#10: a highlight, a headset, a hold out, and a slap
Hello you wild mixed-up kids,
This week’s email is packed! Packed with totally unrelated, but semi-relatable cartoons. You’ll find a case of highlighting gone too far, native animals breaking their own rules, wayward reheating instructions, and a bonus cartoon all about reality in all its forms, virtual and otherwise.
Coming up,
Chris
Like what you see? Consider following me on Instagram (@chrisshorten), or talking a friend into following me on Instagram.
Caption: "It's all important, so I highlighted everything."
I recently received something like this.
It was a stock information sheet, with lots of important information, but there was also a clear issue in trying to work out which information was the most important, meaning, everything was important and everything was highlighted. It was almost like looking at a piece of yellow paper.
Normally a cartoonist’s job is to embellish… but this one did it all on its own.
A little artist’s note: There is very little too this, but I wanted to flag something small around colour. For the most part, I prefer black and white, and I can achieve most of what I want through that. However, sometimes a cartoon feels like it needs colour to really get the point across. In this instance, with the use of the highlighters, this seemed like the perfect way to use an extra colour.
And for those who followed my previous project,
, you might notice that the highlight is the same yellow used prominently for that project’s branding and artwork.
Caption: "Hey, no slapping!”
Sometimes, simple is best.
The Kangaroo is native to Australia and is, in reality, a very strange animal. And, among its many aspects of strangeness, is that when it’s standing up, it looks a whole lot like it’s boxing. This cartoon asks the question: what if that boxing was happening in a ring and what if those chose to mix up their styles.
A little artist’s note: While the idea for this cartoon is simple, the drawing was less so. One challenge here was to ensure that it looked like a kangaroo, while still being in my own style. Like I said, Kangaroos are very strange animals. Another challenge was the shading, and I must have went through 10-12 different iterations before I found a look that felt authentic to the animal, but also felt like it had depth. In the end, each kangaroo has four different layers of shading, all working with, and sometimes against, each other.
Caption: "Cook it in the microwave for 6 minutes and leave it to stand for 2 minutes, or until you can't hold out any longer."
Who here has ever left something to stand? Anyone? Anyone?
A glance at many a reheatable packet will reveal this simple instruction: leave to stand for 2 minutes. But, if I’m honest, I don’t think I’ve ever lasted that long. Instead, my usual journey is to microwave something, stare at it for about 10 seconds, and then immediately sprung up to find the nearest fork. I’m sure there must be someone, somewhere, who has lasted the full 2 minutes, but they’re definitely not in my orbit.
A little artist’s note: I really like the mother-daughter angle here. The idea that both generations have very similar glasses and noses, but also very different body language. There’s also an attempt here to show the wisdom of years in their faces. Although perhaps the biggest challenge was ensuring that it was clear that what the mother was holding was food in a container. In previous drafts, I simply had the container lid without the food showing, before my partner pointed out that it really just looked like she was holding a shoe box.
Caption: "Oh God, is that reality? Give me the headset."
So if the tech media has read this right, Apple has just announced a brand-new virtual reality headset.
I’ll admit that virtual reality isn’t really my thing, but I’m always curious about new technology and anything backed by Apple tends to be something worth being curious about. However, I’m also conscious that regular reality has a whole lot of problems that maybe we need to solve first.
Still, the technology looks kind of cool.
A little artist’s note: So, every now and then I’ll think to myself: “This will be a nice quick one to draw.” But, history suggests that every time I think that, the cartoon becauses a monstrous task, and this cartoon is no exception. The cityscape with the monsters took 3 redraws, and the person stunned and speaking took 2 redraws. Even getting the angle of the table right took waaaaay more time than I expected. About the only thing that was quick and easy was the guy behind the counter. Shrug.
Thanks for reading MiddleSquiggle!
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