Bible Cartoon used at New Wine conference 2012!

I received an email earlier in the year asking me to design a Bible Cartoon to be used at the Christian New Wine Summer Conferences events (www.new-wine.org). I created the required crowd scene, which had Jesus in the middle, accompanied by Moses, Joseph and the apostle Paul, surrounded by a crowd of cheering children. Notice the 2 camels on the left which were specifically requested from my Christmas activity book illustrations!

The finished design was then transformed into a 4 x 2 metre fabric backdrop for the 3-4 year old “Pebbles” marquee, where about 600 children were entertained & received good bible-based instruction.

The lady who worked so hard on converting my design into sewn fabric (Jane B.) said, “Your faces are so cheerful that they were a joy to work with but I did find it very emotional working on Jesus' hands.” I can quite understand that, as you can see the nail marks on Jesus’ hands. I sometimes have a strong emotional reaction myself when I’m drawing the wounds on Jesus’ body for one of my Bible Cartoons.

I received this email from the 2 “Pebbles” leaders, after New Wine had finished:

“Hi Martin,
I just wanted to say a huge thank you for the art work you produced for the Pebbles banner.
It was fantastic. We had many many comments on the banner and the art work.
It certainly added the WOW! factor to the marquee.
We had quite few people ask about your art work and we referred them to your web site which we had printed down the side of the banner.
One lady who came into the marquee recognised your work immediately saying that their church had used your work in the past.
Once again many, many thanks for an amazing job.
Blessings,
April H. & Anna S.
New Wine Pebbles Leaders”

What a lovely email, I was delighted to read that.

The Bible Cartoons web address stitched onto the backdrop provided great publicity for us! The fact that one lady came into the marquee & instantly recognised the style of the artwork as belonging to Bible Cartoons is great... we’re getting known!

Here’s my design in black & white, with a photographs below of the finished backdrop - doesn’t it look great?! Well done to Jane B. who translated my paper design into fabric... such dedication & hard work!

 

Honesty is not dead!

I’ve just received an email from a German magazine called "Die Gemeinde", a monthly journal of German Baptists, which is published every 14 day to about 5500 people.

The email sender wrote that they wanted to use my Bible Cartoon (Matthew 13:45-46 - Kingdom of heaven like a pearl) to illustrate a bible story for children in the magazine... so far so good! Unfortunately they hadn’t read the copyright information I publish on the BC website, & they paid the "normal" price of £2 (GBP).

What was remarkable was the fact that the email was alerting me to this fact, & apologising - how brilliant was that! And wonderfully honest too!

I replied immediately, thanking the magazine emailer for his honesty. I explained that I would normally negotiate a price depending on the circulation of the magazine. I suggested the magazine could include the credit “Cartoon artwork supplied by Martin Young - www.biblecartoons.co.uk” which would make me happy & help to promote BC in Germany!

I think it is wonderfully uplifting that there are still people operating in this world who are honest.  As I wrote to the magazine emailer, “Thank you once again for your honesty, it really does make me glad & I’m sure that the Lord will honour & bless you for it.” I certainly pray that He will. Examples of this kind of upright & honest behaviour in business & life need to be applauded whenever we come across them, don’t you think?

Head cold... and email marketing?!

I’m suffering with a horrible head cold this week - yuck. Can’t hear properly, barking cough, bunged up nose, aching limbs, the hole 9 yards (or 8.23 metres if you prefer metric!) I haven’t really achieved much in terms of drawing & colouring Bible Cartoons, although I did manage to finish the Philippians 3 “Imitating Christ’s Humility” one, which is the first cartoon in that New Testament book of the Bible.

However, all is not doom & gloom! I am taking time to sip lemon juice & honey, which is nice! But apart from that, I am researching (on-line) Internet marketing. I’m wondering if it would be a good idea to create a regular news-sheet (bi-monthly?)which can be emailed to readers via an opt-in page on the BC website. That way I can remind people of my continued existence (!) & hopefully gather new viewers, readers & potential customers in the process. I can let people know what Bible Cartoons offers & keep people abreast of our progress & development.

That all sounds great... but there is a LOT to research & reading to do to make that actually happen! There are so many email management systems/programs out there... which one should I use? There are all sorts of anti-spamming rules, guidelines, etc to consider. Even creating an email list seems to take ages. Then I need to find a way to get people to opt-in to my newsletter, news sheet, or whatever it is. I looked into this several months ago & I gave up due to information overload & analysis paralysis... now I know why!

However, “nothing ventured, nothing gained” as the saying goes. So I’ll just have to trawl through all the on-line advice, information, teaching videos, & technical blurb & try to make a reasonably well informed decision about it all before I get better & am just back to drawing the cartoons... after all, once I’m better I won’t have time to look into the merits & pitfalls of email marketing!

Fear of failure... and success!

Which is scarier the fear of failure, or the fear of success?

The fear of failure is understandable, after all, who wants to fail, right? That can put you right off trying altogether! Although I have recently read & come to believe that failure is only failure if you remain failed! A single failure actually becomes a stepping stone to success, IF you get back up & try again.

But why would we fear success? I think that can occur if we realise that success brings performance pressure, at least in our minds. One success = an achievement, but then we wonder, "was that a fluke, or can I do it again"... whatever "it" happens to be. A string of successes is even worse, then we’ve “proven” that we are successful - arghhh! That brings even more performance pressure... once you're at the top you've got to try to stay there!

I wouldn't know... I haven't succeeded yet... but it makes me wonder what it could/will be like... what do you think?

Of course us Christians can take comfort in the following scriptural promises from the Lord God, our loving eternally present Father in heaven...

1) Deuteronomy 31:6 (ANIV)
Moses speaking to Joshua on God’s behalf, ‘”Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them (opposing forces), for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." ‘

2) Philippians 4:13 (ANIV)
‘I can do everything through him who gives me strength.’
That includes failing & getting up again, & overcoming fear of both failure & success!

3) 2 Corinthians 12:9 (ANIV)
Paul writting to the Corinthian church, ‘But he [God] said to me [Paul], "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.’

I’m sure there are a LOT more scriptures which refer to success & failure in the Bible. But that last one is noteworthy... because it suggests that even if we fail, that’s OK, because we are weak... that’s just human nature. And God is able to shine gloriously, even through our weaknesses. In that sense, even the failures (as we perceive them) can be seen as successes, since our weaknesses promote & glorify God! So there isn’t really a failure in a Christian’s life! How cool is that!

Marketing Jigsaw

This drawing is a metaphor or illustration of how I see & regard the Bible Cartoons as a multi-faceted project. It shows the various pieces of the metaphorical “jigsaw puzzle” like money, time, skills, etc, all in place. It is convenient for me to imagine each aspect of the project as a seperate piece of the “puzzle”, but it is also useful to see how they fit together to make up the whole “picture” of Bible Cartoons. The design came to me when my wife & I were on holiday in South Wales, in August 2012. It’s taken me this long to draw the picture & write the blog about it!

 

The pieces already in the “jigsaw puzzle”.
The pieces I have identified, which we have in place, in no particular order of importance or preference, are:

1) Faith - My Christian belief is important, as it provides the subject material for the Bible Cartoons. It has long been important for me to do something important & significant with my life, involving my faith. Graphic design, science fiction/fantasy illustration, & pretty much everything else I’ve tried didn’t “hit the spot” because they didn’t include my Christian faith in the “mix”.The Bible Cartoons Project does include it, & so I feel I have found my artistic & life’s niche. My faith also produces the drive to be creative & to keep going, even when things are not going so well!

2) Skills - all of the creative, imaginative & artistic skills that I have, which allow me to draw & colour the artwork. Also includes my interests in science, writing, organising information & the desire to research the Holy Land.

3) Love & Support - Here I am acknowledging the love of my wife, family & friends, which provides the support necessary for me to pursue this project. Without them I would probably not be able to carry on doing what I do. I also acknowledge the love of God as being of central, prime importance to me. I need to feel comfortable, secure & (reasonably) confident that things will work out OK, in order to continuously turn my attention to the artwork.

4) Desire - Without the drive & desire to keep drawing & producing cartoons, I wouldn’t get anything done! The desire, drive & self-motivation to succeed is of vital importance when you’re essentially a one-man band!

5) Technology & Equipment - Without my trusty PC & particularly the internet, it wouldn’t be possible for me to display & sell Bible Cartoons all over the world. 10-15 years ago this Bible Cartoons project wouldn’t have been possible, because the internet was in its infancy. I rely on the internet for the vast majority of my Bible research answers to; without that it would be much, much harder to produce the quality cartoons that I draw.

6) Money - Without the loving support of my wife, Bible Cartoons couldn’t have even begun. Now it is generating enough money to keep the website on-line, & we hope & pray for increased sales, which will allow this to continue for a l-o-n-g time to come!

7) Time - I recognise that the Bible Cartoons project is my full-time occupation, job, career, mission, ministry & vocation. If I had to pursue another paid, part or full-time job, then I wouldn’t be able to draw these cartoons. I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to devote my time & life to the Bible Cartoons project.

8) Ideas - I seem to have an endless supply of imaginative concepts, ideas & pictures in my mind, which are the basis of my cartoons. One of the many ways God has uniquely blessed me is with a highly inventive & constructive imagination.

These are the 8 key pieces of the jigsaw which I have identified as being of prime importance. No doubt I could identify many other aspects or pieces which could also be included in the jigsaw puzzle.

What about the missing piece?
Notice there is a missing piece in the centre of the jigsaw puzzle, which I have identified as being...

9) Marketing & Promotion.

We have more customers this year than we had last year. New people are finding my cartoons via the internet every day. Customers regularly return & view/buy additional cartoons. For this we are extremely grateful. We have done little in the way of marketing & promotion, so really our thanks & gratitude is rightly directed towards the Lord God, who has brought us the customers we have. Having said that, we also believe that it is right & appropriate to take responsibility for the Marketing & Promotion of Bible Cartoons. It would be madness to simply sit back & hope that people will find our website & buy the cartoons. We need to be far more pro-active than that! That is why, in the illustration above, the marketing piece is missing - I feel that we are lacking the proper promotional piece(s) to complete the project mix.

Whilst I research marketing strategies on line & read books about it often, I still feel unsure of the best way to “get the word out” that Bible Cartoons exists. I send individual churches emails to make them aware of us, but that is a laborious process... there must be a better, more efficient, more cost effective way to reach many more church leaders, Sunday school teachers & interested parties than that! But that method eludes me... at the moment!

There simply doesn’t seem to be one sure-fire, all-encompassing method to reach all the customers we would like. I frequently write Twitter & Facebook articles, add new Blog articles (like this one) & we get referrals from these sources, which is great. But despite these efforts, we still haven’t got masses of Christian church leaders, teachers, youth workers, Evangelists, etc beating on Bible Cartoon’s cyber-doors!

Perhaps this situation is a reflection of every small (& large?!) businesses’ dilemma: it’s all well & good producing the most spectacular product in the world, but if no-one knows about it, you can’t sell it!

So the missing piece, as far as I am concerned is identifying & implementing a decent, growing, artistic, successful marketing campaign. If you are a marketeer who would like to suggest ways we can increase public awareness of this Bible Cartoons Project, then please contact me on email, I’d love to hear your ideas.

Insomnia & the meaning of life!

I couldn’t sleep 3 nights ago, possibly due to a strong filter coffee at lunchtime! We visited Beckworth Emporium for lunch, which was most welcome, but the coffee (though delicious!) probably overdosed me on caffeine. Even though earlier in the day we went for our longest road run ever ( 6.9 miles) & we had a busy day’s activities, I went to bed expecting to sleep easily all night... but it was not to be, for me at least.

Regarding Beckworth Emporium... I’m always impressed with the staff (number of, & friendliness) & the whole experience of visiting this garden centre & cafe/restaurant. There isn’t really anywhere quite like it around here. What often stands out to me is the clever marketing & branding going one quietly & surely in the background. I like a place that “knows itself”; what it is, what it isn’t, what it strives for, what it’s brand message is, who its customers are, & who it serves. There seems to be shrewd, inventive, decisive, clear branding & marketing going on behind the Beckworth Emporium centre, which stands out. I think I aspire to that same level of certainty in regards to my own efforts at marketing & branding Bible Cartoons. Certainly I strive to figure out how to “reach” more potential customers, whilst trying to figure out what those customers want from me. Currently I am trying to determine my blog “voice” style & how to “be myself” in the blog, which is all about authenticity, whilst keeping the fun, light-heated tone. Quite a balancing act! If only I could find the definitive way to reach more customers & provide what they want.

Anyway... back to the story... 3 nights ago I lay awake thinking about life & found my mind turning towards God, which happens a lot at night, when all is still... except my mind. My conclusion was that the cross of Jesus is everything. I’ve read before that it even splits history (in B.C. & A.D.) which a pretty cool way to suggest the essential & unavoidable influence of the cross on every aspect of... well, pretty much everything!

One of the things I concluded in my musings was that many, many things which God provides for our good, can & are counterfeited by Satan, to harm or enslave us. For example, God gives us technology to help us & Satan corrupts it, intending to make us slaves to it, like over-dosing on the internet, TV, smartphone use, etc. God gives us medicines to cure our diseases & Satan manages to get people addicted to it (drug-taking.) God provides us with relationships to encourage & comfort us & Satan turns some of them into co-dependence, abuse, etc.

But there is one thing which Satan can not corrupt, change, mutate or counterfeit for his evil uses & that is the cross of Jesus. That’s because, at the cross, Jesus sacrificed his life for each & every one of us. That sacrifice paid for our sins & opened up the way for us to have meaningful, intimate, eternal relationship with God the Father once more. That open & wholesome relationship with God is something which sin always damages & prevents. Sacrifice for the sake of others is something Satan would never want to be involved in. I doubt whether he even understands it, & certainly Satan’s self-centred, prideful nature would never aspire to self-sacrifice for the benefit of others. That is why Satan can not do anything about the cross of Jesus: it is outside his knowledge, experience, strategy & purpose.

I’m not one of those Christians who “bashes” Satan either. I believe Satan was created (by God) with the same free-will we humans possess. That means Satan had the same opportunity to either serve God (as he did originally) or to serve himself, which he is eternally engaged in now. In deciding to serve himself, Satan now tries to get people to change their worship away from God & towards himself. But even in doing that, I believe Satan is merely doing what God knew he would do. God is not surprised by anything! Now Satan does an important job: he provides us with a legitimate alternative to following God. Truly we have freedom of will: we can choose to follow God or follow Satan. Some people would say that they don’t follow anyone, or else they follow themselves, but I believe that this is actually the same thing. Unless you are actively following & worshipping God, then any alternative pursuit (though it may not seem like it to the person in question) is actually a matter of following Satan. I believe it really is as black-and-white as that.

The great news is, we all have the chance, at any point in our lives, to turn away from pursuing our own goals (which is really the same thing as following Satan) & choosing instead to become a follower & worshipper of God. Right up until the moment we die, we have that choice before us... how great is that?! We are never beyond hope.

For me (& countless other millions of Christians) it is GREAT & VERY reassuring to know that we have already made our choice & we are actively following God. It was, & is, at the cross of Jesus the Christ that I found the true meaning of life. At the cross I came to realise my need of a personal saviour, & I have not been disappointed. Now I am saved, & I have an eternal destiny to fulfil. When I die, I know I will be going to live eternally with Jesus the Christ in heaven. There is amazing peace & security in that.

And anyone, at any point in their life, can have exactly the same security & certainty that I possess now. All they have to do is confess their sin, repent of it (turn away from it) & accept their need of a saviour. Then pray a simple prayer & ask Jesus into your life. That’s it... then you are a Christian, with exactly the same certain hope, & privileges of sonship that I have. Cool!

Holiday, coast paths & roaming freedom

My wife & I spent a very enjoyable week’s holiday with her parents in Cornwall. We stayed in a cottage overlooking Portmellon & Mevagissey, which is a very pretty part of the county. The cottage had a large lounge, with wide sliding doors leading out onto a patio, which overlooked the sea. The owners even supplied a small telescope which brought the coastline, sea & small fishing boats closer for our inspection!

We were really blessed by God regarding the weather - it was sunny, but not too hot, which allowed us to make good progress on our walks, & it rained at night - very considerate!
My wife cooked some yummy food, as per usual. After a long, tiring walk it was great to have a lovely meal to look forward too! We also had access to an indoor swimming pool next door, which we used every evening.

We walked the local coastline on several days, which was wonderful, dramatic & ever-changing. I took some photo's of wonderful winding coast paths which we walked in the sunshine. I love pathways, especially coast paths. They could lead anywhere - very evocative of roaming freedom. They make me want to see what’s just around the corner, or over the next hill! Maybe I need to introduce some winding pathways into my Bible Cartoons!? What do you think?

I feel well rested now, & ready to return to work.

View from our cottage over Portmellon, Cornwall - very inspiring!