Life & Work with Joe Hoffecker

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Hoffecker.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started? 
I am a Cincinnati-based illustrator and cartoonist who, as with most kids, enjoyed drawing at a very young age and thankfully never outgrew it! As a child of considerably political conversationalist parents, I gravitated towards editorial cartooning as a teen, particularly following the works of the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Jim Borgman and the Dayton Daily News’ Mike Peters. After cartooning for the student newspapers in high school and college, that body of work helped me to get hired as a design artist and editorial cartoonist at the Cincinnati Business Courier in 1987. In addition to the Business Courier, my work has appeared in weekly business journals across the U.S. and the international Sports Business Journal. For over three decades, I have been fortunate to have contributed thousands of pieces for daily and weekly publications, books, periodicals, presentations, events, and fundraisers. Since leaving the Business Courier in 2019, I enjoy freelance illustration projects and drawing for no particular reason other than sheer enjoyment. 

I have won numerous awards for my cartoons, including from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Press Club of Cleveland. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Choosing a career that had very few openings and opportunities, I knew it was going to take a lot of hard work and maybe some luck. When I began my career at the Business Courier in 1987, I hoped that my work would lead to a full-time editorial cartoonist opportunity at a daily newspaper within a few years. But that never happened, and in many ways, I’m glad it didn’t because I was able to draw and still learn other skills. The lessons for me, looking back, are that having goals and a vision of your future is important, and never stop working hard and improving yourself to get there. However, also knowing that life can throw you curve balls and being flexible and adjusting to those challenges not only shapes who you are but can lead you to a path that may be better for you in the long run. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
For over three decades, I had the pleasure of providing editorial cartoons and being published around the world. I never took for granted the space that was provided to me to fill with something that was completely my own, designed to give the reader something to think about, laugh at, or otherwise. More often than not, I think I was successful in generating some sort of emotion from the audience, which is the whole idea behind an editorial cartoon. Receiving awards are nice affirmations and I am certainly proud of those I’ve received, but hearing direct feedback from readers or followers, good or bad, is the real report card because you know they are consuming your work and care enough to share how it struck them, good or bad. While I have admired the work and been influenced by many artists, cartoonists, and illustrators–and my earlier work certainly reflects that–I think my work and voice stands on its own, but it took some time for me to discover my unique style and feel comfortable with it. 

I still create in an old-school way: sketch on paper with pencil, then pen-and-ink. I like other media, too, especially watercolors and colored pencils. Photoshop has been a convenient and helpful tool, but that’s as techy as I want to get. 

Who else deserves credit in your story?
When I was about nine or ten years old, my mom shared an editorial cartoon from the Cincinnati Enquirer by Jim Borgman. I was completely blown away by the amount of detail, precision, and stark contrasts in the line drawing. Add on the layer of expressing an opinion to social and political topics, and I knew at that moment that I wanted to learn more. I was lucky to attend the same high school as Jim, where his best friend, Bob Beemon, was my art instructor. As a teen, I would take the bus from high school to downtown Cincinnati with my portfolio and visit with Jim at his studio at the Enquirer. I’d spread my crude drawings over the floor, and Jim would study them and provide honest feedback. Both of these men were phenomenal mentors and friends, and I doubt I would have followed a path to cartooning and illustrating if it weren’t for their encouragement. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.joehoffecker.com
• Instagram: @JoeHoffecker
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joe.hoffecker/