a lot has changed since 2002…
and i’m not just talking about gas prices…
thinking…
a few weeks back, i did a special commission for a good friend. the commission was for his father-in-law, who had a few setbacks health wise but retained his sense of humor and love of life. it was supposed to be a christmas present…unfortunately, he had a severe stroke on christmas eve… and passed away not long after that. he never got to see what i did. my friend posted the following on facebook yesterday:
talk about feeling good and bad at the same time. just goes to show how you never really know the type of impact your actions, or in this case the work i produce, will have.
it’s not like air…it smells different…
i know, i know…the human animal can live perfectly fine without certain things. and, if a human animal once had something that he/she eventually lost or gave away, he/she would live on just fine too.
i hate bowing to stereotypical things but i guess i have to in this case. cartoonists are cartoonists because. that’s the reason… just because. i like to specify myself as a cartoonist. cartoonists can be artists, but not all artists can/want to be cartoonists. we are of a certain ilk, a mindset, a point of view…willing to work stupid long amounts of time based on an idea jotted down on the back of a dunkin’ donuts receipt that was on the floor of their car. i can’t be the only one that has found inspiration at the absolute least convenient time. i’ve written ideas on the back of my hand, the front of my hand, my arm, my leg, my clothes, my socks… on grocery bags, on the wall… you go through all that… all those hours on a hunch, get to the point of completion and just stop… because you don’t like it. you put it away. and move on to another idea.
that’s what artists and cartoonists do. this mental ballet may seem ridiculous to civilians, but it’s how we live.
i could have lived without bob. but, if he wasn’t there what would be on the backs of those dunkin donut receipts? i don’t want to know.
the beard is real…
when i first told lauren that i may end the strip, her eyes welled up with tears.
“why are you crying?”
“because you’re not going to draw anymore.”
“i’ll still draw, just not bob…”
“no. ” except her “no” was way more emotional than a simple blog post could accurately represent. she then told me that if i don’t do bob anymore, that i should still do a strip… just with a different animal…maybe a chipmunk. a chipmunk that lived with us in the house… see where this is going?