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When I read a cartoon that I find funny, I usually smile. Sometimes it's an inside smile and sometimes it's a visible grin. My cartooning girlfriend, Stephanie Piro, made me laugh out loud...three times...when I read this strip. I love the way she used an actual nib pen within the strip...even though neither the cartoonist or the cartoon spoke directly to the audience, it still adds that dimension of breaking the fourth wall. The faces of the cartoon woman are incredibly expressive...you can just feel the shock in the first image and see (and hear) the pique in the second image. I think I got an extra little kick out of this because there's also an element of the inside joke for me. Not that there's actually another gag that only people who are cartoonists will get but that I can identify with that unique relationship a strip cartoonist has with the inky world they create. It struck me as funny to see that world talk back, exasperated at the control we have over their lives.
Stephanie has a very loose style. I've seen her draw her cartoons...a drawing board on her lap and a pen in her hand and away she goes. No pencils. I was agog. Simple, flowing, minimalist lines that demonstrate expression, feeling, movement and nuance. That's a real talent.
Stephanie Piro is the Saturday cartoonist for the syndicated comic strip "Six Chix". She also creates the panel "Fair Game" and has illustrated and written so many cartoons books, I can't even begin to mention them all here.
Yeah this is a great one. If you check out some of Stephanie's posts from the sixchix blog http://thesixchix.com/?p=1545, she's got the pen breaking into that fourth wall here and there. It's fun.
Posted by: Isabella Bannerman | February 05, 2012 at 12:38 PM
Sandra!!!
Thank you so much for this lovely post. Coming from one of my very favorite cartoonists this was a high honor!
Posted by: Stephanie | February 05, 2012 at 11:14 AM
Taking a vacation, staying at home doing nothing, chores, bottom of the laundry basket, going to work has its own reward.
You just spoke my thoughts!
;)
Posted by: Jean | February 01, 2012 at 12:13 AM