“And are there any assets besides your wiseness?” For a cartoonist, maybe not. For Illustration Friday: hollow. I mean really, what else do you think about when you hear hollow:…
Tag: <span>illustration friday</span>
“Nice, but the one at Disneyland was better.” All rights ©D. Barstow 2009
The topic for Illustration Friday this week is “impossibility.”
Well, the suitcase is talking, right? And sometimes it seems an impossibility that I’m a real cartoonist. More later.
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Notice anything different? I’m redoing the colors & tweaking the design. This takes forever, as I never learned CSS properly – and actually, I don’t know who has memorized the mess, anyway. Does anyone know a css app that would be helpful with this, maybe have shortcuts? Anyway, comments on the changes are welcome.
The Drawing & idea
Once upon a time, there used to be many magazines and papers that used cartoons, and one that bought a lot was called something like Travel Weekly, or Travel & Conventions. (actually, I forget the name, but it was out of NJ.) You know it’s an older cartoon because no one carries suitcases like this anymore! It’s all soft poochy things, or ones that have wheels, that have soft flexible sides. That are getting smaller each year, to fit the airlines new regulations and extra charges.
Anyway, a good portion of travel time seems to be spent at the carousel, waiting for baggage to come down, and wondering if someone, anyone, will pick me up to take me to the next destination. Cause they have to wait for me, to wait for the bags, to wait for the handlers…
It’s just a quick sketch, that took longer than I would have liked, since I didn’t know how to draw the carousel.
Which brings us to Disneyland. When I first moved out here, I kept hearing about Knott’s Berry Farm, and the name alone was enough to turn me off.
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“Now I’m confused. Is that a black hole, or the maws of AIG?” Cartoon ?D. Barstow 2009
NOTE: My political cartoons for Slate have all been moved to The Opposite of Wrong, where I skewer all the cartoons!
Who doesn’t love a cartoon bashing AIG, the worst insurance company of all time? And there’s a dog in it for you, too.
I’m choosing this cartoon for the Illustration Friday assignment, Subtract. All artists know that to subtract means you better deal with the negative space, dude! (subtract it) This was for Slate, and I did it right before the big news broke about AIG asking for even more money, for those f-ing bonuses. On this day it was just “normal” money they wanted.
I thought AIG was an insurance company, but I? think it’s an insurance company FOR banks. But this whole idea that the world’s economy will collapse if AIG dies is a bunch of baloney. Insurance companies are always up to no good.
The Drawing
I had a somewhat modified version of this cartoon that I did years ago, when I did a whole bunch of astronomy cartoons. I knew a couple of cartoonists – Sidney Harris and Nick Downes – who were doing pretty well doing cartoons for science magazines. (And books: Whatever Happened to ‘Eureka’?: Cartoons on Science
“I’m thinking about putting my face on our new product line, like Paul Newman does…would that turn you on?” ?D.Barstow 2009
I heart Paul Newman! Not so much for his movies, although he was great – but for entering my own life by doing movies on location, where I found him in person.
I was dating the special effects guy on one film, and I remember he had to build a special sweat hut so Paul could sweat off all the beer he drank each day and still look trim for the film. (What, no Paul Newman beer? I think I saw a beer in his hand every time I saw him.)
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The subject this week for Illustration Friday is “intricate,” and I found these wolves to be just so very detailed and particular.
As it happens, this was also today’s cartoon I did for Slate, so kill 2 with one stone, and all that good stuff!
The Cartoon
This took a long time to draw! I had to study how wolves look different from dogs or coyotes, and how they stand, their fur, nose, etc. And put a bunch in, crowded. And figure out what accessories they could wear. I have to say, as I drew the little one with a potted plant on his head, I got tears in my eyes, he was so cute. Usually I crack myself up, but this went in the opposite direction… Can you tell I love the way these wolfies turned out?
Here in the blog it really needs an outline, with all that white in it, but in the space they give me in Slate and GoComics, it looks fine. (Gocomics has comments.)
The Story in the News
All the facts are in my OpEd Cartoons blog.
Right after Obama took office he cancelled Bush’s plans to rewrite the Endangered Species Act, affecting wolves, among other animals.
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“I cannot tell a lie. Forget the cherry pie.” © D. Barstow, 2009 All rights reserved
Hey, I’m back. Can you believe it? It’s that darn Illustration Friday… it keeps pulling me in, daring me to match the new topics they put up each week, rain or shine, holidays be damned. (They’re international and free-spirited over there.)
This week’s topic is celebrate. I have some things to celebrate this week, yes, I do!
First is Valentine’s Day, which was Saturday. I didn’t get any, so I guess I’m a little sad about that, but I still enjoyed the decorations and the free design ideas all the advertisers threw at us non-stop. I can remember the smell of white glue and the crinkly rough feel of the lace when I made them in school, too. (And how I admired other kids who seemed to have a much better grasp of design, with blue hearts, and layers, and other stuff I can’t remember.) Design is really unrecognized art.
Then on Monday, President’s Day. Well, not a very interesting holiday, and no mail, hate that. (Hate even more that the Post Office STOLE my mailbox last week. The neighborhood public one. It’s not like I live on a farm, or some rural area. This is Los Angeles. On a major corner, on a very busy 4 lane street. They are so f-ing lazy, I guess they just couldn’t be bothered stopping at the box to pick up the mail. Yes, I could hear my mail drop to the bottom, as there was so little in it, but so what!!)
But President’s Day was a perfect day to start my syndicated Editorial Cartoons! Yes, I’m branching out: I’m syndicated on GoComics. And this is even more surprising: I’ve gone to the dark side – editorial cartoons! Well, someone has to do it. I have about a dozen cartoons up there now -some favorites from the fall election and new ones as they come to me.
“Check your zipper, buddy.” ? D. Barstow, 2009, All Rights Reserved. …or are you just happy to see me? I did a lot of pet store cartoons when I started…
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