An Illustrator Walks Into A Bard…

I’m not a big Shakespeare fan, but I like his plays the same way I like poetry. I may not understand it all, but I love the sound of the words. They stir the emotions, cast a spell.

Movies have famous lines (There’s no place like home, I coulda been a contender, Make my day), and so do Shakespeare’s plays. Here’s a semi-famous one from Macbeth being parodied by yours truly:

In the play, it’s Lady Macbeth talking. She’s goaded her husband into committing murder, and now she thinks she can see blood on her hands.

This got me thinking about how we all conjure up spots. A lot of them are things that keep us stuck in place. I decided to write a LinkedIn post on the subject, which you can read here. I used the illustration for the post header.

One of the most famous lines in Macbeth is spoken by one of the witches:

By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.

No, she wasn’t referring to an illustrator, she was talking about bad ol’ Macbeth himself, who by this time is a murderer many times over. I decided to place the line in a more humorous context:

According to an old superstition, if your thumbs itched, something unpleasant was about to happen.

I decided to use this idea as a stepping off point for another LinkedIn post. The premise: trust your gut feeling that something’s amiss with a client relationship, and
take steps to correct it.

At this point, of course, you’re asking yourself: Why’s he gone off on this Shakespeare kick?? There must be a story behind it.

There is. A case of one idea sparking another, which is always the case in illustration.

A local theater company is staging a parody of Macbeth, and they said: “Yea, forsooth! You’re a dear sweet chap, we’d like to give you an ad in our program.”

After researching famous lines in Macbeth, I saw where I could take two of them, and create a 2-panel cartoon. Here’s the B&W ad:

    *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *

Are you a fan of The Bard? Do you have a favorite Shakespeare play?

Ever felt a pricking in your thumbs? Maybe when you were playing with your pet porcupine?

Why are so many dogs named Spot??

Hope you’ll leave a comment.

If you enjoyed this post, please click the Like button below.

If you’d like to share this post with others, please click Tweet or Facebook or StumbleUpon 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.

If you’d like to buy prints or greeting cards, click on any of the large preview images in the sidebar below the Get Updates button.

Other Posts You Might Enjoy:

Hare Today, Hare Tomorrow: The Enduring Appeal Of Beatrix Potter

Calling All Caricature Lovers: Another Edition Of “Name That Idiot Celeb”

Posy Puzzler: What’s The Lone Ranger’s Favorite Flower?