Sketchbook Silliness

I paused this webcomic back in 2020 when covid scrambled everyone’s eggs. Although moderately successful, the comics had not been earning me much income. Also, as our culture got more tumultuous I became interested in doing serious Christian comics, to try and speak into the madness. If I threw a Christian comic into the mix, those comics would often be among my most popular. But you can’t get away with that for too long with a comic that has “Silliness” in the title.

So I hit “pause” on Sketchbook Silliness to focus on my freelance work, sort out what I wanted to do with my comics, and just try to keep my business alive.

In 2023 I launched a new webcomic called Narrow Road Comics. It’s a serious Christian comic, a mixture of biblical themes and commentary on our modern culture. I post infrequently, focusing on quality over quantity. But I’ve seen some moderate success. A few of the comics have also gone viral with one recently gaining millions of views.

Still, I do miss drawing silly jokes and gags. As people tire of the culture wars, I think there is an appetite for plain old humor without any politics or agenda. Laughter really is good medicine.

So, I’ve decided to revive Sketchbook Silliness, sort of. I don’t have a lot of free time to spend on comics but every once in a while I plan to doodle up a silly gag just for fun. Sketchbook Silliness is still alive. Think of it as a relative who lives far away but will pop in for a brief visit once in a while.

I invite you to follow me on X (Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram.

I’ve added a new item to my website store: Three humorous “Getting In Shape” stickers. Get all three as a bundle and save! Each sticker is 3″ (7.6cm) on it’s longest side. Add to your sticker collection and spread some laughter!

Cartoonist Paul Cox is the creator of RefToons. He takes inspiring quotes from famous Christians in church history and illustrates them in charming ways. Tonight I’ll be a guest on a livedraw with Paul at 8pm CST. Just search Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram for “@reftoons”. Tune in and hit us up with questions!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reftoons/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsSWfjjdnQ679XycvHpIvPA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reftoons/

Want to show off your sense of humor or spread some laughter? Now you can with t-shirts, mugs, phone cases, etc. that feature my cartoons via TeeSpring (and coming soon, Amazon).

Three weeks ago I started posting my webcomics on TikTok as an experiment, just to see what would happen. After nineteen days I had more followers on TikTok than I had amassed on either Twitter or Facebook, despite being on both of those “legacy” platforms for over a decade.

Then yesterday I shared a cartoon that blew up. When I went to bed last night it had over a half million views and this afternoon it passed the one million views mark!

I am absolutely gobsmacked. I don’t understand it but I’m super grateful. Thanks everyone!

You can follow me on TikTok on this link or by searching for “@doodlemcsketch”.

I’m on TikTok! I have no idea what I’m doing but I’ve been having fun playing around. I’ve posted a few of my cartoons and people seem to like them. I’ve been on for four days and already have over 700 followers and 12,000 likes. If you want to join the cool kids you can Tok me up (is that a thing? I just made it up) at username @DoodleMcSketch.

My book of gag cartoons ‘Mostly Nonsense’ is currently almost half price on Amazon. I’m pretty sure that’s about the cheapest it’s ever been. I don’t know how long the price will last so grab one while you can. (EDIT: The price is back to normal. You snooze you lose.)

BUY NOW

A couple of months ago I made the decision to take my foot of the gas and slow down my comic output. Because I didn’t feel right taking money from backers for such a decrease in output, I shut down my Patreon.

I assumed that my Patreon page would still exist, just in a frozen or inactive state. Instead it completely disappeared. This is a problem because most of my cartoons being shared around the internet are stamped with my Patreon URL. If people try to go to that link, they come to a dead end.

So, I’ve reactivated my Patreon. It’s about as scaled-down as you can get but at least it exists. If you want to become a backer and support me, you can. Right now there is only a $1 tier but if you want to give more you can adjust your total before confirming your pledge. Currently I can’t offer you anything more than my sincere thanks. If enough people become backers maybe that will change down the road.

Become a backer

Spider magazine is published by the Cricket Group for children ages 6-9. They hired me to illustrate a full-page comic for the inside cover of their May-June 2019 issue. The theme of the issue was “weather” and they gave me freedom to come up with anything I wanted related to that theme. I’ve always admired artists who can do wordless or mostly-wordless stories so I thought I’d try my hand at it. Now that the issue is out I can show what I did.

I’ve been happily married for over thirteen years, long enough for the heart-pounding romance to mature into a deep, comfortable friendship. Yes the sheen has worn off and yet we love each other more now than we did when we first got married. My lovely wife has been close by my side through thick and thin, and somehow puts up with all of my craziness. To celebrate Valentine’s Day, here’s a collection of cartoons that in one way or another were inspired by something in our marriage.

↓ Read the rest of this entry…

I’m officially syndicated! OK, so I’m self-syndicating and it’s only one newspaper (so far), but you’ve got to start somewhere. My cartoons are now appearing weekly in the Pine Knot News out of Cloquet, MN. (Hat tip to Ivan Hohnstadt at Advise Marketing for helping to make it happen.)

My webcomics are a personal experiment and can range from the silly to the serious to the spiritual. I’m still searching for what writers call their “voice” or what marketers call the “brand”. It’s that one simple thing that summarizes what my comics are all about and what I’m trying to say.

I wish I knew what that was.

Until I figure it out, I’m aware that some people are thrown by the shift in tone from one comic to another (joke…joke…serious thing…joke….religious thing…). The truth is, the lack of consistency sometimes bothers me too. But I won’t figure out what works and what I’m strongest at unless I first try lots of different things.

In the mean time I’ve doodled up a quick self-portrait sketch for a new intro blurb at the top of the site that I hope will let people know what they are in for. It’s a clunky quick-fix while I figure out just what it is I’m trying to do with these comics.

While I’m at it, if you have any feedback or constructive criticism about my work, please contact me with your thoughts (I don’t allow comments on my posts because it’s too exhausting dealing with all the spam). I spend most of my time alone in a cave so hearing what other people like or don’t like really does help. (I’m not fishing for compliments, just feedback). Thanks!

Patreon backers, enjoy a new exclusive backer-only cartoon about bumper stickers.

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This coming Saturday (Oct. 6) I’ll be at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds for the annual Fall ComiCon. I’ll be there along with 150 other creators selling my book of gag cartoons Mostly Nonsense as well as prints of my cartoons. If you are in the area stop on by and say “hi!” Tickets and more info at https://www.mcbacomicons.com.

My most recent Sketchbook Silliness cartoon (“Mohawk”) was posted on various social media yesterday. I was floored to see that it is zoomed up the charts on both Imgur and Reddit, reaching “Most Viral” on Imgur. After about 24 hours the cartoon finally leveled off at over 93,000 views/1,600 likes on Imgur and 189,000 views/18,600 likes on the Reddit’s “Comics” subreddit. If I add in the totals from other subreddits and misc. social media, it got over 300,000 total views!

I’m blown away and I just wanted to share the good news. I also want to say a HUGE thank you to all of my Patreon backers for supporting me! It’s really encouraging to see that sometimes the effort and support are coming together to make something people like.

If you like the cartoon, feel free to help share it further by following me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and/or Tumblr.

Become a Patron!

If you create webcomics, or have any interest in what goes on “under the hood”, then you absolutely need to check out the ComicLab podcast. The hosts are Brad Guigar and Dave Kellett, two seasoned pros who are as entertaining to listen to as they are knowledgable. I’ve sampled several podcasts about webcomics and this one is by far the best.

ComicLab is available on Apple podcasts as well as several other popular podcast apps. Give it a listen.

I’ve posted a new gag cartoon exclusively for Patreon backers.

Become a Patron!

I’ve posted a new gag sketch exclusively for Patreon backers.

Become a Patron!

“The Great Exchange” is one of my most popular and widely shared webcomics. Several people have asked for prints so I decided to pull the trigger and get some made. I just picked them up today and I’m very happy with how they turned out!

I’ll be selling them this weekend at MSP Comicon in St. Paul, MN. If you’re in the area stop on by and say “Hi!”. If you can’t make it, the prints are also available in my store.

Actual size: 8″w x 19″h (20cm x 48cm). Printed on 80lb stock. Matte finish with just a hint of gloss. Shipped in a sturdy cardboard tube.

If you’d like to frame it, I recommend this frame on Amazon.

Order Prints

I’ve posted another bonus gag sketch for my Patreon backers. Join them and get instant access to my entire archive of bonus cartoons and Dorky Doodles!

Become a Patron!

Everyone who backs me on Patreon gets to see regular bonus cartoons and sketches. I just posted three new Dorky Doodles from my sketchbook. You can get instant access to my entire archive of bonus posts for as little as $3 a month.

Become a Patron!

Today (March 24) is Harry Houdini’s birthday. Enjoy this cartoon from the archives.

Did you miss out on the Kickstarter for “Mostly Nonsense”? Have no fear! You can place a pre-order for the book (or the PDF ebook) over at my studio store. I’m getting ready to rush the files off to the printer hopefully tomorrow. I can’t guarantee it but I’m going to try my best to get the books shipped out in time for Christmas. If things go smoothly I can start putting them in the mail on December 18.

Order Now

Only three days left! Mostly Nonsense is almost 80% funded but we are getting down to the wire, so…New stretch goal!

If we raise $300 by noon tomorrow (Tue.) CST, every Kickstarter backer will get 2 months of exclusive bonus cartoons! Once every week or two I draw bonus cartoons that are exclusively for Patreon subscribers. But now, because you are so awesome, you can get them too!

According to my Kickstarter dashboard the average pledge (including shipping) is $30. That comes out to about ten new backers by noon tomorrow. It still won’t get us over the finish line but it will get us a lot closer. Then, hopefully, we will have enough of a surge during the final two days (which is a common phenomenon) to push us over the top. We can do this! But I need your help. Please spread the word!

Also, current backers can increase their pledge to claim a higher reward. That helps too.

Just point everyone to this link. Thanks! http://kck.st/2AiVpj0

Kickstarter has selected my book of cartoons, Mostly Nonsense, to be featured as one of their “Projects We Love”. Woot!

The campaign is off to a good start. In the first two days we’ve raised over $1,000, over 20% of the goal. But most of the money for a Kickstarter tends to come in during the first few days and the last few days of a campaign so I’m not taking for granted yet that the book will happen. Anything you can do to help spread the word would be appreciated! Just point people here:

http://kck.st/2AiVpj0

Thanks a bunch!!

Recently I was interviewed by Bryan Aiello for his YouTube podcast, Origin: Stories on Creativity. It was a fun discussion, mostly about my webcomic but we talked about a few other things too. You can listen to it in the YouTube link above.

For more interviews, check out Bryan’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbSnMk6QPiULXmKDYmwCmIg

For some reason my website has recently developed some mysterious bugs. The Archive page isn’t loading anything past April 4, the “Next” buttons underneath some cartoons aren’t working properly, and the logo at the top sometimes reverts to my old logo. I’m not sure what’s causing all this chaos is but I’ve got a web guy looking into it. Hopefully it will all be fixed in a few days. In the mean time please accept my apologies.

For now the site is still (mostly) navigable so I hope you can still have a few laughs bouncing through my silly cartoons. If you run into any other issues please let me know so I can address them. Thanks!

Enjoy some quality time together this Valentine’s Day. Or at least enjoy these cartoons:

To get the latest cartoons, like/follow me on social media:
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