Monday, January 20, 2014

My Life as a Cartoon

 
As a bit of fun I recently had my portrait done in the style of a Simpsons character. I'm glad I came out more Lionel Hutz (may he rest in peace), than Sideshow Bob, but this isn't my first incarnation as a cartoon.

When my father published his compilation of columns in "Take My Family Please" (1981), he asked famous Canadian cartoonist Lynn Johnston, author of the iconic "For Better or Worse" comic strip, to illustrate it. Here is one of the cartoons of the whole family. By the way, that's me in the bottom left showing my affection for sister Jane.

Finally, when I was a weekly columnist for the National Post, they created this hand-carved beauty of me. I remember being told it wasn't the product of Photoshop or some mechanical process. Some guy literally hand-carves these woodcuts. In fact, in my case it took so long to produce that by the time it was finished the National Post had gone through another round of freelancer layoffs and they only got to use it a couple of times in the paper. Maybe they keep losing money because they spend it on woodcuts.

Still, I ended up with a nice souvenir, and I didn't have to sit on a rickety chair in front of a starving portrait artist in Times Square to get it.