Mike Smith (Illustrator)

Being self-employed

The Guardian website recently requested some readers’ experiences of being self-employed. I sent them an offering which predictably they didn’t use, so I thought I’d post it here. Maybe they thought it was too trite.

Cartoon about being self-employed

Anyway here is what the Guardian finally put up.

6 Comments

  1. Posted January 29, 2013 at 1:35 pm | Permalink

    It’s great! I bet they didn’t use it because they thought they’d have to pay you for publishing an illustration. I don’t suppose any of the other contributors were paid.

  2. Posted January 29, 2013 at 3:39 pm | Permalink

    I should think, being journos, they were expecting words. They just didn’t know what to do with a story-in-a-cartoon format. I like it, though, and it’s a lot easier to read than the other contributions.

  3. Mike
    Posted January 29, 2013 at 4:23 pm | Permalink

    I really hoped they’d go for it on account of it being different. They often do these reader-contributed things and I often wonder if they’d welcome something unusual. Now I know the answer!

  4. Posted January 31, 2013 at 9:40 pm | Permalink

    Yours is much clearer, and funny too.

    (Anyway, I think they just asked people they happened to be sitting with in the pub or something – two of those contributors are married to each other!)

  5. Jenni Bradbury
    Posted January 31, 2013 at 11:25 pm | Permalink

    Your contribution would have been far more succinct and would have said everything the other contributors wrote, but in a more memorable way. Perhaps The Guardian has forgotten how wonderful Posy Simmonds was…..Saturdays were a joy when her cartoons were inside the pages! xxx

  6. Cookie
    Posted February 1, 2013 at 12:20 pm | Permalink

    The other comments say it all. I could not believe they used a rock guitarist as an example. I was considering a Guardian subscription but have now decided to stick with the Telegraph (just kidding) cannot afford a daily paper. Three hundred and sixty pounds ayear thats nearly a clock or a couple of pairs of shoes.