The art of the funny pages
Cartooning looks effortless, which is exactly the illusion a great cartoonist works to create. A single panel can land a joke, capture a personality, or make a sharp point about the world using only a few confident lines and a caption. From newspaper comic strips to political cartoons to the animated shows you grew up on, this is an art form built on economy, saying the most with the least.
National Cartoonists Day falls on May 5. The date is often traced to the debut of an early newspaper comic character in the 1890s, a moment many point to as the birth of the modern comic strip. The day honors the illustrators and writers who have been drawing us laughs and gut-punches ever since.
How to celebrate National Cartoonists Day
Spend time with the work. Dig up a collection of a classic comic strip and read it the way it was meant to be read, a few panels at a time. Political cartoons, gag panels, webcomics, and graphic humor all count, so follow whatever makes you laugh or think. If a cartoonist’s work has stuck with you for years, consider telling them so, since many work in relative obscurity and rarely hear it.
Then try your own hand. You do not need talent to draw a cartoon, only a willingness to be simple and silly. Sketch a version of your pet, your coworker, or yourself, and add a caption. The looser and quicker, the better.
Drawing your own cartoons
Cartooning rewards clarity over detail. Focus on getting a pose or an expression to read at a glance, exaggerate the one feature that matters most, and leave everything else out. A caricature is not about drawing every line on a face; it is about finding the two or three that make someone unmistakable.
A good cartoon says in one panel what an essay struggles to say in a page.
Inking is where cartoons come alive, and a brush pen gives you the lively, varying line that pencil alone cannot. Smooth Bristol paper takes ink cleanly without bleeding, and a how-to book can teach you the shortcuts professionals use for hands, faces, and expressions. Start with a daily doodle habit, one small cartoon a day, and you will improve faster than you expect. However you spend May 5, enjoy an art form whose whole purpose is to make the rest of us feel something in the time it takes to glance at a page.
How to celebrate
- 1Read the funny pages
Dig up a collection of a classic comic strip and read it a few panels at a time, the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Webcomics and political cartoons count too. Follow whatever makes you laugh or think.
- 2Draw your own cartoon
You do not need talent, only a willingness to be simple and silly. Sketch a version of your pet, a coworker, or yourself, and add a caption. The looser and quicker, the better.
- 3Thank a cartoonist
If a cartoonist's work has stuck with you for years, tell them so. Many work in relative obscurity and rarely hear it. A specific note about a strip you love can genuinely make someone's week.
- 4Try a caricature
Pick a friend or a famous face and exaggerate the one feature that defines them. Leave everything else loose and simple. Finding the two or three lines that make someone unmistakable is the whole game.
- 5Start a daily doodle
Commit to one small cartoon a day for a week. Keep them in a single notebook so you can watch yourself improve. Consistency teaches cartooning faster than any single lesson.