The Treehouse of Adulthood

Incidental Comics: The Early Years

Since I drew this in 2009, I’ve escaped the pond of youth and scaled the branches of The Treehouse of Adulthood. I moved my work as a cartoonist from the Useless Hobby Zone into the Cubicle of Employment. I’ve stood at the Child Receiving Area many times, drank lots of coffee and not as much beer, and been constantly interrupted in the Relaxation Hammock.

I’m still climbing into those high, thin branches where all the answers are locked. I’ve caught a few elusive hopes and dreams, but there’s still a whole flock of them up there, just out of reach.

College was the best 10 years of my life. Literally. But I emerged with a dental degree and an orthodontic certification. My time at the university was as a nice buffer from the real world, a time where I could build my artistic skills without needing to rely on them for financial support. I spent a lot of time doodling in lecture halls. Cartooning was a release from the constant crunch of studying for exams.

In the early years of creating Incidental Comics I got a doctorate in cartooning of sorts—all self-taught. Perhaps the best way to learn how to draw comics is to imitate the greats.

I started off drawing in Rapidograph pen on Bristol board, trying to mimic the black and white style of classic New Yorker cartoonists. I used gray Prismacolor markers for shading and colored my drawings in Photoshop.

But my Rapidographs clogged, and the fancy Bristol board made me self-conscious about ruining an expensive page with a stray line. Now I use quicker, cheaper materials, though it’s still the same basic process: ink and marker on paper plus digital color. I never became an old-fashioned cartoonist, but my style merges traditional pen and ink linework with modern coloring methods.

I’m still hoping to build this palace of comics; complete with Krazy Kat, American Elf, Life in Hell, and Quimby the Mouse murals. I’m not sure I need the tennis court, but you never know: there’s always room for a new Useless Hobby.

Cartooning has proved to be more useful and fulfilling than I ever anticipated.

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Throughout this summer I’ll be sharing work from 15 years of Incidental Comics. Still to come: comics on creativity, attention, and book-hoarding.

You can purchase my graphic novels and picture books online wherever books are sold. Signed copies are available from Watermark Books and Cafe. Thanks for reading and sharing!