Thumbnail of the Cartoonist

I draw cartoons. When I'm caught up on drawing, I write. When I'm not doing those, and sometimes when I am, I raise kids. And once in a great, great while, I get to go out with my wife. Alone. When it's not work. And that's pretty much it.

Okay, maybe that's a little too sketchy, even for a thumbnail sketch. I am thrilled to be cartooning for The New Yorker, which is the dream of almost every print cartoonist. I hope to be doing it until I retire, which will be shortly after my death — which will be not so shortly after I turn 100. I was a late bloomer, I need the time. I also draw cartoons for other magazines and illustrations for ads and random publications.

I have two anthologies of my cartoons. The first is What Would Satan Do? (Abrams Books), a book of cartoons about right, wrong, and very, very wrong. You can find it at your local bookstore, or buy it now (shameless plug) at Amazon. It also couldn't hurt you to buy my second book, Because I'm the Child Here and I Said So (Andrews McMeel); after all, think of the children! It is a book of parenting cartoons, useful to any expectant, new, or not so new parent. I use it frequently as my own parenting aid. When I catch myself doing anything like the cartoons, I say to myself, "Don't do that."

My favorite illustration projects of late have included another book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves — Illustrated Edition, and a mural for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. It covers three sides of a building along the Kennedy Expressway, which millions of people pass each week. Pretty cool stuff, especially for someone (like me) living in Chicago.

What do I write in between? Musicals. I have this nutty ambition to let that replace illustration as my second gig by the time both the girls are off to school all day. Yes, Broadway is an unrealistic dream for a writer, but so is The New Yorker for a cartoonist. Current projects in development include Flop, My Dead Irish Mother and Despairadise.

On the personal side, my life is just the sort of rambling adventure you'd expect from living with a daughter in diapers, another who's in everything else, and a wife who's a politician. Just the sort of life you'd expect for a cartoonist.

If you are an aspiring cartoonist, you may be interested in the longer history of my career. If you are anyone else, it may bore you to tears. You have been warned.

For a formal hard copy, here is a pdf version that I use for press requests and such.