Out Of Nowhere

Creativity sometimes emerges from deep within

We had the week off from submitting to The New Yorker. We never are told why, we are just told in an email that they aren’t accepting submissions ( “we” is the roughtly 40 or so regular cartoonists, although I am not privy to who actually gets these emails). In some ways, it is a nice break, you can work on other projects without the weekly batch looming over your head. I should point out that no one is telling us to submit, it’s not a “requirement.” It’s: if you want a chance to be published, you have to submit. But it’s a bit annoying because it’s a week without a potential sale, potential income. Welcome to the freelance life. I repeat to myself: “you chose this life and you are lucky to get to do what you like.” It’s VERY true.

Every week or so, I share cartoons with you all that I submitted and that got rejected. Sometimes a drawing will have been rejected several times, because you are welcome to resubmit drawings that you are particularly fond of.

This one I submitted maybe three times, in part because the cartoon editor said she liked it. I guess David Remnick didn’t like it….he’s the final say. I like doing kid drawings and kids in playgrounds.

This drawing is about taking chances, going to new heights in whatever, and wanting to be sure someone is there to rescue me if I do.

The cartoon below was in The New Yorker a number of years ago. It’s somewhat autobiographical, because growing up I had at least one parent who was pretty disfunctional and one who was always working. I felt loved, and was loved, but I also felt that I couldn’t act out in any way.

And finally, the one below is just a bit odd, I think they will never buy it, so I am happy to share with you! This cartoon speaks to me as someone who avoids conflict at every opportunity. See cartoon above. Of course, I don’t advocate alchohol as a method to avoid or soften conflict…sometimes it adds fuel to conflict, as we saw in the Depp/ Heard case.

But sometimes you draw a picture and the caption just comes out of nowhere.