Tony Esteves | Graphic Designer , ARTA

A little over two years ago , ARTA ’ s Communications Committee added “ comic strip ” as a category in the Writing Contest . As a cartoonist , I was looking forward to seeing the entries . I imagined we would get at least a dozen entries ( even if only from retired art teachers ), but there weren ’ t enough entries to proceed with judging .

If you ask a classroom of 5-year-olds “ Who knows how to draw ?” you ’ ll see hands shooting up . But ask that same classroom ten years later , and you are lucky to see a few hands . Maybe people lose drawing ability as they get older . Or maybe it ’ s one ’ s confidence in the ability to draw that degrades over time and that torpedoed any interest in the contest .

You only get better at drawing with practice ; when people stop practising because they are not “ good enough ,” it is a self-fulfilling cycle . The Writing Contest would not be judged on drawing ability — it is , after all , a writing contest .

Or maybe the comic strip format was the barrier . Maybe you doodle in the margins and add funny quotes from friends but have never ventured to structure as a comic strip . As someone who has been drawing comics since I was thirteen , I can help with that !

The first thing is to think of an idea . Let ’ s say my main character gets a speeding ticket on their way to work — you know , the place where they go to earn money to pay speeding tickets .

Scripting

Now I take that idea and place it in a scenario that requires dialogue . Maybe the boss is annoyed that the main character was late to work .

PANEL 1

BOSS : You ’ re 45 minutes late ! MAIN CHARACTER : Sorry , I was pulled over by the police for speeding .

PANEL 2

BOSS : That ’ s your fault ! You should have left earlier . MAIN CHARACTER : I couldn ’ t do that …

PANEL 3

MAIN CHARACTER : ( a humorous reason why the character couldn ’ t have got to work earlier )

The tricky part is the punchline . The quick rule is to make the last word in the sentence the funniest word . For example , if your character is barbecuing in the rain , saying “ Do you like your steak well done or medium damp ?” is better than saying “ Do you like your steak medium damp or well done ?” Humour is subjective , and something that makes me laugh may not make you laugh . If you don ’ t have a funny word , come up with a few ideas to wrap up the comic and choose the best line . Here are a few lines I came up with :

● I only realized it was Monday when the officer gave me the ticket .

● [ holding suit on coat hanger ] Your dry cleaners only opened 10 minutes ago .

● I only had my driver ’ s licence reinstated 30 minutes ago .

character design and process samples

I like the third option because I like the idea that the main character is a repeat speeding offender — adding insult to injury .

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