2015 Highlights Gags

At the end of last year, I did a few gags for a new Highlights Magazine called Pullzemania.  The idea was pretty cool - each gag's punchline had to be in a speech balloon and they would be printed separately, as stickers.  So the reader has to look at a bunch of detached speech balloons and figure out which punchline goes with which gag.  I was proud in the first one that I snuck in a Metamorphosis reference...

It felt good to draw some gags again - like the good old days at Nickelodeon Magazine!  Too bad these were work for hire.  At least this magazine did not switch over to a spec work model, like the picture finds I was doing, so I may consider doing this kind of work again in the future.

Nickelodeon One-Pager and Phase 7 Funnies

Every time I sent in a batch of gags to Nickelodeon Magazine, I also sent in a pitch for a one-page comic.  The pacing for these comics behaves a little differently than a single-panel gag cartoon.  You have to sort of stretch out a joke over the whole page and then have a big payoff in the last panel.  If you want to see some great examples of what I'm talking about, check out the comics section on Dan Moynihan's site, which is full of great one-pagers that made it into the magazine.

I tried all kinds of weird things for my one-pagers; a page full of puns, a page with one panel for each letter of the alphabet (in sound effects),  and one-pagers with various characters I invented.  But none of them quite hit the mark.  I put all of these one-pager attempts, along with a bunch of my unaccepted gag ideas, into two issues of a minicomic that I made called "Phase 7 Funnies" which you can read about on my other blog.

Since I have finished posting all of my accepted gags on this blog, it seemed like a good time to put these minicomics online, so that all of you can compare the accepted gags to the rejected gags, as well as the level of detail in my pitches.  Anything that is not a gag in these collections is a one-pager that I pitched (most have been reformatted over several smaller pages).  You can read these minicomics in their entirety by following these links:  Phase 7 Funnies #1 / Phase 7 Funnies #2 

By the time I was sending in my last few pitches to Nickelodeon, I had almost given up hope on ever getting a one-page comic accepted.  I remember right before I sent off my penultimate batch of gags, there was one gag idea that I hadn't been able to condense down into one panel.  Something about a judge and how in court they are always taking recess, like kids do at school.  Then, instead of trying to condense it into a single panel, I decided to expand it into a one-pager.  In about five minutes, I dashed off a silly rhyming idea, using the recess idea as a framework.  And it worked!  As Chris Duffy put it in his email: "And now, brace yourself, Alec. YOU SOLD US A ONE PAGE COMIC! Somehow your hypno beams got to us and we're going for Judge Jasper."  Here's what the finished comic looked like:

Well, that's it!  That's everything I ever did for Nickelodeon Magazine.  I hope you have all enjoyed these gags.  I want to thank Chris Duffy and Dave Roman for being the coolest editors I have ever worked with.  Even just the fact that I am now able to post these gags and comics is a testament to how much they understood and respected independent artists like myself.  They offered fair contracts, good pay and plenty of laughs along the way!  I'll be lucky if I can find another venue for my gags someday that is HALF as cool.

NEXT WEEK: something entirely different!

Nickelodeon Gag #16

Okay!  Here it is, my last gag that was approved by Nickelodeon Magazine in 2008.  This one and a few of the previous gags were actually probably printed in 2009, which was the last year the magazine was in print.  As you know by now, I think Beavers are like the funniest animals on earth.  Have you seen the great IMAX documentary BEAVERS?  Highly recommended!

I actually have one more thing to post from my days at Nickelodeon, but it is not a gag!  So next week's post will wrap up all of this stuff and then we'll head off into different realms of illustration...  Until then, have a great rest of your week!

Nickelodeon Gag #15

Well, we are getting down to it.  This is my penultimate gag, that was published in Nickelodeon Magazine back in 2008.

This seemed like an appropriate gag for this week, because I am now officially on summer break from my teaching job at the Center for Cartoon Studies.  I've already got some new illustration stuff to post, after the gags are done, and I'm going to be working on some NEW stuff as well, which I'm really excited about.  I'll try to keep these weekly updates coming all summer long!

Nickelodeon Gag #14

Oh jeez, this is kind of embarrassing.  The next gag which I have to share with you, which was published in Nickelodeon Magazine way back in 2008, is a desert island gag, involving a tsunami.  Please take my word for it, this was a pretty funny idea three years ago when I came up with it.

NOW, Of course, we know that tsunamis are not funny AT ALL, and that they are absolutely, terrifyingly, horrifically destructive.  I thought that I should just skip this gag and not show it, but then John Martz had a blog post yesterday about a bunch of artists who are donating their art for an auction in which 100% of the money raised goes to AmeriCares to help with Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief.

So I decided to post this after all, to let you all know about the auction!  All the pieces are listed on eBay and there is some really great stuff in there.  If you like my illustrations and comics, I have no doubt you will find something that you will want to bid on.  Especially for such a good cause!  Some of the auctions are running out soon, so please head over and check it out.  I already placed my bid, and just in case I don't win, I donated some money to the AmeriCares link above as well.  Please think about doing the same!

Next week, I will have something slightly less embarrassing to post!  (I hope!)

Nickelodeon Gag #13

Well, you guessed it!  This week I have another gag from Nickelodeon Magazine.  This was one of four gags that was approved in my last successful pitch, which was in 2008.  It's a scene from a picnic, which is potentially topical, now that spring has finally sprung up here in Vermont!  I'm sure someone out there is having a picnic.

There are three more gags to go!  Then I will be changing things up a bit around here.

Nickelodeon Gag #12

Okay, we've made it all the way into my 2008 gags for Nickelodeon Magazine.  This was the only gag of twelve that I sent them, which was approved in January of 2008.  I guess I was getting rusty or something.  Anyway, I thought this one about a forbidden love was pretty funny, so I was glad that it made the cut:

I've only got one more batch of gags to share, and they should be wrapped up by early June.  Then I'll have some new work up here.  I'm hoping to jump back into the 100 watercolor challenge this summer!

Nickelodeon Gag #11

Aw man, I thought I was going to have enough time this week to do an extra-cool blog post, but alas, I'm still playing catch-up from my recent trips to New York and Portland, Orgeon.  Next week, I promise!

Instead, this week I have another beaver gag for you all!  This was the last 2007 gag of mine that was accepted and run in Nickelodeon Magazine.

It was pretty fun trying to get across the multiple paddle hits (similar to Neville Longbottom's legs in this illustration I did of him).  You can see me struggling with the no-frame idea here.  I tried ending the composition at the edge of the table, but somehow without the legs it didn't feel like ping pong.  Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, it seemed right to give the beaver a jersey with Oregon State University colors.  Go beavers!

Okay, next week we'll take a break from the gags and take a look at some other illustration stuff I have done recently!  Have a great weekend everyone.

Nickelodeon Gag #10

Alas, it'll have to be another short post this week.  Luckily, this gag pretty much explains itself!  It was the tenth gag of mine which was run in Nickelodeon Magazine, back in 2007.  You get the idea.

Okay, well, I'm heading out the door again, this time for the Stumptown Comics Festival in Portland, Oregon.  Please swing by and say hello if you live in that neck of the woods!

Nickelodeon Gag #9

Here is my ninth gag which was accepted by Nickelodeon Magazine in 2007.  You can see me still struggling with the new "no box" concept here, but even just having the UniCORN (and its lunch) break that bottom line creates more depth, don't you think?

I'm afraid it'll have to be a short post this week, I'm off to New York City tomorrow for the MoCCA Arts Festival.  I'll be at table H-10 all weekend long.  Swing by and say hello if you are in the area!

Nickelodeon Gag #8

In 2007, I graduated from Pratt Institute's AOS illustration program, with highest honors. I worked harder during those two years than I had ever worked at anything else in my life.  I learned so much about illustration and drawing and painting and ART.

After graduating, I decided to stay in New York for one additional year, to try and support myself as a freelance illustrator.  I wanted to see if I could put my newly honed skills to use!  Needless to say, that was one of the most stressful years of my life (thus far!).

I drew up a budget and discovered that I had to make $66 dollars a day to pay for my rent, food, student loans and all my other expenses (cell phone, MTA card, internet access, etc. etc. etc.)  And if I didn't make $66 dollars on a day, I had to make $132 the next day, or $198 the next day.  You get the idea.  After freaking out for a few weeks, I finally decided that the only way to survive was to blindly believe that I was INVINCIBLE.

There were no windows in my room in Bushwick, so it was easy to tape pieces of paper up all over one of my walls.  Each piece of paper was an idea category:  "Teaching" "Illustration" "Comics" etc.  I tried to think of any possible way I could use my illustration skills to make money.  (You can see a list of everything I did to make money that year in my lecture notes from Your Comics Will Love You Back).

Obviously, one of the first things I did during this time, was send in a new batch of gag ideas to Chris Duffy and Dave Roman, over at Nickelodeon Magazine.  Unbelievably, it had been eight months since I had last pitched them anything, a sure sign that things had gotten awfully busy during that home stretch at Pratt.

They approved three of the eleven gags I sent them, but this time, in addition to the written email response, I also received this hand-drawn piece of advice from Chris, or "Professor Science K. Duffy" as Dave referred to him in the email.

This was such a simple piece of advice, I almost felt ashamed that it had never occurred to me to leave the box off my gags.  I think because I spend most of my time drawing comics, I was approaching each "single panel gag" as just that: a single PANEL of comics.  But that's not how gag cartoons are drawn!  I mean look at ANY GAG.  They are ALL vignettes!  And always have been!

Once I had this pointed out to me, it was almost painful to look at my old gags.  Imagine how much more dynamic the Octo-goalie gag would have been, if those soccer balls had been bursting forward towards the reader, instead of being cut off by the unnecessary panel border.  Oh well!  There was no turning back, so I had to just press on and try out this new technique on my future gags.  Below is the final gag Chris referred to in his advice.

See how much BETTER that is?!  See how nicely it sits on the page?  With the sky blending into the paper tone?  See how the negative space heightens the gag?  There should be a telephone pole there!  But poor ol' Wally just couldn't resist.  This gag was also my first beaver gag, of which I ended up with many.  For some reason I think beavers are like the funniest animals around, so get ready of more gags in the same vein.

ANYWAY, that was my gag epiphany!  Thank you Chris Duffy.  And if any of you are ever drawing a gag cartoon, think outside the box!

National Geographic Kids Gags #4 & #5

This week I thought I'd post my last two gags that I drew for National Geographic Kids in 2007.

The first gag was published in the June 2008 issue, and plays off one of my favorite animal facts; that cheetahs can run like sixty miles an hour.  I remember reading about that once as a kid, and then whenever I was in the car with my parents, driving on the freeway, I would think, "a cheetah could pass us right now!"  But what if the cheetah was going too fast?

The second gag was printed in the May 2008 issue, and it's pretty straightforward.  Bats hanging upside down is funny, right?

I should apologize here for my very North-America-centric view of the world.  When I was in Australia in 2002, I remember seeing these maps of the world for sale in various shops that had all the continents printed "up-side-down" so that Australia was at the top and center of the map.  Really, with a spinning orb, floating in space, it's all pretty relative!  Have you heard of the Peter's Projection Map?

Next week I will FINALLY post the "gag epiphany" I was talking about a few weeks ago, and you will see a drastic change in my approach to gag making!

National Geographic Kids Gag #3

Okay, this week we finally pass into my 2007 gag work!  Here is another one that I drew for National Geographic Kids which was published in their June 2008 issue.

As you can see in the sketch below, I originally had a different caption for this gag, which the editors had me change (for the better, I think).  

I'm not crazy about the composition for either of these drawings, but what can I say?  I've learned a lot since 2007!  Next week we'll wrap up the National Geographic gags and then we can finally get back to the Gag Epiphany I was talking about a few weeks ago!

National Geographic Kids Gag #2

Okay, here is my second gag that I drew for National Geographic Kids back in 2006.  It was published two years later in the May 2008 issue.  My favorite part of this one is that the poodle teacher is wearing a poodle skirt!  I wonder how many kids picked up on that...

While I'm posting these gags I'm slowly but surely working on some other illustration projects AND original content for this blog, which I'll start posting some time this summer when I have a bit more time on my hands.  Right now I'm busy working on the next issue of Drop Target Zine, two issues of Phase 7 and I'm also teaching up a storm at The Center for Cartoon Studies.  Busy busy!

National Geographic Kids Gag #1

Whoops, the "gag epiphany" I spoke of last week will have to wait for a few more posts.  This week I (very carfefully!) reread my old gag contracts with National Geographic Kids, and it looks like the rights for those gags have also reverted back to me, so I'll be posting them here.  In keeping with a chronological presentation of my "gag career" (thus far!) I'll post a few more that I drew in 2006, before we move on to 2007.  I hope people are enjoying these gags!

Here was my first gag for National Geographic Kids, which wasn't actually published until June of 2008:

I often feel like this old spider, complaining to my students about the internet!  Originally that little spider had fangs, but they made me take them out, and for some reason I was to remove the "ball hands" from the grandpa, but it was okay to leave them on the kid spider.  National Geographic preferred to credit me in type on the published page, so my signature has been added here.

This was another great gag gig that I found out about through my friend Karen Sneider (who now does gags for the New Yorker!?!).  2006 was a pretty exciting time for me, getting gags printed in two major magazines.  I guess I got to enjoy those last couple years of the magazine heyday, before stuff started closing down.   Unless I'm mistaken, I think National Geographic Kids is still running though!

Nickelodeon Gag #7

This was the last of my 2006 gags, which were printed in Nickelodeon Magazine.  In my mind I always called it "Octagolie."

This one is a bit embarrassing for me to look at, because it's so obvious to me now how to make it a more exciting image...  but more about that NEXT week, when I'll talk about my big "gag epiphany" and we'll move on into my 2007 gags.

One small area of improvement in this gag, is that I finally reversed my signature out of a background area with pure color, instead of putting a white stroke around it, as I had previously done.  It's a small thing, but it makes the signature easier to read and a lot cleaner, graphically speaking.

The other big breakthrough for me on this gag was how to properly draw a soccer ball!  Before this drawing, I thought a soccer ball was a series of hexagons.  But after an hour of trying to make that work on the page, I finally looked at some reference photos and discovered that a soccer ball is actually a black PENTAGON, surrounded by white hexagons.  Who knew?!

Nickelodeon Gag #6

Here is the sixth one-panel gag of mine that was printed in Nickelodeon Magazine way back in 2006:

My inspiration for this gag was the Ying Yang symbol.   At first, I was trying really hard to balance everything out on opposite sides of the water line.  Here is the original sketch, which had a MINE in the bottom right corner, to balance out the sun.  Obviously, I was asked to take that out, so I replaced it with my signature.

Nickelodeon Gag #5

My sisters and I grew up in Seattle, Washington and when we were kids back in the 80s, we would often drive by the Rainer Veterinary Hospital when we went to pick our Dad up after work.  On the street by the building, they have TWO fire hydrants, one painted blue with a "HIS" sign on top, and the other painted pink, with a "HERS" sign.  They are still there!  I was able to grab a low-res photo of them using Google Street View:

This was always HILARIOUS to me when I was a kid, so I adapted the idea for a gag for Nickelodeon Magazine, back in 2006:

Nickelodeon Gag #4

This semester at the Center for Cartoon Studies, I am co-teaching Thesis Seminar II with the amazing Steve Bissette.  Each week, Steve brings in some sort of contract or legal paperwork from his long and distinguished freelance career, for the students to look over and learn from.  Last week we were talking about Submission Agreements.  Steve's advice was to never sign one of these documents, because it basically states that none of your ideas are original, and gives the publisher the ability to steal your ideas without compensating you (and he had some stories where just such a horrible thing had happened to friends of his).

Now, Nickelodeon Magazine was owned by Viacom, one of the largest TV corporations in the world.  And so, before anyone at the magazine could even LOOK at any of my gag ideas, I HAD to sign a submission agreement.  I knew however, that my editors Chris and Dave were good guys and that a TON of other cartoonists I respected and admired had worked for Nick Mag, so I wasn't worried about them stealing my ideas.  The way I interpreted the wording of the submission agreement, was that they have so many people submitting ideas, they might receive the same idea from multiple people, so you can't sue them if your idea appears from another person.  And that very thing happened to me more than once when I was drawing gags for Nickelodeon.  I'm sure it happened all the time, because gag ideas are often so simple.

As an example, here is a gag that I submitted to Nickelodeon on July 5th, 2006:

Then, on January 24th, 2007 Graham Annable posted this hilarious video on YouTube, which uses the exact same gag concept:

MY werewolf astronaut gag was "banked" (turned in to Nickelodeon, but saved for a later issue) so it did not see print until AFTER Graham's video hit the internet.  At first, I was very self-conscious, that people would think I stole his idea, but eventually I realized that this kind of thing happens a lot.

As another example, here was a gag idea that I submitted to Nickelodeon a few months before the werewolf gag, in 2006:

I was pretty surprised when this gag was not approved, because it seemed like a surefire winner.  It had a solid DOUBLE pun and a reference to Harry Potter which was at its all time highest popularity.  But a month after I submitted this idea, there was a two page spread in an issue of Nick Mag where there were all kinds of characters doing strange things, and the reader was supposed to figure out which movies they were referencing.  And there, in the corner, was a Hairy Potter!  

Each issue of Nick Mag was prepared many months in advance, so there's no way they could have taken my idea, it's just that someone else thought of the same joke!

Guide Magazine and Gag #3

Last summer at the Heroes Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina I met an incredibly talented illustrator named Brandon Reese.  A few weeks after the show, he dropped me a line to see if I'd like to do some illustration work for Guide Magazine, where he works as an art director.  I said "Yes!" and we got to work.  It was a real pleasure working with an art director who was also a working illustrator.  He made my job easy and didn't noodle with things or ask for a ton of changes.

Anyway, when I came home from Florida the other week, there were two copies of the magazine in my mail with my illustration on page one!  I drew this wintery image during the summer, when it was hot, so it seems VERY appropriate that it arrived in January (the low in Vermont today was 19 below zero!).  Below you can see the finished illustration and a small scan of the magazine spread, so you can see how it was used.

I really enjoyed working on this drawing.  It's not often that I get to just read a story and come up with an illustration to enhance it.  I would love to do more of this kind of work in the future.  Also, since I knew it would be printed in full color, it gave me a chance to try a new rendering method for snow, which was to overlay a sheet of dots (drawn with a sharpie and a lightbox) and just color them white with Photoshop.    It was MUCH faster than The Basewood Method, but I still think I probably spent about an hour moving around individual snowflakes, to avoid weird tangents.  That stuff is important!

Lastly, here is another gag that was originally published in Nickelodeon Magazine way back in 2006.  This was my third one, and as you can see here, it shows how much I love a good pun!