Teacher Class Size

I often bust on bad cartoons by other cartoonists, and they’re usually from conversatives. But today, I’m gonna bust on mine a bit.

I don’t do a lot of back-to-school cartoons. They’re usually about the cost of school supplies, kids dreading it, or parents celebrating. Snore. when most cartoonists do these, they’re not trying to draw a good cartoon but trying to get reprints. But I decided to do one when I got this idea. I felt it might make for a good filler between all the political stuff, and I still made it political. But it’s kinda light.

I started this cartoon yesterday on an Amtrak train between Fredericksburg and the BWI (Baltimore Washington International) train station. As the train pulled into Washington, where the stop lasts between 30 minutes to an hour because it’s where they change engines, I got another idea, the one about Trump saying he’s better looking than Kamala Harris.

This cartoon was mostly drawn as well as the other one when I showed them to the nice young lady from Manhattan who asked if I could share my table in the cafe car with her.

At one point, the announcer said something about “quiet vestibles.” I asked the lady rhetorically, and this was the first time I had spoken to her since she sat down, “Did he say quiet vegetables?” She gave out a small laugh and said no, “He said vestibles.” And I said back, “Thank god, because I’ll kick an annoying carrot’s ass.” And she cracked up. Doing a George Costanza, when you quit while you’re ahead, I stopped talking. But she didn’t. She asked if I was an artist and after the conversation ensued for a few minutes and she didn’t come off as a moron or a Trumper (I know, redundant), plus, prejudice told me someone who lives on the Upper West Side probably has some brains, I showed her both cartoons and asked which she liked better. She liked this one.

But like I do often, I ignore the opinion I asked for and go the other way.

I started this cartoon with the idea it’ll be a good one before I dive into convention cartoons for the rest of the week. But I had a hard time getting into a groove this morning because I hit my head yesterday, so I came back to this as it was mostly completed. Also, I need to do it before it’s not timely anymore. Kids have been back in school for about a week, right? And, editors will like this while it probably won’t catch fire on social media.

Editors are a total different audience than social media. Readers on social media prefer strong cartoons for the most part, not just tough ones that are challenging, but also nice ones that make them say, “Awwwww.” Readers still talk to me about my cartoon with Betty White being greeted in Heaven by dogs. Actually, editors like those too.

I knew of a cartoonist who once drew a cartoon of Mike Pence giving Donald Trump a BJ and it got 10,000 shares and wasn’t published in any news outlets. Personally, I want to draw cartoons that can have a life online and in print. Blow job cartoons are too easy.

But here’s where I bust on my own work: This cartoon is kinda wrong. Yeah, it’s a cartoon so don’t take everything too literally, but I’ve had “That Guy” all week. You know That Guy. This week I had a That Guy tell me I drew the wrong god in my Trump/Egypt cartoon (I did not). I had a That Guy tell me yesterday that it’s not “mirror mirror on the wall” but “magic mirror on the wall.” I had several That Guys tell me it’s not “Captain Bonespurs” but “Cadet Bonespurs.” And there’s always a That Guy who says, “What you should have done in this cartoon is…” Cartoonists LOVE being told how they could have made the cartoon better (that’s sarcasm).

What a That Guy might tell me with this is that most teachers don’t have small crowd sizes as most classrooms are over populated. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it’s a cartoon. Don’t take everything too literally.

Now, I’ll hit some convention stuff.

Chicago notes from day one:

I sucked yesterday. I didn’t get you any coverage from the convention, the reason I came to Chicago. I’ve already seen a few Bye-Biden cartoons and I kinda feel cartoonists who didn’t even take the trouble to come to Chicago are doing a better job than I am of covering it. Actually, I haven’t covered it yet.

First off, I’m in a crappy motel in the South Side, but it’s close to a train station which I like.

The sink faucet is about to fall off. The bolt lock on the door doesn’t work. I read some reviews saying the showers were so nasty here, they refused to take one. My shower is very clean but it doesn’t work. The WiFi is spotty. And you have to make sure you pull the door closed. Mine didn’t catch last night and I discovered that after being out for over two hours. How did I luck out to leave my door slightly open in the South Side of Chicago and not have anything stolen, like my computer and iPad? I got lucky there. Maybe Bad Bad Leroy Brown took the night off.

But I wasn’t lucky earlier. I had a couple of hot dogs and they were delicious…and made me sick. I think it was a food allergy which I get from time to time. I usually break out and get blurry vision. Sometimes it’s light and sometimes it’s bad. The vision trouble is rare. But I had a bad outbreak yesterday right as I was returning to my hotel. Iwas so sick that I was was also dizzy, which has never happened, and tripped in my motel room and hit my head. I didn’t realize I had cut myself until I saw blood on my pillow later.

It felt like I was poisoned. I have a gash on my head but no headache.

I was feeling a lot better later and decided to head to the United Center to at least witness some protesting, but I couldn’t find the protesters. I heard them but by the time I got near the location, they were gone. I later heard it was a small gathering.

In Milwaukee at the Republican convention, I saw cops from all over the nation. So far at the Democratic convention, I’ve only seen Chicago cops, but I’ll try to get closer today.

There were a lot of convention people on the L ride back to my motel. A lot of them had the “We love/heart Joe” signs you may have seen on TV.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

Watch me draw with a voiceover:

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