There are two sections here: questions about practical matters, and nerd questions for those interested in the process of creating and publishing the strip.

PRACTICAL QUESTIONS

Do you sell or share my information with third parties?
No. We only ask questions to better get the strip out to more people.

What if I want to stop receiving the daily e-mailed comics?
Why ever would you want to do that??! But, if you need to for some reason, click unsubscribe in the e-mail. And please tell us why--we’d like to know.

How do I refer other Members?
We encourage that! You can click “Click here to send this cartoon to a friend” and add a note about signing up. Or just give them the site address, www.qlowntown.com, and they can sign up there. Or sign them up yourself!

How do I get Qlowntown into my local paper?
Go to the GET QLOWNTOWN INTO YOUR NEWSPAPER page. There you’ll find tips on how to tell the editor that you want us in there. And they can find us easily on the website!

Can I buy the original artwork from the strips?
If a particular strip is still available, yes. Click on Click here to order the original artwork of this cartoon under the cartoon. If it takes you to the Store, you can enter the date there and pay for it. If clicking doesn’t take you to the Store, it’s already sold. You can still order a print, though.

Original dailies are $350, and Sunday originals are $400. Because so much touchup, texturing, coloring, etc. is done in the computer, the original may be different from the version you saw online or in the paper. That’s part of the charm...but we’ll send a scan of the original art as is first so you can be sure you want it.

All cartoons are in black and white. We’ll also send a color copy (if it appeared in color) of the strip in case you want to frame the finished version with the original.

The lettering is inserted via PhotoShop after the image is scanned (to make it easier to read when pixelated on the screen), so the lettering will be different than what you see on the finished version.

Originally, I intended to do the strip in both a square panel and horizontal strip shape, so some early cartoons are an oversized combination of both. Some cartoons planned for a calendar may be in a different size as well.

When will the artwork arrive?
Once the paperwork is all signed and payment has been approved, we’ll mail the artwork to you within a day or two. You can request faster methods of shipment before final payment is made.

Can I get original and reprint artwork framed?
Reprint art is available signed and ready to matte and frame, or framed but unsigned.

Original art is trickier. You’ll presumably want to decide how much of the art you leave exposed, and the variables of matte, frame and glass can be daunting, so we recommend you take it to a local or online source.

Can I use your cartoons for projects of my own?
Yes. Possible uses are presentation folders, newsletters, posters, advertising, magazines, books, web sites, brochures...the list goes on and on. However, we charge a fee to use our cartoons. Contact us at licensing@qlowntown.com for rates. We may take a few days to respond.

Is there a fee for non-profit use of your cartoons?
Yes. While the artist appreciates the value of religious, charitable and educational non-profits, these cartoons are the way he avoids having a real job. Seriously, we work very hard to create and manage QlownTown, and this product is how we make our living.

According to copyright law, free usage is only allowed when used as a teaching tool. To use a cartoon free, you’d have to be teaching about humor or cartooning. But if you’re teaching rocket science, for example, you can’t print a cartoon about rocket science for free, because it’s not rocket science!

Further information is available at this site: http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html. In any case, we encourage you to inquire about fees. If there’s an exception, we’ll let you know.

We live in a world, unfortunately, where taking other people’s property is frequently treated as harmless. Stealing is stealing, and a cartoon is the same as a song or a car or a bike. They all belong to someone, and you need permission to take them. If you can imagine someone taking an hour’s worth of pay from your paycheck because they figure you can afford it, you can get a sense of how copyright infringement affects artists.

NERD QUESTIONS

How did you come up with the idea for QlownTown?
As explained in the “Origin of QlownTown” page on this website, I was looking for a cartoon that would be marketable for other media. The Far Side, probably the best or second-best cartoon ever---Calvin and Hobbes holding the other spot---was adaptable for books and calendars, but didn’t really lend itself to movies (there was a somewhat awkward TV special), stage or amusement parks (although I personally would love to ride a Far Side ride!). I hope to someday go to QlownTown and eat junk food and go on rides. And maybe write a QlownTown Broadway show.

Why is QlownTown spelled with a Q, but in the strip you refer to clowns with a C?
The official version is that hundreds of years ago, the original natives of the area named it QlownTown in their language, which meant “gathering of silly people”. The real reasons are that 1) I could trademark QlownTown with a Q, and 2) despite the spelling of the title, what they are is clowns.

Where do you get your ideas?
Sometimes, they just come to me, while I’m talking to someone or working on some other project. Usually, though, I’ll sit down and try to brainstorm ideas. I like to skim magazines, read newspapers, watch TV or drive around for ideas. A lot of road signs figure into my cartoons, as do things I see as I’m driving around.

Frequently, I’ll get the germ of an idea--something I know has some humor to be found, but it isn’t there yet.

I still find my inner English Major coming out occasionally, and I get some great ideas from dangling participles and other bad grammar in news articles.

The most annoying thing is when I think of an idea just as I’m falling asleep at night! If I really like the idea, I’ll usually scribble it on a pad by my bed, in the dark so I don’t disturb my wife. Then I hope I’ll be able to figure out what I wrote and/or drew when I wake up.

Do the characters have names?
One or two of them do, but I’ve decided to give them awhile to “come into their own” before I name them. I’m open to suggestions. There is a duck who’s already named Matt, and a few names are mentioned in various cartoons, but those aren’t necessarily main characters. The guy in the tuxedo and tall black hat is Mr. Binkles, and I think the short bald guy with the baggy pants and pointy nose is Eddie, but that may change. Part of the problem is I’m not very disciplined and I hate to have to draw the same character twice. But we’re “drawing” closer together as we go along.

Are there people of color in QlownTown?
Clowns are inherently people of color! Drawing clowns with characteristics considered distinct to certain minorities is a slippery slope, though. I wish we were an open enough society to allow equal-opportunity caricaturing, but I try to steer clear of anything that seems inappropriate. As time goes by, I’ll try to take sensitive, inclusive steps, but they’ll probably backfire. There are blue, green and purple clowns in QlownTown, however, so I like to think that, like the old TV series, Doug, it’s a pretty diverse Town.

Are all the characters clowns?
Right now, no. The basic premise of my original concept was “we’re all clowns”, but some situations work best if the clown is playing off a “normal” person. And QlownTown is not made up of circus performers, but sometimes a juggler, trapeze artist or ringmaster appears.

I’m sure as the years go by, various conventions will be established, and the history of the strip will be littered with inconsistencies. But that’s part of the adventure of “growing” a strip in front of other people!

Who are your major influences?
When I was a kid, I loved Orlando Busino’s cartoons. He drew for the Saturday Evening Post, Life, Boys Life and lots of other magazines. His drawings were always rounded and “comfortable” to me, and he’s the artist who affected my drawing style the most. I always loved Don Martin’s stuff in Mad magazine, and sometimes aspire to his lunacy when I draw. For content, The Far Side showed me that ironic and off-the-wall humor could go mainstream. And a number of different cartoonists taught me that you should sometimes end with a period instead of an exclamation point. You don’t have to yell the punch line.

For a time, everything I drew looked like (second-rate) Robert Crumb, and I wish his stuff appeared in newspapers--although it’s definitely not family friendly!

Are any of your cartoons autobiographical?
Well, I do like to throw pies and make funny noises, and I have a pretty big nose, but generally, inspiration comes from outside my own life. My life just isn’t interesting enough to use as a basis for entertainment.

Are any characters based on real people?
Once in a great while, a character may appear who is modeled on a real person, but generally speaking, they all come out of my imagination. I did one cartoon that I later realized was George Bush and Dick Cheney, but they didn’t translate well into clowns (in the visual sense, anyway), and I’m more interested in timeless cartoons.

Everyone where I used to work wants me to do a strip featuring my old boss, Dave. I have a hard time doing subjects-on-demand, though, so they’ll have to wait.

Are there any subjects that don’t translate well for everyone?
Yes, not everyone will be old, young, hip, or local enough to get the references in a given cartoon. For example, if you’ve never heard the Puddintane nursery rhyme, the cartoon about Bob Puddintane being interviewed won’t seem funny to you. However, one can always look up the references online, and if I really like an idea, I’ll take the chance of someone not getting it on that particular day. I actually get a kick out of it when other cartoonists do a strip that I don’t get--I just figure someone else must be howling at that and feel happy for them. I see some pretty esoteric golf cartoons, from my point of view, but I’m happy for my golfing friends.

Why don’t you get a real job? (Actually, no one asks me this question---but it’s fun to answer.)
This is a real job--I just have more fun at my job than most people. I prepared for this job for years, attending art school and taking writing and directing courses in college (I actually use my training as a director and actor to set up scenes and draw expressions in cartoons). Drawing, scanning and prepping the cartoons for the web and publication takes a lot of time. Preparing artwork for merchandising on www.cafepress.com/qlowntown and through local printers is pretty involved. Add in developing books, calendars and future projects, and I have a full schedule. And there’s the pressure of coming up with something funny every day for years.

I am able to avoid working weekends, however.

How do you do your drawings?

The original ideas are sketched on scrap paper, church programs (yes, I write down ideas in church), notepads, recycled papers, junk mail, boards (if inspiration comes during a construction project), styrofoam trays, napkins, and occasionally on my PDA/phone (I have one where I can draw on the little screen, or type in the idea).

I work on smooth Bristol board, pencilling a rough version with various soft-lead pencils (I have no favorites). I lightly erase the pencil with a kneaded eraser, which leaves no “crumbs” as a regular eraser would. Then I do the final drawing with a black gel pen with a 1.0 point.

Accidents or changed ideas are corrected with white-out tape or pens---I love the tape and only use the pen for tight areas. I’ve learned that a lot of changes can be made in the computer, so I may let the placement or shape of objects go through in the original and change them during editing.

I scan the artwork at a 1200 dpi grayscale setting, using PhotoShop Elements 6. The high resolution is so I’ll have a permanent record of each cartoon, since most of the original artwork is offered for sale, and I need a copy that can be used for publications in the future. I also need to convert the scan to true black-and-white---the grayscale shows variations in the original “black” lines.

PhotoShop was designed for the varied tones of photographs, so there are a lot of tricks that apply only to artwork with flat areas of color and clear lines. The learning curve, after I’d left my job as an expert in the kitchen design computer program we used, was incredibly frustrating! The book, Create Art and Cartoons in PhotoShop Elements 4, by Chris Madden, saved my sanity on more than one occasion. I’ve also discovered that PhotoShop needs a lot of computer memory, or you’ll spend half your day waiting for files to be opened and saved.

After converting to true b&w line drawings, I’ll clean up dirt and pencil scratches that still appear on the scan. Then I make changes that didn’t occur to me earlier, such as moving elements around, stretching or shrinking details, even moving or eliminating whole characters! Lettering is applied via computer fonts. While I like to hand-letter, the computer lettering reads better on computer screens, and a cartoon with an illegible punch line isn’t funny.

Sundays strips then get converted to color mode, then colored in PhotoShop, and sometimes I’ll color a daily strip as well. The colored daily strips go to members, and the black and white versions appear for free on the website.

I always save a high-res version of the scanned artwork, and separate black & white and color copies of the final, edited version, in the PhotoShop PSD format. Then I’ll convert it to lower-res TIFF, GIF, or PNG versions. TIFF retains the multiple layers of the drawing, so it’s easier to edit later; GIF and PNG take less memory.