New York Cartoons

New York Cartoons

Share this post

New York Cartoons
New York Cartoons
Drawing Exercise #2: The Dreaded Self-Portrait
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
User's avatar
Discover more from New York Cartoons
A free cartoon hits your inbox every Tuesday + live videos & stories from my sketchbook that prove being a New Yorker cartoonist & comedian in Manhattan is exactly as unhinged as you'd imagine.
Over 17,000 subscribers
Already have an account? Sign in
Process Junkie

Drawing Exercise #2: The Dreaded Self-Portrait

Look in the mirror. Draw what you see (and feel). Don't hold back.

Jason Chatfield's avatar
Jason Chatfield
Jan 22, 2025

Share this post

New York Cartoons
New York Cartoons
Drawing Exercise #2: The Dreaded Self-Portrait
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

On New Year's Day for the past 10 years, I’ve used my 'warm-up sketches' time to self-flagellate with a self-portrait based on the previous year’s mess.

It’s the only time I do it, thank Christ. The style depends on whether I’m at the drawing board or sitting at the Cintiq that morning. I’m usually hungover, tired, hungry, or a spicy cross-section of this ugly triumvirate of self-loathing. I don't meditate much on these; I just plonk myself down, start drawing, and see what emerges. It’s usually a reflection of my feelings about the year that just passed and what I might expect for the year ahead.

After the relentless firehose of grief these past couple of years, including the two D’s: Death and Downsizing, I figure this expression captures the vibe of the year and the creative process of drawing this year’s self-portrait. I can barely manage more than a smile that invokes something between ‘help’ and ‘Because of course this happened now. What else y’got?’

Click to enlarge at your own risk...

Although speaking of the Creative Process, I should shout out Huma for bringing the great Hayao Miyazaki’s creative process to my attention.

Feeling very seen…

You do you:

Today, I’m challenging you to do your very own self-portrait after the year of 2024, and what 2025 portends — How did it feel? What expression would best capture it? Is it great? Is it terrible? Try it and share it with me on Notes, In the comments below, or if you don’t want anyone else to see it, email it to me privately in reply to this email. I'd love to see what you come up with.

Here are some of my previous years’ efforts:

2023:
After much grunting and grousing, this fell out of the pencil this year… I chose to channel the very specific, life-changing moment this year when I first laid my eyes on a Bloomin’ Onion at Outback Mistakehouse. I’m so upset at what happened next.

2022:
A frantic mess of book deadlines, comic strip problems, endless texts, DMs, email threads… a frazzled mess of a year.

2021:
Trepidatiously opening my eyes to see if another pandemic year is over.

2020:
Pretty obviously the end of a harrowing ordeal of a year: Becoming overly familiar with masks, gloves, and social distancing. Coming out the other side of a battle for my lungs.

2019:
Groggily working on deadlines right up until Christmas morning. Again.

2018:
Fulfilling a lifelong dream (nightmare) of becoming one of the Usual Gang of Idiots at MAD Magazine.

2017:
The year of the animated GIF.

2016:
An homage to the great Stan Chow, a brilliant caricaturist and illustrator.

2015:
Me and my pal, Ginger.

2014:
A flat line drawing while waiting for my Green Card to be processed.

Share

Share this post

New York Cartoons
New York Cartoons
Drawing Exercise #2: The Dreaded Self-Portrait
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

Discussion about this post

User's avatar
I hid these cards around New York and got the weirdest emails back.
How a real-world experiment to 'find my rat people' resulted in some of the craziest responses from Real New Yorkers.
Aug 4, 2024 â€¢ 
Jason Chatfield
118

Share this post

New York Cartoons
New York Cartoons
I hid these cards around New York and got the weirdest emails back.
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
17
Silencing the Court Jesters.
10 years ago, cartoonists were murdered for drawing offensive things. Things have not been getting better since.
Jan 5 â€¢ 
Jason Chatfield
357

Share this post

New York Cartoons
New York Cartoons
Silencing the Court Jesters.
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
4
Sketchbook: Live Drawing the 2025 Westminster Dog Show in New York
So many good boys and good girls. So many.
Feb 16 â€¢ 
Jason Chatfield
60

Share this post

New York Cartoons
New York Cartoons
Sketchbook: Live Drawing the 2025 Westminster Dog Show in New York
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
7

Ready for more?

© 2025 Jason Chatfield
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Create your profile

User's avatar

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.