Wisdom

" No one's happiness but my own is in my power to achieve or destroy. "

AYN RAND

Wisdom

" Nobody succeeds in a big way
except by risking failure. "

WILLIAM FEATHER

New Yorker Covers You'll Never See

You'll never see it because it 's not real, it's make-believe, remember . . it's the funnies ! It's the funnies until someone dare print what I don't like. Like the Obama satirical cover on a recent issue of The New Yorker. How DARE Barry Blitt or a Ted Rall draw the cartoons they do !

Wisdom

" The man with average mentality,
but with control, with a definate goal,
and a clear conception of how it can be gained,
and above all, with the power of application
and labor, wins in the end. "

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT

New Yorker Covers You'll Never See

Yeh, You'll never see it, because it's satire . . it doesn't exist, it's not real and it wasn't meant to deceive anyone, it's a figment of my imagination, it's a put-on . . Forget the lawsuit . . Now that I got your attention, forget it ! Take a deep breath . . Did I cross Plato's Divided Line ?

Diffee in Ink ! ( Not Pencil )

In one of my travels to The Big Apple . . I found myself at the Union Square Barnes & Noble Bookaellers on the second Floor where one of The New Yorker Festival events was to take place . . The Mankoffer was giving a talk on the uniqueness ( is that a word ? ) of a New Yorker Cartoon.

Roz Chast gave a talk on HER particular material she does for The magazine. Also, Diffee was to speak later and I ran into him amongst the small mob . . I asked if he'd draw me a cartoon in my handy reliable sketch pad and he said yes . . I was kind of hoping he would've done it in PENCIL . . since all of his work I've seen in the magazine is rendered in pencil . . ( I thought, WOW! DIFFEE in INK ! I felt SPECIAL )
He seemed pre-occupied so we didn't chat . . he was probably thinking, who the hell is THIS guy ? I didn't get a chance to introduce myself and that was that.

Usually, most artists BEGIN their careers in pencil and then when the confidence builds they learn the skill of pen & ink with a pen point, brush . . but now most recently just skip directly from pencil to felt-tip pen . . ( except for Comic Books, thank God ).

Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and most of the masters went on to master the tools of the trade ( charcoal, water colors, oils, etc. ) THEN they'd go and return to the basics . . the PENCIL . . It's what was done. And nobody questioned it.

Re: The New Yorker's Robert Weber drawings . . the loose pencil cartoons show the mastery of the pencil after years of rendering his cartoons in ink, finished washes and charcoal . . THEN and only THEN, like the masters before him, he earned the right to draw in pencil . . It's only MY opinion, but what the hell do I know . .

It's like juggling ONE ball ( with 2 hands ), while your collegues are juggling 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 balls with only ONE arm and one hand !

All this is masterfully done whilst DIFFEE is being called ( by the New Yorker staff ) the most talented new find of America's crop of the NEW New Yorker cartoonists !

Yes, he makes it look easy . . It's not him, it's me.

Gary Baseman in Boca Raton

While at the NCS Bash in 2001 I also noted that Gary Baseman was speaking in one of the seminar rooms . .

He said that The Disney people had seen one of his children's books ( That famous blue dog ) and were interested in buying the blue dog and developing it in their own way. The deal was consummated and the rest is history. I love his contemorary and original style. You can glance at his dog and KNOW it's a BASEMAN DOG !

I asked for a drawing of the dog and he drew it for me and here it is . . .

Matt Groening in Boca Raton

While still at The NCS convention in Boca Raton in 2001 . . .

In one of the Seminar rooms Matt Groening was giving a talk on his Simpsons animated blockbuster show. Matt turned out to be a friendly informative guy who told a lot of interesting stories about the goings-on of the feature.

I told Matt that one of the most interesting character voices and my personal favorite was that Pakistani guy who works at the convenience store . . . I asked him if he was a real genuine Pakistani ( Since I'd had 4 of them working for me at one time, I thought I could tell ) But he said it was an Indian accent and the guy who does it is a young kid just out of High School. He does a fantastic job.

After his talk I passed my trusty sketch pad I always carry with me for situations just like this and begged for a " Bart Simpson " drawing. He said sure, and here it is.

Lt. Flap in Boca Raton with Mort walker

In 2001, While attending the National Cartoonists Society Bash in Florida, I noticed Mort Walker standing nearby with a drink in his hand and I extended my hand and asked if he'd be so kind as to draw me the Famous Lieutenant Flap of Beetle Bailey fame. He said sure and I handed over my trusty sketchbook I carry with me for times such as these . . I told him I loved the character . . He'd tackled the difficult subject of adding an African-American character to his popular strip with class and the Lieutenant went on to become one of the most fan favorites of the comic.

No room for error . .

Thjs is one of those things you'd LIKE to do . . but common sense
always tells you ' You'd better think about this one, boy. '

Wisdom

" Life is what happens when you're not watching television. "

JASON LOVE

Wisdom

" The unexamined life is not worth living. "

SOCRATES

Cartoon of the Day

Life

Life is a Near-Death experience. "

GEORGE CARLIN

Say no to drugs

" I don't do drugs, because I saw what it did to my friends. I'd get stoned, and they'd look really weird to me. "

WENDY LIEBMAN

We need good coalition partners . .

It would be nice if we had more and better coalition partners next time we decide to fight a war.

Enlightenment

" They say married men live longer . .
it just SEEMS longer. "

BOBBY SLAYTON

Wisdom

Many years ago when I purchased my first copy of The Prophet, Kilal Gibran's masterpiece,
I anxiously read it, looking for nuggets I could use in life. Someone whom I respected had told me if you buy a self-help book and you get just one idea out of it . . it was worth the price of the book. God, he was right. I found TWO nuggets . . Besides the one above, I remember the simple piece of advice somewhere buried in The Prophet: " Do not be a solver of riddles. "

I forgot what I paid for the book, but I think I got the best part of the deal.

Wisdom

" Wherever you go, go with all your heart. "

Confucius

National Law Journal Cartoon

This drawing appeared on page 23, 2008 of The National Law Journal.

Wisdom

All I know is you've gotta have a dream for a dream to come true.

Wisdom

" The ladder of success doesn't care who climbs it. "

FRANK TYGER