Category: Cartooning

Preschool Debriefing

andertoons6 Comments

I mentioned a few days ago that I was going to draw some cartoons for my son’s preschool class. Well, I did it, and it went even better than I’d hoped.

I started by saying “you know how Mom or Dad go to work every day? They might go to an office, or a factory, or wherever… Well, you know what my job is? I stay home all day and draw funny pictures. I have the best job in the whole wide world.”

Then I asked them if they wanted me to draw a dog or a cat. “DOG!” they all yelled.

DoggieI drew two little dots to start the eyes and then an idea hit me…

“Is it a dog yet?” I asked. “NO!” they yelled.

Then the larger circle for the nose. “How about now? Is that a dog now?”

Again a raucous “NO!” Someone called out “That’s a nose!”

It went on like this for a good while until the dog was all done.

Then we did a cat, the Easter bunny, a fish and a shark.

With the shark I kept erasing parts of his face to make him do different things: look scary, smile, eat fish food, and go to sleep after his big meal. (A nearby turtle looked understandably relieved.)

The thing that honestly really surprised me was that I hadn’t really planned anything. I was told it’d be five minutes at the most, and twenty minutes of weirdly spontaneous inspiration later (teacher approved, I might add), I finally wrapped it up to a unison “thank you, Mr. Anderson!”

Henry just beamed the entire time.

At one point he was so excited he stood up in the middle of his indian-seat-styled classmates and started to take a step toward me, realized it, and then sat down again.

I tell you, there’s nothing more satisfying than living up to your children’s expectations.

(BTW, click the dog graphic and you can grab a copy of the coloring page I handed out. If anyone wants to color it and send it back I’ll post them all later.)

Gag Written

andertoons5 Comments

My blog a few days ago about gag writing seemed to really get people talking.

Neal Quigley noted it here and here, EffingComics notied it here, and a lot of good folks emailed, phoned and commented to me about it.

Honestly, I thought it was sort of an easy blog, but turns out it’s a subject not many people talk about.

Not to sound like an after-school TV special, but if you’d like to read more on this subject, check out The Cartoonist’s Muse. I’ve mentioned it here before, but it’s so good I’m gonna keep mentioning it until everyone gets a copy.

Anyway, glad everyone liked that post so much.

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Writing Gags

andertoons7 Comments

OK, I’ve been pretty off topic lately, so it’s time to rein it in again and get back to cartoon talk.

I didn’t feel like drawing this afternoon, so I decided to write gags instead.

Having recently watched Tom’s coloring vid, I wish I could stick a recorder or camera in my head to show you what happens, but until that’s possible…

I scrawled some notes out, and although observing the process affects the outcome, it’s pretty close to what goes on. Enjoy!

Scanning Chicago Tribune business section from a few days ago.

Pretty boring. No good catchphrases yet.

Read “Chasing dreams” in headline.

Man in bar to another – “I was all set to chase my dreams, but the damn thing is so fast.”

Lame. “Chasing dreams” is weak and not often used. Move on…

More reading. Nothing. Move to another business section.

Scan… Read… “…no frills approach…” Ooh! I can do something with that.

Frilled lizard at conference table of lizards unhappy with no frills approach.

Weak. Reminds me of that Ren & Stimpy with the frilled Ren. That was funny.

All frills. Nothing but frills. Frill heavy.

Man at in meeting looking at Powerpoint with group – “I see your point, but I’d still prefer the all frills approach.”

Nice. Kinda low-hanging gag, but it’ll do, and better than most low hangers. (Note – hat tip to Mike Lynch for the “low hanging joke” nomenclature.)

More reading… Nothing… Nothing…

“On again, off again…”

Light switch boyfriend. Girl comments about relationship.

Need something that something goes up and down on.

Back to the light switch. Will that work? Kinda weak. Did I do something like this already?

(Look on my website for “dimmer.”)

There it is. Kinda weak even there. Scrap it.

Relationships. Dating. Problems. Mixed Signals.

Semaphore flags. A woman on the couch with semaphore flags, boyfriend complains about mixed signals.

Hmmm… Maybe. What’s the problem?

How would she give bad signals? What else could she use to screw it up?

Morse code. How do you show that? What’s that thing look like?

Other flags. (Look on Google images for “signals”.)

Ooh! There’s something. (Shuttered lights for morse code.) Will people know what that is? Too big for the scene?

Traffic light. No… Back to just the flags…

Come back to it later.

“…gold standard…”

Hold… bold… cold… mold… “I’m proud to say our bleu cheese is the mold standard…”

God… Thats so stupid…

Twitter. IM. Texting. Phone. Cell. Ummm…. Email.

“I tried to get ahold you on IM, text messaging, phone, cell phone, email…”

Where’s that going? What’s the gag?

Nothing there, move on.

Back to reading… New business section.

Scan scan scan… “…mating dance…”

Ummm… what’s that thing when companies go together? (My son comes in and talks to me.)

Damn, I had it a second ago… Merger. That’s it.

Meeting in conference room – “Before we continue, Anderson here will perform the merger dance.”

Man dancing in office. Person outside to another “Oh, that’s just Anderson trying to attract a merger.”

Not bad. Let it marinate in the idea box.

Two down. Last one’s always the hardest.

More scanning… Scanning… Another business section…

“…transparent business…” I’ve done one on this before. Translucent accounting I think.

Worker to boss – “Our accounting is now completely transparent, but now we can’t find it.”

“The good news is our accounting is totally transparent. The bad news is now no one can see it.”

“Damn it, I said make our accounting transparent, not invisible!”

OK, got a third.

More reading… Housing problems… Home Depot worried… Do-it-yourselfers…

Aisle in store with signs “Do it yourself” on one section, “Try it yourself then call a professional” over another.

Lame. Already did something like it a ways back. Moving on…

Daydream… Pick something random… Mushrooms… Fungi…

Woman at bar to giant mushroom – “Listen, it’s not that you’re not a fun guy, but you’re a fungi.”

Bad pun. Bad set-up. Still kinda like it. Let it marinate…

Wait – woman to mushroom at door – “When your ad said fungi, I just thought you’d misspelled ‘fun guy'”

Still no good… Still like the pun… Marinate…

This’ll be a long blog. Need to catch up on blogs tonight… Blogs… Dear diary…

Girl writing in diary – “Dear diary, have to cool it for a while – I think my blog is on to us.”

Nice. OK, that’s four pretty good ones.

And that’s it. It’s both faster and slower, but you get the idea.

Brevity Is…

andertoons3 Comments

It’s funny how cartoons change.

I keep a box next to my drafting table full of slips of paper with ideas.  I don’t draw anything on them, they’re just covered with gags.

A standard page usually has three or four hastily scratched jokes, and they marinate in the box for a while until I pick three at random to draw up.

What’s weird is how a gag I haven’t looked at in months all of a sudden becomes immediately clearer to me; the shortcomings instantaneously apparent, as is the probable solution.

Here’s an example:

writing cartoons

The original caption:

“Listen, I don’t wanna use the shredder.  Frankie don’t wanna use the shredder.  But you gotta tell me what I wanna know right now or they’re gonna get the shredder!”

I’d considered adding some sorta swear words for emphasis…

“…or they’re gonna get the Goddamn shredder!”

“…or they’re gonna get the freakin’ shredder!”

…but the whole thing just reeked of trying too hard.

The amended caption:

“Just tell me what I wanna know!”

Not bad, but still pretty weak.

The final caption:

writing cartoons 2

Ahhh…  There it is.

Not that shorter is always better; sometimes a wordy caption is perfect, but not this time.

Anyway, it’s weird how it works.  I knew immediately that the original caption sucked (although when I originally wrote it, it seemed perfect), and the amended caption came right away, but the one-word caption occurred as I was inking it, which is later than normal, but you learn to just accept gags when and how they happen.

That’s really the fun part for me; that “ah-HA!” moment.  The daydreaming and digging for gags.  It’s the hardest part, but the most rewarding.

Plus I get to draw a strip of paper people about to be shredded by mobsters.  That’s fun too.

Jay Kennedy Remembered

andertoons4 Comments

Received this email via the NCS this morning:

King Features has the sad duty to announce that Editor in Chief Jay Kennedy died yesterday in a drowning accident while on vacation in Costa Rica.

We do not have the full details yet, but wanted to be in immediate communication with the cartooning community. We will notify you when funeral arrangements have been completed.

Claudia Smith

Director of Advertising & Public Relations

King Features Syndicate

You’re gonna read a lot over the next few days about how Jay took the time to hand write a note on a standard rejection form letter. Or how he helped a cartoonist starting out with a New Breed buy. Or how he took the time to say hello and talk at an event, no matter who you were.

The best part is its all true.

Listen, I didn’t know Jay well; we were barely acquaintances. But the few times I bumped into him, he knew who I was, gave me a moment, and left me with a kind word.

He was a really nice guy who did a hell of a lot for a lot of cartoonists. A better legacy I can’t imagine.

My sympathies to his family, friends, and co-workers.

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