Hello, again

It's been a minute. Here's a long update

My latest cartoon on Pepperspectives, featuring Donny Two Doll’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Hello there. It’s been a minute since I’ve posted to Substack. It’s been a busy few months, and this fell to the wayside. There’s been a lot going on both professionally and personally, and I’ve been scrambling a bit to keep up. I’m going to try to start posting again on a regular schedule. I figured I’d start with an update over the past several months.

Pepperspectives cartoons

Recent cartoons on Pepperspectives

Even though I’ve neglected posting my cartoons here, I’ve been dutifully drawing my weekly cartoon for David Pepper’s Pepperspectives. Below you’ll find the most recent cartoons. If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to Pepperspectives. David’s insights into the threats to our democracy an invaluable resource that will help you stay updated and informed.

Remapping Debate

A recent cartoon for Remapping Debate.

I’ve also started drawing cartoons for a website called Remapping Debate. The cartoons, written by New York attorney Craig Gurian, accompany stories written by Craig. I took over for cartoonist Matt Davies, who drew cartoons for the first iteration of Remapping Debate about a decade ago and who recommended me to Craig. You can find my new cartoons every other week at Remapping Debate.

Clay Jones podcast

Just two knuckleheads who couldn’t be bothered to find respectable jobs.

My buddy and fellow cartoonist Clay Jones used me as a guinea pig for his first go at a podcast. We dive deep into our cartooning careers, our professional pet peeves, and more. Check out the video at the links below:

Part 1

Part 2

Miami University Ohio virtual class visit

Former Cincinnati Enquirer reporter and current Miami University professor Mark Curnutte invited me to do a virtual class visit with his students where I talked about my cartooning career and answered questions from his students about, well, anything and everything. Click here to watch the video.

OSMA workshop

While there’s no video available for this, I would be remiss not mentioning the workshops I taught in April during the Ohio Scholastic Media Association’s state convention at Kent State University. I was invited to teach two workshops on editorial cartooning and comics journalism to high school journalism students. Eons ago I first attended the same convention at Kent State as a high school sophomore. It was surreal being an instructor at the convention exactly 30 years later.

But wait, there’s more!

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center

One of my recent illustrations for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center.

For a wonderful few years I lived my dream of being a daily editorial cartoonist. But those days have passed, and now I sprinkle weekly cartoons in with my regular freelance illustration work. One of the organizations I’ve worked with for nearly six years as a freelance illustrator has been Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center (CCHMC). I’ve been an honorary member of the CCHMC TOPS team, which works with kids who’ve suffered traumatic brain injuries and other neurological conditions. I’ve provided hundreds of illustrations over the years, with most of the illustrations centered around TOPS’s mascot character, Brainy, who helps guide patients through the TOPS program. I finished my latest round of illustrations for TOPS just a few weeks ago.

New children’s book

Rough layout for a double spread in an upcoming children’s book I’m illustrating.

I’m also working on a new children’s book with my friend and frequent collaborator, Lucy May, host of Cincinnati Edition on our local public radio station, WVXU. I don’t want to share too much, as we’re still in progress. The book’s going slower than I’d like, but with the last batch of CCHMC illustrations finished, the pace is going to pick up.

Physical therapy

And on top of everything, I found myself in physical therapy for most of March and part of April. I’ve dealt with repetitive stress injuries due to drawing for nearly a decade. I try to keep myself in decent shape, and I’ve spent way too much time and effort trying to make my workspace as ergonomically as possible. But I can’t escape the reality of being an old man whose deterioration is proceeding apace. This time around I was dealing with a pinched nerve on the right side of my neck, which caused a considerable amount of pain in my drawing arm and prevented me from getting a decent night’s sleep. My thanks as always to Oxford Physical Therapy, who’ve been picking up the pieces of my battered body since I was 16 years old.

And that’s that. There are some fun projects on the horizon that I’m not yet ready to talk about. I’m still debating whether to start sharing the daily warmup doodles I’ve been doing for over a month. And, of course, there will be more cartoons coming as our republic slides into authoritarianism. I’ll endeavor to be more present here on Substack. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed. It’s appreciated.

Help me keep the lights on and the cartoons flowing. Consider becoming a paid subscriber to Kevin’s UnNecessary Things. Your support allows me to draw more cartoons and speak truth to power. You can also support me by leaving me a one-time tip on Ko-fi, or by clicking here to visit my Etsy store, where you can purchase signed prints of my cartoons.