social media, no Twitter, nothing but banner ads and bulletin boards to get the word out about one’s project. So things took a long time and the word was a thousand times harder than it is now. The legwork that is. To formulate a marketable cartoon on one’s mind is neither hard or easy work. One either has that skill/talent or does not, and no amount of “hard work” can make that happen or not. I guess I have that talent. I believe it is a God-given talent and I am grateful. We now have about 5000+ color cartoons and our site has lured over 8.7 million visitors. My amazing wife, while working on her own branded store, took the time to make a cartoon video and a complete makeover of my own site.
We now have 3 shops with over 135,000 comic gifts and collectibles. I learned to digitally design shoes in a deal with Keds and U.S. Postage Stamps which are included in one of my stores. I sell everything from tees to aprons to cards to mouse pads. I created a shoe that is the world’s only “famous love quote shoes” which I design for Keds. The top quarter showcases a graphic of a famous poet, philosopher, author or politician and the side quarter panels include one of their most famous love quotes. These have become popular worldwide and USA Today and AP Wire Service gave them rave reviews. There are no other shoes like them, not even close to being like them, on the planet. Both AP and USA Today called them London Originals.
Looking back over my 13+ year “overnight success”, I can only think of the many times I nearly threw in the towel. I did it on a shoestring. Money was always an issue. I learned that persistence, sweat equity, and simply refusing to listen to the naysayers was and is the key to success. I probably do not make the kind of income I could have made in real estate in my hometown of Hattiesburg, Ms in the family business, but then again, I’m a happy, well rounded person who loves what I do and am actually interested in what other people do. Like so many people working in real estate, I am not subconsciously forced to make a decision over whether I will like them or not based on what might be in their bank account or equity in their current home. I love people simply for who they are. And the one’s I care about and love, love me back in a way that is too beautiful to explain.
Google & Bing have named Londons Times #1 offbeat cartoons & gifts since 2005.
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