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Jester of the Peace
Reverend Barbara Ann Michaels
Humor Arts Museum
Uplifting Humorous Art In All Media
More Shows
Beloved
Cartoons
Curated by
Robert Q. Bostick
The Perfect Cartoon
& Humor Point
Photo courtesy of Robert Q. Bostick
Cartoon Curator
Robert Q. Bostick
Robert Bostick is the creator of HumorPoint: the world’s first suite of humor tools to let people quickly find the perfect touch of humor for their presentation and business communication needs.
Cartoons are a magical way to put us into an imaginary scene that can move our feelings from zero to happy in five seconds. Not just any cartoon will do. It has to be a brilliant. What makes a cartoon brilliant? The answer is found in the humor adage, “It’s funny, because it’s true.” Cartoonists are masters at revealing a perfect moment of truth from our crazy, ever-changing lives.
Ten years ago I saw a company CEO give a talk to a large room full of potential investors for his company. Unfortunately his talk was a snoozer. That is until half way through his talk he shared a phenomenal cartoon. A cartoon so remarkably perfect for his message that he brought the house down with laughter. He won everyone’s hearts, minds, and attention from that moment on.
I was instantly inspired to see how many more cartoons were out there on the internet that had the same power to woo and win over an audience in just a few short seconds. It turned out there were thousands. But unless I created a search engine so people could find them no one would ever would. So I built the world’s first curated cartoon search engine. I built it with Adam Cheyer, the creator of Siri. We named our search engine ‘The Perfect Cartoon.’
With this Humor Art’s Musueum Cartoon Showcase you will discover the appeal of smart, exceptionally sweet, feel-good cartoons. All the cartoons will be linked to where the cartoonist posted them for the world to find and delight in them. Notice which cartoons flip your feelings from “Ok to Wonderful” in just a few seconds. Then feel free to share them to make someone else feel just as good as they made you feel. In case you didn’t get the memo making the people feel good on this planet is what life is all about.
PAUL NOTH
Paul Noth's work has been featured in The New Yorker for 20 years, on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," where he developed the cartoon "Pale Force" and on CBS's "The Late Late Show." A master of conjugating words with imagery, Noth plays with puns, irony and sarcasm, often in a clinical environment, such as a hospital or therapist’s office. This cartoon speaks to the truth about dog adoptions.
2022, About Paul
CHARLES SCHULZ
Schulz's beloved drawings travelled the world and remain relevant in today’s pop culture, with fans who still hope one day Charlie Brown will kick the ball. He began drawing his family dog, Spike, who ate unusual things. In 1937, he sent a drawing of Spike to Ripley's Believe It or Not!; appearing in Ripley's syndicated panel. All he desired to do was “draw funny pictures,” which made his decision to retire challenging.
1956, About Charles
HARRY BLISS
Bliss is a staff cartoonist at The New Yorker magazine since 1997. Over 3500 of his self-titled, daily single-panel cartoon have appeared in major newspapers since 2005. An enthusiastic animal-rights activist, he has designed covers for PETA's Animal Times magazine and statues that have appeared in major American cities, in a continuous effort to eradicate animal suffering. He visits schools all over the globe teaching comics, illustration and satire.
About Harry
THE THOMAS BROTHERS
The brothers discovered early on their uncanny capacity to sketch friends and neighbors as cartoons. Yet, in college, Bob studied music and Bill advertising. Ten years later, at a family reunion, they posed “Why don’t we try our hand at cartooning again?” They quickly sold their first cartoons, one to The Saturday Evening Post. They continue to push themselves to find humor in any situation. They compose music and work in independent films together. This cartoon reflects the adage, 'it's funny because it's true.'
About Bill and Bob
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
MIKE BALDWIN
As a teen, Baldwin rode his bike 20 miles each week to his grandfather’s farm, earning ten bucks to cut the lawn. Then, he’d pore through his grandfather’s New Yorker magazines for cartoons, musing, “Imagine drawing cartoons for a living!” He publishes his work in his Cornered gallery. His mission is to have cartoons emerge from the comics page to the front page, bringing laughter to readers to balance the often dark news of the headlines. This cartoon smiles with our focus on the actions of others to distract from ourselves.
About Mike
DAN REYNOLDS
Dan Reynolds started drawing at age twenty-nine. He creates greeting cards with American Greetings, Recycled Paper Greetings and Papyrus Greetings. His baseball cartoons are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
This cartoon and his career show the difference between pondering our future and living it.
About Dan
CHRISTIAN TALBOT & SOPHIE HODGE
A writer and illustrator duo from the United Kingdom, their webcomic series “Life of Sharks” infuses humor with real facts about sharks. The series covers the minutiae of everyday life, relationships, and emotions - ironically by sharks, notoriously cold-hearted killers. Talbot started this series as a comedian, but needed an illustrator, and turned to Hodge. Collaborators do help us feel Great.
About Christian and Sophie
CHARLES BARSOTTI
Barsotti started cartooning in response to the Vietnam War. He even ran for congress in Kansas. Through apolitical characters, he challenged corruption and inequality. He is a popular New Yorker cartoonist. Dogs can indeed double as therapists.
About Charles
CHARLIE HANKIN
Hankin, from Los Angeles, has worked for The New Yorker, SyFy, Comedy Central, and Matt Porter. He writes out a joke, then explores illustration, careful to avoid going for "funny" - he focuses on whimsical associations. He relies on caffeine to fuel his workplace. Rapt attention from a modern audience may best be attained with cats and a laser pointer.
About Charlie
JOHN O'BRIEN
O’Brien started cartooning later in life, in the late 80s. He career was kicked off by interest form the New Yorker. His drawings center on sight gags rather than captioned drawings.
About John
MICHAEL MASLIN
Michael Maslin's tenure with The New Yorker exceeds 46 years. He was rejected by The New Yorker as a teenager. In 1977, The New Yorker purchased one of his comics. In 2009, Maslin created InkSpill, a website documenting the history of New Yorker cartoons over the years. Try this cartoon to lighten a finance meeting.
About Michael
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
And they say cats don't travel well...
HALLIE BATEMAN
A self-described “illustwriter,”Bateman focuses on tender moments. She grew up in small town northern California, where creativity was a necessity to keep her siblings entertained, and became a cartoonists in college. Making art still feels like play. It would be nice if we could clean our drains and find our great ideas all over again.
About Hallie
KENDRA ALLENBY
Allenby takes a visceral approach to cartooning, acknowledging that it's a full body activity, inner and outer, and a path to understanding. She reaches to convey the complex in clear terms, personal and societal. Her career spans The New Yorker, The Red Cross and more groups. Here is a brilliant plan for maximum solar investment return.
About Kendra
DOUG SAVAGE
Award-nominated Savage Chickens was created in 2005, now published on weekdays, in addition to a Savage Chickens music video. Savage often draws animals with big eyes and deep thoughts. He has published Laser Moose and Rabbit Boy as a graphic novel series since 2016. Savage speaks and exhibits widely across the USA. This cartoon points to the promise of asking why, again and again, also championed in ‘The Five Why’s’.
About Doug
TOM CHENEY
Cheney has been a New Yorker cartoonist for over 40 years, also appearing in over 500 publications globally. He won the Charles M. Schulz Outstanding Cartoonist Award in 1985. His detailed drawing style, here, alludes to the before and after of this moment, a category 5 storm that brings her brother a sandwich.
About Tom
CHRISTOPHER WEYANT
Plans to go into politics gave way to cartooning. He won the 2015 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award and is a Nieman Fellow. He is widely published in global media, including print, advertising, web and television. Weyant is collected by museums, including The Whitney. This cartoon sums up the mission of cartoonists everywhere.
About Christopher
LIZZ LUNNEY
Lunney is the resident cartoonist of Exberliner Magazine. Living in Berlin, she works across realms of international media from cartoons to animation and gaming to branding. This cartoon celebrates the remarkable amount of good news we don’t see or hear.
About Lizz
WILLIAM STEIG
Steig's career as a New Yorker cartoonist began in 1930, where he created 117 covers. His Poor Pitiful Pearl character became a doll series in 1956. He also created the Shrek character, which inspired a successful film and Broadway show. He has been nominated for and won numerous awards including a Caldecott Medal. This cartoon celebrates love as our birthright.
About William
JACK ZIEGLER
Ziegler was a New Yorker cartoonist for 40 years, publishing 1400 cartoons there. Several of his works are held by the Billy Ireland Museum of Cartooning Art at Ohio State University. His youthful love of comics paired with his studies in media to have him innovate in the industry. This cartoon honors a relentless pursuit of joy.
About Jack
MARK PARISI
Parisi has been in syndication since 1987 with his Off The Mark series. He has won awards in both the cartoon and greeting card industries. In addition to a book series, Marty Pants, for youth, his work has been presented in merchandise, magazines and music. This cartoon cheers painting as a long way to catch a short moment forever.
About Mark
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Are you a cartoonist with artwork to share?
Or are you a cartoon fan with a favorite cartoon?
Send them in for consideration to The Perfect Cartoon and Humor Point to RobertBostick@HumorPoint.com.
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