Free of big businesses and censored newspapers with oversensitive editors, web cartoonists create whatever they wish.
“Do you have a design in mind for your blog? Whether you prefer a trendy postcard look or you’re going for a more editorial style blog - there’s a stunning layout for everyone.”
As the newspaper industry continues to be declined, the fun pages are removed from print. Whether it's sharp satire about politics, or a plain joke about life, every cartoon can win an audience on the web.
The fall of newspapers and the growth of the internet broke that system.
The internet means anyone can get published. Cartoonists who wish to become known are no longer sending sketches to businesses or approaching newspapers. They simply create a website and share it on social media. Maybe thanks to the technical skills required for success, web cartoonists are often young, well-educated and bright.
Different from web newspapers, where advertising is the major source of income, the audience on web cartoons aren't just readers - they are consumers too. Several cartoonists sell T-shirts, books, posters and other things.
Freedom of Speech Bubble
Webcomics play a crucial political role where speech is curbed. In China, carefully coded cartoons spread across Weibo, a Twitter-like social platform, is a powerful way of criticising China's strict web-censorship regime. One of the famous web cartoon characters is Kuang Kuang, a lazy school kid at a prison-like institute where disagreement is regularly oppressed. These animations get viewed by tens of thousands of users within just a few hours of being posted online.
Also A Threat
This new world, in which humour can spread rapidly and globally, has also been threatening web cartoonists. Cartoons can spread throughout the Internet without crediting its creator; Unlicensed merchandise can be sold by copyright stealers. A cartoonist should be an entrepreneur apart from being an artist. And the competition is fierce. Since anyone can be a cartoonist, almost everyone is. Online communities like Reddit thrive on jokes, often just a captioned picture, uploaded by a user.