NEW GLARUS - Laughter is the best medicine.
That's exactly what Jim Byrne and Dennis Schmidt have been relying on since 1991 when they started their greeting card business, and now when their single panel cartoon "This End Up" debuted at www.thisendupcartoon.com in March.
"This End Up" is available for syndication and is offered free to site visitors on a daily basis - just be prepared to laugh out loud.
"The comic showcases offbeat humor involving anything from aardvarks to zucchini," said Byrne, who lives in New Glarus. "With a lingering war and a soft economy, the Web site is a great place to go to get your daily chuckle."
"People need to laugh," Byrne said. Schmidt added, "Me draw funny picture."
Schmidt, who lives in Oregon with his wife Angela, grew up in northern Wisconsin "on a steady diet of Mad Magazines and Saturday morning Looney Tunes Cartoons."
Upon graduating from MATC with a degree in commercial art, Schmidt worked as a graphic designer and illustrator in and around Madison. He met Byrne while working at the Harpers Restaurant in the Radisson Hotel in Madison.
After drawing cartoons on the restaurant's napkins, the two started a greeting card company called Byrne and Schmidt Greetings. The cards did well nationally and in 1996 they changed the name of the card line to Raspberries.
Schmidt said the greeting cards were designed around single panel humor.
"The transition from greeting cards to single panel cartoons was as natural as flying south for the winter," Schmidt said. "'This End Up' was born."
Byrne, who lives with his two children, Jess and Josh, grew up on a farm near Brooklyn. Outside of chores, he admitted he probably had too much time on his hands. He developed a healthy fascination for rubber chickens and he appreciated newspaper comics.
"How can you not be drawn to a world where you can slip on a banana peel, fall down a manhole and not even get hurt?" Byrne said.
Gradually, he said his muse turned toward greeting cards after earning a degree in agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He writes the content and copy. Schmidt does the illustrations.
Byrne starts the process by generating a rough humorous idea. Schmidt draws a quick sketch based on the idea.
If the potential card has promise, the copy and art are finalized. The greeting card then is printed and tested in small quantities.
Byrne said about one out of every five ideas has the potential to be tested as a card.
Several designs have been ranked No. 1 in national tests with Recycled Paper Greetings.
Raspberries is licensed by Recycled Paper Greetings in Chicago, the nation's third largest greeting card company. It was started by college roommates Phil Friedmann and Mike Keiser, who wanted the industry giants to accept the environmental wisdom of printing greeting cards on 100 percent recycled paper.
Locally, Raspberries are sold at Brenda's Blumenladen in New Glarus and The Dilly Bean in Monroe.
Besides the cards, the two are publishing a book with about 350 cartoons, which will be available in about two months.
"We have developed a large library of original humor and wanted to showcase it in a book," Schmidt said.
The book of cartoons will be available on the Web site and in local retail stores.
"I'm a student of creativity," Byrne said. "Inspiration comes when the adrenaline is flowing - when I'm exercising, when I'm stepping on my children's Legos in the dark of night, or sometimes it's just sitting with pen and paper waiting for ideas to take the elevator from my subconscious."
The two have been in the business long enough to know that the competition is relentless. New card companies come and go. Large card manufacturers can make it difficult on small companies when vying for retail floor space.
"The public may think of Hallmark as a sweet, little old lady business," chimed Byrne and Schmidt. "But, in the business world, the company is actually more likely to beat you up and take your lunch money."
Sending a greeting card is one of those simple gestures that remind people that someone is thinking about them. Making someone else feel special also can have the effect of making the sender feel good, too.
"For me, I have to have fun at what I'm doing," Byrne said. "If you don't have fun, it just doesn't happen and it is time to move on."
That's exactly what Jim Byrne and Dennis Schmidt have been relying on since 1991 when they started their greeting card business, and now when their single panel cartoon "This End Up" debuted at www.thisendupcartoon.com in March.
"This End Up" is available for syndication and is offered free to site visitors on a daily basis - just be prepared to laugh out loud.
"The comic showcases offbeat humor involving anything from aardvarks to zucchini," said Byrne, who lives in New Glarus. "With a lingering war and a soft economy, the Web site is a great place to go to get your daily chuckle."
"People need to laugh," Byrne said. Schmidt added, "Me draw funny picture."
Schmidt, who lives in Oregon with his wife Angela, grew up in northern Wisconsin "on a steady diet of Mad Magazines and Saturday morning Looney Tunes Cartoons."
Upon graduating from MATC with a degree in commercial art, Schmidt worked as a graphic designer and illustrator in and around Madison. He met Byrne while working at the Harpers Restaurant in the Radisson Hotel in Madison.
After drawing cartoons on the restaurant's napkins, the two started a greeting card company called Byrne and Schmidt Greetings. The cards did well nationally and in 1996 they changed the name of the card line to Raspberries.
Schmidt said the greeting cards were designed around single panel humor.
"The transition from greeting cards to single panel cartoons was as natural as flying south for the winter," Schmidt said. "'This End Up' was born."
Byrne, who lives with his two children, Jess and Josh, grew up on a farm near Brooklyn. Outside of chores, he admitted he probably had too much time on his hands. He developed a healthy fascination for rubber chickens and he appreciated newspaper comics.
"How can you not be drawn to a world where you can slip on a banana peel, fall down a manhole and not even get hurt?" Byrne said.
Gradually, he said his muse turned toward greeting cards after earning a degree in agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He writes the content and copy. Schmidt does the illustrations.
Byrne starts the process by generating a rough humorous idea. Schmidt draws a quick sketch based on the idea.
If the potential card has promise, the copy and art are finalized. The greeting card then is printed and tested in small quantities.
Byrne said about one out of every five ideas has the potential to be tested as a card.
Several designs have been ranked No. 1 in national tests with Recycled Paper Greetings.
Raspberries is licensed by Recycled Paper Greetings in Chicago, the nation's third largest greeting card company. It was started by college roommates Phil Friedmann and Mike Keiser, who wanted the industry giants to accept the environmental wisdom of printing greeting cards on 100 percent recycled paper.
Locally, Raspberries are sold at Brenda's Blumenladen in New Glarus and The Dilly Bean in Monroe.
Besides the cards, the two are publishing a book with about 350 cartoons, which will be available in about two months.
"We have developed a large library of original humor and wanted to showcase it in a book," Schmidt said.
The book of cartoons will be available on the Web site and in local retail stores.
"I'm a student of creativity," Byrne said. "Inspiration comes when the adrenaline is flowing - when I'm exercising, when I'm stepping on my children's Legos in the dark of night, or sometimes it's just sitting with pen and paper waiting for ideas to take the elevator from my subconscious."
The two have been in the business long enough to know that the competition is relentless. New card companies come and go. Large card manufacturers can make it difficult on small companies when vying for retail floor space.
"The public may think of Hallmark as a sweet, little old lady business," chimed Byrne and Schmidt. "But, in the business world, the company is actually more likely to beat you up and take your lunch money."
Sending a greeting card is one of those simple gestures that remind people that someone is thinking about them. Making someone else feel special also can have the effect of making the sender feel good, too.
"For me, I have to have fun at what I'm doing," Byrne said. "If you don't have fun, it just doesn't happen and it is time to move on."