Better Living Through Cartoons
Monday, October 30, 2006
I have a folder marked Submissions. It's full of rejections. Did i label it correctly? The most recent one is from Highlights. Hoo, they were fast. They rejected me after only a week. Funny Times sometimes takes 3 months to reject me. Which is better? Anyway, the worst part about being rejected by Highlights is that the reason they gave is that my work is "too cartoony" - and this comment was printed on paper with a letterhead bearing the cartoons of two marionettes. Not even real marionettes! Cartoons of them! You know, the mascots for Highlights.
Oh well. :) I ain't givin' up.
Oh well. :) I ain't givin' up.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Halloween Bio Info. (come back tomorrow for Halloween cartoons!)
The Scar Chapter:
Most people notice the scar on my wrist pretty early on. It's big. Let me measure it. hold on...3" long, .25" wide. Not a suicide attempt, let me say. Also let me say this: if you plan on hitting a window, hit it fast and hard, and then STOP. and then slowly and carefully draw your (choose body part) back through the hole you made. The EMTs told me most people who hurt themselves on glass windows and doors don't get their injuries going through, but coming back, on the remaining shards of glass.
I have a 3/4" scar on my right finger, from when i was putting china plates into a stacker at a steak restaurant in Arlington, VA, where I was working (the token white on the all-latino restaurant staff). Did you ever cut yourself and have NO IDEA how it happened? It was like that. I don't know how the plate cut me, but it did. I got bonus tips that day from the kind servicemen customers.
There's a 2" round scar that looks like a sponge on the inside of my calf - Motorcycle exhaust. Kids, always wear GOOD trousers when you're biking. I got a scar, but you should see the pants I had on that day! Toast!
My other two-wheeler scar is from a scooter crash I had in Greece. I was coasting into a nice little fishing village and hit a puddle of gravel (god i hate gravel). I somehow managed to go over the handles and onto my forehead. It's not enough that god gave me a head shaped like a polished toaster. No, I also got a scar on the corner. Yes, i said corner. I'm the only person I know with corners on her head. The lesson you should take home is this: always carry a handkerchief when you travel. My mother supplies me with colored paisley hankies from Sam's store in Ann Arbor, MI. They are good for carrying change when you have no pocket (bathing suits), using as a hat to protect your toaster-shaped head from sunburn, as a washcloth, as a towel, as a shirt (it helps being underdeveloped), and finally, as a gift to someone you've just met. If there's not blood or sweat on it, that is. With the hankie tied around my head, walking into the sea with blood streaming down my face, surrounded by silent crowds of Greek villagers, I came as close as I ever would to looking like Rambo.
Ok where was i? There's no scars left on my toes, thank god, from the parasite I picked up in West Africa in 1991, so I won't tell you about that. Or from the wierd ring I got above my right hip, while I was in the Smokies in the haunted cabin (the only incident I can positively assert I did spend the entire night in a haunted place). So I won't tell you about that either.
Finally, we have the small white scar on the bottom of my finger, the address of the chip of hampster tooth (sorry, hampster, I didn't mean to startle you), and the lump in my upper lip from when I was meditatively chewing on one end of a pony-tail holder and tugging on the other end. The kind with colored plastic balls on each end? Yeah, i let go by accident. That's not why my tooth is chipped - that's another story. I have to go now.
And because you probably need a hug, here's one from me. ****
The Scar Chapter:
Most people notice the scar on my wrist pretty early on. It's big. Let me measure it. hold on...3" long, .25" wide. Not a suicide attempt, let me say. Also let me say this: if you plan on hitting a window, hit it fast and hard, and then STOP. and then slowly and carefully draw your (choose body part) back through the hole you made. The EMTs told me most people who hurt themselves on glass windows and doors don't get their injuries going through, but coming back, on the remaining shards of glass.
I have a 3/4" scar on my right finger, from when i was putting china plates into a stacker at a steak restaurant in Arlington, VA, where I was working (the token white on the all-latino restaurant staff). Did you ever cut yourself and have NO IDEA how it happened? It was like that. I don't know how the plate cut me, but it did. I got bonus tips that day from the kind servicemen customers.
There's a 2" round scar that looks like a sponge on the inside of my calf - Motorcycle exhaust. Kids, always wear GOOD trousers when you're biking. I got a scar, but you should see the pants I had on that day! Toast!
My other two-wheeler scar is from a scooter crash I had in Greece. I was coasting into a nice little fishing village and hit a puddle of gravel (god i hate gravel). I somehow managed to go over the handles and onto my forehead. It's not enough that god gave me a head shaped like a polished toaster. No, I also got a scar on the corner. Yes, i said corner. I'm the only person I know with corners on her head. The lesson you should take home is this: always carry a handkerchief when you travel. My mother supplies me with colored paisley hankies from Sam's store in Ann Arbor, MI. They are good for carrying change when you have no pocket (bathing suits), using as a hat to protect your toaster-shaped head from sunburn, as a washcloth, as a towel, as a shirt (it helps being underdeveloped), and finally, as a gift to someone you've just met. If there's not blood or sweat on it, that is. With the hankie tied around my head, walking into the sea with blood streaming down my face, surrounded by silent crowds of Greek villagers, I came as close as I ever would to looking like Rambo.
Ok where was i? There's no scars left on my toes, thank god, from the parasite I picked up in West Africa in 1991, so I won't tell you about that. Or from the wierd ring I got above my right hip, while I was in the Smokies in the haunted cabin (the only incident I can positively assert I did spend the entire night in a haunted place). So I won't tell you about that either.
Finally, we have the small white scar on the bottom of my finger, the address of the chip of hampster tooth (sorry, hampster, I didn't mean to startle you), and the lump in my upper lip from when I was meditatively chewing on one end of a pony-tail holder and tugging on the other end. The kind with colored plastic balls on each end? Yeah, i let go by accident. That's not why my tooth is chipped - that's another story. I have to go now.
And because you probably need a hug, here's one from me. ****
Sunday, October 22, 2006
I attended the Fall Folio Feast in Portland Maine on Saturday, October 21. Organised by Anna J. Boll and Leticia Plate for/with the NESCBWI. Links below to photos of Casey Gathy from Houghton Mifflin, a remarkable artist in her own right; Space Gallery, which kindly hosted the feast, and is currently running Taryn Simon's installation "The Innocents" - photos of wrongly convicted people; one-of-a-kind umbrellas done by artists for art buyers; the art-o-mat ($5 for real art!); and the feast itself - no other word works for this fabulous spread. Click the thumbnails, use the "back" button to come back here.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
The Gentoon Process
Cartoons start with the germ of an idea: the guy next to me on the train who keeps sneezing, coughing, picking his nose. The two women talking about their wee genius toddlers and all the classes and skills they have. Someone on the cellphone describing all the food served at a recent meeting.
I always carry a three-ring binder with paper in it. dozens of sheet protectors which hold "good paper, "Scrap paper," "ideas," and actual work in various stages of completion.
Grab the scrap paper and your pencil and QUICK! Write something down! Mine look like this at this stage.
i designed a blank panel sheet to draw my cartoons on. sigh, no, I don't have a wacom tablet. did you hear that santa?!! (shakes fist at north pole).
i print one of these up and draw right on it. The highly-recommended 10x15 bristol paper is too big for my scanner, so as long as i'm a cottage industry, i'll do it this way.
Cartoons start with the germ of an idea: the guy next to me on the train who keeps sneezing, coughing, picking his nose. The two women talking about their wee genius toddlers and all the classes and skills they have. Someone on the cellphone describing all the food served at a recent meeting.
I always carry a three-ring binder with paper in it. dozens of sheet protectors which hold "good paper, "Scrap paper," "ideas," and actual work in various stages of completion.
Grab the scrap paper and your pencil and QUICK! Write something down! Mine look like this at this stage.
i designed a blank panel sheet to draw my cartoons on. sigh, no, I don't have a wacom tablet. did you hear that santa?!! (shakes fist at north pole).
i print one of these up and draw right on it. The highly-recommended 10x15 bristol paper is too big for my scanner, so as long as i'm a cottage industry, i'll do it this way.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Change of Pace:
Ahem. You're probably wondering why I've asked you here today. Thank you for coming. For the last two years I've been putting at least one new cartoon a day up on the web. Due to an increase in my freelance illustration work (yay) I am no longer able to do a new cartoon for free every day (boo hoo) so there will be a change.
The cartoons will continue, but at a slower pace. However, there will be something new on this website every day! After all, it's "Daily Cartoons fromt the Heart of Bostonland" isn't it? I'll be publishing my works in progress, as people have often asked about my process. I hope you find it interesting, and your comments are always welcome.
Ahem. You're probably wondering why I've asked you here today. Thank you for coming. For the last two years I've been putting at least one new cartoon a day up on the web. Due to an increase in my freelance illustration work (yay) I am no longer able to do a new cartoon for free every day (boo hoo) so there will be a change.
The cartoons will continue, but at a slower pace. However, there will be something new on this website every day! After all, it's "Daily Cartoons fromt the Heart of Bostonland" isn't it? I'll be publishing my works in progress, as people have often asked about my process. I hope you find it interesting, and your comments are always welcome.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Thursday, October 05, 2006
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