Thanksgiving 2010

I’m not a big holiday person.  I think the holiday I get the most into is Thanksgiving.  I like the tradition of hanging out with family, eating a giant meal that puts you to sleep and watching some football.

Since I’ve lived in Virginia and started playing music I’ve made a lot of friends and each year we get together and share the day together, since none of us has family here.  Over the past few years some of us have begun new relationships and started families or had other committments.  This year it was just down to me and Chris (my drummer from 816 and still one of my best friends).  I figured it’d be kinda sad for two single guys to sit around a turkey.  So we’ve both accepted other invites with good friends.

Usually I have more than one invite and I usually take the first one.  I don’t get a lot of invites because I’m so darn popular, but because the people I know are really great people who care about their friends.  I didn’t even have to put out any hints that I’d be eating alone at Denny’s without them.

My first year of being single in Virginia, I hadn’t really branched out and didn’t have any friends.  I went to a buffet on Thanksgiving and that was probably the most depressing holiday in my life.  The Christmas after that I went home to Louisiana because I was NOT gonna spend another day like that within a month of the last one.  I think about those people tomorrow who don’t have anyone and makes me sad for them.  That’s the bleeding heart liberal inside me.

One thing I HATE about holidays is drawing holiday cartoons.  My editor loves them….or at least thinks we’re required to print them.  I will sit at my desk all day straining for an idea that’s suitable, that I didn’t already do last year or the year before, or the year before, or the…you get the idea.  I don’t like hokey cartoons.  I don’t like touchy feely feel good cartoons.  I don’t wanna draw a turkey and use it as an analogy for the economy, presidency, congress, etc.  I’ve done those and I’m committed to never doing another one ever again.  One Pulitzer prize winning cartoonist I know has drawn FOUR turkey cartoons this year and he’s already done a Santa outsourcing jobs cartoon (which we’ll see plenty of this year, like we did last year).  Holy crap, I just looked at his site and now he’s done FIVE turkey cartoons.  Is this why I don’t have a Pulitzer?

Anyway, I got one by that’s a little substantial on the issue and that’s kinda depressing.  I’m surprised my editor picked it over the lame just for chuckles cartoons I also presented him with today.  If I knew he was gonna take the meaty cartoon then I would have stopped brainstorming at noon and had cut out of here early.

Thanksgiving 2010

Ya know, turkey flavored Alpo may not be so bad.  I bought Chubbs the Beagle some cookies that look like Oreos, and they smell like real made-for-people cookies.  I’m tempted to take a bite out of one myself.

Here’s the rough.

thanksgiving 2010 rough #1

Here’s the first idea I came up with today.  It really sucks.  It hurts me to even look at it again.  Right now some other cartoonist is looking at it thinking “why didn’t I think of that?”.

Thanksgiving 2010 rough #2

I’m so tired of drawing pilgrims, unless I’m drawing stuck up puritans in a sex scandal.  That’s always fun and pisses my editor off.  I still enjoy drawing Indians.  I like feathers, and not in a freaky way either.

Here’s a stupid turkey cartoon.  It was almost selected.  I really grit my teeth on holidays and come to accept I’m gonna have to put my name on some serious crap.  But before I do that I take a shot at doing something with a bit of integrity to it, which is usually shot down.

Thanksgiving 2010 rough #3

I thought this was gonna be picked and I’m down with it.  I hate Christmas music.  They start playing that crap in October.  Please stop.

Thanksgiving 2010 rough #4

Now that’s done I have a month to avoid drawing Santa, elfs, reindeer, etc., while every other cartoonist in the country dives into them.  I should start thinking now what my Christmas day cartoon will be, but I’ll probably put it off until 3:00 PM, December 24.

Happy Thanksgiving, readers.  I hope you have a great one.  And if you end up at Denny’s alone, I heart you.