Greetings! Thank you for being here.
This will be a place for people who want to hear from me in a more informal setting. It will be drawings and thoughts on a weekly, if irregular, basis. I have learned in the last ten years or so that I have loyal followers, and I am so grateful for them. What sets this column apart from other writing spaces is that this column, titled Seeing Things, will be about just that. I’ll share with you what I have seen and drawn in that week—be it a rejected New Yorker cartoon, a live drawing, an illustrated thought. Drawing connects us in our humanity, and it is about being present. The act of putting pen/pencil/stylus to paper has shown me so much over the years: It has taught me how to see and how to connect.
When I was in college, I used to draw animals—as well as cartoons— because I wanted to be a biological illustrator (it was plan B; being a cartoonist was plan A). What I felt when I drew the eyes of the animals is that I was trying to connect with their soul by drawing them (yes, idealistic young person). I can’t say I always do that when drawing people, but I do try to connect with my subject as I draw them, be it a person sitting on the subway, on the red carpet, operating a food stand in NYC, at a protest march, in a newsroom, skate boarding in LA. I love to watch people and see all their individuality as I draw them. Who are they, why are they doing that, how did they get there, who is their family? I make up stories in my mind about them as I draw them.
I want this space to be about projects I am working on. If you are interested, a peek inside the creative process in all its pain and glory. About the new book I am about to publish next February, and my thoughts about that. I can share cartoons from my weekly batch to The New Yorker, drawings that I loved but the magazine did not buy.
This space will be informal, conversational and weekly.
I want this space to be about those kind of thoughts, and a way for us all to connect and live life one day at a time. Live in the present and enjoy what we see.