Steal This Job: Premier Careers

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SURE, ANYONE CAN TELL YOU how to become an accountant or a sales rep. We tell you how to get the cool jobs.

» NAME: Matt Wuerker, 51

» JOB: Cartoonist

» SALARY: According to the United States Department of Labor, artists, including cartoonists, working in the newspaper industry in D.C. make an average of $73,120 annually. But earnings depend on the kind of position — a staff cartoonist working for a small newspaper can make less than a freelance cartoonist drawing for several publications.

» WHAT HE DOES: Wuerker worked as a freelance cartoonist for 20 years before joining Politico as a staff cartoonist a year and a half ago. But when he first began, Wuerker said he would take any kind of cartooning job that came his way. Now as a staff cartoonist, his favorite part of the job is still drawing a one-frame political cartoon. "It's like a really great haiku — or maybe it's more of a limerick than a haiku. It's just the purest kind of cartooning to me," he said. "I'm more of a classicist."

» WOULD YOU WANT HIS JOB? "As a cartoonist and a not-so-fine artist, you have editors and deadlines to please." Also, in the days before the Internet, cartoonists were more localized. Now staff cartoonists are less common. "The Internet opens up a whole world of clients, but it also opens up a whole world of competition. The media landscape is changing radically under our feet." And as a cartoonist in the digital world, there's no guarantee you'll even work with pen and paper. "Once upon a time, you had to find these odd people like me who had the ability to create these images by hand," but no longer.

» HOW TO GET HIS JOB: Freelancing is the typical way to start these days. It doesn't guarantee constant work, but by marketing yourself through the Internet, you can gain experience and draw from anywhere. "Being flexible in terms of clients who call when you start out is really important," Wuerker says.

» FOR MORE INFORMATION Cartooning classes can help would-be artists and satirists fine-tune their drawing skills. The Art League School offers a series of cartooning classes through the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria. The Art Institute of Washington also offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Media Arts and Animation.

Written by Emily Barton
Photo courtesy of Matt Wuerker