“Marijke, how did you come up with this?!”
I don't go for less. I admit it: I am a perfectionist. My client should be really happy and I draw endlessly until we are both 100% satisfied with the result. Most sketches end up in my thrash.
When I'm asked to make a cartoon, I start with collecting ideas. How can I transform this story into a simple image that is understood in a glance? In the world of cartoons there is a huge iconography. Simply put: cartoon cliches.
Dan Piraro is an absolute boss working with cliches. And I love leafing through The complete Cartoons of the New Yorker with thousands cartoon classics since 1925.
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Cliches
Cartoon cliches are perfect vehicles for telling a story. The metaphor of a ship that's on course (or on its way down a waterfall). Piraro's pirates. The thirsty in the desert, cannibals, the island with one palm tree. The patient on the sofa of a psychiatrist...
They change in the course of time. The horror clowns of Halloween can go back in the closet. Santa is still good to go. Cliches give a recognizable visual story - that context is an easy given.
Trash is somtimes treasure
I involve the client in this quest. His/her feedback puts me on the right track. Sometimes it's there immediately, sometimes it takes some time before there's a wauw. Very few times I open my trash with old sketches just a little bit. Was I right to discard this one? Can I find an old idea here that is workable in this situation?
Glass ceiling
I always find an image that is usable for the sketch of the moment. Using cliches is always a challenge because I have to renew them. Else it gets boring. If the joke is too recognizable, people don't laugh.
I look for something weird in the story I have to tell. Something funny and also a bit uncomfortable. And then the joke has to work in a drawing.
I did my best on a cartoon about women being squashed against the glass ceiling. The man looking down says: "While you're there, why not clean the glass?" I wasn't a 100% satisfied myself. What do you think?
