Getting Work Ready for Submission
Once you understand how licensing works and how royalties accumulate, the practical question becomes: what needs to be ready before submitting?
The answer involves understanding what makes cartoons licensing-ready—whether you’re working with evergreen ideas or topical editorial work.
Part of our comprehensive guide: Licensing Cartoons Internationally (coming soon)
Editorial and Evergreen Work Both License
There’s no single content type required for licensing. Both topical editorial cartoons and evergreen conceptual work find buyers.
Editorial cartoons addressing current issues, political dynamics, or news-driven topics continue licensing long after the original news cycle. Some cover perennial subjects—immigration, healthcare reform, taxation—that remain relevant across years or decades. Others get licensed to illustrate historical analysis, policy discussions, or economic commentary where the original event provides useful context.
Evergreen cartoons about workplace dynamics, relationships, technology, health, or universal human situations continue licensing across longer timeframes. The same cartoon can find buyers years after creation because the underlying concepts remain relevant.
CartoonStock’s catalog includes both approaches because buyer needs vary. Some are looking for commentary on recurring political themes. Others need concepts that work regardless of when they’re used. Your catalog can include both.
If a cartoon doesn’t meet quality requirements, it won’t be made available for licensing. This applies to both file quality and the standard of the artwork itself. The platform maintains quality thresholds because buyers expect professional-grade work.
Captions in Your Working Language
International cartoonists often hesitate over caption language. Write in whatever language you work in most naturally. Forced translation at the creation stage usually weakens timing and clarity.
CartoonStock’s multilingual capabilities handle discoverability across languages at the platform level. Strong ideas in clear language work better than awkwardly translated captions trying to appeal to a perceived global audience.
Volume Creates Opportunities
More cartoons in your catalog means more concepts available for buyers to discover. This increases the range of searches your work can match.
However, this only applies to finished, technically sound work. Submitting variations of the same idea, unfinished sketches, or work below technical standards doesn’t improve discoverability—it just creates clutter.
Each cartoon should function independently as a complete, usable image that meets platform specifications.
What Gets Assessed
Before cartoonists can upload, samples are evaluated by CartoonStock’s content team. This assessment looks at technical quality, conceptual clarity, and whether the work meets platform standards.
Not all submissions are accepted. If work doesn’t meet technical or content requirements, or doesn’t align with what the platform can effectively license, you’ll be informed. This evaluation happens before you’re given access to upload.
Once accepted, you can manage your cartoons through the Cartoonist’s Hub and add work at your own pace.
Content That Doesn’t Work
CartoonStock doesn’t accept cartoons with illegal content, explicit adult material, or content unsuitable for commercial licensing. The platform also reserves the right to remove content that doesn’t comply with company ethos or content guidelines.
This isn’t about creative restriction—it’s about maintaining a catalog that buyers can license with confidence for professional contexts.
After Submission
Once your work is in the catalog and meets platform standards, CartoonStock handles tagging and keywording. This is part of what makes the platform effective—experienced tagging that ensures cartoons reach the right audiences through search.
You don’t need to keyword your own work. The platform’s skill at categorization and search optimization is what connects cartoons with buyers across different markets and languages.
From there, licensing operates as described in other clusters: your work remains discoverable, royalties accumulate when licenses occur, and copyright stays with you throughout.
Q&A: Common Questions About Submitting Cartoons for Licensing
Q: What image formats and specifications does CartoonStock require? CartoonStock recommends JPEG files with the longer side at least 1,800 pixels. Images need to be high-quality and suitable for commercial licensing with clean, readable captions. Work that doesn’t meet quality specifications won’t be accepted for the platform.
Q: Can I upload the same cartoon to CartoonStock more than once? No. Each cartoon should only be uploaded once to avoid duplication in the CartoonStock catalog. If you need to make changes, you can update the existing cartoon through the Cartoonist’s Hub or remove it and upload a revised version.
Q: What happens if CartoonStock doesn’t accept my cartoon? If work doesn’t meet CartoonStock’s technical or content requirements, it won’t be made available for licensing. You’ll be informed if there’s a specific issue like file quality or suitability for the platform. CartoonStock also removes cartoons that violate content guidelines and will notify you if that happens.
Keep Reading Ready to understand the full licensing platform structure? Read: How Cartoon Licensing Platforms Work for International Artists
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