is that dew

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When someone asks if you’re crying, always deny.

is that dew

the horse’s tears?

rice blossoms

— Haiku by Kobayashi Issa (translated by David G. Lanoue), cartoon by Jessica Tremblay (Old Pond Comics)

baby sparrows

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baby sparrows

by the cow and the horse

untrampled

– Haiku by Kobayashi Issa translated by David G. Lanoue, illustrated in haiku-comic by Old Pond Comics

Watch out for that horse!

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“Watch out for that horse!

Watch out!”

mother sparrow calls

– Haiku by Kobayashi Issa, Tr. David G. Lanoue, ill. Old Pond Comics

Sketchbook – stone still

Posted on November 10, 2014 by oldpondcomics

I can’t draw to save my life. Lucky for me, there’s a computer program called Illustrator that helps me draw straight lines.

How do you become a cartoonist when you can’t draw? I learned not to freak out.

If I have to draw a horse, my first thoughts are usually “How am I gonna draw a horse? I don’t know how to draw a horse!!!”, but then I remember the works of French painter Rene Magritte who wrote, underneath the painting of a pipe, “This is not a pipe” (“Ceci n’est pas une pipe”). Of course it’s not a pipe… it’s a painting of a pipe!

Magritte's "La Trahison des Images" ("The Treachery of Images") (1928-9) or "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" ("This is not a pipe"). From: Image taken from a University of Alabama site, "Approaches to Modernism"

Rene Magritte’s “La Trahison des Images” (1928-9) From: University of Alabama site, “Approaches to Modernism”

Basically, it doesn’t have to “be” a horse, it just has to “look” like a horse.

So there you go. This is my representation of a horse for you…

Sketchbook – all the day teasing

Posted on November 4, 2014 by oldpondcomics

Here’s a look at my sketchbook and the final version made in Illustrator. The final comic was published in Haiku Canada Review (october 2014 issue). Thanks to editor Leroy Gorman!