My 2022 Cartoons Wrapped ❄️
Hope you’re keeping warm and, once again, sorry for the delay…
2022 has been a frenetic year, probably self-imposed, but one of intention nonetheless. A conversation early in the year with @auntsarahdraws made me re-evaluate my approach and relationship with cartooning.
I went back to basics, started sketching by hand again, and just generally reintroducing a sense of play. I still haven’t pitched as much as I would’ve like this year, but I also wasn’t just throwing a bunch of garbage ideas at the wall (my editors). And the best part—it paid off!
In 2022, I sold two daily cartoons and two cartoons for print which I’ll share at some point when they get published. There was a welcome sense of relief since it had been a year and half since landing my last one for print. If you need a your own creative pep talk, you can listen to my conversation with Sarah here.
Apropos of nothing, here is my favorite rejected daily pitch of the year:
I get why it didn’t make the cut, too hyper-contextual to be broadly funny but I love how my Batman turned out and I will forever be mad at David Zaslav for canning the Batgirl movie with Michael Keaton 😡
In 2022, I illustrated my first book! Well, I drew it in 2021 but it came out this year. I’m still counting it. Check out How to Leave Your Psychopath by Maddy Anholt.
I also had the chance to befriend some cool founders and brands this year, like Louis Kitchenware, Fishwife, and Lioness…a, um, back massager company (jk it’s a vibrator company). I’ve got some things lined up for next year as well too that should be fun.
When I wasn’t selling cartoons, I was throwing myself into the work of making a podcast about watching cartoons. 26 new episodes, lots of guests, and adding video into the mix. It’s been a lot of work but also some of the most creatively energizing stuff I’ve done. A few highlights from the year:
Our two-part, true crime parody episode about The Batman 🕵🏻🦇: A project that garnered some recognition from the Spotify’s editorial and social teams in the Spotify Podcast Community.
Reviewing Apple TV+’s Luck 🍀: Our worst-reviewed movie, but confoundingly, most played episode of the year.
Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers 🐿️: Most surprising and underrated watch of the year. Seriously, watch it!
Finally, when I’m not doing all this, I do actually have a job! I think it’s important to be transparent about that kind of thing, I’m not making my living as a cartoonist and I’ve gotten more comfortable with that fact. I’m finally able to shake some of the impostor syndrome that I’ve carried for a long time.
I’m really fortunate that I get to make silly things for TeuxDeux, and on occasion, chip in on new experiments like Tracey.
Tracey’s a free iOS app that lets you paste sticker cutouts from your camera roll. It is exceedingly fun and chaotic for group chats. I’m just happy I got to sneak some of my friends into the app store screenshots 🥷
Anyways, if you’ve made it to the bottom of this email, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I could not have imagined where my absent-minded doodling four years ago would lead.
If you’d like to support my work, please consider grabbing something from my store and I’ll do my best to get it to you before the holidays.
Happy holidays.
All the best,