Larry Miller III of Peoria, Illiinois began cartooning in the mid 1960s while still in grade school and further developed his talents working as an illustrator and cartoonist for his high school newspaper (Spalding Insitiute's "Madison Street Journal"). Influenced by such diverse talents as Charles Shultz, Johnny Hart, Neal Adams and Pat Oliphant, Larry continued to develop his own style of work, drawn towards colleagues with similar talents and tried over many years to produce short run comic books, without much success.

Larry's career as a freelance cartoonist took off with the publication of his first cartoon in August of 1974 in "Model Railroader Magazine" and he continued selling cartoons and illustrations to similar publications "Railroad Model Craftsman" and "Mainline Modeler Magazine" throughout the mid 1980s. He volunteered as cartoonist, illustrator and editor of "The Current Lines", the quarterly newsletter for the Illinois Terminal Railroad Historical Society from 1978 through 1986.

Larry peaked during his college years as the cartoonist “Mr. N” of the "Harbinger" (the Student Newspaper for Illinois Central Junior College) where he attended part-time from 1975 through 1980. Such cartoon panels as “Captain Boredom”, “Barlap 4” and “Reasons Why Students Commit Suicide” were regular features, along with half-page panels and editorial cartoons. He designed Banners for issue headers and produced full-page cartoons for special issues.

Full-time employment during that time was as a duplicator press operator for Caterpillar Tractor Company. During operation of his machine, he found time to create Safety Poster cartoon illustrations, United Way Fund Drive posters, cartoons and illustrations for the company newsletter ("The Folks" and "Tracktype") as well as cartoons for personal enjoyment – “Sad Sam”, “1001 of the Worst Shop Accidents” and “101 Things NOT to Say to a Striker”

After marriage in 1984, he dropped out of cartooning entirely and helped raise three children. As his children entered High School he returned to cartooning and illustrating in 1997.

Most of Larry's works are created in the pen and ink format with marker and watercolor added after inking. In recent years, he has begun to work on computer scans of original ink renderings with color and shading added on computer.

I am a middle-aged person who has operated a small cartooning studio here in Nebraska for about 25 years. As Nebraska is not necessarily the 'hub' of the publishing industry in the U.S. it is often difficult to find steady engagements. As with all of our brethren in this business, I am constantly seeking assignments. Thank goodness for the internet and the opportunities it affords all of us.

Some of my published work and contact information is located at;
http://www.ArtWanted.com/bwanaart

I appreciate this opportunity to work with Rich and the other fine cartoonists that complete this project each year.

Lan Hoang Vu (a.k.a. VAL) was born and grew up in Vung Tau, Vietnam. VAL began creating political cartoons since 1987 by drawing syndicated cartoons for various newspapers and magazines nationwide in Vietnam. VAL came to the USA in 1991 at which time he stopped drawing cartoons and began a career as a graphic designer. Ten years later, however, because of the tremendous impact the September 11th Terrorist Attacks in America had on his psyche, VAL immediately picked up his pens and started to draw political cartoons again.

A graduate from the prestigious National University of Fine Art in Saigon, and from California State University in Long Beach, VAL is currently working as an Art Director at VAL Designs (www.valdesigns.com), a full service design firm based in Orange County, and stays abreast of international news by drawing daily cartoons for various publications including Viet Bao Daily News, Nguoi Viet Daily News, Viet Weekly... VAL's cartoons, usually with minimal wordings, convey multi-level of meanings depending on the perception of individual audience. His cartoons focus mostly on political events, ranging from international matters to local Vietnamese community issues.

VAL?s cartoons are displayed and collected in many websites, museums, galleries, and private collections including The Peace Museum (Chicago, USA), BC Space Gallery (Laguna Beach, California, USA), Collection of Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago City (USA), Collection of Ms. Kim Phuc - ?The Girl in the Picture? - from Kim Foundation (USA), Cartoon Museum of East Europe (Ploiesti, Romania), Collection of Scientist Colin Pillinger, Head of Planetary and Space Sciences, Open University (UK), just to name a few. VAL has also been working with The New York Times Syndicate.

Note: I'd like to thank VAL for broading our outreach with other language variations on the home page. Last year he provided a press release in Vietnamese and this year we have three foriegn language versions of our home page - thanks to VAL for the Vietnamese version, and Google's translator and my kids for the Spanish and German versions! -Rich