I don’t know why, but I started doodling consistently from age 8 onward. I think it was mostly out of restlessness, but I do remember my parents encouraging me to draw. I think they appreciated that it kept me focused and quiet. My father loved precision and saw drawing as an important skill to develop. My brother was a terrific artist when in high school. He was a master of pastels, lighting and subtle, realistic lines. In grade 7, my teacher George Frye encouraged me to try my hand at simple animation. This was a project I meant to start but never did.
When drawing, I was always excited to see what picture would come out. I loved to draw quickly and with bold strokes. I didn’t have the patience to take my time and draw more realistically.
I took to cartooning because it offered me great freedom. Freedom from the rules that determined what was acceptable and “real art.”
I loved to draw hockey goalie pads. Old hockey pads were magical bags of leather and creases! I also enjoyed drawing drum sets with umpteen cymbals all around them. And I was visually mesmerized by submarines and jet fighter planes.
When I turned 12, I discovered the humour of odd magazines like MAD and Cracked. I loved the the artists’ freedom to lampoon anyone and anything. I especially loved the realism of Mort Drucker’s caricatures. His implied lines were powerful —a kind of magic that would make a person come to life in front of you.
My brother and I loved the cartoons on TV as well. My brother loved the voice of Foghorn Leghorn and I liked the southern drawl of Yosemite Sam and the passionate voices of the Flinstones characters. Quietly, I learned to draw Goofy and Donald Duck, too.
My mom was a born satirist. She had the curious habit of nicknaming anyone she met with just the most perfect moniker! For us, it was always a source of humour to name a person in this way and, in the same instant, be reminded of some characteristic or trait that the person exhibited.
In addition to fostering the value of humour, my parents encouraged my brother and me to read the newspaper and watch the daily news on TV. It was, therefore, natural for me to try my hand at political cartoons. My favourite political cartoonist was Andy Donato. Again, it was intoxicating to see how much freedom he enjoyed to say exactly what he wanted.
While at school, I would draw posters to promote an event or a student election. My friends would keep these posters and some would hang them inside their lockers for the duration of the school year.
When I turned 19, I drew caricatures at the Kelowna Regatta and I also sold my drawings at Orchard Park. Several people encouraged me to pursue this as a career, but I could not see how to make a living at it.
When I was 23 I drew cartoons of local politicians for the Capital News for 6 months. It was a cartoon per week and I remember that they paid $5 per drawing. Later, in 2011, I would draw 2-3 political cartoons per week for Castanet.net. I did this for 5 consecutive years and published over 600 political cartoons. It was during this time that I learned that political cartoons are closely monitored. The idea that they could depict absolutely any message is largely an illusion. The only reason MAD and Cracked could get away with it is because they had “lawyered up.”*
Emotionally, I would be up and down regarding my art. I either seemed to feel like a god whose work was beyond reproach or as someone who was a “poser,” with no real artistic skill at all.
In 1978 I worked at the truck plant, Western Star. There, my boss Steve Niemayer was friends with a Disney artist and when he went to L.A. for a holiday, he agreed to take some of my drawings and show them to him. When my boss came back from his vacation, he told me that, upon looking at my work, the artist simply said that I needed to go to school and take formal training. I was devastated by this but eventually enrolled in Commercial Art at Capilano College (now a university). While at College, the art teachers thought that my art was not good enough to sell. I could tell that they had a low opinion of caricatures as a legitimate art form.
A couple years later I enrolled at UBC and became a high school English teacher. My cartoons took a back seat for 26 years, but occasionally I would use cartooning to illustrate a point on the chalk board. I would also draw my colleagues for the staff room wall.
What can I tell you? Upon reflection, I can see that drawing cartoons has been a major part of my life. I don’t know why, exactly, but I still get pleasure from capturing someone’s likeness or depicting a humourous vignette.
My journey has been a difficult one. For many years I was riddled with doubt about whether I should pursue art as a career. In 2013, I retired from teaching and now pursue my art full time.
Occasionally, I still struggle to find my voice. The negative aspect of teaching high school is that it largely silenced my natural instinct for humorous commentary. The PC that thrives in a school district is lethal for those with alternative points of view.
But now there is no looking back. I have “arrived!” Watch out, New York and L.A! I’m coming for you on the tidal wave that is social media!
Cue in the same chopper that landed with the pop super group ABBA, all those years ago…..
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*Artists for MAD Magazine kept a low profile precisely because there were backlashes for their caricatures. In the seventies, newspapers wanted to provoke commentary so political cartoonists had some freedom to be scathing, but all of this has been lost due to PC thinking and subsequent libel suits.