Caws Radio

everybody draw!

So yesterday I was in a drawing class for about 15 minutes. I was hoping I would be able to squeeze into the already full class, but when the instructor came in she gave some little spiel about how she can only teach 20 kids and the class had 23 and for some reason there was 26 in the room. So when she went to make some copies I snuck out.

I haven't taken a drawing class in a long time. Hell, I haven't taken a hands-on art class in a long time, not since high school. Frankly, drawing is the only art class I have interest in taking anymore, because drawing is awesome. Painting is highly overrated, and design has become a computer-dominated market. The best designer in the world today? Photoshop!

"Art classes bored me with such projects as making linoleum cuts or doing watercolors of flowers. What I really wanted to do was draw." -Charles Schulz

And Mr. Schulz was right. Art classes suck. Fortunately for him, in his day they offered illustration classes in high school, a concept which probably would have put me in my rightful place if it still existed today. But alas, in high school drawing classes they just have you do a bunch of still lifes. 'Draw this watering can, then draw the person next to you, then draw something else with dynamic shading. Maybe then you'll be ready to start painting, or better yet, take a shop class so you can get a real job someday.'

A lot of you people know I like to draw cartoons, but let me introduce you to some of my favorite cartoonists working today:

Bruce Eric Kaplan - He draws cartoons for The New Yorker, and he's also a co-producer of the show Six Feet Under. Before that, he was a writer for Seinfeld. I like his cartoons because not only are they clever, but the art itself is interesting. He likes to have a lot of negative space. Plus, he still does cartoons by hand, which is great.

David Rees - To my understanding he contributes cartoons to Rolling Stone, but I know him because of his books and his website. When I discovered his book My New Fighting Technique is Unstoppable at the OSU bookstore I felt like telling everybody there to buy it. It does bother me that a lot of cartoonists these days just use computers, but Rees and a few others, which are also on this list, are really making great stuff. Oh yeah; this guy has a new book. Check it out.

Friend Bear! - I don't know the name of the guy, but he makes the best web-cartoons around. And the site is so addicting thanks to the random cartoon button.

Max Cannon - Red Meat is a great comic. That's all I have to say.

Then there are all my old favorites, like Schulz and Thurber and Watterson and Larson and Barsotti. Wait, Larson still makes cartoons, doesn't he? Anyway...

In a related story, I am going to submit some of my stuff to the OSU's newspaper The Barometer. We'll see if they get the joke.