draw yourself lost at sea

tooning through the abyss

Apr 06, 2023

A cartoon drawing in black ink on notebook paper of an exhausted-looking, big-headed, big-eyed figure seated atop a raft of splintered wood, lost at sea. The fins of six sharks circle the raft. The figure holds a sign that reads “eat me.”

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I’m still tired, pals. Profoundly, skeletally tired. The kind of tired where you can’t cook a good meal, drive a car, or write, no matter how much you want to. Which means that I have no new writing to share this month. But I have been drawing. Cartooning, actually, with Lynda Barry’s glorious class-in-a-book MAKING COMICS.

Below (and above) are some of my responses to Barry’s prompts. Each panel was drawn in 5 minutes or less.

Two cartoon drawings in black ink on notebook paper of a big-headed, big-eyed figure. In the first panel, the figure lays on her stomach in the grass, gazing adoringly into the eyes of a squirrel. In the second, she is riding a bicycle with a baguette in the basket while wearing a striped shirt and beret and smoking a cigarette. — “Encounter with a Squirrel” and “Draw Yourself as A French Person.” The French person is a real woman I saw in Paris years ago. She also had a little dog in her bike basket. I will admit to adding the beret.

I never know what these pictures will look like before I draw them. And almost every time, I am startled and delighted by what (and who) appears on the page. The gentle protagonist of this story began as a lightning-shaped scribble.

A four-panel ink cartoon on notebook paper featuring a soft-looking monster with a pointy nose, a long tail, and cowboy boots with stars on them. The first panel just shows the monster. The second panel shows its parents—a spiky, lightning-shaped creature with stars around its head and a fluffy creature with kind eyes. The third panel shows the monster as a toddler, plump and ineffectual as a baby penguin, and beside them their older sibling, a spiky monster wearing a cute sweater and many earrings. In the final panel, the monster, now elderly and grateful, is dancing with the love of its life, an old box of popcorn. The popcorn box is wearing glasses and using a cane.

Three more panels in the life of the same monster. In the first panel the monster is a baby strapped to its spiky parent’s chest. In the second, it is a child in its room at night, drawing in a notebook, illuminated by a desk lamp. In the third it is a surly teenager at the beach under the moonlight. Its boots are decorated with skulls instead of stars. — *What do you think this monster’s name is? All suggestions welcome.*

When you only have 3–5 minutes and a felt-tip pen, there’s no room to start over, reconsider, or erase. You can only keep going.

Two more ink drawings of the same big-headed, big-eyed figure from earlier. In one drawing, she is being carried like a baby by an enormous swirly alien. She looks up at the alien with awe. In the second drawing, the figure is tiny, standing on the tongue of a human mouth, looking elated, offering a box of chocolates to a bashful-looking tonsil. — “Draw Yourself Being Carried By an Alien” and “I Love You Tonsil”. The second prompt came from a friend whose phone autocorrected her “I love you tons” text. (I did quickly look up tonsil photos for reference. I sure as heck didn’t know.)

These 5-minute drawings are crudely executed, weirdly proportioned, marred with botched lines and left-handed ink smears—in other words, a full bouquet of stressors for this perfectionist. And they are charming, poignant, morbid, and laugh-out-loud funny. Flawed and wonderful.

Someday I will absorb this lesson.*

tenderness toward existence days

There are so many good tiny holidays in April! To keep this newsletter relatively brief, I’m restricting my list to the next two weeks.

Peeps Day, also Encourage a Young Writer Day (4/10)
International Louie Louie Day (4/11)
Grilled Cheese Day (4/12)
Plant Appreciation Day (4/13)
Look Up at the Sky Day (4/14)
Slow Art Day (4/15)
Day of the Mushroom (4/16)
BAT APPRECIATION DAY (v. important!!!! 4/17)
National Velociraptor Awareness Day (4/18)
Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day (4/21)
National Dance Day (4/22)

Final cartoon drawing in black ink on notebook paper of the big-headed, big-eyed figure wearing an oversized hoodie and standing on a balcony with a small dish in her hands. Conifer trees are visible in the distance. A crow peeks its head out from behind a neighboring wall. — *Daily diary: Bringing a little dish of peanuts outside for my crow friends. I do this every few hours. Sometimes they’re already there, waiting.*

Thanks for reading all the way to the end. If you have any suggestions for monster names or prompts for future 5-minute drawings, I am all ears.

*Just kidding. I will learn nothing from this.

Conny Borgelioen

April 7, 2023

I need this book! I have pen paralysis when it comes to drawing. I used to love drawing and painting, but I think that art school messed me up. Also, I have a grilled cheese day at least once a week :)

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draw yourself lost at sea

tooning through the abyss

tenderness toward existence days

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