Hello. This is a nonprofit plug for my collection of original atheism-themed cartoons. Feel free to repost them. I can also make higher quality versions of the cartoons available to organizations for fundraising purposes, e.g., printing on T-shirts or greeting cards, or for printed newsletters. Thanks. atheistcartoons.com

Just to be clear, you are offering these free of charge?

The cartoons on my site can be downloaded and reposted for nonprofit purposes (although, obviously, I can’t control how they’re used). And I can make available higher quality versions of the same cartoons to organizations free of charge for fund-raising purposes or, say, inclusion in newsletters, on a case-by-case basis. So, Doug, the answer is yes, I’m offering the cartoons for free, but please don’t profit personally from them, because I’m not. Thanks.

The reason I ask is to verify that this isn’t a form of spam. There’s a fine line here, especially with first-time posters doing self-promotion. I’m frankly still a bit concerned about it.

Doug, as I understand it spam is ordinarily defined as a disruptive message, especially one that is commercial. I don’t see how my post is disruptive. It certainly isn’t commercial, as I’ve noted. Visiting my site should confirm that. And I’m not promoting myself—I’m promoting atheism and a little levity.  I am a first-time poster. and I understand your concerns as a conscientious admin. So if I’m bending any rules please let me know.

Well, I thought they were funny.  I esp liked the truth in advertising.    It nothing else, they could be entertaining to others.

Some of them are hilarious! Good work. I’m sure I can find a place for some of them.

Without in any way intending to contradict Doug’s moderation…

The artwork is brilliant Bill!  You made them yourself?

Thank you. Yes, I did all the cartoons in my free time. I’ve done some freelance illustration work on the side, but I prefer to do educational/editorial (which usually means unpayed) stuff, like cartoons. I’ve also dabbled in Flash animation, but I find it extremely difficult to produce anything in a timely fashion working in Flash by myself. Static cartoons don’t require a team, but in the Flash/YouTube era, their popularity seems to be fading.

I’m outraged! who’s embassy should i torch?

or I could get some perspective and respect the rigths of others to mock my beliefs and make me look like a fool. (hmm, i suppose i do that last bit with every post!)

Ski.

Those are brilliant! Can I ask what design tools you used to create them?

Thanks. I start with a rough sketch on paper, scan it, then import the image into Illustrator. In Illustrator I trace the sketch using a Wacom tablet, pen tool and Illustrator brushes. I then import that file into Photoshop, where I add color, again with a tablet and pen tool. I type the dialog into the speech bubbles using a comic font, i.e., I don’t hand letter.

Thank you for sharing. Pardon my ignorance, but after scanning the art into Illustrator, why do you then have to trace it? Something to do with vectorization, perhaps? The work really is beautiful!

Thanks again. And vectorization is exactly the thing. By importing the rough sketch into Illustrator and then tracing, I now have clean vector lines that I can make thinner or fatter, reshape and resize without any loss of clarity, unlike working with pixels in Photoshop. This is a crude analogy, but it’s kind of like the difference between spray painting a line on a canvas (Photoshop), and rolling and stretching out a long piece of Silly Putty (Illustrator).

Thanks Bill, that makes sense. I guess I’m a little surprised that Illustrator can’t vectorize lines automatically.

So… Apple or “regular” PC???

Adobe used to make an application called Streamline which could vectorize scanned images. I used it for a while with mixed results. I’m not using the most recent version of Illustrator, which may be able to vectorize automatically, but I can’t imagine that you’d get the same level of control or simplicity as drawing lines by hand. Mac isn’t supported very well where I live, so I reluctantly went over to Windows years ago.