We wanted to learn more about Tomlinson. He shared: “I live in New York City, but I was born in South Africa. I’ve moved around a lot and have lived on 5 continents. So, I feel like I can relate to a lot of different cultures and types of humor. Outside of cartooning, I’ve worked in tech - mostly AI and automation - so sometimes that comes through in the topics of my cartoons. I look forward to AI having existential crises, like we do and try to create some cartoons for them ahead of time.”
Furthermore, we were wondering what has changed since the last post.
The artist wrote: “I’ve started collaborating more with other cartoonists. It’s an interesting process where I’ll come up with a joke, and they draw it or vice versa. And sometimes the final cartoon is so different from what I was expecting. It’s really given me a fresh perspective when I’m thinking about how I draw a cartoon.”
We all have those days when nothing seems to be good enough. Therefore, we asked if Tomlinson had ever scrapped a comic idea.
He shared: “I scrap ideas all the time. One of the most common reasons is that I find it’s already been done before - often better than I ever could. Another common reason I scrap ideas is because what I find funny today is not always the same as what I found funny yesterday. Sometimes I look at a half-drawn cartoon and think, ‘Why did I think this was funny?’”
In regards to audiences’ takeaway, Tomlinson commented: “I’d like to hope that readers think a little more about the absurdity of everything around us. Most of the societal norms that we take for granted were just made up by the people that came before us.”
Lastly, the artist added: “I encourage you to support human artists over AI-generated images. Not because AI can’t create very impressive work, or that it can’t be used in an ethical way by real artists, but because human creativity brings diverse, unique emotions, experiences, and perspectives to art that AI simply can’t replicate.”
