Welcome to my blog.
I started this because I've been developing a small collection of cartoons based on my observations and experiences as a new parent, and on life in general. I would post on Facebook for friends to see, but I wanted to finally develop a web presence and a more 'official' forum.
I've been drawing ever since I could hold a crayon. As a kid, my favourite things to draw included Snow White and other girls in puffy dresses. I won a "Draw Your Parent at Work" contest at the age of six, where I depicted my dad with a head the size of a beach ball. Since then, I knew my calling. Just kidding. I think everyone who entered won that contest. Still, though.
I kept a 'cartoon journal' between the ages of 13 and 14 based on my family. There was me with my braces, mall bangs and adolescent insecurity; my ten-year-old brother with jungle shorts, a penchant for video games and way too much energy; and my feisty six-year-old sister who wouldn't hesitate to stand up to her older siblings by fetching the hand saw from the shed. I find cartoon journals are a great way to remember the feel of a time; the attitudes, trends and so on.
In high school, I contributed cartoons to the high school newspaper (somewhat cranky in tone, now that I look back, but those were the '90s for you) and for our high school yearbook.
After I finished my Education degree, I worked as a substitute teacher for three years in my hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia. I contributed an award-winning cartoon to the Nova Scotia Teachers' magazine, Aviso, on the craziness and occasional hilarity of being a supply teacher. It was called "Sink the Sub", named for the game where students try to get their 'sub' to crack.
I think I have to dig up some of this stuff to show you. It's gold. Especially the beach-ball head.
I've also designed many a pub crawl t-shirt in my time. It's very cool to see 100 people all together getting their groove on while wearing your design.
Finally, not to brag, but I was the resident cake artist at Dairy Queen during my university years as well. I was known as the one who could draw anything on a cake with that coloured gel. People would bring in stuffed toys, sneakers, and have me depict inside jokes that I didn't get (an orange, lips and a garden hose? Anyone??). I think I was being had, now that I think of it... anyway, getting to spend afternoons drawing on cakes made the polyester shirts and customer abuse all worthwhile. Sorta.
To this day, I continue to draw 'on the side'. I draw greeting cards and other 'inside joke' cartoons for friends and family. There was a brief time that I started buying my cards, thinking I had outgrown the whole cartooning thing... but I missed immortalizing good memories (and not-so-good ones) on paper and sharing it with others. Having fun with drawing is not something one ever needs to outgrow. And now that I have two sons to provide an endless supply of cartoon material and to be my audience, I have more reason than ever to continue!
