A shot of creativity  JAN 02 2014

Drew Dernavich submitted a cartoon to the New Yorker in 2007 and it was rejected. He refined and simplified the concept and the result ran in a recent issue.Here's how Dernavich achieved this result:

My approach was to say "whatever," move on to the next thing, forget completely that I had ever done this cartoon in the first place, go to sleep, get up the next day and drink coffee, eat and drink as I usually do, work at some stuff, work at some other stuff, get up earlier some days and later some days, do social things every once in a while...

And it goes on like that for awhile until concluding:

...and then wake up one day and then think "hey - I have a funny idea about warning shots that's better than the one I had several years ago."

The latest Fisticuffs! went down at the 92Y Tribeca last night, where Hilary Price and Drew Dernavich narrowly annhilated Matt Diffee and Eric Lewis in a live cartoon-drawing contest moderated by funnyman Patrick Borelli, and where the music of Howard Fishman and co. helped to diffuse the clear hostility in the room. Here is an inside peek at the proceedings. 

  Diffee, Price, and Lewis laugh it up backstage, seconds before they taunted each other with vile threats. 

Diffee and host Patrick Borelli talk about how to try to break up the inevitable mob brawl that will occur.

The view from backstage, just before showtime.

This was our raw cartoon material, created by the audience. They were clearly in a combative mood. 

Borelli took the liberty of drawing photorealistic portraits of audience members, so that it would be easier to identify them in a police lineup. 

Guess what these pointe-shoed dancers are doing? 

Guess what this pointe-shoe, umm... dominatrix is doing? 

Hilary Price (who then screamed "Rhymes With Orange You Jealous?") shreds the wrapping of the much-deserved Fisticuffs! winners' trophy, which is a half-gallon of cold, delicious milk. How prestigious is this award? Tom Hanks has a shelf full of Oscars but not a single one of these. 

This is a picture of Diffee and Lewis graciously conceding, minutes before they angrily rabbit-punched Price and Dernavich backstage.