Category: Other

Cartoons That Stay Crunchy in Milk

andertoons1 Comment

I ran across this blog about breakfast cereals and cartoons a week or so back and it’s a fun read.

Some of my favorite points…

The Trix Rabbit:

“…the Rabbit is the modern day retelling of the Greek tragic myth of Tantalus; the cereal is forever just out of reach. The kids are psychologically demented and knowingly evil…”

Cap’n Crunch:

“According to Quaker Oats, the Cap’n was once promoted to Admiral”

(I have to wonder – did they spell it “Adm’l”?)

Lucky the Leprechaun:

“Trivia: the current 5-pointed star was originally introduced as 6-pointed; read into it what you will.”

Check out the entire post here…

Little/Big People

andertoons

My son and I were over to my in-laws yesterday to take care of their cats while they’re vacationing. After scooping the litter box, the boy and I played with on old Fisher-Price Little People Village leftover from my wife’s childhood.

I gotta tell you, not only was it a blast from the past, but as I examined the little people (wooden, mind you, not the later plastic ones) I noticed that the simple dot and line faces painted on them seemed a lot like the style that I use on my cartoons today.  Sure there are differences, but it made me wonder how much stuff like this from my childhood influenced my artwork and writing today.

My mom had gotten me a joke book once (I think it was called The Big Book of Jokes or something) that I proceeded to annoy the family with for months.  I also used to study comedy albums and late night TV with an almost religious fervor.  I do have a love for terrible puns, and I wonder now how many of my jokes have a Cosby or Carson slant.

Of course I’ll never know for sure, but watching my son play with those old little people suddenly became fascinating on a whole different level.

So Where Is ITCS?

andertoons1 Comment

Inside the Cartoonist's Studio

It’s been a few weeks since there’s been a new Inside the Cartoonist’s Studio, and I’m sure some of you are wondering what happened to it.

Well, it was a lot of fun, and I got some really creative and funny responses, but after a while it began to feel a bit tired.

I really liked the original concept and I’m so thankful to everyone who participated, but I found it growing stale and decided to just let it run out after the last entry.

So, I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted, I know I did!

Thanks again to everyone who was kind enough to email over their answers! It was a hoot!

An Open Letter to the Media Regarding Cartoons and Cartoonists

andertoons

Dear Media,

I just finished reading another article on cartoons/cartoonists and I gotta tell you, I’m really tired of this stuff. Sure, it’s nice to see cartoonists get a little press, but it’s always the same old thing.

It seems if someone in the media is going to do something cartoon related it’s A) comic strips B) animation (especially gay overtones therein) or C) graphic novels. (OK, you get the occasional New Yorker thing, but even those have died down since their last media blitz to sell their latest book/cd offering.)

What no one ever talks about, however, are artists like myself – independent cartoonists that practice the craft full-time and ink out a living under the radar.

My particular genre is the venerable gag cartoon. My cartoons appear regularly in Harvard Business Review, Reader’s Digest, Good Housekeeping and other major publications. I also market my cartoons via my website to companies, presenters, ad agencies, smaller publications and the like.

(Hmm… Now that I look at it, I don’t seem that far under the radar after all.)

Come on you guys; give a piece on small independent cartoonists a chance. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised as how interesting we can be.

Sincerely,

Mark Anderson
Independent Cartoonist

What Does An Eraser Sound Like?

andertoons

“The question was floated at a comic jam not long ago by a cartoonist who’d been slipped a panel to complete. It showed an artist rubbing himself out. Sidestepping the picture’s metaphor, the cartoonist instead was racking himself for a sound effect to amplify the action. The other cartoonists sat at tables throughout the room, their noses burrowed in unfinished pages. ‘I know!’ someone at the back shouted…”

This article on conveying sounds in cartoons is a really interesting read. Check it out…