The podcast about making comics — and making a living from comics! It's half shop talk, half how-to, and half friendship. WE SQUEEZED IN THREE HALVES. It's tips and tricks and all the joys of cartooning as a pro. So pull up your drawing chair, put on some headphones, and join us while you draw! And if you like what you hear, join our community at patreon.com/comiclab (For sponsorship inquiries: comiclabpodcast@gmail.com)
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Is there a limit to how many cartoonists can build successful careers—or is the real limiting factor the cartoonists themselves?
Cartoonists Brad Guigar and Dave Kellett examine the surprisingly vast comics ecosystem, where thousands of creators can cultivate separate audiences without ever appearing on one another’s radar. The market may have room for far more working cartoonists than we realize — but success requires more than artistic ability. Creators must also be willing to learn business, communicate consistently with their audiences, and improve when something doesn’t work.
Also: Brad discovers that his brilliant new idea had already been implemented… by Brad.
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Is there a ceiling on the number of successful comics careers?
Why artistic talent alone isn’t enough
The danger of waiting for Marvel, syndication, or a publisher to “make” your career
Audience-building isn’t “shilling”—it’s part of the job
Could 10,000 different Brad Guigars all make a living?
How niche comics find their “true fans”
Three essentials for a sustainable comics career
Why repeated promotional messaging matters
The Council of Brads
Do Kickstarter creators owe sales tax?
Kickstarter Pledge Manager vs. BackerKit
Dr. Wigglesby: Which comic was the first successful daily newspaper strip?
How do you build momentum as a cartoonist — and what happens when you lose it?
Brad and Dave examine momentum across every part of a creative career: generating ideas, maintaining a productive workflow, growing an audience, and building a sustainable business. They discuss why progress can feel imperceptibly slow at first, how consistent work eventually begins producing its own energy, and why returning after a break can feel like starting a stalled train.
Then, a listener asks how cartoonists should transition between scenes, chapters, and storylines in a collected book. Brad and Dave compare their very different approaches, debate whether a completely blank page is ever justified, and explain how multiple purpose-driven read-throughs can reveal problems with pacing, continuity, page turns, and transitions.
Also: Skunk Watch 2026 continues, Dave considers surrendering his backyard, and Professor Dr. Reginald Wigglesby reveals the completely reliable history behind Little Orphan Annie’s pupil-less eyes.
ON THIS WEEK’S SHOW...
What “momentum” means in a creative career
Why momentum takes longer to build than most cartoonists expect
Creative momentum and generating new ideas
Using an assembly-line workflow to work faster and better
Repurposing one comic for websites, social media, books, merchandise, and more
Building business momentum through Patreon, Kickstarter, and audience trust
Why old business models can survive on momentum—even after they stop making sense
Recovering after a creative pause
Transitioning between scenes, chapters, and storylines
Splash pages, title pages, narration boxes—and the dreaded blank page
Conducting separate read-throughs for dialogue, art, pacing, continuity, and page turns
Reviewing a book in print, on desktop, and on a small screen
Skunk Watch 2026
Prof. Wigglesby, The Histories of Sequential Art: Little Orphan Annie’s eyes
You get great rewards when you
How to Make a Style Guide for Your Comic
Épisode 457
jeudi 17 septembre 2026 • Durée 01:15:10
How much of a successful comics career depends on being temporarily delusional? Brad and Dave suspect it may be more than anyone wants to admit.
Then, a listener asks about creating a style guide for a comic. Brad and Dave discuss the small decisions that help lettering remain clear, consistent, and easy to read — from spelling out numerals and avoiding hyphenated line breaks to shaping word balloons, using all-caps lettering, and deciding whether “livestream” is one word or two.
Finally, they look back at the pivotal “sliding doors” moments that could have sent their careers in entirely different directions. Dave talks about leaving Mattel, choosing webcomics over syndication, and the friendships that helped him become a better cartoonist. Brad remembers the collapsed newspaper job offer that sent him back to comics, the syndicate pitch that deserved to fail, and the leap that finally made cartooning his full-time career.
ON THIS WEEK’S SHOW...
Why every creative career requires a little temporary delusion
What belongs in a comic-specific style guide
Why Brad spells out numbers in Evil Inc
Punctuation, abbreviations, and the Oxford comma
Why hyphenating words inside balloons hurts readability
How line breaks affect the shape and flow of a word balloon
All caps versus sentence-case lettering
Using colloquial spellings without making dialogue difficult to read
The pivotal decisions that changed Brad and Dave’s careers
Leaving a secure job to become a full-time cartoonist
Choosing webcomics over newspaper syndication
How a community of fellow cartoonists can accelerate your growth
ComicLab is made possible through the support of our Patreon members. Join us at Patreon.com/ComicLab for more than 200 hours of bonus episodes, including our exclusive Pro Tips podcast, and access to the ComicLab Discord community.
Share your thoughts on the ComicLab Confab Line: 1-609-379-3520. We may play your message on a future episode!
80th Annual NCS Conference and Reuben Awards Review
Épisode 456
jeudi 10 septembre 2026 • Durée 59:26
Dave and Brad return from the 80th Annual National Cartoonists Society Conference and Reuben Awards with stories to tell!
They look back on ComicLab LIVE and a private tour of the newly redesigned Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum!
Then it's on to the Reuben Awards, where Mark Tatulli finally won the Reuben Award after years of nominations.
But some of the best moments happened between the scheduled events. Brad gets the chance to sit down with 95-year-old cartooning legend Mort Gerberg and hear stories about the golden age of magazine cartooning — including an incredible story about a newly arrived Sergio Aragonés taking Manhattan by storm. Jim Davis shares the story behind Garfield's famous suction-cup dolls, along with his surprisingly strict 25-word rule for writing the strip. And the farewell brunch turns into an exchange of sketches, original art, and some wonderful reminders of why cartoonists come back to this event year after year.
Finally, an old collection of America's “best college cartoonists” offers an unexpected lesson about making a career in comics: You don't have to start out at the front of the pack. You just have to keep going.
ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...
• ComicLab LIVE at the NCS Conference
• The newly redesigned Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
• Which original would you save from a museum fire?
• The Reuben Awards
• Katie Cook and Mark Tatulli take home awards
• Lunch with Dave and Eileen Blazek
• Brad's conversation with Mort Gerberg
• Mort's stories about Sergio Aragonés
• Jim Davis on writing Garfield
• The accidental origin of the Garfield suction-cup doll
• Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott
• Original art at the farewell brunch
• ComicLab listeners at the NCS
• The NCS Cartoonist Showcase
• Why persistence matters more than being the best
ComicLab LIVE! at the 80th annual National Cartoonists Society Conference and Reuben Awards
Épisode 455
jeudi 3 septembre 2026 • Durée 59:18
Once again, Dave and Brad brought their podcast to the stage at the annual National Cartoonists Society Conference and Reuben Awards. They were joined by Dee Fish, Terri Libenson, and Jamar Nicholas — three cartoonists with very different creative paths and a wealth of hard-earned advice to share.
Dee Fish
Dee Fish is a cartoonist, illustrator, and writer best known for Finding Dee, her semi-autobiographical webcomic about navigating life after coming out as a transgender woman. Dee was nominated for a Reuben Award in the Best Online Shortform category.
Terri Libenson
Terri Libenson is the cartoonist and author behind the New York Times bestselling Emmie & Friends graphic-novel series. Before moving into graphic novels, she created the syndicated comic strip The Pajama Diaries and worked as a writer and illustrator for greeting cards. Her tenth Emmie & Friends book, Seriously, Celia?, arrives in September 2026.
Jamar Nicholas
Jamar Nicholas is an award-winning cartoonist, graphic novelist, and educator whose work includes the Leon series from Scholastic Graphix, beginning with Leon the Extraordinary. He also adapted Geoffrey Canada’s memoir Fist Stick Knife Gun into a graphic novel and has spent much of his career teaching and encouraging young people to tell stories through comics. The third Leon graphic novel, Leon and the Big, Big Problem, is scheduled for January 2027.
$5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.
If you'd like a one-on-one consultation about your comic, book it now!
How to Succeed at San Diego Comic-Con
Épisode 454
jeudi 27 août 2026 • Durée 01:02:20
Today's show is brought to you by Hogan's Alley, the fantastic magazine devoted to comics history, cartoonists, and the art form we love. Visit HoganMag.com and use the discount code COMICLAB10 for 10% off.
Dave Kellett is back from San Diego Comic-Con 2026, and he brought receipts! After 27 years of exhibiting at the show, Dave just had his best Comic-Con ever — including an absolutely bonkers $6,000 Sunday.
But a big gross number doesn't necessarily mean a big payday. Brad and Dave dig into the actual economics of exhibiting at one of the world's biggest conventions: booth fees, sales tax, travel, merchandise, lost studio time, and the advantages Dave has because he lives within driving distance of San Diego. After roughly $19,600 in gross sales, Dave estimates his actual profit at about $11,000.
Then, they get into the stuff you can actually use at your next convention:
Track your sales throughout the day
When sales slow down, get active
Use drawing as theater
Pay attention to your product mix
Think about revenue per square inch
Let the market prune your merchandise
Your merchandise should say something about the buyer — not about you
SPONSORED BY HOGAN'S ALLEY
This week's episode is sponsored by Hogan's Alley, the fantastic magazine devoted to comics history, cartoonists, and the art form we love.
Visit HoganMag.com and use the discount code COMICLAB10 for 10% off.
MORE COMIC-CON ADVICE ON PRO TIPS
Dave had another 15–20 Comic-Con topics he wanted to cover, so we're continuing the conversation on ComicLab Pro Tips with a deeper dive into conventions, exhibiting, merchandising, and Dave's approach to making a convention financially worthwhile. To hear those episodes, join us at .
Special Guest Fran Sundblad, creator of "Tiff & Eve"
Épisode 453
jeudi 20 août 2026 • Durée 01:13:12
Cartoonist Fran Sundblad, creator of Tiff & Eve, joins Brad for a wide-ranging conversation about creating character-driven comics, finding an audience on Reddit, and learning when not to chase the algorithm.
Fran traces Tiff & Eve from its beginnings in her sketchbook to a comic that regularly reaches thousands of readers. She explains how Tiff and Eve represent two very different impulses — Tiff as the superego and Eve as the id — and shares a terrific character-development exercise: Lock your character in a room and ask what they do next. If you don't know the answer, you probably don't know the character well enough yet.
Fran and Brad also talk about finding humor in the characters themselves rather than building every strip around a traditional punchline. That approach has helped Tiff & Eve explore Fran's experiences as a trans woman while remaining first and foremost a funny comic about two friends.
In this episode:
How Tiff & Eve grew out of Fran's sketchbook
Writing two characters as opposing parts of your own personality
Fran's “locked room” test for determining whether a character is fully developed
Character-driven humor vs. setup/punchline comedy
Using comedy to make personal experiences relatable
What happens when readers interpret your comics differently than you intended
Why Fran refuses to explain a joke
Surviving hostile comments, Reddit Cares abuse, and the stranger side of online audiences
Why cartoonists should post comics to their Reddit profile, not only to individual subreddits
Learning the culture of each subreddit instead of treating Reddit as one giant audience
Formatting comics differently for different communities — including designing images so Reddit's mobile crop doesn't hide important information
Why fewer clicks usually means more readers
The danger of chasing trends, politics, and viral Reddit “meta” events simply for upvotes
Why a huge viral hit may produce surprisingly few new followers or Patreon supporters
The Worst Thing About Webcomics
Épisode 452
jeudi 13 août 2026 • Durée 01:07:14
Although we typically focus on the bright side of being independent cartoonists, a listener asks us to address the downside of webcomics. We'll talk about time management, burnout, financial insecurity, and reader interactions. Then we realize that all those drawbacks have one very important thing in common — and it's not what you'd expect!
Patreon backers have access to an exclusive ComicLab Churn Rate spreadsheet — it does the math for you!
Is your Patreon actually growing—or are new members disguising a retention problem? Brad walks Dave through the process of calculating churn rate and shows how one number can unlock a much clearer understanding of a membership business. They discuss subscriber retention, lifetime value, onboarding, well-timed interventions, and how to determine whether advertising or convention appearances are truly worth the investment. Then, Dave asks whether publishing a children’s book page by page on his existing webcomic could finally help him finish it.
Topics include:
Skunk Watch 2026
What churn rate means for a Patreon creator
Why total membership and revenue can give you an incomplete picture
Finding the necessary numbers in Patreon Insights
Two methods for calculating churn rate
What constitutes a healthy churn rate
Why one month of data isn’t enough
Calculating your average churn rate over time
Calculating your retention rate
Estimating average subscriber lifetime
Calculating average monthly revenue per member
Determining the lifetime value of a Patreon backer
Why retaining a current member is cheaper than acquiring a new one
Using Patreon Autopilot to reduce cancellations
Evaluating the quality and value of your Patreon rewards
Improving the onboarding experience for new members
Welcome messages, digital gifts, and personalized Bonjoro videos
Brad’s one-week Patreon check-in
Helping new backers navigate a complicated archive
Using average subscriber lifetime to schedule a retention intervention
Brad’s 18-month check-in and longtime-backer gift
Repackaging older work into valuable digital rewards
Rewarding and recognizing your longest-serving supporters
Exclusive livestreams, previews, and “inner circle” benefits
Calculating an acceptable customer-acquisition cost
Evaluating paid advertising with lifetime-value data
First Pages First
Épisode 450
jeudi 30 juillet 2026 • Durée 01:08:12
What belongs at the beginning of your book? Brad and Dave discuss whether an anti-AI statement offers creators any meaningful protection, break down the information that belongs on a copyright page, and explore the many ways cartoonists can approach the first page of a story or chapter. The best opening isn’t determined by a universal rule—it should establish the right expectations, reflect the story you’re telling, and give readers a reason to keep going.
Topics include:
Skunk Watch 2026
Do anti-AI statements offer creators legal protection?
Why a standard copyright notice may already cover AI training
The difference between creating, declaring, and registering a copyright
What information belongs on a copyright page
Copyright and trademark ownership
When to use ™ and when to use ®
Print location, printing numbers, and edition information
ISBNs and Library of Congress numbers
Combining copyright, title, credit, and dedication pages
Should a comic begin with a splash page?
Does the main character need to appear on page one?
Using the opening page to establish tone and make a promise to the reader
Why different stories require different kinds of openings
Brad’s two-page system for beginning a new Evil Inc chapter
Creating separate covers for SFW and NSFW editions
Using chapter openers as archive markers, promotional art, and production buffers
Dave’s approach to prologues, chapter openings, and world-building vignettes
The difference between the first page and the first chapter
ComicLab LIVE at the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards
Why effort and artistic complexity don't necessarily translate into social-media success
The value of clarity, brevity, and consistency on Reddit
Knowing when a topical comic is nevertheless necessary because it's true to the characters
Sunday Comix, a webcomic collective and email newsletter designed to help cartoonists reach readers without depending entirely on social-media algorithms
Fran's experience offers an especially useful reminder for cartoonists trying to build an audience online: don't confuse attention with audience growth. A trendy comic might earn tens of thousands of upvotes, but the work that builds a lasting readership is the work that gives people a reason to come back for your characters.
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