A Survival Guide for Today

CEO of Making It is Christopher J. Silverwood IV, MBA. Silverwood has also never ridden a Boogie board; he, in fact, finds the whole beach lifestyle silly and undignified. But he's a businessman through-and-through and he's found that there's a buck in all things beachy. So, cowabunga, dudes. Silverwood has a wife, Connie, and a toddler, Cyril. He also has high-school-age twins Christopher V and Christina who live with his first wife. (Click here to see a Silverwood cartoon.)

Jonathan Lund researches what the kids are into these days. Jonathan himself is Mr. Trend - the first to try the latest restaurant, fashion, or sexual preference. Following in Jonathan's footsteps is his nephew, Holden. (Click here for a Jonathan cartoon.)

Cuffy Cummings designs the beachwear. Sweet, quiet, a friendly smile for everyone...and all the other things neighbors say about someone after they've snapped and shot up a convenience store. Cuffy lives with her cat, Jennibuns. (Click here for a Cuffy cartoon.)

Prof. Warhol formulates new lotions and invents new beach accessories in the Making It Labs, assisted by Dongle and the other lab rats. Has been running a caffeine test for the past 15 years. His conclusion so far: "I like it black." (Click here for a Prof. Warhol cartoon.)

Alan H. Scott, head of sales, comes up with promotional gimmicks, most of which involve wet t-shirt contests. Walking sexual-harassment suit waiting to happen. (Click here for an Alan H. Scott cartoon.)

Anne G. Stanford, legal counsel, tries to keep the company out of court. Intelligent, principled, caring; the conscience of Making It. And, like most consciences, usually ignored. (Click here for an Anne Stanford cartoon.)

Rounding out the team is Normy, our lovable, laid-back beach bum. Laughs at nine-to-fivers as he goes to the beach. Stops laughing as he goes through the sofa cushions looking for enough change to buy a muffin. Normy does odd jobs around Making It: Silverwood needs him close by since any beach product Normy likes turns out to be a hit; any he doesn't, flops. But Normy refuses to take a full-time job there (or anywhere), which bugs Silverwood to no end. (Click here for a Normy cartoon.)

In the breakroom and on the beach, the Making It team discusses, obsesses, and argues about everything: politics, trends, computers, business, sex, fashion, and which way the toilet paper should go. Get a job? Get a tan? They'll never all agree, but then if they did, what fun would that be?

Although Keith had been a cartoonist for his high school and college newspapers, he hadn't intended to create a comic strip - in 1985, he was writing a novel about beach life that he hoped The Easy Reader would serialize. But after seeing a one-time cartoon called "Making It at The Beach" that Keith had submitted to the paper, the editor asked Keith to turn the novel into a weekly comic strip instead. Making It was born.

The original cartoon ran August 15, 1985 and the weekly series started in September. It quickly developed a loyal following in the communities where The Easy Reader is distributed - Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach, along the coast just southwest of Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Times picked up on the story of the beach cartoonist, doing a profile of Keith in December 1986. The article brought the attention of a literary agent who took a collection of Keith's cartoons to New York and closed a book deal with HarperCollins early in 1987.

The agent, Barbara Markowitz, is a longtime friend of cartoonist/author/playwright Jules Feiffer. Through Feiffer, Keith and Barbara met with Lee Salem, senior editor for Universal Press Syndicate. They made a deal for Universal to distribute Making It nationally starting on December 6, 1987.

Universal Press got Making It into over 70 newspapers in the United States and Canada. They also published the second collection, Big Bux or Bust, and released a line of six Making It greeting cards.

During this time, Keith started developing the regular characters more. He had been inconsistent with them, such as which ones were married or had children or even what their names were. Making It started evolving from mostly text-heavy single-panel cartoons (the syndicate often referred to Making It as an "illustrated feature") to a character-driven comic strip.

Seven characters emerged as the stars of the strip: Silverwood, the bottom-line businessman; Normy, the naive beach bum; Jonathan, the slave to trends; Anne, the idealist attorney; Prof. Warhol, the detached scientist; Cuffy, sweet on the outside, seething on the inside; and Alan, the letch. These characters gave Keith seven distinct voices with which he could discuss fads and issues of the day.

In 1991, Keith took over distribution of the comic strip through his own company, Making It Productions. In 1992 the third Making It collection was published and in 1994 a Making It videogame, Normy's Beach-Babe-O-Rama, was released for the Sega Genesis system

In November 1994, Making It became one of the first comic strips with its own web site - www.makingit.com - earning the strip new readers around the world.

For 2000, the 15th anniversary of the comic strip, the Making It web site is getting a complete overhaul and a new push is on to get the cartoon into more papers. (If you'd like to see Making It weekly in your local newspaper, please send a letter or e-mail to the editors letting them know. Tell them about this web site, www.makingit.com.) 2000 will also see the release of a new Making It collection, Get A Job! Get A Tan!

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MAKING IT:

• Keith Robinson's Biography
  
• Introduction to the book 5 Years of Making It
  

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT COMIC STRIPS:

• The National Cartoonists Society Web Site
  
• The Universal Press Syndicate Web Site
  

ABOUT MAKING IT PRODUCTIONS:
Owner/Staff Cartoonist: Keith Robinson
Director of Operations: Lisa M. Dawson
Musical Director: Tom Kahelin
Legal Counsel: Harvey Markowitz
Photograph of Keith Robinson by Dennis Miller

Contents of this web site are copyright Keith Robinson. Cartoons may be distributed or reposted as long as they are not altered and not used in commercial publications or web sites. All rights reserved. For information about reprint permission or other questions, e-mail to toons@makingit.com or write to:

Making It Productions
1104 N Highland Av. Suite J-2
Manhattan Beach CA 90266