『The Art of Drawing Worse with Tom Toro』のカバーアート

The Art of Drawing Worse with Tom Toro

The Art of Drawing Worse with Tom Toro

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Thank you Kevin KAL Kallaugher, asher, Margreet de Heer, Dan Collins, Pat Coakley, and many others for tuning into my live video with Tom Toro (and his cat, Pumpkin!) Tom is a New Yorker cartoonist, author, and the rare person who can make me feel simultaneously inspired and completely inadequate about my cartooning skills.His new book, And to Think We Started as a Book Club, just dropped, and it’s already Andy Borowitz’s October Book Club pick. The title itself is a gag from one of his cartoons—bank robbers mid-heist, one holding a crowbar (originally a shotgun, but weapons get flagged by algorithms, apparently). It’s the kind of unwieldy-but-funny title that works because the joke sustains it.The Art of Drawing WorseOne of the best moments came when Tom shared Bob Mankoff’s advice to Paul Noth: “Draw worse.”Not as an insult, but as a direction. Noth’s early work was so detailed—cross-hatching, filigree, the whole nine—that Mankoff told him the jokes were strong enough to carry simpler art. The delivery needed to be cleaner. Tom admitted he sometimes overdoes drawings when he’s insecure about a joke, like he’s compensating. I felt seen. Very seen.“The best thing about your work is the worst thing about your work,” Mankoff once told me. “You draw too well sometimes.” I’m still not sure if it was a compliment. Probably not.Fact-Checking V*ginas & Left-Handed CatchersThe New Yorker fact-checks cartoons. Tom once got a note asking if he could make a drawing “less vaginal.” (Three lion manes forming an unfortunate composition.) “I had a baseball cartoon flagged because I’d drawn a left-handed catcher—apparently, there hasn’t been one in the majors since 1972. They let me keep it, but wanted me to know.”These notes are rare, which makes them oddly precious. “It’s nice to know there are eyes on it,” Tom said. Most of the time, cartooning is just the Roman Coliseum—thumbs up, thumbs down, see you in twelve years.AI Can’t Make Good MistakesWe talked about AI creeping into cartoon spaces, and Tom’s theory hit hard: AI can’t make good mistakes. It can mimic, reproduce, even generate six-fingered hands by accident—but it can’t make the artful mistakes that lead you somewhere unexpected. The kind that gives a drawing its heartbeat.“Maybe it’s incumbent upon artists to keep pushing ourselves to realms of discomfort,” he said, “where we just make more beautiful mistakes.”That’s the hope. That’s the work.Tom’s on tour all month—Powell’s in Portland this Friday, then Connecticut, New York, Boston. If you’re near any of those spots, go hear him talk and get your book signed. Support cartoon collections. Raise all boats.‘til next timeYour pal,Referenced in the conversation:* Tom Toro’s website* And to Think We Started as a Book Club (Tom Toro)* The Borowitz Report (Andy Borowitz)* Well, This Is Me (Asher Perlman)* The Joy of Snacking (Hillary Fitzgerald Campbell)* Understanding Comics (Scott McCloud)* Matt Inman / The Oatmeal on AI* Civics 101 Podcast* Powell’s Books, Portland* St. Nell’s Writer’s Residency (Emily Flake) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.newyorkcartoons.com/subscribe
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