Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Mike Lynch Cartoon in April 22, 2008 WSJ


Today's Earth Day edition of the Wall Street Journal has a cat cartoon of mine. This cartoon actually has a couple of themes, or keywords, that could be associated with it: cats. technology, ring tone, relationships. Sometimes a little bit of serendipity occurs and a cartoon could just as easily fit in a technology mag as well as a cat lovers publication and a women's magazine. And, like some cartoons, there is a bit of a personal touch in the drawing.

I was thinking that you can put anything on your ringtone these days, and so the gag was a natural. The cat "Sebastian," was modeled after my sweet Bertie, a tiger cat of ours who hung out with me in my Brooklyn studio, while our other 2 cats slumbered the day away in the bedroom. He was a great cat, who fought diabetes the last five years of his life. We had to give him injections twice a day.

He passed away a couple years ago. So, it's nice to pay a little personal tribute in a cartoon. I named the cat Sebastian just because it seemed like a funny name -- and more cat-like than "Bertie."

Maybe five years ago, Bertie was on my board. This is, literally, a board that I draw on. He was startled (by some noise outside -- probably a garbage truck going over the Pacific Street speedbump right outside our apartment), and he scrambled away, scratching the living hell out of the board. The board surface was ruined. So, I flipped the board over and started using the other side. I still draw on it, and the deep scratches are still there. I'll always use it, of course, and think of Bertie -- and of all of our other sweet cats (Gus, Opie, Max) who have come and gone.


Above: From a few years back, going clockwise; Bertie, Opie, Mike.

I better go and pat our three current cats: Roo, Sam & Trout now ....

2 comments:

Daryll Collins said...

Mike,

Enjoyed the cartoon and your tribute to Bertie.

I've got plenty of "cats in the art studio stories" myself.
Be glad that when Bertie was startled, he dug into your drawing board and not you!

Mike Lynch said...

Thanks for the kind words, Daryll. Maybe there's a book in these "cats in the studio" stories!