A peek inside the pencil bags of New Yorker cartoonists. Created/edited/run by Jane Mattimoe.
acaseforpencils : Today’s Case is unique in that these interviews are generally done via survey. However, on May 30th, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to call up my childhood hero, George Booth, to pester him about his pencils. Special thanks to his wonderful daughter, Sarah Booth, who facilitated this conversation and provided photos! -Jane Mattimoe George Booth: Hey Jane! Jane…
Funny Ladies: Celebrating Pamela Beere Briggs. In 1991, documentary filmmaker and author Pamela Beere released a film called Funny Ladies: A Portrait of Women Cartoonists . Lauded by everyone from The Boston Globe to T he Los Angeles Times , her work bringing to life the stories of talented women in cartooning is a beautiful and delightful film. However, it is devastating that she started her…
acaseforpencils : Cartooning:The Art and the Business, by living legend Mort Gerberg, is referred to as the “Bible” of cartoon guidebooks. Many of the cartoonists featured on this site have honed their craft by working through his instructions, and this blog would be an utter failure if I didn’t devote a post to it. You can find it on his website here (and if you buy it directly from him, he’ll…
Hi everyone! I realize it’s been a second since the last interview was posted on here—I’ve been taking a break from Case (hopefully, I’ll get back to it after the holiday season!), but I haven’t been taking a break from working on little projects. I have been having so much fun making holiday crafts, that I thought I’d share some of my work, and give some tips in case…
Lynn tells us about her methods for making her wonderful cartoons featured in The New Yorker and many other publications this week! Bio: I worked as an architect for many years before changing paths to become a cartoonist and writer. While working as an architect, I dabbled in printmaking, painting, and humor writing, often collaborating with sketch comedy groups at ImprovBoston. When the theater…
Today’s interview on Case is a little bit different—I had been seeing Victoria’s lovely animations on Instagram, and asked her if she might be interested in talking about them on here. She kindly obliged, so I sent her a loose list of questions to consider, and she sent me back such an incredible rumination on her experiences that I replied back to her “This is so cool! You are…
Editor’s Note: Be sure to check out Dan’s new children’s book, The Light Inside , available this week! Bio: I’ve been contributing cartoons to The New Yorker since 2021. My work has also appeared in Air Mail, Narrative, The Times, Weekly Humorist, The Golfer’s Journal, and a few other publications. My first children’s book, The Light Inside , is available now.…
I have been interviewing people like Ralph Steadman, Roz Chast, Adrian Tomine and other top artists at The New Yorker on this blog for close to ten years as a way to help aspiring artists learn from professionals for free! You can check out some interviews if you’d like! Hope everyone is having a nice day!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/05/09/sam-gross-new-yorker-national-lampoon-cartoonist-dies/ It means a lot that this part of the interview that I did with Sam Gross was included—it made me tear up because I can hear it in his voice. He actually was a great artist, but he was modest about it. If you look at his famous frog legs cartoon, it’s a masterclass in perspective,…
acaseforpencils : © Copyright, 1970, S. Gross. Buy this print here! A couple of years ago, I was eating lunch with Sam and a bunch of the usual Pergola crowd, and we were talking about interviews. I hadn’t started A Case for Pencils at that time, but I had been thinking about how to go about it. Sam told me that the thing about interviews is that they are basically finished before they start,…
I’ve been interviewing mainly New Yorker cartoonists on here for close to nine (!) years, which is wild to think about! A lot has changed since I started this blog in 2014— back then, I had a broken wrist from a fall I had while working in a restaurant, and I didn’t have the money for a laptop for months, so I would go to the New York Public Library to use their public use computers to…
Bio: My name is Gustavo Magalhães and I am a Brazilian illustrator/cartoonist. I live in Caçapava, a small town in São Paulo state. I have worked as an illustrator since 2013. As an editorial Illustrator, I’ve been published by The New Yorker, Golf Digest, Forbes, The New Republic, GQ Magazine among others. The first time I was commissioned by The New Yorker was in 2021, for “The…
Bio: I’ve been published in The New Yorker, The Nib , and The Stranger. I refuse to work with anyone whose publication doesn’t start with “The.” Unless I ever get an offer to — then I will. Find this print here ! Tools of choice: You have been forewarned, my tools are a bit average, but maybe I can chalk that up as “standard” or “classic”. Yes, let’s go with that. Okay, so— I live and die by my…
Bio: I’m a cartoonist, installation artist, and educator. I sold my first cartoons to The New Yorker in 2018 and have been a somewhat erratic contributing cartoonist since then. I also self-publish a comic periodical called The “Great” Moments in Western Civilization Postal Constituent , which I began in 2009. These comics are primarily about failure throughout history and irrational hope.…
Bio: I’ve been published by The New Yorker magazine, VICE, and WNYC. I also illustrated a book for Princeton University Press called “On Being Me,” available on the PUP website, and at your fave independent book seller! My fave New Yorker cartoons I’ve done: Find these prints here and here ! Tools of choice: I sketch my cartoon ideas in a floppy, unlined Moleskine notebook (light, portable, and…
Bio: I haven’t been published in many publications besides my cartoons that appeared in The New Yorker . One of my New Yorker rejected cartoons appears in a book titled Send Help , a book of desert island cartoons. It’s edited by New Yorker cartoonists Jon Adams and Ellis Rosen. I had one cartoon published in the final print copy of Playboy magazine. I’ve always joked that my…
Bio: My cartoons and comics have appeared in various publications, including The New Yorker and McSweeney’s. I also had a short little comic-activity book published with AMU titled, Where Did My Roommate Put My Charger?: A Kind-Of Activity Book for Kind-Of Adults . Find this print here! Book link Excerpt from book This is my favorite cartoon they’ve published, but I’d be remiss if I…
Bio: I’m currently a cartoonist for The New Yorker , a writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert , and a performer at every venue in Brooklyn. I cut my teeth in Chicago at places like The Second City, iO, and The Improvised Shakespeare Company. Before that, I was a child actor who once got a callback for the 1998 Michael Keaton vehicle Jack Frost , but I somehow, miraculously, stayed humble.…
Bio: My daily comic, Half Full, syndicated by Andrews McMeel, is in its tenth year of syndication. My work has also appeared in MAD Magazine, American Bystander, Parade, Wired, Highlights, Prospect and many other publications. I have also created hundreds of greeting cards for Recycled Paper Greetings, Nobleworks cards and Design Design. I am currently working on the fifth book in my Nat Enough…
Bio: MAD, Private Eye, Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Time. Find this print here! Tools of choice: Prismacolor Premier black pencil PC 935 Tool I wish I could use better: Liver Tool I wish existed: Self-sharpening Prismacolor Premier black pencil Tricks: Timeline in Photoshop (For gifs) Misc: Ralph Eggleston died at 56. Carpe Diem. Websites, etc.: Patreon Website Twitter…