About

Welcome to Harry Martin Cartoons – The cartoon blog of Harry Martin

I have been drawing cartoons for many years mostly as a hobby. I draw them for magazines and newspapers whenever I get the chance and of course when I get commissioned for a special project. Most of them have been for hang gliding and motorcycling. Lately I have been experimenting with some new ideas and so I decided to start sharing them here. If you are interested in purchasing my artwork, or my services, you may hire the cartoonist.

I can be reached by emailing to this address after you remove the spaces:

Harry @ HarryMartinCartoons.com

Very Short Biography

Born in Huntington, WVA.
Grew up all over the US as my Dad was in the Navy serving on submarines.
In 1973 I joined the Navy after leaving high school and served on three different ships over a 6 year period:

Left the Navy in 1979 and two years later went to California State University, Northridge for a BSEE.
Started getting published while in high school drawing cartoons for calendars, then later working for magazines as a freelance artist. Still doing it today.
Technique

Pen & ink has always been my passion. I almost always start a drawing with some type of pencil to layout a rough sketch. When I’m happy with the composition, I’ll continue by flowing the ink. I have a big collection of quill pens I’ve collected over the years, Speedballs being my favorite. They’ve always provided the best line quality. My publishers would photo copy the final inked drawings and then do the publishing magic. Somewhere in the 90s, I started using computers, scanners, and Sharpie pens. I discovered that inking with Sharpies was safer than using India ink which can get quite messy, especially if you spill the ink on a finished product at 12 midnight to meet a deadline. The scanner can now get the image into a computer application where I can manipulate the pixels to adjust line quality with as many undo steps as needed thus saving much time and frustration. I now do final edits on the computer, but I almost always draw the first sketch on paper as it’s just faster for me that way. After the inked image is scanned into the computer, I work it into a file format that allows adding transparent layers where I can add text, color, and additional line art if needed. Next, the image is flattened to make one final compact file that is emailed off the the customer. It’s a step by step process that works quite well.