Bored Panda reached out to David to catch up with him since the last post. He shared what has changed over that time.
“Since the last post, I published a comic strip on The New Yorker website about how I cry at corny movies, and I was featured on a local news show called New York Live. I also slowed down on drawing for a while to focus on taking care of my kids and getting in shape, but now, with the school year starting, I have more time to write and draw.”
David also replied to our question about his typical day when working on a comic.
“That depends. If I already have some ideas, I’ll sit down at my kitchen table with my iPad, crank up some music, and draw feverishly until it’s time to pick my kids up at school. If I don’t have any ideas, I might make the bed or fold some laundry and let my mind wander. If anything comes to me, I’ll make sure to bring my iPad to the playground in the afternoon and look for a quiet bench to draw at while my kids play.”
We were curious to learn about a time when a reader’s response really touched the artist.
David wrote: “I was really overwhelmed by the response I got to my piece about being a grown man who cries a lot. A lot of people really related, and it’s moments of connection like those that make me feel really good about my work.”
Part of being a comic artist means abandoning some of the ideas. We asked David to share what ideas he tends to scrap.
“It doesn’t happen very often, but if I think of a joke that feels too dark I’ll probably scrap the idea before even drawing it because in general, I like to keep my work enjoyable for people of all sensitivity levels (within reason). The beginning of 2020 was very interesting in this regard because death is a perennial topic in gag cartooning but when COVID came, and we started to lose so many people, it began to feel immensely wrong to joke about death. So—like many of my peers—I veered away from that subject matter.”
Lastly, David shared what he would like people to take away from his comics.
“Since it’s such a stripped-down medium, it’s hard to make people laugh out loud with single-panel cartoons. When I see cartoons I like, mostly I’ll chuckle inwardly and say to myself 'That’s clever.' So it’s very special when something I see literally makes me laugh out loud. Even just generating ideas that seem worth drawing feels like a victory to me, but if I make something that makes people laugh out loud or spit out their coffee—that’s always the dream.
