January 26th, 2014

Reeling It In

by Wayno & Piraro

(To see any of these images larger, click them real good.)

Bizarro is brought to you today by Men of Action!

Lately I’ve been doing some pretty realistic images for my cartoons. I don’t know why I’ve always been a fan of realism, perhaps it is simply the challenge of fooling the eye. As a contrast, I’ve posted a cartoon of mine from 1998 below, when I was in a period in which I was deliberately stepping away from realism and into much more cartoony-looking images. At the time, I intended to stay in that mode indefinitely but I found that I gradually drifted back toward realism over time, almost without noticing. Obviously, different gags require different styles of drawings and I think the one about ice fishermen above benefits from the realism whereas the one below might seem awkward if it were realistic. Still, I’m interested in what you Jazz Pickles think of these two different styles.  Which do you guys generally prefer: my realistic images or my very cartoony ones?

I hate to be a nag, but if I want to keep doing cartoons for a living, I have to pad my income as newspapers go out of business, so PLEASE don’t forget to snag one of my limited-edition Bizarro Jazz Pickle T-shirts. They’ll be on sale for four more days only, then this design will be retired for good. I’m going to do an entire series of limited-edition designs, so you’ll want to collect them all and be the coolest person you know.