Talk about a long time coming – my pal Derek Van Gieson, the wittiest dude in Prospect Heights*, has broken through into the artistic cumulous and has a credit on The New Yorker website, in their online “cartoon lounge”. For some time now he’s been slaving away creating illustrations on spec for a weekly beauty parade with the magazine’s cartoon editor, Bob Mankoff. Now there’s no need for me to even contemplate cancelling my subscription.
Check out his contribution to the web-lounge’s cartoon series “The Worst Things About Summer”. Apart from DVG’s hairy-legged effort, I liked the illustration of “butt condensation on subway seats”, which any NY subway commuter will giggle and cringe at simultaneously.
Maybe it’s finally DVG’s moment: this fall – a term which, I have to say, I have come to love fervently despite my antipodean upbringing – he also makes his debut in MOME, an anthology of something called the “rising cartoon generation” (are they armed?). In his characteristic prose style, DVG expounds here on the twisted path to publication in both outlets. His work at the moment uses pen & ink with coffee washes. As DVG himself admits, “If I don’t drink it, it goes into the drawing. Have I mistakenly taken a swig from the ink and coffee wash cup? The answer is yes.”
*DVG is also responsible for the author photo on the jacket of my book, which has come to be known as the “Hamlet shot”.
