Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I do what makes me laugh.
I don't like drawing characters facing right.
I want to shake things up like 'Bloom County' did.
For me, going to Minneapolis is like going to Mecca.
Repeats are the absolute soul-crushing killers of the comics page.
I know I can always draw, but I actually love the writing the most.
The principles of comedy are the principles of comedy. I can hear funny.
Brits have a better sense of humor in most ways. It's darker, more cutting.
When I say 'friends,' I use that term loosely, as I don't actually have any.
To get syndicated as a comic strip artist is as likely as winning the lottery.
We need more cartoonists to truly retire when they retire, and not run repeats.
If somebody is not on the same page with me humor wise, I can't give them that.
If you put me in South Park, that audience is going to fall asleep in five minutes.
If you put me in 'South Park,' that audience is going to fall asleep in five minutes.
I think it might surprise the average person how angry people can get over the comics.
This is every creative person's dream - a hobby that I'm lucky enough to get paid for.
My wife Staci made me go to a wedding last weekend...If it weren’t for her, I’d be happy.
Basically, I learned to read by reading 'Peanuts,' just wanting to know what they were saying.
I have days where the only words I say are to the person making my sandwich at the grocery store.
I want a career writing these novels that I can be proud of. And then I want one as a screenwriter.
Most poetry just confounds me. I really want to like it, but I can't help thinking it's a hoax. (p. 24)
A biscuit in the States is something you would put gravy on with dinner, and it's not sweet in the least!
It's best to love your family as you would a Siberian tiger-from a distance, preferably separated by bars.
I like characters who have blind spots and are full of themselves, but there also needs to be vulnerability.
I don't like drawing characters facing right. If I tried to do that at a book signing, I'd have to pencil it first.
The writing is done on the computer, and the drawing is done by hand. I write, write, write, then I hit the illustration.
I was a lawyer for 10 years, and when youre in law, things really have to get done, or somebody sues you. Its a great trick.
A comic strip has a rhythm and a pattern, and you got to get in and out quick. So you set up a joke, tell the joke, and done.
When you can't draw chameleons and you can't draw blenders, it's a bad idea to write strips where chameleons become blenders.
I was a lawyer for 10 years, and when you're in law, things really have to get done, or somebody sues you. It's a great trick.
I seem to be able to get away with pun strips if I add a panel at the end where I somehow indicate that I know it's a bad pun.
I guess that compared to other comic strips, I'm edgy. But put me along something like 'South Park,' and I'm 'Captain Kangaroo.'
If a restaurant offers crayons, I always take them and color throughout the meal. It beats talking to the people I came to dinner with.
The only thing I learn on a daily basis from law school is that I disliked it and the law so much that it's constantly this fire at my heels.
Sticking to my schedule, Ive gotten over seven months ahead, which allowed me to write a Pearls Before Swine movie script for the big screen.
I don't pay that much attention to sales figures or awards. To me, the big question is: 'Did you influence the next generation?' That's my goal.
Sticking to my schedule, I've gotten over seven months ahead, which allowed me to write a 'Pearls Before Swine' movie script for the big screen.
You can write a little and can draw a little, but there's necessarily a limitation on both in a comic strip, since it appears in such a tiny space.
I never feel burdened or overwhelmed by my work. People tell you to find something you love for a career, and I have. That makes me feel very lucky.
Basically, I learned to read by reading 'Peanuts,' just wanting to know what they were saying. I was 4 or 5 or whatever. I think it's a fairly common story.
A stand-up comedian faces the audiences and gets their immediate feedback. I hide behind the comic strip, and unless people write to me, I dont know what they think.
A stand-up comedian faces the audiences and gets their immediate feedback. I hide behind the comic strip, and unless people write to me, I don't know what they think.
It seems so absurd to get really mad with a cartoonist over a comic strip. It's sort of like getting in a fight with a circus clown outside your house. It's not going to end well.
The wonderful thing about a book is that you have a canvas that is 300 pages wide, and it's all free space. You can make a piece of art as big as you want and whatever shape you want.
Repeats are the worst, and 'Peanuts' was the one that started that. They don't rerun the news, do they? They don't repeat any other part of the paper. Why do they do it in the comics?
If you're from a certain generation, you basically learn to read with 'Peanuts.' It's sort of the template for the modern strip. Its influence ceased to be noticed because it's in everything.
I write for three or four hours and then hopefully I'll have something. Then I draw for the rest of the afternoon... I literally block out Wednesday-Thursday-Friday - I more or less disappear.
I'm very harsh on real estate agents. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because of how the call every small house 'charming' and every run-down house a 'great fixer-upper'. Just once, I'd like them to show me a house and declare, 'This one's a piece of crap'.
You can't just count on becoming a syndicated cartoonist. I actually tried to calculate the odds once, and the best I could come up with is a 1-in-36,000 chance. And the odds of getting hit by lightning are 1 in 7,900 - which kind of shows how long those odds are.
Whenever I see people with their collars up, I'm tempted to point it out to them like you would for someone who has a food stain on their shirt or food in their teeth, as if to say, 'Your fashion sense is so offensive I'm assuming it's some sort of accident you'll want to fix.