6 posts tagged “cartoonist”

Another lovely vid by Zee....

Yes we cartoonists share our holiday with Cinco De Mayo (hold the pickles)... Not a bad thing, really. Cartoonists and tequila go together, sorta (it depends on whether or not we're on a deadline!)...

Personally, I plan on hugging people. I've got my button... "Hug me, It's National Cartoonists Day!" I will hug and be hugged. Yes, I am out to educate... because, honestly, how many people KNOW it's NCD?.... (sounds like an affliction... "I have NCD, I go to meetings".... or something little kids have if they can't pay attention in school... ("Little Johnny has NCD... he can't stop drawing cartoons during math.") There's medication for that.

So all of you out there, help celebrate National Cartoonists Day by doing the following:

Draw a circle, take a shot....
add a face, take a shot...
draw in some hair, take a shot...
(you get the idea).

Happy National Cartoonists Day.
(I expect A LOT of email well-wishing, people).

April 27th, 2009

Have you been to gocomics.com? Then you have seen the future... comic strip animated shorts.

I am conflicted people. As a cartoonist, I love my flat cartoon medium... I use a brush pen and bristol board, still. And although I use newer technology... like photoshop and a wacom pad, I still consider my methods a bit old-school. Call me bananas, but I love pilfering through the printed matter of Calvin and Hobbes, Zits, and others.... and I rather enjoy reading the daily paper with it's funnies.... I know, call me old-fashioned and behind the times. Is it that our attendion spans are too weak to actually READ a cartoon strip? Will 2-D flat cartoons go by the wayside (like newsapers...) in favor of an animated listen-to-the-words-rather-than-read-them format? Will we soon be buying cd's with animated toon strips?

Okay, then there's the other side... our technology has reached the point where we are able to push the limits of our medium. Transforming a somewhat static image into one that breathes and has more depth is an exciting thing, right? Web comic viewing should be more fun... more engaging.

Rebuttal... but what of the viewers input? What have we left to the viewer? When I first heard Garfield speak (when first animated) I was disappointed. It wasn't at all what I heard in my own head. I was disappointed. Now, there are voices in Pooch Cafe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbKC0iHUlp8 (see for yourself) and Cul-de-sac. What do you think?

Do you suppose, that there is room for everybody? Do you think that the newspaper industry can live side by side with the internet... or underneath it? Do you think that Non-moving cartoon strips are able to live and thrive along with the animated comics? or will they falter?

Have I just had too much coffee this morning?
(What would Watterson do?)   

September 26, 2008

Life is funny.

I'd spent a whole day trying to write a particular situation I wished to occur to Ryan (Randie's best pal and often her coffee financier)... I labored over this, trying to find just the right way to create this somewhat unpleasant turn of events. But, for whatever reason, there was really no inspiration, no collaboration of ideas, no nothing. So I gave way to exploring a different storyline, if only temporarily, so I could revisit this situation when I could better formulate it... and suddenly the river waters were flowing again as if the clogging device that backed up the waterway of my brain suddenly became dislodged. It was almost as if Ryan refused my idea of something yucky happening to him, and therefore stuck out his tongue and declined to participate. I respect him for that.

Inanycase, I sprung forward with an entirely new character and a new voice for the strip (Squid Row). I don't know how involved she will become... if she will stay near the foreground or just be a sometimes-character, but I very much like her... and she shall be called "Enid"...

Endid_sketchbook

Enid is based on a lovely friend whom I met whilst wandering Carmel (CA). At the time SPILL had her own studio in the Barnyard Shopping Center. I was immediately overwhelmed by her brilliant use of color, her whimsically cartooney style and cheerful spirit. We became pals. Spill has since left Carmel, and now calls the hot sand of Arizona home, but she's a crazy "art machine" with a huge body of work... which is where I see Enid... But I am tempted to make Spill her own self in the strip... as she IS a cartoon character... with dreadlocks and "painted" overalls ... but alas, I will let the flotsam and jetsom take care of it all, and remain open to "the nudging".

By the way, visit Spill's website, you won't be sorry!      http://web.me.com/jillspillfressinier