"Seal Oil"

Another one in a long line of cartoons that are firmly in the "gotta live there to get it" camp. And proudly so. There are too many pieces of art that are products of their time and not of any particular place. A connection to a place should be one of the grounding ingredients so as to spice things up... not the homogenization of mass communication + pop culture. Also edited out the hobbit architecture, as in like a snow-cave, which evokes the tired igloo trope.

Even took the step of editing the label "seal oil" on the seal oil lamp as seen in the first penciled version. More of a signpost on the path of "getting it" which fell by the wayside, making it harder to understand (and conversely that much more of a reward when the lightbulb goes off). I mean, doesn't everybody know what a seal oil lamp (Qulliq) looks like? It's obvious, right? No but seriously this is also indicative of an upbringing that involved contact with anthropologists and the many Alaska Native friends and fellow artists over the years: when you see enough of an object in so many places and homes it is ubiquitous but still retains so much specific connection to a place that it becomes unto itself a visual symbol representing so much more. It is a connection and a symbol to a people and a place - an homage and hat-tip acknowledging where I live and work - summed up recently in this post about ice goggles.

Also add “Midnight Sun” and “Driverless Sled” (really, any mushing-related panel) to the list of panels in the most recent batch that contain hyper-localized elements. If it’s a self-imposed ceiling to my reach, so be it – that’s what makes the feature different and unique. That’s what makes it mine. This would be a prime example of a panel that targets my home base in Alaska/geographic demographic, and illustrates a connection with a people and a sense of place. This as opposed to catering to the lowest common denominator, which is how many cartoonists mistakenly market their work to appeal to a larger fan base. Sure, by default you’ll limit your prospective audience, but there’s also a reward in making material that “you have to live there/be from there to get it.” At some point you also have to be true to yourself as an artist and create work that you think is funny, and hope there’s enough other people who “get it.”