First, some words for the traditionalists and hardcore cartoon fans: I can’t draw, I do everything in digital, and I know very little about technique, style or comic history. If you think that disqualifies me from carrying the title “cartoonist,” then I won’t argue. Sure, someday I’d like to be accepted somewhat in that vein, but I’m not counting on it. I had some ideas that were better expressed with images and words, and I thought I’d try my hand at this medium (yes, I just said that I “can’t draw,” but that’s more of a qualitative assessment, not a literal observation).

My process is pretty simple: I take images off the web, distort ‘em (through obvious Photoshop filters like Poster Edges and Film Grain), and then draw little extras like, say, a man purse (see image at right). I also draw the simple talking heads in the sub-cartoon, or whatever you call that black & white mini strip at the bottom (see, I told you I don’t know much about the craft, although I’m working on that). I’m really hoping that the concepts are good enough to balance out the mediocre-to-bad art.

Of course, stuck in your own creative vacuum, it’s easy to be delusional. I decided to do this strip as a novice cartoon fan, having only been exposed to a few artists (Daniel Clowes and Ivan Brunetti for the most part). I knew that I couldn’t compare to them, but I thought I might be able to carve out my own niche based on clever concepts. As I geared up to launch this site, I reached out to a friend, Michael Bennett, for suggestions on stuff I could check out. He’s really, really into comics. Five days later, a package from Amazon was dropped on my steps (cartoon fanatics apparently love it when mainstreamers show interest in their underworld). He sent me a number of books, including a collection by Nicholas Gurewitch. Ah. This had an interesting affect on me. I was amazed; Gurewitch could not only draw in every imaginable style, but his ideas were so damn good — and funny — that I was completely floored. It was exciting and depressing at the same time. This guy was light years ahead in every way, from the art to the concepts, but it was wonderful to experience his work. Inspiration yes, but reality check… YES.

I was only momentarily stunned, if I’d even call it that. It’s not a surprise that Gurewitch is way out of my league; I’ve only just begun, and frankly I don’t expect to ever hang with the truly gifted. No, it’s more about reminding myself to maintain some perspective; I’ll continue to read comic books and expand my knowledge and appreciation, but I’ll also draw a figurative line between myself and other artists. This is me, that is them. I’ll try not to think about how much better they are. Just do my thing, and see what happens. My “thing,” putting together bad cartoons, is refreshed every Monday. Please set an Outlook reminder or do that RSS thang.

I use a Wacom® Bamboo Fun tablet to badly draw parts of my cartoons. Image effects and what not are done in ImageReady on my simple, white MacBook with 1GB of memory. BC was developed using WordPress, a free publishing platform that just keeps getting better and better. My hosting site is 1and1.com, which is affordable and reliable. I did the graphic design and visual layout for this site. I did not code it. The original template, as it were, was developed by Grant Dobbe, who took off to Ghana, as part of the Peace Corps, to actually help the world. His replacement, Chris Jernigan, is a freelance photographer, web developer, and Lawd knows what else (I’m sure he can do it all).

Thanks for viewing this site, and please feel free to comment on the strips.

Russell Lawrence