You do WHAT for a living?

One of Canada’s most celebrated editorial cartoonists, Terry Mosher (Aislin), once said to me, “Nobody gets into this business by answering an ad in a newspaper.” My wife, Shonna, and I looked at each other and laughed, because that’s exactly how I got into this business.

I never wanted to be an artist. Sure, I doodled as a kid when I was supposed to be paying attention in class but that was about it. Then, in 1997, I saw an ad in The Banff Crag and Canyon for an editorial cartoonist. Once a week, draw a cartoon. Sounded like a fun hobby. I still have those first cartoons, but I’d rather not show them to you.

Three years later, I hooked up with the new upstart paper in the Bow Valley, The Rocky Mountain Outlook. Carol Picard, the editor, asked me why I wasn’t syndicated. Thinking I knew something, I replied, “Do you know how hard it is to get signed to a syndicate?”

She told me to do it myself and I couldn’t come up with a good reason not to.

For two years, I only had the Outlook and two little Alberta papers that received two cartoons a week. And of course, I also had a full-time job, because even though my wife of 12 years is a wonderful woman and very supportive…she’s not stupid. You can’t pay a mortgage in paradise on one income.

Five years later, I now make a good living working at home full-time. I get up at 5:00 AM most days, and am at my desk by 5:30, coffee in one hand and a Wacom pen in the other. When I’m not painting on the screen, I am constantly learning new techniques or the latest software. Trying to make up for having never gone to art school, I guess.

But there’s no point living in one of the most beautiful places in the world if you never leave the office. So I do, as often as I can. We love camping in the summer and I bike on the trails around here almost every day the weather is right, sometimes when it’s not. In the winter, I swim laps most days, having done so competitively as a kid. Most recently, I’m taking a guitar lesson every week, because when your hobby becomes your work, you need to find another hobby.

Harvey MacKay once wrote, “Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”

Boy, he wasn’t kidding. Not a bad turn of fate for a guy who never wanted to be an artist.

I hope you enjoyed your visit. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,

Patrick

CONTACT

Patrick LaMontagne

Cartoon Ink

#73, 200 Glacier Drive

Canmore, Alberta

T1W 1K6

phone: (403) 609-8318

email: lamontagne@cartoonink.com

No material on this site may be used without the permission of Patrick LaMontagne. Copyright Cartoon Ink 2001-2008