Creepy, Sneaky, Spooky

Hi Toon Friends, 

Kendra here. I was gone for a long time but now I’m back.

I walked for 4.5 months and people just accepted it. Like, I stopped returning phone calls and texts and emails and didn’t make my bed or do dishes or ANYTHING other than walk and people just said ok. You can probably do that too. You don’t even need to walk, you can just tell people you’re going to and then peace out. Which maybe makes you wonder if I was actually walking at all, which brings me to our topic today…things aren’t always what they seem. 

We cartoonists are drawing spooky things all the time. We are being shifty and sneaky and changing realities. We are taking tables away from fish and giving them to people. Without meaning to, we are drawing monsters. We are making drafts that fade away like ghosts, but may come back to haunt us. We are drawing stuff that looks downright creepy, but then un-creepifying it. Because, like master magicians, we only show you what we want you to see. 

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Navied Mahdavian

Edison was a creep and did some pretty creepy things, like electrocuting an elephant publicly* (to falsely prove that Tesla’s AC power was dangerous) and manufacturing these talking dolls. But he wasn’t particularly creepy looking (he actually pulls off that bowtie pretty well), which you wouldn’t know by my first attempt at drawing him. A lesson in cartooning,  drawing someone with lots of detail (e.g. the wrinkles below his eyes) next to someone drawn more simply, makes them kinda creepy looking (the unnaturally big head and placement of that lightbulb *cough* penis *cough* doesn’t help). The final version is drawn more simply and thus: less creepy looking, but still a creep.  

*In Edison’s defense, the elephant, Topsy, kinda had it coming.

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Ellis Rosen

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As a digital artist I’m always taking elements from my drawings and putting them together to create others. Here I took pieces from two bad cartoons to create one bad cartoon, like some sort of failed Dr. Frankenstein. When I shout “It’s alive!” instead of the accompanying thunder, it's the gentle tap of my upstairs neighbors leaky air conditioner hitting my window sill. 

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Amy Kurzweil

There are many monstrous elements to this cartoon, from one of my very first batches. Besides the obvious haunt of child-bearing pressure, there’s the awkward angles of Jacob’s wrists, knees and ankles, the mangled, long nailed, hand-claw of his mother/God, and -- what really sets my bones shivering -- that wide-open gaping black mouth. But besides the aesthetic infelicities, this cartoon is not very funny because it’s just hammering a blatant ugly stereotype right on the head. In revision, I decided to more charitably embrace my inner Jewish Mother and I ended up with this much less monstrous version below. The mother of my partner (who is incidentally named Jacob) approves.

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Johnny Dinapoli

I drew this sideburns cartoon and thought it was pretty funny. Then the Knicks went on a winning streak, leading me to the second idea. I chopped off the sideburns, changed the caption, and pitched both. The New Yorker went with the Knicks version. I liked how it came out, but I kinda liked it more before the haircut. Which is exactly how I feel every time I get a haircut.

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Kendra Allenby

At first glance this drawing looks pretty good, but that’s what the demons want you to think. On closer inspection, her head should not be doing that and instead of drawing a woman casually commenting on something in a bag while she washes dishes, I have drawn a sneaky demon poltergeist. I could have redrawn her head and patched it in Photoshop, but who knows what these demons are capable of if I mess with their master plan. Also that sounded annoying and the gag wasn’t that good. I do wish I had their refrigerator though, it’s much bigger than mine.

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For Your Pleasure: Cartoon Extras

• Pre-order Murder Book, Hilary Campbell’s upcoming graphic memoir AND you’ll get Law & Order sticker. Out November 9th!

• Pre-order Send Help! a desert island cartoon collection by Ellis Rosen and Jon Adams

• Amy Kurzweil teaches cartoon classes on Patreon!

• Be sure to check out Shelby Lorman’s newsletter, Please Clap!

• The same goes for Sofia Warren’s advice newsletter, You’re Doing Great!

• See more cartoons from Ellis Rosen’s weekly Junk Drawer!

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