In retrospect, after looking at the original doodle in my sketchbook, I thought it would be prudent to maybe rein in the suggestive connotations and edit out the rubbing. Then when it appeared in print I realized it was the lecherous expression...
For those of our audience playing along at home, there's also a little tip of the hat to one of the biggest influences for me, in using a classic Don Martin caption.
Drawn by nostalgia: an homage to some of the notable pooches that have appeared in classic cartoons - an admittedly abridged selection to be sure, which shall in turn necessitate a second assemblage. Included here are: Daisy (Chic Young’s “Blondie”); Sandy (Harold Gray’s “Little Orphan Annie”); Snowy (Herge’s “Tintin”); Tige (Oucault’s “Buster Brown”); Farley (Lynn Johnson’s “FBOFW”); and last but most certainly not least, the greatest of all time, Snoopy (Charles Schulz’s Peanuts”).
One of these days I'm gonna release a special edition collection of just the mushing material, as there is quite the repository in the archives - starting in the late 90's with "Iditatoons" running in Mushing Magazine. Presumably one of these days I'll also sit down and learn how to draw what dog sleds and accompanying harnesses actually look like in reality. Naaahhh...
This particular panel initially grew from a concept I was playing with that involved the Egyptian pantheon as adapted for Alaska. I'll tease out some more of the material eventually as the idea has some promising potential - especially Thoth as a Sandhill crane.
Also along the way I edited the original caption so as to avoid any unnecessary points scored at the expense of handicapped individuals. Posted here as a lesson in how even older folks like myself raised on a media diet of unintentional cruelty can eventually evolve. Bonus points for sneaking in some mushing jargon.
A side-note in that I was exceptionally pleased at the digital coloring, and consequently impressed - once again - at the printing capabilities of the published version.
Earlier in the season I gave a talk for the Discover Alaska lecture series in coincidentally in conjunction with my "Colony" show down at Flossie & May's (which featured the centerpole piece "The Lodge"). As of late I've noticed the numbers creeping up on the hosting organizations video channel: UAF Summer Sessions (direct link here to YouTube video) features many, many great presentations from across an incredible diversity of college + community treasures. "Nuggets of Whimsey" is currently listed aongside a perfectly paired lecture by Ken Tape, Professor of Ecology at UAF's Geophysical Institute, and the Arctic Beaver Observation Network, on using both the scientific + traditional indigenous insights to document how this keystone species is playing a significant role in understanding the changing climate and how it affects Alaska and other northern communities.
Most of my shorts garner tens of views (aside from the "How To Cartoon" gig from a decade ago + the timeless classic "Noosance Moosance") so this is some nice exposure - many thanks to all the hardworking staff behind the scenes that make such events possible!
A quick plug for this year's collection of Baked Alaska cartoons (see 2022 + 2023) now available in the annual Alaska Cannabist calendar... free shipping deal for preorders here!
While I personally find it revolting in taste (in all ways) it seems that I have equal number of friends who fanatically await their reason for the season and another group who look on in good-natured bemusement.
This year a new perspective opened up on the annual saccharine-saturated marketing campaign that is in no small part bankrolled by corporate capitalism. And no I won't link to any of it, just eye-roll into the next high holy days of consumerism. At least coming from a cartoonist you know up-front that it's a joke.
I probably struggled with the proper usage of "Alaskan" than I did over the public perception of such a panel. Well, at least I dd after swapping out my initial choice for a screen grab to put on the television. Obviously mine is the much better fit, but no way it would have ever worked for the mainstream reader demographic. The legacy of the original film still casts a shadow of controversy, as gullibility in conspiracy has reflowered given the care and feeding it gets from contemporary cultish nonsense.
Presumably it's an upsetting enough homage to some folks out there that even the cover of the movie will still be enough to provoke a negative reaction to the publishing of the piece. After all, this is the era of book bannings (if not outright burnings) leaking across the nation from cesspools of fascism like Florida & Texas like a piss-stain on the Constitution.
PS: Also wanna give yet another hat-tip to all the folks behind the scenes printing the News-Miner - the quality always gives that extra little "Oooo" to viewing it on the pages of the paper down at the corner store every Sunday morning.
This one most definitely qualifies for listing in the most-obscure reference section of the archives, unless you just-so-happen to be up on your Shakespearean lore. Specifically in this instance the chanted ingredients to the potion in Macbeth.
It's always a bonus when the comparatively rare cartoon comes along where both popular opinion and your own - usually jaded - perspective on a particular panel is the same. As in, I got a feeling that this would be a hit when just the promotional doodle was posted amidst good acclaim - exactly what the dopamine rush-and-reward cycle social media is founded upon. This was notable because it hadn't been all that much earlier that I had initially sketched out the concept, afterwards sitting back immeasurably pleased at the idea: "...this one'll be a hit." Note that that's decidedly never the case, and certainly no motivation behind creating these silly things. But nice enough to note it when it happens.
All of which is to say I really enjoyed this and I hope you do too. And of course a big hat-tip to the source material: the 1962 hit by Bobby "Boris" Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers.
It was humbling to realize how ignorant I was - a common enough occurrence - on how to render the activity accurately (see a recent example of this breakdown behind another cartoon here) not to mention being woefully outdated in my mental image of the props involved. So students got to see firsthand the evolution of an idea that encompassed using reference photos... and a bonus model.
One example was the antiquated assumption that contemporary curling still employed actual brooms, along with discovering the newfangled rocks that are used nowadays. As it turned out someone was actually a member of the university team, and so was able to assume the position for a quick sketch: gold star!
Hopefully this will inspire me to take up a new winter activity, one which by all accounts involves copious libations, similar to bowling. Now all I gotta do is get around to learning how to draw cars. And dogs. And people. Ahh nevermind... I'll just be a cartoonist.
