075 | Sherman’s Lagoon and the Art of Cartooning with Jim Toomey
Jim Toomey is a cartoonist, global ocean advocate, and the creator of Sherman’s Lagoon, a daily comic strip syndicated to over 150 newspapers in 20 countries and six languages. Sherman’s Lagoon tells the story and misadventures of the great white shark Sherman, his wife Megan, and their friends in the fictional Kapupu Lagoon. Jim completed his Bachelor’s degree in Engineering at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering and his Master of Arts in Liberal Studies at Stanford University. He later received a Master of Environmental Management degree from the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences.
Jim joins me today to share his journey from being a newspaper boy and engineer to a cartoonist and global ocean advocate. You’ll get advice on creating an ensemble of characters and learn how different characters drive different kinds of stories. He describes the experiences that inspired Sherman’s Lagoon. He also discusses the importance of properly defining and formulating a problem and shares his optimistic outlook for the world’s oceans.
“Look at the ocean not as a dark, alien world underneath the waves that has nothing to do with us. Look at it—that 70% of the planet—just as lively and vibrant and important to us as the 30% we live on.”
- Jim Toomey
This week on Kathy Sullivan Explores:
● Jim Toomey’s life growing up in Virginia
● The birth of Sherman’s Lagoon
● Why Jim pursued a degree in engineering
● The beginning of Jim’s newspaper cartooning career
● The beauty of going to college
● Jim’s career in the engineering industry and his transition to being a professional cartoonist
● How Sherman’s Lagoon made its way to Sweden and Norway
● Why Jim went to Stanford for a Master’s degree in Liberal Arts and what it was like
● The creative process behind Sherman’s Lagoon
● Jim’s thoughts on storytelling and character development
● How the characters in Sherman’s Lagoon reflect Jim and the people in his life
● The different ways of being bad and the kind of work involved in producing a comic strip
● The nature and scale of shark finning
● Jim’s collaboration with NOAA and getting the Shark Protection Act through congress
● The biggest barriers to being a cartoonist
● Jim’s hopes for the future of the ocean and the environment
Our Favorite Quotes:
● “As a cartoonist, I love drawing. But drawing itself isn’t even half the game: as comic strips have become smaller, it has become more about storytelling and writing.” - Jim Toomey
● “In art, success is about gleaning from a field of complete failure; it’s about experimentation, going down a blind alley, and making a lot of mistakes.” - Jim Toomey
Connect with Jim Toomey:
Spaceship Not Required
I’m Kathy Sullivan, the only person to have walked in space and gone to the deepest point in the ocean.
I’m an explorer, and that doesn’t always have to involve going to some remote or exotic place. It simply requires a commitment to put curiosity into action.
In this podcast, you can explore, reflecting on lessons learned from life so far and from my brilliant and ever-inquisitive guests. We explore together in this very moment from right where you are--spaceship not required.
Welcome to Kathy Sullivan Explores.