Monday, December 14, 2009

Igloo Skyscrapers

Bizarro is brought to you today by Frosty's Santa Killing Spree.

I drew this cartoon because I liked the visual. As well as I can remember, I've never seen a congested, high-rise igloo city before and i was intrigued with the idea of creating one.

Some jokes lie entirely within the caption and so the drawing doesn't really matter. In fact, most cartoons these days are like that, which is why cartoonists with extremely limited drawing skills can still be successful. Since I can draw, however, my mind naturally thinks in visual terms and I often come up with jokes wherein the drawing is essential. Though I find ego to be unattractive, I have to admit that I get a secret glee from creating a cartoon that lesser-skilled draftsmen would not be able to tackle. Don't tell anyone.

14 comments:

Plan 9 said...

Any reason in particular that you decided NOT to offer that butcher-shop print on your Cafepress store?!?

That shit is comedy gold.

FUZZARELLY said...

I love secret glees.

KiltBear said...

OMGOMGOMG

I shuttered at the butcher shop picture, after about 10 seconds when I noticed what was in the case...

Dude, you are awesome!

Doug said...

Dan, I love Bizarro for many reasons. One of the major ones is that it's excellent art.

There's a lot of ugly art on the comics page of my daily newspaper. I don't know if the strips are funny or not. I don't read them because I can't stand to look at them.

So, thanks for the jokes, and the artwork!

Doug (in Canada)

Anonymous said...

Dan- What is happening... you've thrown down the gauntlet to Scott Adams??

Is this just an east coast / West Coast thing or do you have a grudge.

or did you slip and eat some meat over the weekend??? (VBG)

Now I have to read Dilbert every day to see the rebuttal !!!

cheers,

Tom O'Connell

Anonymous said...

YES! (Your meat market 'toon- it's the most practical answer to our overpopulation problem!) Anybody out there- got a recipe for a rump of congresscritter?

Anonymous said...

Hey Dan,

What do you think of Mr. Fish?

http://blogs.laweekly.com/fish/

I think he's got mad skillz.

The main quality you have that attracts me to your work is the surrealism, Bizarro stuff is 'out there' along with a manic quality that helps make it hee-larious. Bizarro is often driven by sugar-rush goodness or has a quiet nuttiness to it.

Dilbert tends to bore me, but Far Side is also quite good. They seem similar. Bizarro is easily my favorite of all. Though Peanuts was tops for a long time. Don't let it go to your head.

Iara said...

I love your visual puns, but I must admit one of my favorite webcomics today consists of the same panels repeated day after day: http://www.qwantz.com/index.php

Allan Koay said...

your secret is safe with me. but i expect the payment to be banked in by tomorrow.

Piraro said...

@Plan9...
I'll have it added immediately. Not sure why it isn't there.

@Doug said...
I feel that way about Family Guy and All American Dad, or whatever it is called. I can't get past the ugliness.

@Anonymous Tom O'Connell...
To his credit, Scott admits he can't draw. But he uses his lack of graphic skill to make the cartoon even funnier.

@I.Khider...
Mr. Fish is BRILLIANT. Love the writing, love the graphics.

@lara...
I like the concept of cartoons with the same pic each time and often enjoy them. I think David Lynch may have invented that concept with a thing called "The Angriest Dog in the World". I'm not a huge fan of the dinosaurs but I have lots of friends who are.

Anonymous said...

I was interested in your comment about cartoonists who don't draw well. Are there folks whose draftsmanship you admire, and is there anyone whose writing makes up for less-than-great drawing?

Piraro said...

@Anonymous said...
there are lots of artists whose work is good regardless of their limited drawing skills, I didn't mean to imply that. Scott Adams is a perfect example. I've never worked in an office so the humor doesn't ring "true" with me, but it is obviously funny and creative in spite of the limited art.
For my money, Get Fuzzy is the most consistently funny cartoon in newspapers today and his art is great, too. He doesn't draw anything outside of the apartment, but his expressions and body language are spot on.
I also like Monty by Jim Meddick and Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling.
Of course, there any number of online comics that are either drawn very well, written well, or both.

Nirav Patel said...

I love the art and wry commentary on life.

gever said...

I wonder if the line here could have been: "The city is no place to raise a kid. We're heading for the 'bergs."