Saturday, August 20, 2011

The Right to Bear Pastries

Here's tomorrow's* buttery, flaky Bizarro cartoon, written by Yours Truly:
And, for comparison, the sketchbook version I submitted:
Mister Piraro used my text verbatim, but he really went wild with his gorgeous art for this Sunday panel. He took advantage of the extra real estate to add a lot of little "business," including the shop name on the window, which also appears in the shadow behind the proprietor.

I'm especially pleased with this one because of the dual meanings of the phrase "cooling-off period." It's a neat little play that provides an extra (flaky) layer to a fairly simple gag.

Clown figures have turned up before in my many collaborations with Dan:
There will be more to come. Clowns also appear in a lot of my paintings:
Good Clown/Bad Clown, 24" x 12" Acrylic on Masonite
Private Collection, Irwin, Pennsylvania




Coulrophobia (fear of clowns) is a fairly common condition, and people have asked me if I'm afraid of them, since they appear in much of my work. My answer is that I'm not afraid of them, I just don't like them. At least not the Western type usually seen in cartoons.

I do, however, like the clown characters in my paintings, which are modeled after Pulcinella, the masked jester of Italy's Commedia dell'Arte. I began painting this character in commissioned works for a client, and found him to be an appealing and accommodating subject, able to step into various roles. But rainbow-haired creeps with giant shoes and an underlying air of desperation are simply annoying.

*Since Sunday newspapers, particularly the supplements, are generally available on Saturday, we're considering the Sunday cartoons to be public the day before "official" publication.

10 comments:

  1. Best one ever, Wayno!

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  2. You should compliment Dan for that askew, miniature top hat.

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  3. So superb I think it's time we renamed you Bruce Wayno!

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  4. Wayno, I keep try'n'o get through to Dan at Bizarro but it's been while now, so here's the joke I was go'n'o give him!

    This guy's standing there about to plunge a syringe in his arm. Inside the syringe we can see a slip of paper with 'Jesus' written on it. At this point Christ appears and screeches, "Hey, don't be taking my name in vein!"

    Huh?

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  5. The hats are brilliant. Dan's clowns are much funnier than the ones in the thumbnail.

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  6. Do you use serifs in your sketches now, or was the text pasted on the scan in this case to make it easier to read?

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  7. Sam: They're hand-lettered in my sketchbook, but I almost always end up editing the text before I submit them. When I do that, it's quick and easy to add the new text in Photoshop.

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  8. Anonymous3:36 PM

    My favorite touch was the sign advertising the "semi-automatic seltzer bottles".

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  9. I love the sign about the semi-automatic seltzer bottles behind the cashier!

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  10. Anonymous1:37 AM

    Ustedes dos hacen una excelente mancuerna, caballeros!

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