“I Aim To Be—” By Carlisle Cooper
A 1937 article by the late Ventura artist and longtime Ventura College art instructor Carlisle Cooper (1919-2013), written for the Stockton Daily Evening Record (Stockton, California) when he was just 17 years old.
A cartoonist.
Why? There are several reasons. First, I enjoy cartooning more than anything else I have ever done; second, it pays well and is one of the best fields of self-expression in the business world. I keep these facts in mind all the time.
I have always been interested in drawing—cartooning was a development of that interest. In the first grade I learned that I liked to draw. Since, I have been drawing, drawing, and drawing! I have averaged at least one picture a day during school months. I am now 17.
About four years ago I took a correspondence course in cartooning. The course soon made me see that my drawings were very crude. I had never known the many little tricks that give a drawing a professional appearance.
Those lesson opened a new field of thought to me. I realized my work must improve and began studying in earnest. I am now taking another correspondence course and learning new things. In the last year, four of my cartoons have been published and I have won various prizes for other work.
A cartoonist must remember that it’s the idea that counts most of all. He must keep practicing; it’s the only way to improve. He must never be satisfied with his work, but continuously strive for better ideas and drawings.
“Soul Brother No. 1 (Up from Slavery)” by Carlisle Cooper, 1970, Acrylic on canvas, 60” x 48”, Collection of the Santa Paula Art Museum, Gift of Carlisle Cooper
Ventura artist Carlisle Cooper in 1966.