How it Started….

My graduation year was 1981, I was 17 years old and attending the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan where I majored in Cartooning and Animation. It was the same year I started my business called “Creative Cartoons”. Let me tell you how it all began:
I was in a pizzeria where I drew a cartoon of a Pizza Man running with a pizza with the words scribbled “we deliver” on a napkin..the owner of the pizzeria noticed the drawing and as I was leaving the store he said “excuse me did you draw this?” I said yes and he asked me to draw one for his wall,I knew the cost of a pad of paper and markers cost about five dollars at the time so I told him it would be five dollars…he ordered it!..I ran to the store and purchased a pad with 12 sheets of paper and six markers. When I delivered the little poster the man liked it so much he ordered a few more, and as I drew them for him I went to other pizza shops and sold to them for $8.00 each!..

I remember riding my bicycle through the streets and seeing a For Rent sign in a store front..I asked the lady behind the counter how much to rent, she said $450.00. That is about what I had saved up…I remember telling my Mother that I just rented a store to show off my work..she looked at me and said “You’ll never know until you try”….that was the start of something big.
I remember people at the time giving me credit for being smart, I don’t believe that to be true. At that age teenagers believe nothing can happen to them, I had no concept of failure, no concept of success, no business sense, never thought about electric bills, rent, or the future. In the military a Captain yells to his near teenage troops “take the hill” and they run for it…because at that age there is no death, no failure, you have an immortal instinct..until the door opens ( literally and figuritively ) and reality strikes….in my case it wasn’t a hill to take, but it was a battle from day one.
I used milk crates as chairs, plywood for tables and had a pad of paper with magic markers…I recall the day the lights went off in the store and I simply moved my drawing pad next to the window to draw for a couple of months because I took the lights being on for granted…A man walked in with a cigar one day and said…”who are you”, I simply said Henry. He said “what are you doing here?”, I said “drawing cartoons,who are you…” he said “I own the building”.. I then found out what a landlord was..so this is how I got my education…I have so many stories such as this which will be in my Biography if ever completed.
Over time I developed my business using the learning method above and clientelle have included some impressive names in show business, music business, cartoonists, investors, inventors and simple business owners.

As time goes on I direct my efforts to the business side and help as needed to the connections I make on a daily business.

One day someone will make a movie about me or print that book, perhaps not. But at least you can look at some cartoons here and laugh, if they are not amusing enough drink some wine first!