WARNING! it bites!

"Good Morning, Rose"

Of course. One of my biggest influences is the cartoonist B.Kliban. While best known for his distinctive cat drawings, most of his cartooning output was single-panel work.

Much of it is easily understandable language or visual puns, but many of his funny works are just unusual situations, with no obvious meaning:

(I think that "Household Hint" could be considered a spiritual forerunner of Tiktok ragebait food videos.)

In his 1975 collection titled "Cat," among many funny cat comics, there are several pages which are just drawings of his beloved cats.

I feel a strong connection to Kliban's approach: Direct contour-line drawing, mostly anonymous characters in novel situations, and few traditional long-term narrative stories. And yet, there are recurring visual trends. (Have you noticed that he only draws one kind of cat?)

It is said that we train our audiences, in form or content. Over time, the reader knows what to expect from an author.

I think that a lesson can be derived from this graphic design manual.

(from Notes on Graphic Design And Visual Communication by Gregg Berryman, 1979.)

I believe we can draw a correlation between broadly-defined "art" (comics, painting, drawing, sculpture, video, etc.) and logo design:

With low "abstraction" (depending upon references that many people will get, explaining things in extremely explicit terms), material will be readily understood, but it is hard to separate this material from other stuff out there. It's harder to have your individual voice known.

With high "abstraction" (sharing weird comics, but consistently over a long period of time with many people,) an artist can have their message understood- or at least received enthusiastically- even if they're weird.

I drew this yesterday. It is probably understandable as both a humorous criticism of gamer-centric marketing and also as a visual-verbal pun to most English speakers under 40. I'm not sure if "Gamer Butter" would be accepted readily without people being familiar with other drawings I've made which lampoon consumerism and gadget culture.

Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies cut funding to disease prevention and control.

Why is measles back in America?

Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies, including RFK Jr, cut vaccine and measles prevention funding and programs.

Why is the New World Screwworm infecting cattle in Texas, when it had previously been eliminated from the area?

Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies, including Elon Musk, cut USAID funding, which in part worked to monitor and prevent screwworm outbreaks.

Why was there a flu outbreak in our armed forces?

Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies, including Pete Hegseth, cut vaccination requirements for our armed forces, putting all of them at risk alongside our military readiness.

What contributed to the Covid outbreak?

Donald Trump and his Republican allies cut funding to a pandemic prevention program in his first term because Barack Obama had created it.

Tenna art by @9Aaaalt29 on twt

The crowd roared in confused enthusiasm as Tenna gave a gracious flurry of low-FPS bows, pausing only for the occasional stink-nose at his audience plants who weren’t throwing enough 3D roses.

Eventually, the room fell silent. It was Senshi’s turn to speak.

He puffed out his chest, took a long, sweeping look over the audience… and shook his head.

“I can see not all of you are eating properly.”

The crowd murmured with embarrassment.

“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s time to take the turkey out of your icebox. I have seen the ingenious technology with which your people store food... and I have also seen the waste which results from such convenience.

“The food you take had a life. Beasts grew fat on the grass of the field, plants grew from the sun’s rays, and mushrooms grew from minerals in the cracks of caves. And yet, it sits in your iceboxes, collecting moisture until it perishes.

“Eat what is given to you. Because its life will make you stronger, too.”

Without another word, Senshi left his podium and stepped away from the stage. The crowd murmured in confusion. “Is he really like that?” somebody said. “I only remember reblogging the photosets of him tripping and showing ass.”

--

Back in the Green Room, Tenna wrung his antennas nervously.

“Y-y-you think they liked me!? They HAD to!! I mean, I don’t know what Asgore was thinking, getting that weird haircut and running that food waste campaign, but… YOU thought I did good, didn’t you, Kris?”

Laios nodded aggressively, a streak of blue face paint peeling from his forehead.

“You did AMAZING, Tenna! By the way, now that we’ve seen all your insider campaign secrets, do you have any more videos of Susie? Especially her tail... If I could get a look at that, I could finally tell if she’s a dinosaur or --”

THWACK. Fake antlers butted Laios’s head.

“LAIOS?? Weren’t we dressed up to help SENSHI???” Marcille hissed, gesturing awkwardly with her hooves.

Suddenly, Tenna turned to the two adventurers.

“Hey, WAIT a second. SOMETHING’s not right here...”

Laios and Marcille held their breath.

“Where the heck are my POINTS!?”

Just then, the door opened. Chilchuck took one step into the room, whistling and holding a large bag.

Everyone turned to him.

Chilchuck paused, took a step backwards, and closed the door.

“CHILCHUCK!!!” yelled Tenna.

“How come Chilchuck got to stay Chilchuck!?” yelled Marcille at the same time.

--