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- It Came From The Sketchbook
Hello! Today I’m starting a new segment, “It Came From The Sketchbook,” which absolutely needs a better name, but the basic idea is I’m gonna share cartoons from my sketchbook. Unlike the cartoons from my “Origin of a Cartoon” segments, these cartoons have never been fully rendered or submitted. They are the ideas that I rejected right after I doodled them.
There are various reasons I might not draw a cartoon. It might not make sense to me, or maybe it’s too weird, or too familiar. Sometimes it’s a good idea, but it’s not quite there yet. Sometimes I don’t even know why I nix it. Hell, sometimes I do think it’s OK, but when I show it around no one gets it. I’m one of those meek individuals that craves approval from others, so I have a hard time seeing value in one of my cartoons if others don’t. Can you help me with that? Just be my therapist for one sec?
For this segment, we’re going back to a sketchbook from late 2019, early 2020. Each cartoon will have a short reason for why I rejected it. But taste is subjective. My buddy (and super talented cartoonist) Brendan Loper once yelled at me for sharing some sketches on my Instagram, saying that “Some of these are really good, you should have submitted them, you big stupid jerk.” (The big stupid jerk part was added for effect.) What I’m saying is, you might like some of these. You might think that I’m a big stupid jerk for not drawing them up and submitting them. So if you do really like one, let me know! If you like one so much that you would consider buying a print of a polished version, I can draw it up and add it to my shop.
Please note: These are doodles from my sketchbook and probably have spelling errors. Please ignore them. I’m not going to go back into my sketchbook and fix them.
OK, on to the toons:
too weird!
Doesn’t make sense! (Although I do kind think this one is funny for some reason.)
not quite working
its a pun, which doesn’t really fly at The New Yorker, also feels familiar. I like the image though.
Not quite working. The idea is that Souffle is hard to bake, so therefore it would be hard to paint too.
just kinda meh.
too weird!
too weird!
doesn’t quite work for me.
Feels familiar
Feels familiar
Not sure it makes sense?
Ok that’s it! Let me know if you like any of them or if you want to know more about why I rejected them, or anything else. Also let me know if you like this segment! I have lots of sketchbooks to share.
One last thing:
This newsletter is a fun place to share my work, but it feels wrong not to address this frightening moment we’re living though. I share your anger, sadness and fear. Here are a few cartoonists that you can follow if you’re looking for a bit of catharsis:
The aforementioned Brendan Loper,
Thanks,
Ellis
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