Photo by Carolyn Allenby

Photo by Carolyn Allenby

My ideas start with the eyes…

Next, my fingers itch to draw the angle of the brows, the position of the neck. My shoulders get involved. I hunch, I stretch. I start getting lines down on the page.

It’s a wild thing, to be human. We are a bristling ball of contradictions wrapped in muscles and skin. I like to draw the moments when the contradictions break the surface. I like to draw the things that are hard to put into words. When I can draw a thing, I can understand it. And I can share that understanding with someone else.

I draw cartoons for the New Yorker and other magazines. I teach. I give talks. I draw cartoons for the Red Cross and other organizations to help them clarify and share their thoughts. I’m based in New York City but I go for long hikes and bike rides that sometimes last for months and I draw what I find there.  I use drawing to better understand being human. 


But what do you do all day?

  • Draw Cartoons which I sell to the New Yorker, Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Alpinist, Barrons, Woman’s World and others.

  • Think and Teach and Talk about drawing

  • Draw for Organizations to help them think about and communicate their message

  • Drink a lot of coffee

  • Make a lot of to-do lists

  • Scratch things off the to-do lists

  • Crumple the to-do lists into little balls and throw them in the direction of the trash can