It may not be clear to people how important captions are to a cartoon—unless of course the idea is simply visual and no caption. For my work, I often write the caption repeatedly, change words, reorder words, listen to them to make sure they sound right, play with the structure. So I thought it might be fun to hear all the captions from this week’s
I laughed out loud for some and others seemed less funny without their cartoon. Thank you for your spirit of experimentation and calm confidence as an artist.
I enjoyed this exercise for two reasons. First, your delivery (intonation, stresses, rhythm et al,) gave the caption shape and meaning. Second, this encouraged me to imagine the drawings and, with some, I imagined the caption playing out in more ways than one. Suggestion: be bolder in your verbal interpretation. Thanks for this great post.
Totally. It's the first rule of radio & TV journalism, practicing aloud before recording; listening to what your audience will be hearing then tweaking.
Such an interesting experiment. So many captions have such random drawings sometimes they only work when they are together, but some stand alone and are funny in and of themselves. Are they just punchlines that need the joke to hit.
I had seen one of the cartoons you read the caption for and could see the drawing and compare how that felt with the ones I didn’t see. My brain sort of relaxed for that one - I would never have imagined that drawing. ( stick to your card tricks ).
Thanks for doing this - I always stress over captions and anything I started with never is what I end up with.
I thought it was fun and interesting. Since I haven’t yet opened this weeks6 issue , I got to imagine drawings to go with the words. Now I’m going to go look and compare..
I loved this too, like the others who commented. This is a very clever idea, and I think it would be interesting to read the captions that are maybe 10 years apart--how are they same and different? What themes might you see? Or not? I am intrigued by the idea of this being a form of poetry...or essay, perhaps. Thanks for this bit of whimsey this afternoon!
Hi Liza. I imagine the lines as a conversation between two people, or a small group of people, or animals. With laugh track, dramatic music, sound effects, etc. Fun to use the imagination while listening!
I saw the cartoons so I knew which ones you were seeing when you read the caption. Being an artist myself, I want to say that reading the just the captions worked for me but it didn't. I'm visual, not auditory. Do like the sound of your voice though
I had already read all the cartoons this morning and its fun to listen to them without the visuals! I remember them all and you reading them made many of them much funnier to me! Happiness on a sunny vermont porch!
I laughed out loud for some and others seemed less funny without their cartoon. Thank you for your spirit of experimentation and calm confidence as an artist.
I enjoyed this exercise for two reasons. First, your delivery (intonation, stresses, rhythm et al,) gave the caption shape and meaning. Second, this encouraged me to imagine the drawings and, with some, I imagined the caption playing out in more ways than one. Suggestion: be bolder in your verbal interpretation. Thanks for this great post.
Thanks for the feedback. Perhaps I should practice them before I read them!
Totally. It's the first rule of radio & TV journalism, practicing aloud before recording; listening to what your audience will be hearing then tweaking.
Such an interesting experiment. So many captions have such random drawings sometimes they only work when they are together, but some stand alone and are funny in and of themselves. Are they just punchlines that need the joke to hit.
I had seen one of the cartoons you read the caption for and could see the drawing and compare how that felt with the ones I didn’t see. My brain sort of relaxed for that one - I would never have imagined that drawing. ( stick to your card tricks ).
Thanks for doing this - I always stress over captions and anything I started with never is what I end up with.
What a great idea!
I thought it was fun and interesting. Since I haven’t yet opened this weeks6 issue , I got to imagine drawings to go with the words. Now I’m going to go look and compare..
I loved this too, like the others who commented. This is a very clever idea, and I think it would be interesting to read the captions that are maybe 10 years apart--how are they same and different? What themes might you see? Or not? I am intrigued by the idea of this being a form of poetry...or essay, perhaps. Thanks for this bit of whimsey this afternoon!
Yes, I might try to do older issues of The New Yorker, read the captions. How to choose? There are soo many! Thank yoU!
For several, I imagine an animal speaking (a cat, a dog, a bird). Maybe because Liza’s live drawings of animals are among my favorites.
Thank you, Liz. Animals are my favorite as well!
Hi Liza. I imagine the lines as a conversation between two people, or a small group of people, or animals. With laugh track, dramatic music, sound effects, etc. Fun to use the imagination while listening!
Ha, that's great! Add music to this, what a fun idea!
I saw the cartoons so I knew which ones you were seeing when you read the caption. Being an artist myself, I want to say that reading the just the captions worked for me but it didn't. I'm visual, not auditory. Do like the sound of your voice though
Thank you!
I had already read all the cartoons this morning and its fun to listen to them without the visuals! I remember them all and you reading them made many of them much funnier to me! Happiness on a sunny vermont porch!
Fantastic!
I particularly like the on making dip!
It doesn’t really need a visual, does it?
A super delight! Trying to picture the cartoon using the caption was a great exercise in imagination!