Blackwing Surprise, E. Jean Carroll, & Talking Substack on The Illustration Department Podcast
#446: Plus! Brendan Leonard, Dexter premiere, ComicLab podcast in Boston, Rutger Bregman, Jazz club Sketchbook, Picture This! & Morris gets a donut.
Hey again, friend.
Welcome to Issue #446 of New York Cartoons. As I’m writing this, I’m wringing out my damp clothes from the flash floods in New York last night. I was on the 1 train on my way to dinner when the doors opened and the whole train turned into the world’s most disgusting kiddie pool. I do love it when New York turns apocalyptic in Summer. Here’s my vid:
I want to make sure you know about 3 things right up top this week:
The First is my chat with Amy Kurzweil that’ll be taking place at 5pm EDT today. We’re going to do a big reveal with our favourite pencil company, Blackwing Pencils. Second, I’m going to be talking tomorrow with one of my favourite runner-cartoonist,
. I’ll be chatting with him at 12 noon EDT. (If you’re into running, also has a great series on her Substack about it this month.)
If you’d like to join my chat with Amy today at 5pm, click here.
If you’d like to add my chat with Brendan to your calendar, click here.
And last but not least, the THIRD thing is that my podcast with
and is now up wherever you listen to podcasts. We discuss the benefits and drawbacks of Substack for artists. It was a really fun chat— my second time on this excellent podcast.
Be like E. Jean Carroll, become a Founding Member!
The amazing E. Jean Carroll (IYKYK) has been enjoying this here newsletter and was nice enough to let me know she is now a Founding Member. If you’d like to upgrade your subscription to Founding, and support my work here, I would love you to do so here.
Sidenote: Her book debuted at #2 on the New York Times Best-Sellers list this month. It’s worth it for the rear blurbs alone.
Oh, and I have to give full credit to comedian
for this little gem at the end of the weekly emails…
Another Conversations Portrait for Waking Up:
This time, Sam speaks with historian and author
. They discuss why it seems like we are at the hinge of human history, wealth inequality, how altruism should be rewarded, how we should think about philanthropic billionaires, effective altruism, why empathy is overrated, moral entrepreneurship, universal basic income, work and meaning, existential risk, and other topics.
The Sketchbook I’m sharing with you this week is a mixed bag of jazz show sketches and dog sketches in the new book. If you’d like one of your own dog, click here.
x
Also— Not technically a “sketchbook” since it’s a finished bit of art, but here’s my portrait of the very funny
who I chatted with earlier this year.
Aaaaand not technically sketchbook either, but this was a portrait I did of
for Waking Up. I think he has a great face. (Also a great Substack.)
I was pedalling a broken Citibike down University Place this morning when I spotted her outside Madman Espresso: A woman sat casually reading the Times, coffee in hand, with a bird perched on her shoulder. The magnificent accessory—a Congo African Grey Parrot—was having what appeared to be a quiet breakfast conversation with her, occasionally dipping its beak towards her cup when she took a sip. I heard it squawk “Epstein!” a couple of times. They had the ease of an old couple who have been doing this morning routine for decades. I sneakily made a quick sketch before toppling over on the bike. The bell came off. Don’t tell anyone. (Keep reading below…)
I’m doing Picture This! again on July 26th. You can get cheap early bird tickets by clicking this link.
In all my years of living in New York, I’d never once been to the Jersey Shore— all I’d ever heard about it was that there was something called a Snooki and lots of house-sized flags. It was the perfect place to spend my first July 4th as a US citizen… (Keep reading below)
I got to attend the world premiere of the new series of Dexter, which is a reboot of the series but also a continuation of “New Blood”. This time it takes place in New York. It’s so good— I can’t wait for everyone to see it.
I’ll be on the ComicLab podcast LIVE in Boston in August, talking about Substack, and how cartoonists are trying to scrape together enough money for cup noodles in 2025. It’ll be a fun chat with two of my favourite cartoonist podcasters—Dave Kellett of
and of Webcomics Handbook:
Thank you for the wonderful drawing of Coco (RIP). I will treasure this forever!
My goodness, your range with portraiture is incredible. What a treat to see.