Here are the Otterloops at their county fair, wherever the county may be. It's mostly drawn directly from life, just all out of order and with the names changed. And, if more impetus be needed, these are from the early reprints in the CdS book, availble soon. Or stop by my house and I'll show you a copy, from a distance.
And my regards to all you fairground/street/party caricaturists. I tried that once at a charity and I still have nightmares about drawing people who were sitting five feet away.
Please excuse me for posting a serious comment, but what makes this strip work as a whole is evident in the county fair sequence -- you manage to really rip on what happens at county fairs without hiding your enjoyment of them, and you didn't have to tell us you lived near the fairgrounds -- it's obvious you've really been there. As a country boy who has done his time in the city, I'm a little tired of commentators whose notions of rural life come from Petticoat Junction and Deliverance.
ReplyDeleteTwo notes:
1. I've sat a booth at the fair and the first thing you learn is to bring your own lunch. A day or two of that fair food is fun; only the carnies can eat it for a whole week.
2. One year, we had a couple of kid actors appear at our booth, and I got to squire them around. They were straight out of the Big Apple and apparently unaware that milk isn't the only thing that comes out of a cow. Good thing they didn't see what those girls look like when they haven't been cleaned up for the judges!
Thanks, Mike. I've never worked a fair, though I've got a former carnie and several former FFAers in the family.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, it's most fun to make fun of things you love, or at least like a lot. I don't know why and I don't want to.
Is it just me, or is the fair sketch artist supposed to be Gene Weingarten??
ReplyDeleteNow now, WF, Gene never wears a hat like that one, that I'm aware of. Actually, in all those years of drawing him for his Post Mag column, I think I only drew him accurately once. It's harder than it looks.
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