Cul de Sac for February 5, 2012

This is the last Sunday I drew before my hiatus. It's one of those strips that tickles me no end, which is kinda rare.What I most enjoy is a strip that spins in a circle then takes off in an unexpected direction and this one does that if nothing else. I hit a wall in writing it until the phrase "spray cheese" popped into my head then all the pieces fell into place (note to playwrights, novelists & New Yorker short story writers; when in a bind think "spray cheese"). Otherwise the only thing I struggled with was the expression on Alice's face. That took a stack of paper and half a bottle of ProWhite to achieve; you'll note the relative stiffness in Alice's face in the first panel after I'd tweaked it into lifelessness. By the third panel I had it down.

Alice, you'll remember, has tried to wink before.

Newt Gingrich Caricatures- Post 'Em If You Got 'Em

I've posted the Newt above before. I don't remember what the story was (probably a piece about his post-speakership life), but it was drawn for US News & World Report. As was the one below-

Which was pretty obviously for a story on Newt's departure from the Speakership of the House in 1998. I like the upper drawing better than the lower, though the flag background in the second looks good. My chances to post old drawings of Newt Gingrich are running out, so I'm grabbing them while I can. Like I've said, he's fun to draw, with that enormous, tetradodecahedral head and that teeny, obnoxious mouth. Sometimes I really miss drawing caricatures.

Holy Tango of Literature

 I tried to find this drawing of Robert Burns last week for Burns Day but I looked in all the wrong places. I drew it to illustrate a great book, the Holy Tango of Literature by the polymathical word-sleight-of-handist Francis Heaney. The trick that Francis played here is to take a well known writer and anagramize his or her name into a title from which he spins a parody. Thus Robert Burns becomes "Robber Runts," in which the great Scots poet is bedeviled by "Wee, sneaky, glowrin, vill'nous thiefies" in rhythms so Burnsian that it screams to be read aloud by Craig Ferguson.

My favorite is Heaney's remix of William Blake, titled "Likable Wilma," which I'll quote entire:

Wilma, Wilma, in thy blouse,

Red-haired prehistoric spouse,

What immortal animator,

Was thy slender waist's creator?


When the Rubble clan moved in,

Was Betty jealous of thy skin?

Thy noble nose, thy dimpled knee?

Did he who penciled Fred draw thee?


Wilma, Wilma, burning bright, ye

Cartoon Goddess Aphrodite, 

Was it Hanna or Barbera

Made thee hot as a caldera?

I'll post more as I find them. All literature (c) Francis Heaney

Something Unseasonal

This is from 2006, though I shortened it for a daily in 2008. It's just been freshly scanned for a project and I thought I might as well post it here. This is exactly how I handled the news that it was time to leave the beach, and I still do.

That Time Again

Again. Or this.

If you've been in Angouleme, France recently

© FIBD, Jorge Fidel Alvarez

... then you most likely were there for the now-wrapped-up 39th annual Festival International de la Bande Desinée. For three giddy days high-ranking cartoonists are borne on floats through Angouleme's medieval streets and the populace cheers, throws flowers, smothers them with kisses and makes them hold symposiums. From the photos I've seen, these are people with interesting faces and they can wear hats and scarves with great aplomb.

by Matthias Wivel, I thin

 Last year the formidable Art Spiegelman won the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême, an honor that brings with it all kinds of responsibilities, like putting together most of this year's show. So in 2012 he was honored for a lifetime of work in comics' inky vineyards with a career-spanning show of his original art; pages and pages of Maus, New Yorker covers, Garbage Pail Kids, Raw Magazine, etc. And, with the able help of Bill Kartalopoulos, Spiegelman curated a Private Museum of cartoons that inspired him or that tickles his fancy. In this show were gems like Justin Green's epochal Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary, works by Rodolphe Töpffer, Chris Ware, Walt Kelly, George Herriman, Bill Watterson, Daniel Clowes, Jack Davis, Lyonel Feininger, Ernie Bushmiller, Caran d'Ache, Patrick McDonnell, R. Sikoryak, Los Bros, Hernandez, and on and on. In fact, the list went on so far it reached me, and the cartoon below was slipped into the show.

It'll be there, mingling with the quality, till May 6 2012, in case you find yourself in Angouleme, France.

Fan Art Sunday

This blog has a long and noble tradition of posting art by fans of Cul de Sac, most of whom draw a whole lot better than the regular guy. One such is Austin Milne, who sent in this deft portrayal of Alice, Petey and Dad. He says he's drawn them all, "from Alice's imagination," which I like because it shows he's figured out the whole point if the strip. And when he's got a moment, I hope he'll explain it to me.

I'm kidding. Thank you very much, Austin! Continue to draw every day, splash around with watercolor and doodle in the margins. The last is probably the most important.

Team Cul de Sac Has A Cover

Just a few tweaks and some color and there 'tis.

Today's Cul de Sac from Two Days Ago, January 22 2012

My original plan was to have a week of Mom reading Lewis Carroll to Alice, with Alice responding in various annoying ways. Like here, where she's fixating on some pointless digression because that's what four-year-olds often do.

I don't remember why but the week got boiled down to a Sunday. It's an excuse to try drawing like the formidable John Tenniel, whose definitive Alice illustrations show Wonderland in careful, other-worldly detail and solidity. Which was a stupid thing to do, as I discovered after fussing with the counterfeit Tenniels and using up half a bottle of ProWhite on Alice alone. I meant to save the roughs for this and post them. They were nice and loose and got a semi-Tennielly effect in a few quick lines without any worrying but I must have chucked them.

Millions of illustrators have taken a shot at illustrating Carrol's Alice. His characters and situations exert a powerful visual fascination; you want to draw a croquet game with flamingo mallets just to see what it'd look like. For me, of all the other artists who've tried, only a two have brought something worthwhile to putting Wonderland on paper- Ralph Steadman and Deloss McGraw. But neither is likely to unseat Tenniel as Court Painter to the White Queen.