.
Drawing cartoons makes me laugh, sometimes out loud sometimes just
a little giggle, my wish is that they affect others
similarly. I call my eclectic collection Whippin Cartoons,
Whippin being a nickname I was branded with in junior high
school and even promoted to some extent.
Although It was not really a "strike fear in the heart of your enemy"
type name
it was the most innocuous of the long list of non de plumes hurled
at me on a sometimes daily basis. As a stick-thin,
perpetual "kick me"
sign taped to my back, bespectacled flute playing member of the marching band I
was the not so proud
recipient of a record number of unique nicknames.
Drawing and cartooning
started early in life and kicked into high gear coinciding with puberty. Typical of most pre-teen
boys I needed
a source of nudie pictures to feed my burgeoning curiosity, and waltzing into the corner drug store to buy
a gentleman's
magazine like Playboy, Esquire, or Gent was out of the question for a number of reasons,
not the least being
my Baptist church organist grandmothers. With pencil and paper I set about to reproduce the
sex kittens of the day, like;
Bridgett Bardot, Sophia Loren, and my favorite, Bond girl Ursula Andress. They were crude attempts
but they more or less
served their purpose. You might say I learned to draw out of necessity.
Later in
life I drew my cartoons on lined paper nestled in company logo clad leather portfolios while sitting restlessly
in excruciatingly
boring company meetings. This undetected practice enabled me to amuse myself, and on the upside
gain the reputation as a copious note taker. On rare occasion when asked to read my notes aloud, reciting
a few
meaningless sentences containing the buzz
words of the month consistently sufficed.
Influences like Mad Magazine icons, Dave Berg, Don Martin, and Harvey Kurtzman, have
always been a source of inspiration
and motivation, and Gary Larson's Far Side holds a special place in my psyche.
For me the act of creating little
cartoon worlds full of characters of my choice has always been a rewarding experience,
and the act of drawing something on a piece of paper that
makes me laugh just seems wonderfully self contained.
.
