Doodling reaps rewards
By Charlotte Knottenbelt
What started as a way of getting free movie tickets has turned into a
satisfying sideline for Ben Arman, a UniSA student whose cartoon has
been voted by the public into the finals of a competition run by Minties.
Ben’s cartoon – which features two sign writers with their heads in their hands, realising they’d mistakenly painted ‘Munties’ – is one of 20 finalists in the Draw a Minties Moment competition.
For his efforts he won a Discman, and his cartoon will be seen on Minties wrappers from later this year.
Ben (pictured), who is in his final year of a Bachelor of Applied Science (human movement) degree, first started cartooning when he responded to a call for cartoons in Students@UniSA.
Since then he’s been a regular contributor both to this publication and the student association magazine Entropy.
“The plan was just to have some fun and get some free movie tickets,” says Ben.
“I don’t take it too seriously.”
“I usually think of an idea, draw it and then show it to my friends,” he says when asked to describe his creative process. “If they say ‘you can’t do that!’ then I know it’s good.”
“At first I was getting a massive kick out of just seeing my work published, then I heard one of my cartoons had been pinned up behind the bar at the Exeter, which was pretty good feedback.”
Despite his success, Ben says he’s not planning to pursue cartooning professionally, opting instead to apply to teach English in South Korea next year.
“I don’t think I’d want to do cartooning as a job …. eventually I think I’ll end up as a PE or science teacher.”