Now That Is Smart

What up my peeps? Welcome to another wonderful Monday cartoon! So as usual, I have a bit of a journey story to explain how I got to the joke for this cartoon. One of these days a full awesome idea will just pop into my head and I'll have nothing to talk about.....or maybe not, it's actually quite hard work to come up with humorous ideas all the time. Well it is for me anyway, but I really love it so it's all worth it in the end. You see it all started with the first cartoon I was going to do for this blog, which originally was a 'smart phone' gag. The joke was pretty much an iPhone App that stopped you from making drunk phone calls to ex's, with the caption " A real 'smart' phone". I had the cartoon all sketched up and ready to go and my lovely lady Penelope looked at it and informed me that there actually is an App for that! So my world suddenly came crashing down with the realisation that 1) I now didn't have an awesome debut cartoon for my new blog and 2) That I'm not as clever and funny as I thought I was (man that was a depressing realization) and 3) Yes there is an App for everything.....stupid Apple. So in the end I book-shelved the whole 'smart phone' idea and eventually did an Apple joke instead, which ended up a way better joke anyway, so once again I'm indebted to my wonderful lady for making me better. 
So, a while ago I resurrected the 'smart phone' idea again (I liked the core joke, which is a 'smart phone' becoming too smart for it's own good), but this time it was something along the idea of a phone so smart that after listening to an annoying teenage girl talking so much it kills itself. But I felt this idea still needed something more, or maybe I could do it as a strip, I wasn't sure, so I left it for awhile. A few nights ago I was brainstorming some ideas and the idea resurfaced again, but this time I thought of a better punch-line, one that involves one of my most hated TV shows, winner! Yes, I can't stand Two and a Half Men, that and Big Bang Theory....but Two and a Half Men is worse, so I used it instead. Seriously why the hell are these shows so damn popular? I know lots of other people hate it as well (for example: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Two-and-a-Half-Men-Everything-I-Hate-In-One-Show/315816774929).....well I hope so otherwise this cartoon may not go down too well! (not that I care really) But for some reason so many people like Big Bang Theory, and people can't seem to understand why I don't, because I'm such a big geek and all. But that show isn't about geek/nerd jokes it's more about making fun of geeks and nerds by having ridiculously over the top caricatures of them, which bugs me. The characters annoy the living shit out of me, all of them! You want a real show about geeks and nerds? Try IT Crowd, that show is awesome! Watch that, and fuck Big Bang off....So the moral of the story is that it's true that there's no such thing as a bad idea, and to never give up on an idea.


I was very tempted to do this gag as a comic strip this morning but I talked myself out of it by the time I went to do it. I'm still very hesitant to start doing strips regularly as I really do like the restrictive nature of a single panel, and I'm worried I'll waffle on in more panels. But I do want to give it a go, just for the challenge really, so soon, my friends, soon.


I thought that because this weeks cartoon was rather easy to draw that I'd try a little experimenting with the art style. I don't know if you noticed at all, but the last few weeks I've really thickened up my initial outlines, do you like it? With the drawing this week I went for a slightly wackier curvy look for the couch rather than very straight and uniform and in contrast, I thought I'd draw the guy with a lot more straight, sharp lines than usual. Lately I've really enjoyed drawing with more straight, sharp lines so it's definitely a style I'm going to explore more. Also thought I'd try something else new this week, plain black dots for eyes, what do you think? Not sure I'll keep doing it, but I like it enough to do it every now and again just to be different and all. So what do you all think, what style do you prefer or not like? Let me know, otherwise I just keep doing what I like and screw you lot!


Ok that's me for another week, until next time my friends!




Mike