Cartoons from when I wasn’t a cartoonist
I was digging around some files and I stumbled on something I thought you might like to see. But Xrays of my appendix probably are pretty gross so I have something else you might like to see: some cartoons I did before I ever thought about being a cartoonist.
Some day, I’ll use this spot to tell the long story of how I fell backwards into cartooning while in my 40s. But for now, you need to know I lived well into my fifth decade before ever thinking of being a cartoonist, or drawing even. But there was a brief time, a few years earlier, when I was reading a magazine and thought, “Hey, I can do that cartoon thing.” Sure. It looked soooo easy. A joke ... a couple of squiggly lines to cover my lack of drawing skills ... and boom, some magazine will send me money.
Of course, it’s much harder than that but what did I know. I plunged right in. And here are a couple of cartoons from that stray submission packet I sent out oh, about 20 years ago. Up top there is my favorite about Mrs. Van Gogh. Good joke, ey? Yeah, I think so. Horrible drawing. And even more, horrible layout.
Here’s another one. The caption below reads, “Honey, when are you going to fix it so I can close the cabinet?” Again, horrible execution. One of the things I see in unpolished cartoons people send me is a lack of graphic art skills as much as fine art skills. Lack of attention to lettering, framing, fonts, word balloons, thicknesses, shading and more just marks you as amateurish. I had all of those problems in spades.
I can’t tell you how long I worked on the one above. When you can’t draw, capturing an exact likeness, like the Mona Lisa, was near impossible. Oh, the painter is saying “I hope you understand I might not be able to fit you all in.”
Again, great joke badly done. Maybe I should draw these up again when now, after 4,000 drawing, I can cope like this a little more. Looking back, I see how naive and stupid I I was to try think I could just hop in and beat pros at their game. But at the same time, while you see the glimmers of what is now Loose Parts, you can also catch a whiff of the determination and sheer blind lunacy it takes to think you can become a cartoonist.
Truth is, after this episode, I just went on with my merry life. It was only later that I was blindly dragged into the syndicated cartoon world.
And that, my friends, is a tale for next time.
Till ten, stay Loose.
Dave
Blogged Arteries
Sunday, January 16, 2011
