Roz Chast has advice for young cartoonists:
Chast said aspiring artists should not be deterred from their passion.
“Listen to the people who understand what you’re trying to do, who could offer you good advice,” she said. “There are people not understanding what you’re trying to do and put you down and think you’re going in the wrong direction. Ignore that and stick to your guns.
“There is so much rejection and it can be painful, and you’re not making grownup money even when successful. You have to want to do it a lot. You have to have commitment and some desperation.”
The Portland Tribune profiles Roz prior to an area lecture.
Chast entered the field when newspapers and magazines were abundant and many hired cartoonists as freelancers, and paid decently.
She began at the New Yorker in 1978, near the end of a time she called “the golden age of cartooning.” Chast sold cartoons to The New Yorker, National Lampoon and Village Voice, as well as Harvard Business Review, Scientific American and Redbook.
“It was nice when everybody was using cartoons,” said Chast, who has had more than 800 cartoons published by The New Yorker.
She has persevered through the changes.
