The blog of Richard Thompson, caricaturist, creator of "Cul de Sac," and winner of the 2011 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Art

I swiped a bit of dialog for today's Cul de Sac (above) from an illustration I dId for Why Things Are at least 14 years ago (below). The small girl in the illustration, who's something of a proto-Alice, is my then-expected older daughter Emma, who turned out to look only slightly like that. What I like best is the drawing Emma's done. I wish I could draw like that all the time. It's probably dangerous to think you're drawing with childlike innocence and immediacy; dangerous only in that you're just kidding yourself. Adult perspective is not so lightly overthrown. But maybe if you think of it as post-expressionism it's okay, and by you of course I mean me. Wouldn't it be fun to draw the whole strip in this style? And by fun I mean for me. Probably less so for you, or for the people who complain about stylistic changes in comic strips.

And, seriously, that's a little better than most four year olds draw, if I do say so myself.

7 comments:

Miguel said...

Brilliant! I love both versions. Congratulations and please continue with the good work. By the way, when is the new book supposed to come out?

Bhob said...

Still funny after all these years!

I can't decide which punchline I like better, but the crayon/carrot comparison does work better in color.

Bhob @ Potrzebie

Mike said...

Mozart was drawing better than that at four, but they assembled a focus group that said representational art was dead and that music was the next big thing.

spleenal said...

HA HA when I first read this I gave her an eastend london accent because
"a pony" is cockney rhyming slang for £25
Then I spotted you're not from England

Anonymous said...

I just love both versions! Excellent work, as always. As an elementary school teacher, I'm a sucker for any of these themes. I'm sure I've had one or two of these types in my classes before.

Anonymous said...

Hahahahaha

Unknown said...

I'm just discovering 'Cul de sac'--WHAT A HOOT!!!! It cracks me up even if I don't read it (I suspect that you're drawing some of family members--you really should have asked them first). :) I know part of me loves Cul de sac so much because I live on one and long for 1/10th of the entertainment in real life here on Ashley Circle. Two Raised-High-in-the-Air-Over-My-Head Thumbs-Up!