This poster was illustrated by Pascal Blanchet, a man whose abounding creativity leaps right off the page and kicks the viewer in the face. It was created in response to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s “bare-bones approach to arts-funding” (to quote Canadian author Yann Martel, who has decided to protest in his own unique fashion). Oh, for those of my readership who don’t know Harper’s reputation, he’s basically the George Bush of Canada. Yeah, that bad.

Now, as a red white and blue-blooded, bald eagle making out with, Iraqi-invading under false pretenses American, I have been appalled time and again to discover my favorite cartoons and cartoonists are –good lord,choke!- Canadian. “The Cat Came Back,” CANADIAN. New Yorker-esque cartoonist extraordinaire Seth, CANADIAN. “Ren and Stimpy” creator John K, CANADIAN. Chester Brown, CANDIAN (okay, so considering his magnum opus is a biography of Louis Riel, I saw that one coming). I suppose when the weather constantly forces you indoors, you have to find something to do with your time.

Well, here’s a salute to those hard-working Canadians artist, and here’s hoping Harper and his conservative cronies will get their TimBits handed to them this coming election.

For more Pascal Blanchet, who makes amazing comics himself, go here. You will not be disappointed.

Well now! Due to the overwhelming response to the last post (8 comments! New record!), I have decided to start posting a weekly sketch from the deep, slimy, bat-infested vaults of my old and current sketchbooks (you wouldn’t believe how much extra they charge for the sketchbooks with the vaults). Above you’ll find the very first Monday Sketcharoo sketch, dating from around a year ago. I started with the drawing of the tube of glue, and then decided to add the rest of the elements. And in case you couldn’t tell, that’s a caricature of myself (no, the guy next to the bird).

The really interesting thing about this sketch is it uses eerily similar motifs I employed in a comic I had done 2 years prior (posted below), drawn as part of the admission paperwork I had to complete when I applied to the Center for Cartoon Studies. Pretentious art babble, a bird art connoisseur, turtlenecks and goatees employed as signifiers of one steeped in the contemporary art world… it’s all there. Yet it took me a full two days to realize that I’ve done this all before. I guess it just goes to prove that old adage: “Good artists copy, great artists steal, and lousy artists just reuse the same dumb gags they made two years earlier.”

Hope you like poop jokes!

Wasn’t that… special?