One of my many hats at the Santa Barbara Independent was “resident cartoonist”. That’s not what they called me, but come Wednesday deadline, somebody would invariably ask me if I had any ideas for an illustration, and more often than not, I’d scribble something out. I had no professional equipment, just a pencil for sketching, crap-o copy paper for medium, and a series of Sharpies for inking. And all of one hour to do it. It’s surprising that the illustrations came out as good as they did.
Most of these illustrations accompanied the “Voices” section of the paper, where citizens would ramble on about politics. The opinions expressed in the illustrations were often not that of the writer!
THE THREE STAGES OF AMERICAN ELECTION YEAR THOUGHT
Back in the sunny days before they stole elections. Still holds up, though.
ASK YOUR DOCTOR
Drawn to illustrate a pro-medical marijuana editorial.
A DIFFERENT TOURNIQUET
For an editorial about the impending nurses’ strike (CNA is their union).
EASTER EGG ONE
A very Jim Woodring-style egg.
EASTER EGG THREE
Drawn for an Easter-themed Calendar pull-out.
IF GOD WAS A VEGETARIAN
Drawn for an editorial about, you guessed it, vegetarianism, but from a Christian point of view.
OLD GROWTH
If we had only known there were differences between Gore and Bush…Still, Gore was like watching paint dry.
CITIZEN LEVY
Bill Levy is one of Santa Barbara’s major developers, and arouses the wrath of many. Some would say he’s slightly megalomaniac. Every few months, there’d been an editorial about him. (He never did run for office, tho’).
THE MAIN EVENT
Drawn for the Calendar section’s front page, promoting some sort of ’70s/’80s disco. The text is a tribute to Chris Ware.
ORANGE COUNTY OR BUST
I drew this in a hurry after skimming an article on a developer wanting to raze a house. The owners later wrote in to insist they had nothing to do with Orange County! (OC shorthand for rampant development…)
REBATE PINATA
Drawn around the time that Bush was mostly known for his $300 tax break. I think I did well with the foreshortening, although I gave up by the time I got to the Republican elephant.
WTO SMACKDOWN
I took ages to get the bloody hand right. Remember the Bugs Bunny cartoon where he goes up against the wrestler? That’s this.
