Our History

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I was running through some of my old pictures trying to clear my unwanted ones and I came across some pictures that brought back memories. I joined this blogging platform in the month of October, 2017 after being approached by @perennial and thereafter, 1 month of trying out I brought my friends from the cartoon industry to test it out.

This is the first meeting we had with the entire gang. Most of them are in steemit and actively blogging.

Just in case you wonder who they are, most of them are from this comic magazine called APO and everyone of them are award winning artists. Some a little more accomplished and have their artwork featured in National Art Gallery. As you can see, there is something about cartoonist and beanie. I used to wear a cap but this soon changed into a beanie when the culture of cartoonist + beanie started seeping into me.

These are the work that we produce. But since printed comics are on the decline, I started looking into the academic line to ply my trade. I thought it is a better way to influence young artists and shape their career.

This is one event where @chendol took the stage and spoke about our work and what we aspire to do. It is not easy to introduce comic to the masses and tell them to spend money buying the prints. Everything is readily available on social media.

I can't deny that generally people like reading comics and they enjoy the artwork. But their likes and adoration does not translate into income for us cartoonists. So, our team started to grow leaner. We are made to trim on the access and make do with only a few as cost cutting measures.

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Our New Stage

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I still remember during our first meeting we were bombarding @perennial with a lot of questions.

• How are we going to be paid?
• Have you ever made withdrawal?
• Is Steem and SBD legitimate and recognised?
• How does showing artwork generate income?
• What is cryptocurrency?

You can see the sceptical face of @rambai but today he is one of the most frequent contributors.

(@cartoonistpandan, @orenisme and @cartoonistlambok)

I am quite amazed with these people that I used to work with. Their art is amazing and they are probably amongst the best there is in the market. But I have seen many leaving and some have entirely left the art scene to venture into direct sales, food and beverage and other industries. There will be a talent drain if this happens.

These pictures really brought back a lot of memories. Many of them you can see their work here and they have won contests on steemit as well. One very frequent winner is @orenisme but it is unfair that he gets to take part because he is a professional illustrator. Of course his work is a class above the rest and you can't expect any lesser from someone whose work is featured in the National Art Gallery!

credit to @zomagic