It occurs to me that there’s a lot about cartooning that surprises me. So, here’s some of the things I’ve learned as I’ve grown in this business:

 

• I always start a drawing with the nose of a character. It’s the first line I put on paper 90% of the time. Why? I have no idea. It just feels right. I once posted the question of ‘what do you draw first?’ on a cartoonists forum. Know what? Most of them said the same thing. Weird huh?

 

• I don’t draw cars well. I don’t know why. I’m constantly surprised how bad I am at it. Maybe it’s because as a man I lack the car gene. You know, that thing where guys get all excited about cool cars and all. Goes over my head totally. I own a Prius. I can’t remember the last time I washed it. Oh, and I drive slow. I got pulled over by the cops once and I asked the officer if he got me on radar. “No,” he said, “We got you on time lapse photography.”

 

• Learning to draw cartoons and learning to play music have a lot of parallels. You have to build muscle memory. You have to problem solve. You have to do it every day. And at the end is something really cool.

 

• I don’t what my character is going to look like until I draw him/her/it. Oh, I have a rough idea if it’s going to be animal or human, man or woman, young or old. But how the head and hair and face and weight and all are going to go ... I just start moving the pen and am as surprised as you as to what comes out. It’s like the paper and the pencil are talking back to me as I do it. That’s weird. And that surprised me. Maybe if you do a recurring character it’s different.

 

• I’m a really bad eraser. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Yeah, I’m amazed at how hard it is to get all the pencil lines off a drawing before I scan it. But drawing paper tends to hold the lead really well and ... well ... this sounds really stupid. I should be able to erase better but I don’t; even when I concentrate on it. Every time I finish scanning my art I’m surprised at how many pencil lines you can still see. Look, close at the finished Loose Parts. I bet you can still find some strays.

 

• I didn’t realize how much my career writing and directing TV and radio commercials would help making comics. But a cartoon panel has scene blocking and dialog timing just like film and audio.  And the limited dimensions of a single panel comic space has a direct parallel to the limited time of making a commercial. Everything has to be efficient. Everything has to be in the right place. That surprised me.

 

• There’s a joy in feeling the tip of a pencil or marker moving across the paper. I think that’s the joy you see expressed when cartoonists doodle in a sketchbook. It’s very meditative. I just downloaded an ink pen app for my iphone and spent an entire train ride making doodles and erasing them one after another. It’s the cartoonists version of catch and release, I guess. But the feeling of drawing – the actual act of drawing – is very similar to the feeling of your hands moving over the piano, across the guitar strings or even shooting a basketball. It’s transportive. That surprised me.

 

• Just as there are hidden particles in quantum physics that can’t always be accounted for or explained, there’s a surprise force that comes out of a cartoon. A comic should be just the picture and the words. But somehow, when you combine the picture and words, the sum is greater than the total of the part. That’s a surprise force. Comic dark matter if you will.

 

• You do something every day and you never stop getting better. I would think that after 10 years, I would’ve plateaued. But I’m surprised at how I’m still learning. Makes me wonder how Sparky and some of the other giants were still improving right up to the end.

 

• I’m still surprised anyone listens to me. I’m surprised by every fan email I get. Thank you if you’ve been one of them.

 

Till next time ... stay Loose.

 

 

dave