Media, Shop Talk, Books
Jason Chatfield
Guest Article on Writers Digest: “5 Ways to ...
Guest Article on Writers Digest: “5 Ways to Turn Down the Volume to Hear Your Own Voice”
Cartooning, Media, Books
Jason Chatfield
Big News: Announcing a Brand New Book Series!
Cartooning, Shop Talk
Jason Chatfield
Why I bailed on social media to focus on ...

TL;DR: I switched out Social Media for direct subscription-based inbox distribution of my work and it has yielded way more than social ever did. (+ it won’t ever be shadow-banned by a buggy algorithm that doesn’t understand satire.)

Why I bailed on social media to focus on something way better.
Cartooning
Jason Chatfield
Stories from an Aussie Cartoonist in New York
Stories from an Aussie Cartoonist in New York
Book Reviews
Jason Chatfield
2021 Book Recommendations

I’ve never really done any book recommendations. That’s likely due to the fact that I’ve barely had time to finish a book in the past 7 years. But since quitting social media in July, I’ve finished over a dozen books. Weird.

Inspired by Brendan Leonard at SemiRad and his very helpful 2021 Book Recommendation List, I’ve compiled a list of books I enjoyed this year. Many of them I started or skimmed previously but didn’t actually finish until this year. Good for me. I hope you enjoy them.

Note: Some of the links below are affiliate links. That means if you buy books through the links, I will receive a small amount of cash to buy food for Morris. Where possible, I used links to Bookshop or the publisher’s website when possible. If you don’t know how Bookshop works: You can select a local independent bookstore from Bookshop’s list, and when you buy a book, that bookstore gets a small commission from the sale. If you like bookstores, and you would like them to stick around, it’s great.

Also… if you like bookstores, my friend and fellow New Yorker cartoonist Bob Eckstein did an entire book about bookstores. It’s wondrously meta.

2021 Book Recommendations

Sketchbook

Paris Sketchbook #1: Christmas Creatures of Bar 228

Eavesdrawing the patrons and staff at the Plaza Hotel of Paris

December 23, 2023
Rue de Rivoli, Paris

Thawing out for the afternoon, we’ve decided to order the cheapest thing on the menu and take in the show of the lobby bar in Le Meurice, a hotel bordering the Tuileries.

If there’s a New York equivalent it would be the Plaza Hotel; A hive of opulence. A place to be seen. The kind of iconic establishment the clenched class comes to grudgingly tolerate their relatives over expensive champagne and high tea. Rich fodder for eavesdrawing:

,

The 2023 Self-Portrait

,

Every year for the past 9 years I’ve used my 'warm-up sketches' time on New Year’s Day to scribble a self-portrait.

It’s the only time I do it. The style depends on whether I’m at the drawing board or sitting at the Cintiq. I don't meditate much on these; I just start drawing and see what emerges. It’s usually a reflection of my feelings about that year.

, ,

The New Yorker: "Overheard at The Comedy Cellar"

, ,

The New Yorker has been sending their cartoonists out into New York to eavesdrop (or as I’ve been calling it, “Eavesdraw”) on its inhabitants and publish their findings in their collection “Overheard in New York”. I perched myself at my favourite place in all of New York and scribbled down what I saw... and overheard. Verbatim.

 
 
, ,

Canoodle Doodles

, ,

(This originally appeared on ToonStack)

I was recently reading that when Leonardo DaVinci wasn’t drawing dicks in his sketchbook, he used to sketch the same goofy old grotesque face in various iterations.

He had many different versions of this guy over the years, but I imagine it’s just something he mucked about with when he was procrastinating on his latest piece. 

There are countless scribbles of the same face that can be found in his sketchbooks over the course of his life. The image on the left is one of the better versions I’ve seen.

There’s something comical and caricatury about the treatment, even though I’m sure much of the detail is pretty true to life.

I have a very similar guy that I often revisit when I don’t know what to draw, though no artistic genius like DaVinci’s to speak of. He’s pretty nondescript, but very easy to pop into a cartoon if I find a good expression.

I upload my sketches all the time here.

,

The High Line

,

The High Line is finally back open at full capacity in New York. It really is one of my favourite parts of the city. I walk it every morning before I start the day. If you’re ever in town, make it one of your first stops.

 
jason.png

TOPICS