Why I cartoon

I delivered this short presentation to last November’s Interesting Vancouver event, sandwiched between some of the most, well, interesting people around. This is the first time I’ve ever told an audience why I started cartooning; how my early dreams of earning my living drawing the next Doonesbury gave way to something a lot more personal; and how a gift from Larry Kry, my Grade 11 physics teacher, has helped colour my entire life.

Check out the full range of Interesting Vancouver talks; the videos really do help to capture something of the amazing spirit of the night, and the people who shared their remarkable lives and endeavours.

(Speaker self-improvement note: This was also my first time using one of those amazing little Countryman boom mics; I think I’d adjusted it badly, because it felt like it was trying to crawl off my ear the entire time. At one point in my presentation you’ll see me acknowledge this to the previous speaker, who’d had a similar challenge. In retrospect, radical transparency notwithstanding, I’d have done better to keep that to myself.)

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1 Comment

Larry Kry on 7 Mar 2024 at 09:48

I have often said (at appropriate times)… that the primary job of a parent is to find where their child’s natural talents lay. I have seen music lessons forced on a kid that can’t clap his hands in time to the music. The kid trashed his cello when he got to university. The kid probably wanted to be an accountant. I have seen kids that can’t count the change from the grocery store, I suspect that they would rather be a musician than be an accountant.

Once while teaching physics, I had an irate parent that was very upset that young Rodney (not his real name) was failing physics. Rodney had absolutely no interest in electricity. But his father was insistent that he become an electrical engineer just like his Dad… a chip off the old block.

I had to explain to the father that Rodney loved to draw, and that he was very good at it. The reason I knew that, is because he would make extremely realistic pencil drawings of people on his desk… (you could instantly recognize who the person was). At the end of the day, I felt it was a shame that the janitor had to remove the kid’s art.

(John Medina wrote an excellent book (Brain Rules) on this issue. The book made me think that people should not be allowed to have children unless they have read the book …and then have passed a short quiz).

Larry Kry on 7 Mar 2024 at 09:48
I have often said (at appropriate times)… that the primary job of a parent is to find where their child’s natural talents lay. I have seen music lessons forced on a kid that can’t clap his hands in time to the music. The kid trashed his cello when he got to university. The kid probably wanted to be an accountant. I have seen kids that can’t count the change from the grocery store, I suspect that they would rather be a musician than be an accountant.
Once while teaching physics, I had an irate parent that was very upset that young Rodney (not his real name) was failing physics. Rodney had absolutely no interest in electricity. But his father was insistent that he become an electrical engineer just like his Dad… a chip off the old block.
I had to explain to the father that Rodney loved to draw, and that he was very good at it. The reason I knew that, is because he would make extremely realistic pencil drawings of people on his desk… (you could instantly recognize who the person was). At the end of the day, I felt it was a shame that the janitor had to remove the kid’s art.
(John Medina wrote an excellent book (Brain Rules) on this issue. The book made me think that people should not be allowed to have children unless they have read the book …and then have passed a short quiz).