A Cartoon in the Making...

Sadly — and unfortunately not surprisingly — I find myself working on yet another cartoon about gun violence.

I have done more cartoons about our twisted culture of guns than I can count.

Today I attempted to capture the research and idea phase of creating one of my animated shorts for you to see.

There’s always a moment when I’m doing research for a cartoon when the “idea spark” happens, and I was able to capture that moment in the above time-lapse video.

I didn’t set out to do a cartoon about gun violence.

If you have sharp eyes (or pause the video), you may see on the first page that I start writing notes about the shooting in Allen, Texas and then begin writing notes about Clarence Thomas and his corruption problems.

Honestly, I never really want to do another cartoon about gun violence and a Thomas cartoon could be sillier and a little easier emotionally.

Wading through all of this trauma takes a toll — on me AND you, so believe me, I’d rather do a Clarence Thomas cartoon. (Even though a corrupt Supreme Court justice is a weighty issue, a super yacht, a free house and even free tires(!) are easier to digest than another horrific shooting that takes an incalculable toll on victims of gun violence.)

For some reason, my cartoon muse led me toward gun violence so Thomas will have to wait.

If you watch this video, you’ll see that towards the beginning, I make factual notes taken from various news stories.

Then I find myself scribbling angry exclamation points or question marks when my absurdity or rage meter stars rising.

Little sketches, in this case of an automatic weapon and Texas Governor Greg Abbot (R-AR15), help my mind relax and kind of shift gears from the more “journalistic” note-taking side of the endeavor.

Believe me, there is no set formula for getting from a news story to a good cartoon.

There is always a little bit of mysticism and voodoo I don’t understand that gets me from point A to B.

In this video, that leap happens right around the 58-second mark.

That’s where I shift from stating the obvious — that Republican gun-rights advocates want to rely solely on thoughts & prayers while blaming mental health — into something a little more skewed and absurd.

Instead of regulating guns, let’s show Republicans (specifically Gov. Greg Abbott) regulating mental health, and take it a step farther that will help visually: Gov. Greg Abbott is going to solve our gun violence problem by regulating brains!

I haven’t written the script yet, but that little research and brainstorm session leaves me with a solid germ of an idea for a cartoon.

Don’t Regulate Guns, Regulate Brains!

Now for the script, I’ll dive into all the ridiculous options that are possible if we take any proposed gun regulation idea (trigger locks, waiting periods, age requirements) and apply it to brains.

I’m happy with where this is headed — mainly because it turns a brutal and painful issue into something that satirizes the politicians who are complicit in gun violence, points out the absurdity of their arguments . . . while making a cartoon that is more palatable than a depressing diatribe that causes people to avoid the issue entirely.

Or at least that’s the idea. Now I *just* have to write the script!