Egghead gags

[Leah-Admin]

Eggheads at Easter
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Eggheads out and about

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[cartunes-r-us]

nice work, Leah! Very timely!

[Leah-Admin]

Thanks Rab, they aren't very well drawn, but I wanted to get the gags out.

Will probably redo when less tired from all the car hunting, car insurance quote research and so on I've been doing. It's exhausting! Anyway should anyone be interested I bought a Ford Mondeo yr2001 Collect it on Monday!

[cartunes-r-us]

good luck with the car, Leah! Meanwhile:

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[Simon Lake]

Hahaha....very prolific as usual Rob. Leah, you are still coming on in leaps and bounds. The flash gits gag artwork is great and my only criticism of that is the pointed heads. A bit of shading under their feet and under the egg rack would give the composition more "teeth".
Re: your use of a filter on the egg box in the second gag and the way you fill carpets in other gags of yours I've noticed....I know when using an image editing program for the first time it's very tempting to try out these filters to get various effects, but they tend to give the overall picture less consistency and basically compromise the integrity of your design. It's much better to stick to basic flat colours. These filters have their time and place, but what you really want to be doing is to keep it simple. That is the cardinal rule. I hope you don't mind me pointing these things out, but I'm just sharing what I know from a wealth of experience but with not a lot of wealth, lol.

[Leah-Admin]

no Simon the critique is much appreciated, far better than just saying 'they're crap' lol

I redrew that flash git cartoon with the intention of rounding off the eggs too, so no idea why I haven't succeeded. Funny. They look more like teardrops.

re the shadows, I have software that adds shadows but that is the program that won't let me upload files without saying 'invalid'. I need to go back to that and try to figure out what I am doing wrong as there are lots of neat editing features with it.

Meanwhile here's a solution to pointed head syndrome!

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[Simon Lake]

Hahaha...quality! I also like the way you've thickened the lines in places to give perspective. It shows more confidence in your line and adds depth. This gag would certainly not look out of place on Carlton's shelves. I see you've also adopted a very recognizable signature, the way it follows the line like that. This could serve you well. I spent years effing about with getting my moniker right, until I eventually settled on a "hand- written- looking font" which I just copy and paste these days instead of wasting time. You are learning fast. Keep going!

[Leah-Admin]

I've always signed art work this way since a child, though then I used the line of the capital 'L' to strike through the other letters to form them. I thus haven't had to adapt it much for this type of art.

I am fortunate that it works.

[Leah-Admin]

Another egghead gag cartoon

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Ok, so this is cheating

I drew a cartoon of my dog Fred and this is Snowball my cat wanted to get them in on the act.

[cartunes-r-us]

Very funny, Leah; just keep 'em coming: they make us laugh, and that's all that matters.

[Simon Lake]

Snowball looks like he's about to find out if Fred had eggs for breakfast lol.

[Simon Lake]

Rob's right. You can have all the talent in the world and every means at your disposal, but if you can't make 'em laugh, then you won't get very far in cartooning. That is the primary objective. At the Academy, we were told to think of ourselves as being in the Entertainment Industry, which is what it is. If you want to make money from cartoons, they have to be funny. That's what will catch the attention of any editor, not how brilliantly something is drawn, or the detail. Of course we strive to deliver our best ideas in as professional a manner as possible, but our main objective is to lift people's spirits. You are doing a fine job, Leah!

[cartunes-r-us]

I think we should keep the 'eggs' gags going until Easter, folks.

Regarding humour in gags: some cartoonists are technically brilliant in most fields, but a lot of them lack true originality: they know how to put together a flash-looking, superficially impressive cartoon, but often it's drawing attention to it's own cleverness, which is not as funny as a laugh-out-loud, imaginitive drawing with a new slant on looking at life......Artists like DICKY HOWETT or even LARRY were not Rembrandts by any stretch of the imagination, but they delivered very effective ideas and visuals most of the time.

[Leah-Admin]

I agree with all the above which is why I enjoy cartooning and am throwing myself into it.

In person I laugh often at my own jokes, I dress for my own amusement and when I draw cartoons it is no different. My target audience is 'me' first and foremost. I don't know what Freud would make of that, but I do like to make myself my laugh.

If other people enjoy the humor and the art then that is a bonus. A major bonus!

Yes to more egg gags btw!

[Simon Lake]

Regarding humour in gags: some cartoonists are technically brilliant in most fields, but a lot of them lack true originality: they know how to put together a flash-looking, superficially impressive cartoon, but often it's drawing attention to it's own cleverness, which is not as funny as a laugh-out-loud, imaginitive drawing with a new slant on looking at life......Artists like DICKY HOWETT or even LARRY were not Rembrandts by any stretch of the imagination, but they delivered very effective ideas and visuals most of the time.

Exactly, and that's the way to become recognized for consistency. As long as your individual style remains the way you are comfortable with, people will relate to you and even emphasize with you to a certain extent. Mine is too tight and I wish I could loosen up a bit. I'd certainly be more productive. Artists like Matt churn out topical news- related gags in their sleep, without losing any of it worrying about how they draw, and they are rich.