And what’s
the point of having a website if I can’t show off some of my own
work? I’ve never had a cartoon published for money (my own fault...
I’ve never submitted anything to a professional publisher), but
I have had a number of drawings appear on public display over
the years.
A very good
outlet for the amateur cartoonist is to join a club or organization
that has a newsletter. In the late 1980s, much to my astonishment,
I was accepted into Mensa, the international high-IQ society.
The benefits have been many. Aside from meeting a lot of wonderful
people (including my beautiful wife, Patty), the local newsletter
has seen fit to print several of my cartoons. You can view some
of my covers for Mphasis (pronounced emphasis, but
starting with an M for Mensa) here,
here, here,
and here.
One of my
Mphasis covers was a memorium to the late author Isaac
Asimov, former vice-president of International Mensa. Several
other newsletters like the drawing enough to print it on their
own covers, including Minnesota’s Mensagenda.
I’ve also
had some cartoons appear on the interior of the national Mensa
Bulletin, and in Mphasis.
(I have to confess, though... I was editor of Mphasis at
the time these appeared.)
When Greater
New York Mensa scheduled a convention, or Regional Gathering,
with the theme, A Foreign Affair, I was asked to come up
with a T-shirt
design for the occasion. With a calligraphic assist from my buddy,
Joe Liotta, this is what they used.
A couple
of friends of mine once asked me to design a logo for their Southern
Rock band, Haywire. Using India ink and black crayon on
textured watercolor paper, I produced this.
They liked it enough to ask me to paint in on a drumhead for them.
Not having any access to (or experience with) an airbrush, I experimented
with enamel sign paint. The band seemed pleased with the results.
A few years
ago, I took a class entitled Cartooning for Fun and Profit.
It was taught at Nassau Community College by Tom Gill, former
artist on the Lone Ranger comic book and comic strip. At
the end of the class, we put together a yearbook of gag panels
and spot drawings from each student. This
was my contribution.
A friend
of mine, David Porrello, had an idea for a cartoon panel and asked
me to draw it up. It's never been published before, but I enjoyed
the chance it gave me to exercise my caricature
skills.
This colored
pencil portrait of Albert
Einstein is something I worked up for an art show. It was
fun, though I can see now that my lettering needs some work.
