Don’t forget! DMA #30 Live Wednesday @ 11:00 am EDT with Special Guest Cartoonist & Author Alex Hallatt!
Join me tomorrow for a FREE livestream at 11:00 am Eastern for a conversation with Alex Hallatt—cartoonist, author, environmental storyteller, and creator of the long-running comic strip Arctic Circle
That’s right—Wednesday at 11:00 am Eastern, I’ll be drawing and chatting with the brilliant
live on Substack!
👉 ADD IT TO YOUR CALENDAR NOW!
Alex and I go way back to our newspaper days in Australia—back when comics still had their own page in the paper. Her strip Arctic Circle ran above my legacy strip Ginger Meggs, so this reunion feels a bit like finding an old colleague from the funny-pages trenches, only now the deadline is live and there’s an audience.
These days, Alex lives in Europe and publishes Cartooning in the Age of AI, a Substack exploring what it means to keep hand-drawn humour alive when robots are trying to beat us to the punchline. She’s also the author of many books, including A Basque Diary—a brilliant illustrated travelogue that somehow makes jamón and pintxos look even more appetising in ink.
Tomorrow we’ll talk about life after newspapers, how she’s adapting her creative process in the age of algorithms, and what it takes to stay funny (and human) when your competition is a neural network. Expect travel stories, Substack chat, behind-the-scenes sketches, and probably how much we both enjoy ink under our fingernails… as well as a cameo from her dog Molly, who might finally meet Morris.
The Daily Cartoonist did a great profile of Alex a while back if you’d like to see more of her work ahead of the chat.
Look, I could pretend this is purely educational- two artists exploring the future of cartooning. And yes, we’ll do that. But really, I’m catching up with one of the sharpest cartoonists I know, and you get to eavesdrop while I draw. Everybody wins.
Set an alarm. Grab a coffee. Bring your sketchbook if you’re feeling ambitious.
What is a DMA?
You’ve heard of an AMA (Ask Me Anything). A DMA is the same idea—but instead of staring at my face for an hour, you get to watch me draw while you ask questions, make requests, and maybe pick up a few tricks of the trade.
See you tomorrow!
Your pal,
P.S. Got a question for Alex? Drop it in the comments here or in the chat during the stream. She’ll be remarkably patient with my rambling questions—but I’m sure she’d appreciate some variety.
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Question for Alex: How much time/what percentage do you spend daily on: comics business/marketing/p.r./recordkeeping related tasks versus actual cartooning? Has A.I. changed that and if so, by how much (increase/decrease)?
Who says I'll be patient? It's not one of my strong points...lol