John "Bot" Roda's web site welcomes the visitor to his "wacky world of humorous illustrations and cartoons," a world where
he refers to himself as "the guy that always got in trouble in school for doodling on his books."

Roda is still doodling, but now he's getting paid for it by clients ranging from health-care providers and banks to travel magazines and sporting goods suppliers. His Lancaster, Pa., studio is filled with animated credit cards and parking meters, huge telephone receivers and closets filled to the ceiling with sports balls of every type.

Although Roda's web site traces his current occupation back to grade school, its roots are actually deeper than that. "I grew up watching Warner Brothers' cartoons on TV," he says, "and I always had an eye for the visual. While most kids were watching Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig because they were funny, I was fascinated with how the characters were rendered." Roda began copying them when he was just 4 or 5 years old and then graduated to mimicking the cartoons in Mad magazine.

"The Mad cartoonists--Jack Davis and Mort Drucker--were my idols," he says. "I started out by emulating them and others but eventually developed my own style." Now he is quite versatile, able to work in several different styles, a talent that enables him to be responsive to clients wanting a variety of different looks. Originally with an agency, Roda is now self-employed, doing freelance work for book publishers, agencies, magazines and even TV producers.

"I started to freelance in 1988, when I was still working at an agency," Roda explains, "but, by 1994, I was so busy with outside assignments that I was working nights and weekends all the time. I decided it was time to take the plunge and start my own business. I've never looked back, and so far, it's been great."

Roda attended the York Academy of Art, now the Pennsylvania School of Art and Design. At the time, it was a professional school offering a three-year diploma in commercial art. With his formal training dating back to the 1970s, Roda has had to make the transition to the world of technology on his own. Unlike some graphic designers who sit down and work from scratch at the computer, he starts out sketching and inking by hand. Then, he scans the image into the computer and applies color using the various tools and techniques available through art software--watercolors, oils, colored pencils, etc.

Occasionally, however, he still gets to do things "the old-fashioned way." For example, R.R. Donnelley, a provider of printing and related services, honors its employees on their birthdays by commissioning caricatures. The company provides Roda with a photograph of the person, and he creates a 16-x-20 illustration using markers.

Among Roda's favorite projects are editorial pieces, where he is given a story by a book or magazine publisher and asked to visually interpret it in a humorous vein. He has completed brochure and magazine cover art for clients ranging from the National Safety Council to a jewelry retailers' organization. He also has done work for Field and Stream and Outdoor Life.

Another project he particularly enjoyed was a series of media guides he completed in the early 1990s for several professional sports teams, including the Baltimore Orioles, the New York Yankees, the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Los Angeles Lakers. The covers featured water-color caricatures of the players and coaches.

Roda was even fortunate enough to combine work and a hobby on a recent project. A former Civil War re-enactor, he offered his services to work on the storyboard for the movie Gettysburg. His work was so good that he was contacted when plans were made to produce a prequel to the film, Gods and Generals, which opened earlier this year.

Roda is the only artist among five siblings, but both of his children inherited his artistic talent. At this point, it's too early to tell whether son Zack will decide to pursue it, but Kate, a UD sophomore, is off in another direction. Although she has not yet declared a major, she is interested in psychology, special education and journalism.