Making a Living From Funny Drawings

Making a living from funny drawings requires more than producing a good gag. It means developing characters people remember, creating work at a professional pace, and finding several ways for humor to earn money. A comic strip can begin as a sketch, then grow into a publishing opportunity, a commissioned illustration, a television idea, or a long-running creative property.

Andy Fanton’s portfolio offers a useful example of that range. His work spans comic strips, written comedy, drawings, television projects, mini-strips, and medieval-themed humor, with creations such as George vs Dragon, Boo!, Carrotty Kid, and Bad Grandad. His published work for The Dandy also shows how a distinctive cartoon voice can function across different formats.

The business side of cartooning rewards consistency. A single funny image may attract attention, but a recognizable body of work gives editors, producers, readers, and clients a reason to return.

Find The Comic Idea Inside The Joke

A professional cartoonist looks for more than an amusing situation. The strongest ideas usually contain a repeatable engine: a character with a problem, a relationship that creates friction, or a world that naturally generates new punchlines. That engine makes it possible to produce dozens of strips without forcing every joke.

Characters are valuable because they carry context. A dragon who is tired of being feared, a child who behaves like an adult, or an elderly relative with questionable judgment can create humor before the caption appears. The audience understands the setup quickly, leaving room for an unexpected turn.

Build A Recognizable Visual Voice

Funny drawings must communicate quickly. Clear silhouettes, expressive faces, confident line work, and readable staging help a comic land even when the subject is absurd. A personal style does not need to be complicated; it needs to be identifiable and suited to the kind of comedy being delivered.

A consistent visual language also makes a portfolio easier to remember. Editors can see what an artist brings to a publication, while clients can imagine that style applied to books, advertising, editorial illustration, animation, or merchandise. The goal is not to draw everything. It is to become especially good at drawing a particular kind of funny.

Create Work That Can Travel

A comic strip may begin on a page, but its characters can move into several creative spaces. A strong cast can support mini-strips, longer stories, sketches, scripts, short animations, live readings, or television development. Each format asks for different pacing, yet the central comic idea remains useful.

This is where writing ability becomes a major advantage. Cartoonists who can shape dialogue, structure a scene, and understand timing are better placed to develop work beyond a single illustration. Written comedy and visual comedy reinforce each other: the drawing provides instant character, while the words sharpen the rhythm.

Revenue path	What it rewards	Useful asset
Newspaper or magazine strips	Reliable ideas and deadlines	A polished sample package
Commissioned illustration	Adaptable style and communication	A focused portfolio
Books and collections	A substantial back catalogue	Strong recurring characters
Television or animation	Story structure and collaboration	A pitch, script, or treatment
Merchandise and licensing	Memorable designs and audience interest	Distinctive intellectual property
Online publishing	Consistency and community building	A sustainable release schedule

Treat A Portfolio As A Working Shopfront

A portfolio should show finished work, range, and personality without making visitors search for the important pieces. Grouping comics, drawings, writing, and television projects clearly helps an editor or producer understand the artist’s capabilities in a few minutes.

The portfolio can also demonstrate continuity. A collection of related strips says more than a random assortment of sketches because it reveals how an idea develops over time. Work associated with The Dandy, alongside original creations and smaller comic formats, presents a creative practice with breadth while keeping humor at its center.

Build An Audience Without Losing The Joke

Online publishing gives cartoonists a direct route to readers, but attention is not the same as income. The useful aim is to create a dependable relationship with an audience that enjoys the characters and recognizes the creator’s name. Regular posting, archive organization, and clear contact details all support that relationship.

A blog can provide space for behind-the-scenes observations, new drawings, announcements, and experiments that do not fit a formal comic series. Andy Fanton’s blog archive illustrates how a personal site can extend beyond a gallery and become an ongoing record of creative work.

Choose Income Streams That Fit The Work

Different forms of cartooning produce different kinds of payment. Commissioned work can bring immediate income, while publishing may offer professional visibility and recurring assignments. Books, licensing, and screen projects can take longer to develop but may extend the commercial life of a character.

A mixed model is often practical for a creative career. The key is to understand the cost of each activity: drawing time, revisions, administration, printing, promotion, and rights management. A funny drawing is still a piece of labor, and pricing should account for the full process rather than the minutes spent holding a pen.

Make The Creative Business Repeatable

• Keep a regular schedule for creating, editing, and publishing work.
• Maintain a portfolio with current samples and clear contact information.
• Save character designs, scripts, sketches, and finished strips in an organized archive.
• Track fees, deadlines, rights, expenses, and unpaid promotional work.
• Develop recurring characters that can support several formats.

Sustainable cartooning depends on habits that protect creative energy. Batching similar tasks, setting limits on revisions, and keeping records can reduce the administrative load. Time spent organizing a body of work is part of building a professional practice, not time taken away from drawing.

The best commercial opportunities usually follow a clear creative identity. When a cartoonist has a strong point of view, a reliable output, and characters with room to grow, funny drawings become more than isolated jokes. They become a catalogue, a service, and a set of ideas that can keep working.

Explore Andy Fanton’s comics, writing, drawings, and screen-related projects, then use that wider view of cartooning to shape a portfolio with its own memorable cast and comic world.