Top Internet Cartoonist Rick London Launches Just Funny Greeting Cards

Top Internet cartoonist Rick London announced today the launch of Just Funny Greeting cards www.justfunnygreetingcards.com which sells high quality funny greeting cards, note cards, and post cards each bearing a popular Londons Times Cartoon image. They are all-occasion cards with topics such as dogs, cats, science, sex love and relationships, outerspace & UFO’s, celebrity and fame, medicine, dentistry, lawyers and others. He invites all Londons Times fans and future fans to drop by. Quality paper greeting cards are hot this year, and this is the place to get the best.

www.justfunnygreetingcards.com
Main cartoon site: www.londonstimes.us

The Far Side Of My Cartoon Life
by Rick London

I was a power-type-of-guy in Washington, D.C. in the mid-1980’s. I had a cushy job, and wore nice clothes. I resided near the Smithsonian on Capital Hill, a place I rarely frequented unless company was in from out of town.

One day, my friends Julie and Beverly called me and told me to get dressed, that we were going to a Gary Larson Far Side exhibit at the Smithsonian. I didn’t want to go.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved and still love The Far Side, but at the end of the day I was usually exhausted and the though that went through my head was, “Why wait in a long line for an exhibit, when I can simply open the Washington Post the following day and see the cartoon?”

The girls insisted I go with them. So I did. They picked me up and we were on our way. The lines, though long, moved quickly and the exhibit was beyond my wildest imagination. The panel cartoons had been blown up onto 5 or 6 foot poster boards and were hanging from the ceiling. Many of them were my Far Sides of all time.

I was like a little kid in a candy store running from one cartoon to the next. I had seen almost all of them in the Washington Post. Suddenly I was a kid again and a happy camper.

Then, in the middle of all this fun, my mood started to change. I started getting chills and feeling isolated and terrible. I could not pinpoint what was happening. I continued, I think, to be amused and act happy but all I wanted to do was go home and cry.

It was a long exhibit with hundreds of images but well worth it. Now, back home, I was too sad to eat or watch television. Then I remembered. I had created a similar panel cartoon in the early ’70’s and stuffed it away in both my psyche and closet. I had done so with so many dreams, I wondered if any of them would ever die. Obviously this one was with me a long time.

Rule number one: Never show your parents any lofty dreams no matter what your age, especially if they are full-blown business professionals. MY mom hated them and insisted my dong my homework first and then deciding. I did my homework but had already decided. I just didn’t know how or when, only that it would somebody happen

I remembered sharing them with mom and her negative response, but, I remember thinking, “Even if Mom is not around, I would still be scared to launch such a project for fear that people had thought I lost it”. It was then that I realized Gary Larson was not just a cartoonist but a brave pioneer in the world of print journalism.

A decade passed. I created Londons Times Cartoons with one other artist. several top illustrator and I continue writing and assigning the cartoons. to my team illustrators. The site has become the biggest of its kind on the Internet and certainly the most visited (nearly 5 million a year since 2005 when we began counting). Londons Times Carotons was founded in 1997, seven years after that Far Side exhibit.

The motto of this story is “build it and they will come”; though that was not my favorite Kevin Kostner quote of his movie career. But the concept is true. If one focuses hard enough on a project or profession, sooner or later, something will break. The secret is being patient enough to hang in there until it does.

Rick London once considered himself a failure in every aspect of his life. Now he owns 8 e-stores and a main cartoon site of offbeat incredibly funny cartoons It’s All Gary Larson’s Fault

www.mirthgirtbirth.com
www.justfunnymousepads.com
www.justfunnyaprons.com
www.justfunnyhoodies.com
www.ricklondonwear.com
www.ricklondoncollection.com
www.LTSuperstore.com
www.londonstimes.us

Picasso Peanuts Snoopy Parody. Can They Do That?

Cartoonist E-entrepreneur Rick London (www.ricklondonwear.com), sits in his Hot Springs, Ar. studio dreaming up new ideas for his massive cartoon site boasting 8500+ images drawing 7.8 million visitors since 2005.  His Londons Times Cartoon site was established in 1997.

He smiles and says, “One of my greatest influences, besides Gary Larson, was Charles Schulz.  I remember reading Schulz’s autobiography and a great story about a Peanuts parody done by Mad Magazine. Schulz saw it and thought it was so wonderful, he wrote them a thank you and congratulations letter. At the same time, his attorneys (not communicating with him first) shot out an angry copyright infringement letter; that lawyers of celebrities automatically do in such parodies to try to scare the illustrator or creator.”

London says he has a wall-full of such letters but he doesn’t pay them much attention. His great, great, great uncle was Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo, and, London says, “Not that that gives me carte’ blanche to do the wrong thing, I would never step on someone else’s copyright. I just happen to have studied the Fair Use Act a little more than the ‘average Joe’, and there is a clear difference between parody and copyright infringement.  The argument can go on forever, as there are many shades of gray, but the bottom line is that when we do a Peanuts parody or a Picasso parody, we don’t even pretend to be the creator’s of those products. We make it very clear in the message ‘THIS IS A PARODY”.

Of course there are still some people, including attorneys who “don’t get it”. That’s okay though. This is America and we live in a society that allows for parody. It is a powerful weapon, for instance, against corruption or shenanigans in government.  If parody was not legal, there would never be a Saturday Night Live, National Lampoon, Mad Magazine, ad infinitum.”

London adds, “Though we don’t specialize in parody, our cartoons and cartoon gifts and collectibles are pretty generic offbeat mainstream stuff, we occasionally like to add one or two just to ‘make waves’.”

London manufactures such items as mousepads, t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, jerseys, coasters and more at his Rick Londonwear www.ricklondonwear.com store.

Arkansas Man Creates Offbeat Cartoon Casual Clothing Line

Press Release

 

October 15, 2008 Contact: Alexa Ferotina

For Immediate Release 501-588-1966 info@londonstimes.us

OffbeatCartoon Designer Fashion Wear Newest Hot Trend

 

 

Cartoonist e-tailer Rick London (www.ricklondonwear.com) sits calmly in his studio office in Hot Springs Ar. He has just invented his own line of offbeat cartoon casual fashion clothing, possibly the world’s first.  Less than a year ago, London created another “world’s first”; gourmet cartoon coffee gift baskets, his own private label coffees including a cartoon mug and cartoon coasters.  He says, “Anyone who gets into a business like this thinking ‘egad, glamour, women, millions of dollars and a private jet, really needs to re-think it,” he laughs.

 

Most of his day is spent either on the phone or computer with his creative and marketing team to create new cartoon designer fashion products such as hoodies, spaghetti strap tops, sweatshirts and tees, and other clothing items for men, women, and children, each featuring one of his 8500 offbeat Londons Times Cartoons. He also creates mousepads, tote bags, coasters, cutting boards and more.

He smiles as he types away on what he says “is a very important email” and adds, “you know how important the cartooning and fashion industry can be, especially in such a unique merge”.

London’s story is an Internet legend in that he started it with nothing but a beat up used clone 386 computer, a phone line, $300, a book called “Internet For Dummies”(he had no knowledge of the Internet), and a stray dog named “Thor” back in 1997 in an abandoned rural Mississippi warehouse.

Nobody would rent to him, he says, because he was in his mid 40’s, couldn’t draw very well (he has a staff of top illustrators who render his concepts in the same way Yves St. Laurent did with fashion), and he says, “Frankly I believe people thought I had a few marbles loose when I told them I was going to go into the cartoon business. Little did I, (or anyone else know) at the time, it would turn into the largest single panel cartoon site on the Internet, a fashion line, my own private label coffee with cartoon mugs and coasters, publishing rights, licensing rights, and open doors to exciting and interesting people I would have otherwise never met”.

London’s main cartoon site, Londons Times Cartoons (www.londonstimes.us) started with twelve cartoons and anywhere from two to ten visitors per day. Today it boasts over 8000 of his original cartoon images and attracts around 4000 visitors per hour and has had 7.8 million+ hits since 2005.

He has also opened a cartoon gift and collectible store, Londons Times Superstore (www.LTSuperstore.com) which showcases 65.000+ items bearing the Londons Times Cartoons images, from key chains to Christmas ornaments to desk and wall clocks to baseball caps. He has also opened several niche stores such as Just Funny Aprons (www.justfunnyaprons.com) , Just Funny Hoodies (www.justfunnyhoodies.com), and (believe it or not) Prozac Wear www.prozacwear.com.

London says, “I battled depression a long time. I think laughing at oneself is the best medicine. No, I don’t think it is a replacement for traditional medical treatment, but it surely helped me along the way until I was able to pull out of it. I know many other writers and artists struggle with the same awful disease. Laughter truly helps keep one positive, dealing with any medical issue, not just depression.”

 

London says, “To me, it is one of those ‘Only In America” stories. I don’t believe all this could have happened anywhere else. Of course I worked very hard to help make it turn into such a business but anyone who has been in business for any length of time also knows how important other people’s efforts are to make it such a phenomenon. I had and have the opportunity now to work with the best illustrators in the world, and I do. I have access to the best distributors, I went back to college at age forty seven, I’m now fifty-three, and all sorts of exciting things are happening.

He adds, “I am super-excited that our group created ‘cartoon designer fashion’ and that the market has accepted it and seems to love it. There’s great irony to it all. I guess my life really didn’t get started , or had a lot of false-starts over the years until this project took a life of its own. It feels good to have a modicum of control over my life’s goals. I get to make decisions, create clothing designs and my own cartoons, create jobs, and other things I’ve always wanted to do. If I can do it, surely anyone can with persistence and a little bit of talent.

 

 

In A Rare Blog Posting, Designer Seeks Advice On World’s 1st Cartoon Design Clothing Line

Cartoonist/e-tailer Rick London has asked his following for advice for his new line  of offbeat cartoon designerwear at www.ricklondonwear.com.   His site also features gifts and collectibles but focuses on mens, womens, and kids, types of all kinds each featuring one of his award-winning Londons Times Cartoons.  His Londons Times Cartoons, established in 1997 is one of the largest collections of cartoons on the Internet at www.londonstimes.us.

London lives and works in his studio in the quiet Ouachata Moutains of Hot Springs, Ar.

Picasso/Van Gogh Parody Products The “In” Thing This Year

 

 

 

Fine Art Parody Products Such as Picasso, Van Gogh Hot This Season
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

Brick and morter and online retailers alike are scurrying with research to discover what is “in” and what is “out” this holiday season. And it is just August.

Online retailer and cartoonist Rick London has already predicted gift products featuring images of fine artists such as Picasso and Van Gogh among others are
“in”.

London says, “They’ve been in for a year. A lot of people just aren’t aware of them simply because there are not many places to purchase them.”

London owns a number of stores with gifts, collectibles, clothing, etc. that feature
his cartoons. His main store www.londonstimessuperstore.com has gift items that feature not only famous art parodies, but cartoons regarding dogs, cats, relationships, sex, sports, science and much more.

He also recently opened a speciality store Just Funny Hoodies www.justfunnyhoodies.com which features various cartoons on hooded sweatshirts, including several faux Picasso’s and Van Gogh’s.

London says, “In a way, it is really a no-brainer when you think of the retailing
elements that go into the product. People want quality. We offer it. They want a realistic 100% money-back guarantee. Got it. Secure credit card checkout. Bingo. They love fine art, and funny fine art parodies are a blast to wear and great conversation ice-breaker. Bingo again. Finally, they want a reasonable price, lightening fast worldwide shipping, and something they can wear and
love for a long time. And high quality hoodies such as ours will last for years.

There’s no college degree that will teach that (though I’m for education and it cannot hurt). A lot of this type learning comes from the school of hard knocks as any retailer both online and off will tell you.

Retailers Say Cartoon Hoodies The In Thing This Holiday Season

Cartoonist Rick London, owner of Just Funny Hoodies says he really never imagined the response he would get to putting up a hoodie (hooded sweatshirts) featuring his cartoons.

He says he theorizes that due to the large volume of sales in his variety store www.ricklondonwear.com, that sells other cartoon gifts and collectibles as well such as mousepads, cutting boards, t-shirts, women’s and men’s tops, coasters, etc., that he noticed a rise in sell of hoodies as the holiday season began coming closer.

London says, “I don’t even have time to think about holiday shopping at the moment. Chances are I’ll shop at one of my stores, probably send some hoodies and other items because it’s fast, easy, and people seem to love them, but some folks are already shopping for gifts.”

London says that’s okay with him. He’s adding new cartoon image hoodies every day in topics from medicine to pets to sex, and all of them are selling.

Justfunnyhoodies.com ships worldwide any method the customers asks from parcel to overnight, and offers a 30 day 100% money back guarantee. They accept all major credit cards on their ssl encrypted secure platform.

London also owns the huge Londons Times Superstore www.londonstimessuperstore.com which, even though doesn’t sell hoodies, offers sweatshirts, tees, porcelain plates, clocks and all kinds of items that are rare (to include these offbeat award-winning cartoons).

He established his business in March of 1997 opening a non-commerce cartoon site www.londonstimes.us with $300, a very used IBM clone 386 computer, a book called “Internet For Dummies” (He knew nothing of the net), and his stray dog Thor. Londons Times Cartoons is now one of the most visited cartoon sites on the Internet including over 7000 offbeat mostly color cartoons. London still owns his stray dog Thor who is believed to be around twenty years old.  He creates from his studio in the Ouachata Mountains of Arkansas.