To make a name as a cartoonist

Published : Sunday, 4 February, 2018 at 12:00 AM

Tanvir Shams

Syed Rashad Imam Tanmoy, a professional cartoonist, is working as the Editorial Cartoonist for Dhaka Tribune. Alongside, he is also an associate editor for 'Unmad', the longest running South Asian satire magazine. Apart from his work as a political cartoonist, Tanmoy founded 'Cartoon People', a community of young visual storytellers. Moreover, he is also developing Bangladesh's first ever autobiographical graphic novel series 'Mujib' that tells the story of the father of our nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Having various achievements and accolades to his name, no one else could be a better choice to show you the gateway of success in this line of work.

Skills needed
There are two kinds of skills that are essential for this line of work. One is to build up an attractive style of drawing. You have to do stylized drawing. Another important skill is to be a good visual story-teller. If you can only draw, you'd just be an illustrator, not a cartoonist or comic book artist. You wouldn't be able to sell stories if you don't know how to tell stories in the first place.

Personal characteristics

I have travelled all over the world. I have seen many dark people who are not funny in real life but they are super funny in the papers. All sorts of people could be cartoonists. Having said that the characteristics one must have are being dedicated and observing. Observing your surroundings and everything that happens around you is a major trait to have for this work. If I have to mention an ideal day of my life, I would say that my work starts right after I wake up or get out. Many advise to think out of the box.

However, I always say that in our country, you should try to think inside the box because there are so many things happening on the streets. Right after you go out, you'll see a naked beggar or a tokai doing mischief or people fighting etc. Therefore, there are plenty of things to observe, from little things to grand ones. There is no limit or end to those.

If you observe those day to day things, you'll get a lot of ideas. Another reason to look inside the box is that if you want to draw cartoons or do comic books, whatever you do, it has to be relevant. You cannot be abstract. People should be able to relate with your stories. So, you have to be observant enough to make a story out of your observation.

Responsibilities to the readers

It depends on the artist or the reader. If I have to speak for myself, I often feel a social responsibility. No matter how funny it is, I would never portray such kind of a message that could mislead them as most of my readers are young or teenagers. I'll laugh for the sake of the joke but I won't publish it. This is my personal opinion. I believe I am creating public art for the society. So, I have a social responsibility. On the other hand, there are many artists who create art for themselves. Hence, they don't feel any kind of social responsibility. Thus, everything is alright as long as you know for whom or what you're creating the art.

Current demand of this career

Recently, the demand has increased to great heights. When I started, I used to do it alongside my university classes. However, I never thought that I would actually take it as a career. Over the last 10 years, its demand has grown so much. Before, cartoonists used to work in newspapers only. Now, plenty of other sectors have been added. In today's age, besides working in newspapers, cartoonists also work in magazines and supplements. Then, the advertising companies who used to take artists only before, now they take cartoonists.

The reason is before they had to take separate copywriter and artist. Now, they take cartoonist because a single cartoonist does both of their works - generate ideas and draw. So, it has become more exclusive. Even the agencies are hiring cartoonists. There are so many game developing firms who are making local games and doing outsourcing as well. Cartoonists are working there as well. Moreover, cartoonists are being needed for designing in outsourcing firms.

Now-a-days, you'll see that website designs are no longer logo based like before. They focus more on visual story-telling. Say, you want to use an app to do something, you'll see that they use cartoons for the user interface. Lastly, there are plenty of comic publishing houses in Dhaka now. Besides the old ones such as Unmad, there are many new ones as well. Altogether, there is no limit to the opportunities this career brings in this age.