April 18th, 2018

Ask A Cartoonist: Stress Test

by Tea

Did you pay your taxes on time? Either way, you’ll be glad to know it’s National Stress Awareness Day!

This week, I asked our cartoonists about what stresses them out– whether it’s comics-related or something off the drawing board!

Ron Ferdinand, Dennis the Menace:

Did someone say STRESS?

 

Bill Griffith, Zippy the Pinhead:

I’m subject to the usual stresses a daily strip cartoonists faces; a deadline that never goes away, my favorite art supply suddenly disappearing (what’s the deal with oily kneaded erasers?), juggling schedules so I can take off a few days a year, worry that newspapers will all big go belly-up soon.

 

But Zippy has the antidote for all of life’s pressures—just fall head first into a bowl of Campbell’s soup!

Alex Hallatt, Arctic Circle:

In my case, deadlines definitely stress me out and I find the solution in this comic helps for that!

Isabella Bannerman, Six Chix:

I think I am like a lot of people because I get stressed out around tax time. Here is the middle panel from one of my strips for Six Chix, and

here is the full joke that it came from:

Jim Borgman, Zits:

Cartooning is the absolutely perfect job for me… except for one thing. From time to time I’m asked to give a talk or be on a panel. Every public appearance turns precious hairs grayer. I’m afraid my dread is all too apparent on my face at this recent appearance at the Tucson Festival of Books with Alan Zweibel and Jerry Scott.

John Rose, Barney Google & Snuffy Smith:

It’s not anywhere near Thanksgiving now, but the stress of the holidays is felt by practically everyone, including the residents of Hootin’ Holler…both human and animal! As these “drop panels” from a Thanksgiving-themed Snuffy Smith Sunday comic strip I created a couple of years ago illustrate!