#385: King Charles Sees Red, Apple Shits the iBed & Is a Sketchbook Really a Sketchbook?

+ Gina Rinefart, Trump sketches, Jetlag Sketchbook, Overheard at the Comedy Cellar and, of course, Morris says hello.

…I hope you’re having a covfefe week so far.

The wall-to-wall coverage of the latest in a slew of Trump trials here in New York has been exhausting. I don’t know, maybe it’s just jetlag. Either way, it was interesting to read fellow cartoonist Liza Donnelly‘s account of live drawing Day 17 of the trial in the courtroom. (Pro-tip: bring binoculars).

Never before have I so frequently felt “Put me in, coach!” vibes than watching the official court sketches come out of the Trump case courtroom… 🫣

Note: I realize “Courtroom Sketch Artist” has to be one of the trickiest gigs out there… it’s also a VERY strange profession in 2024, and the artists who get the big cases are not chosen according to how good they are at the job.

Readers: Has anyone worked as one of these?

Red Charlie

“Don’t show this to a fucking bull!” Photo courtesy of the butterfly’s mother

I see King Charles had his official portrait painted. He added a butterfly to it, because why not. The portrait seems fine (if you’re from Barad-dûr) but what I was hoping for was something more like the portrait of Australian mining billionaire Gina Rinehart. She has demanded the National Gallery of Australia remove her portrait from an exhibition by the award-winning artist Vincent Namatjira.

I think it’s great.

My favourite Substack about New York, CAFÉ ANNE, has shared information on something I think is very cool:

EXPLORE THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF NYC!

Daniel Pecoraro’s walking tours focus on niche topics like former movie theaters in Bay Ridge and places where Frederick Douglass spoke in Brooklyn. Whether you’re a lifelong New Yorker or just have a deep interest in history, land use, or culture, Daniel’s tours are for you! Click here to learn more and register. (And sign up to CAFÉ ANNE here.)

Apple misses the mark with iPad Commercial

In case you missed it, Apple shit the bed with artists of all stripes this past week when it revealed its new iPad Pro and iPad Air (The Pro weighs less than the Air, but let’s not dwell…)

Here’s the misfire:

The thing isn’t that they merely ‘missed the mark’ on this ad; It’s the clear fact that so many people at Apple and their agencies made this thing, watched it, and didn’t know the temperature of the water they were wading into when they dropped it.

They had zero concept that showing a giant machine crushing the tools of artists would be a bad idea in 2024. They consider the concept/product to be something that is ‘helping’. You know, like an AI-powered note writer, or a paperclip maximizer.

They now look like a broken Roomba bumping into the wall.

Silicon Valley has disappeared so far into its own bellybutton that it has lost the sense it once had for what their users want, and not faceless shareholder numbers on a spreadsheet.

Anyway. If you like hand-made art, my new Substack, “Process Junkie” is finally launching next week. You can sign up here.

This is now available as a shirt!

I’ve been really enjoying the work of UK artist Tor Freeman. I learned that there is a word for noodlers like me who love fountain pens… a Stylophile. I’m into it. You can sign up below:

I liked Kyle T Webster’s post on the prevalence of people online posting “Sketchbook” pages that are less like sketchbook pages but more like finished art (that happens to be drawn in something that could be described as a sketchbook.) I’m guilty of only really sharing pages I think turned out a happy accident, or a blob that turned into a bigger sketch. Or an ‘in progress’ drawing. But I think we should come up with a new word for the pages that get shared which could be framed in a gallery, vs. the horrible little goblin-scribbles that actually live in our sketchbooks— that is, if we’re using them as actual sketchbooks; working things out by hand. Suggestions welcome.

This week’s Sketchbook is what happens when you wake up jetlagged at 2:14 am

Also a bonus sketch from Paris:

While I do love the convenience of an iPad/Wacom/Xenselabs tablet… I can’t ever replicate the joy of using analog tools. I’m launching a new Substack called “Process Junkie” to explore all of the joys of the Process of making art. If you’re interested in that kind of thing, you can sign up here.

Time for third walk this hour?