Cartoonist Cartoonist Definition. Cartoonist means a person who draws or sketches cartoons. The word "Cartoonist" derives from the Italian words "carton" & "carte" which is widely used in French to denote a bill or menu (A La Carte = Of The Menu), it also is the derivative of card as in a playing card, which gave the word for the English word "Cartoon". A Cartoon is a drawing or sketch usually with text bubbles (later speech bubbles as cartoons developed as we know them today). The modern form of Cartoon Illustration that is performed by a "Cartoonist" has it's roots in being preliminary sketches for other art work forms, such as a fresco, or painting. Cartoons we're used by artists to show each other and those that commissioned art work the plans for the final art work.

Before the Italian words Carton / Carte which gave the word "Cartoonist" it's modern form and before the Italian (Latin was formed from Greek and in turn Phoenician) "Cartoonists" began before words we're even written down with their roots in cave drawings. Cartoons by these cartoonists we're used to teach tribe members and children hunting tactics and search, ambush and capture quarry techniques. In this regard a "Cartoonist" should be seen as the real "Oldest Profession in the World" even though the modern word "Cartoonist" did not exist at the time (prior to cave drawings cartoonists drew the lines on the ground). A Cartoonist draws or sketches pictures as opposed to a writer who writes words. Writers owe their words to the scribes or cartographers that mapped out the language of man in picture form which gave rise to the written word. Such things as Hieroglyphs on which all languages are based are images illustrated in effect by the first professional cartoonists.