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Madam Prez
Hello Fellow Cartoonists. This is your new Madam President speaking.
FACT: If I had believed back in 1973 that a woman could some day be
president, I would never have burned my bra. And for a female candidate
to be so overwhelmingly popular as to blow away all the competition and
wind up running unopposed – well, I’ve come a long way, baby (or nobody
else wanted this job). I’ve never been a Madam President of anything,
which may explain why I’m more comfortable being called a madam than a
president; but I’m proudest when you call me a fellow cartoonist.
MY BACK STORY: After 30 years of sitcom writing and producing I
decided to swap careers and become the next Greg Evans. Why? Well, I
gotten to a point in my life where I asked myself the Big Question every
artist asks himself “How can I stay home and make a million dollars in my
pajamas?” These guys live the life of Riley – especially Evans. Becoming
a nationally syndicated comic strip artist didn’t seem like that much of a
stretch. I asked myself how hard could it be? After all, isn’t a comic strip
just a sitcom on paper? All I have to is draw the pictures. I’m artistic
enough. A quick trip to Aaron Brothers for $180 worth of pencils and I was
ready to roll.
I drew up a rough draft of my strip and sent Emails to some pros asking
for advice. Greg Evans answered right away. What a nice guy. I told him
about my strip. He told me to drop by the next SCCS meeting and bring
it. That was 30 or 40 meetings ago. I’m still revising my %$#@! strip!
Okay, cartooning’s harder than it looks. Way!
Even though I only joined SCCS to become a better cartoonist, I wound up
making friends with the most delightful collection of like-minded artistic odd
balls - all better cartoonists than I. It’s flattering to be thought of as one of
the leaders. Thank you all for your support and encouragement. Thanks
to Dean for showing me the way. It’s going to be fun!
HOW SCCS WILL CHANGE
MORE MEMBER ACTION
A club is more fun if you get involved and give your time. Like the lottery,
you must be in it to win it. So ask not was SCCS can do for you; ask what
you can do for SCCS. SCCS will have more outside fun activities in the
future. Members will be given questionnaires asking what they can do for
SCCS. Can you help clean up after meetings? Can you give a 10-minute
drawing lesson or be a guest speaker? Anybody good at data entry using
an Excel spreadsheet?
MORE PUBLIC
We need to expose ourselves. Lately local cartoonists have been finding
out about SCCS in the newspaper and becoming members. For about 6
months we’ve been sending out press releases to the local papers and
online for each and every SCCS meeting and event. Past pres. Janet
Williams will be the new SCCS Publicist.
MORE OUTREACH
SCCS will be offering our talents beyond the Blood Bank Cartoonists Day
caricature-drawing event. Volunteering our unique talents in the community
is another way for SCCS to give back, get known, and a way for members
to have fun and get to know other members.
The Make-A Wish Tuna Challenge Event October 1 at the Silvergate Yacht
Club will be the first of such events. Ten SCCS members will be drawing
at MAWs biggest fund- raising event. Also, Greg Evans has donated a
piece of his original comic art to be auctioned there and has also donated
several dozen autographed Luann books to be sold. SCCS has been given
a ¼-page ad in MAW souvenir donor book. Info about the MAW Tuna
Challenge can be accessed by logging onto sccs-online.org.
SCCS has also signed on to the Make A Wish resource list. It’s not
unusual for a terminally ill child returning home from the hospital to wish for
a remodeled bedroom. If they want cartoons painted on their walls, the
SCCS ‘Toon Team will do the job!
MORE WEB
Our new website sccs-online.org posts info about future meetings and
events right on the first page. Because it’s instant, the website posts the
most up-to-date info about SCCS. The site hosts links to member’s
websites. Members without sites can still have a link to a page on our site
in case they want to advertise their art business. If you have some news
the webmaster Jack Zabawa will post it in Member News. There’s a photo
album displaying photos of recent SCCS meetings and events. There’s
even video! There are links to National Cartoonists Society and many
other cartoon-related sites increasing out presence in the world of
cartooning.
MORE STORE
SCCS now has a store which can be accessed via sccs-online.org. Want
a T-shirt, a mousepad or a mug with either the new or the classic SCCS
logo? Let’s go shopping! To keep prices reasonable, all prices listed are
the shopkeeper “base price,” meaning no profit goes to SCCS or anyone
except cafépress.com who make and ship all the products.
MORE TECHNO
We’re in the process of updating and streamlining our database to include
your home addresses, phone numbers + Email. Members will finally get a
private list of other SCCS member’s numbers and addresses. Check-in at
meetings will be much faster, done on spreadsheet and updated monthly.
Billing for dues will be done electronically whenever possible. We’re also
building a bigger, more comprehensive E-mail list of members AND visitors
and re-evaluating how we use our SCCS Yahoo Group (which is not
popular).
MORE UNUSUAL MEETINGS
Listening to famous guest speakers at meetings is great, but we hope to
have more members volunteer to be speakers/teachers/demo givers. We’
re also working on a meeting about that sadly overlooked minority - women
cartoonists. Interactive meetings will be added. We’ll have more
Pictionary games, draw-off contests, etc. Cartoonists of the future need to
know everything about techno ‘tooning. November 13, a representative of
WACOM industries to demo their amazing draw-directly-on-the-screen
tablet at our meeting. Everyone will want to steal one!
MORE EVALUATION
We’ll have a new Board composed of heads from each department. These
members are the volunteers who give the most and have proven they have
a real stake in the success of SCCS. We’ll be re-evaluating questions such
as: Should every meeting cost $10? Do dues need to be raised? Where
do we go if and when Veoh kicks us out? Should we bring our own dinners,
use the wheel of food, or meet ‘n eat someplace cheaper/better than the
Broken Yolk? Should we allow non-members join our Yahoo Group? This
and many other questions will be reviewed and re-evaluated in the coming
months.
Karyl Miller, Madam Prez.
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