We spoke with Doug and asked him some questions related to his cartoon series. When asked about the topics featured in his work, he said: "Almost anything. Whatever pops into my head. I’ve only ever done one political cartoon, almost exclusively general humor. I do have two other series, Off The Wall dealing with dungeon humor, and Bartoons."
The cartoonist described his style as semi-realistic, loose, but rarely bizarre. Hill told us: “My humor is based mostly on real life. Humor many people can identify with. Sometimes I suppose it’s Boomer Humor and some slightly twisted as well."
We were curious about how Doug’s career as a cartoonist began. The artist kindly shared the following with us: “My first cartoon magazine sale came in the early 1970s. I did quite a few for the adult magazine market, but then I went into teaching art (for 31 years). I had been an instructor in the Army and found I loved it. While I did some magazine cartoons during that time, most of my time was spent teaching. I taught high school for the last 12 years and had classes in cartooning and animation. After I retired, I started creating greeting cards and it makes a nice source of extra income. The Instagram comics are my way of getting the 'cartoonist' career I never had."
Lastly, the creator of the 'Laughing Hippo Studio' series shared the advice he used to give to students aspiring to become comic artists. Hill said:“ Look at other cartoonists’ work, but don’t copy them. Learn from them. Analyze why you like it. But stick to your style. A forced style will look amateurish (although there are some great cartoons that have an 'amateurish' style.)"
