I’ve been doing some work for The Rumpus, which features a diverse mix of essays, profiles, and interviews.
The illustration below was for an essay which referenced the recent Boston Marathon bombing, and reflected on the fact that while tragedy travels fast via social media, truth and understanding come slowly, if at all.
A close-up detail:
Photoshop users have access to lots of fancy fonts, but I actually drew the word “Why?” with a mouse, using a “smoke effect” Photoshop brush. I used the same brush for the
black smoke.
Here’s what it looked like originally. I decided it was a little too small, sharply etched,
and easy to see.
So I duplicated the layer, hid the original, and used Edit>Scale to enlarge the writing. Then I reduced the opacity of the layer to fade the writing and emphasize the point that it’s difficult to perceive the truth, the Why, behind the smoke and noise of a tragic news event. 
Here’s the same again, with the relevant portion of the Photoshop Layers Window:
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Do you rely on social media sites like Twitter for “news bulletins”?
Do you think the lines between fact, rumor, and opinion get more blurry every day?
Hope you’ll leave a comment.
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I did a post back in March that featured some old caricatures. I challenged readers to guess who they were, and said a prayer that people would actually recognize some of them… : )
The post was well received, and I’m happy to say there were some correct guesses. So it’s time for an encore. See if you can identify the following idiot celebrities.
Answers at end of post.
End of caricatures, scroll down for answers.
Answers:
1. Singer Bob Dylan, and talk show host and comedian, Jimmy Fallon.
2. Movie star Sandra Bullock, who had a big hit as an FBI agent working undercover at a beauty pageant in the film Miss Congeniality.
3. Yoko Ono and John Lennon, and the late North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011 and was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-un. Like his father, young Kim seems to enjoy playing “nuclear chicken” with South Korea and the West.
4. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen (L-R), core members of rock group Steely Dan. In the above drawing, they seem to have encountered a deaf ear.
5. American tennis professionals Andy Roddick, James Blake, and Robby Ginepri, circa 2004. Roddick, who once achieved a World No. 1 ranking, retired in 2012. Blake and Ginepri are still active. The caricatures were for an article which playfully cast the players as certain types: Roddick as a fashion plate; Blake as an intellectual; Ginepri as a hippie.
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Did anyone get Kim Jong-il? That one was tough, since his son, Kim Jong-un, the current ruler, sports the same distinctive haircut. OK, if you just said The North Korea Guy, you get half a point… : )
Did anyone notice the tennis ball globe? Did it make you feel kind of warm and, uh, fuzzy?
Hope you’ll leave a comment.
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Honest To Gosh Singing Caricatures
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I do a monthly cartoon illustration for Inside Counsel Magazine. They send me short summaries of four unusual lawsuits, I do a rough sketch for each, they pick the one they like best.
Here are the winners and also-rans for the past two months:
A woman sued Fed Ex after they mistakenly delivered a package containing marijuana to her home. She turned it over to police, but three men later came to her house looking for the package. She says Fed Ex endangered her family and violated her privacy by giving the men her name and address.
A couple rented their home to a man who didn’t tell them he planned to use it to film a raunchy reality show. They couple sued for damages to house and property, including a badly stained couch. 
A fashion designer sued Yoko Ono for allegedly stealing her idea for a fetish theme: clothing with illustrated handprints on the crotch and chest areas. 
Actor Jude Law sued a Canadian fireplace company for allegedly using his likeness to promote its products.
The rough sketch for the Fed Ex pot delivery case:
A Wal-mart employee sued the store and the Hershey Candy Company after eating a moldy candy bar on her break. She says the candy bar was nine months past its expiration date.
Singer Chubby Checker, known for his hit record The Twist, sued Hewlett-Packard over a smartphone app called The Chubby Checker. The app, which is no longer available, claimed to estimate the length of a man’s penis by his shoe size.
A pharmacist sued Rite Aid after the store fired him for refusing to give immunization injections, despite a letter from his doctor testifying to his extreme needle phobia. He says the store made no effort to accommodate his disability.
Figure skater Oksana Baiul sued NBC Universal and a skating promoter for allegedly using her name and likeness to promote a television skating special in which she declined to appear.
The promoter claims she had asked to be in the show and backed out, and that she was never featured in promotional materials for the show. 
The rough sketch for the moldy candy bar case:
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Does this post make you want to sue someone so you can join in the fun?
Was Stephen Sondheim thinking of lawsuits when he wrote Send In The Clowns?
Hope you’ll leave a comment.
If you enjoyed this post and would like to let me know, please click the Like button below.
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Time Sure Flies When You’re In A Time Machine
Here’s a panel from the first installment of a graphic novel I’m working on. I decided to incorporate a time machine to maximize possible storylines.
There’s a line from a Steve Goodman song that goes, “From the cradle to the crypt is
a mighty short trip.” Here we see that this is especially true if you’re in a time machine.
Here’s a detail showing my illustrated version of time-lapse photography.
My time machine looks suspiciously like a turkey, doesn’t it? Yes, it really gobbles up the years… : )
My machine is a affectionate parody of the time machine in the 1960 movie version
of H.G. Wells’ celebrated novel. Here we see Rod Taylor as George the Time Traveler contemplating the machine in his 1900s-era laboratory.
MGM art director Bill Ferrari designed the machine. It has a great Victorian look. I’ve always admired its elegance. The film’s a bit cheesy, but it won an Oscar for its inventive time-lapse photography, as seen in the clip below.
Are you a time travel fan? Ever read Wells’ book or seen the movie?
Does time seem to pass more quickly when you’re eating a turkey sandwich??
Hope you’ll leave a comment.
If you enjoyed this post and would like to let me know, click the Like button below.
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That Horse Coulda Been A Contender!
Every cartoonist knows there’s always one more desert island gag. This one was inspired by this year’s Kentucky Derby, won by Orb on a very wet and muddy track.
Part of the joke here keys off the fact that some horses run better than others on a wet track. Such a horse is referred to as a mudder.
More horse racing slang: in researching this post, I learned that this year’s Derby took place on a sloppy track, as opposed to a muddy track.
A muddy track is just wet. A sloppy track is so wet, it has standing water. Here’s a detail from the cartoon.
How muddy was it at this year’s Derby? Here’s a photo of winning horse and jockey as they crossed the finish line.
Orb was the favorite, but he had to come from far back to win. If you’d like to see the race, you can watch this 3-minute clip on YouTube.
Ever been to the Kentucky Derby?
Ever bet on a horse race and won some serious money?
Do you wear galoshes when you run in the mud??
Hope you’ll leave a comment.
If you enjoyed this post and would like to let me know, click the Like button below.
If you’d like to share this post with others, click Tweet or Facebook or one of the other Share buttons.
I also invite you to get updates. Just click the Get Updates button in the sidebar below the Portfolio Thumbnails, or click + Follow in the blog menu bar.
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I was inspired to draw this cartoon after reading a very funny anecdote about Pope John XXIII, best remembered today for calling the Second Vatican Council which ushered in a new era for the Roman Catholic Church.
He was elected pope in 1958 at age 77. The convening of all Roman Catholic cardinals to elect a new pope is known as a conclave.
Hard to believe today, but security was not a major issue back in 1958. Pope John liked to get out of the Vatican and meet people, and would often stroll the streets of Rome dressed as an ordinary prelate.
He was a huge man, and on one occasion he overheard a woman talking about how fat the pope was. He turned to her and said:
“But, Madame, you must know that the conclave is not exactly a beauty contest!”
He sounds like my kind of quipster.
He was once asked how many people worked at the Vatican. His reply: “About half.”
A little boy wrote asking advice. The boy said he wanted to be either a policeman or Pope, but couldn’t decide which. Pope John wrote back advising him to become a policeman, because “Anybody can be pope; the proof of this is that I have become one.”
Amazing, isn’t it, how humanizing a sense of humor can be.
More Pope John wit and wisdom here.
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Got any funny stories about popes, saints, or other religious leaders?
Do you think there will be free donuts in Heaven?
Hope you’ll leave a comment.
If you enjoyed this post and would like to let me know, click the Like button below.
If you’d like to share this post with others, click Tweet or Facebook or one of the other Share buttons.
I also invite you to get updates. Just click the Get Updates button in the sidebar below the Portfolio Thumbnails, or click + Follow in the blog menu bar.
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Have you downloaded any unusual apps yourself?
Should worms be allowed to have mobile phones?
Hope you’ll leave a comment.
If you enjoyed this post and would like to let me know, click the Like button below.
If you’d like to share this post with others, click Tweet or Facebook or one of the other Share buttons.
I also invite you to get updates. Just click the Get Updates button in the sidebar below the Portfolio Thumbnails, or click + Follow in the blog menu bar.
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