Cartoons and Field Trips

Last couple of weeks have been field trip week for my family.

My daughter took a trip up into the mountains. Her lunch bag is shown above. A few years ago I started a tradition of drawing a cartoon on my kids sack lunches. Five minutes of effort for a smile, it’s a great deal. Plus, it is one of the few times I draw cartoons.

My daughter also went to see a performance group The Silhouettes and my son went to the Children’s Museum. These trips also called for fun lunch bags.

I like drawing cartoons. When I was in high school, I wanted to be a cartoonist. I doodled cartoons  for my friends. I doodled cartoons on my notes. I even had a short stint as the editorial cartoonist for The Thunderbird, my college paper. I dabbled with cartoons for an independent underground zine- The Thunderground. My press credentials for that paper still hangs in my studio.

Alas, I was unable to devote the time I wanted to art and had to choose, cartoons or painting. Painting won!

Coincidentally, while I was drawing my daughters buffalo lunch bag, this video showed up in my inbox. And I was stoked!

You see, I also took a field trip. I went and watched a lecture with Disney Legend Floyd Norman.

Norman the first African American illustrator at Disney was speaking at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design as part of the VISITING ARTIST, SCHOLAR, AND DESIGNER PROGRAM, sponsored by the Clifford Still Museum and Alamo Draft House Theater. Norman gave a lecture detailing his time at Disney and Pixar. He also discussed the changes in animation technology over the last 50 plus years.  As a separate part of the event, they showed the documentary “Floyd Norman: An Animated Life.”

I did not pack a sack lunch for my trip. However, I was reminded of an important message I learned in elementary school, field trips are fun, like cartoons!