4 Cartooning tips by The Creator Of Calvin & Hobbes

1. You Have To Lose Yourself In Your Work
"My comic strip was the way that I explored the world and my own perceptions and thoughts. So to switch off the job I would have had to switch off my head. So, yes, the work was insanely intense, but that was the whole point of doing it."

2. Create For Yourself
"Quite honestly I tried to forget that there was an audience. I wanted to keep the strip feeling small and intimate as I did it, so my goal was just to make my wife laugh. After that, I'd put it out, and the public can take it or leave it."

3. 3.Make It Beautiful
"My advice has always been to draw cartoons for the love of it, and concentrate on the quality and be true to yourself. Also try to remember that people have better things to do than read your work. So for heaven's sake, try to entice them with some beauty and fun."

4. Every Medium Has Power
"A comic strip takes just a few seconds to read, but over the years, it creates a surprisingly deep connection with readers. I think that incremental aspect, that unpretentious daily aspect, is a source of power."

What could be more inconsequential than a comic strip? Four or five static panels, minimal movement, a quick punchline. Yet Watterson (and many other comic strip artists) have managed to create incredible, meaningful worlds, worlds that are genuinely important to the people who read them. There's no such thing as a small medium.