Bored Panda reached out to Tommy to catch up with him. He shared what has changed since the last post: “Well, the New Yorker is publishing some of my comics these days, which is very exciting for me! As a big fan of the magazine, it was a real treat to have one of my own cartoons slip through the mail slot in print for the first time earlier this year. I’m also pretty deep into drawing birds — and just launched my 2024 Extremely Accurate Birds calendar!”
We noticed that Tommy likes to share comics that the New Yorker has rejected, yet many people seem to enjoy them. We asked the artist how it makes him feel when his artwork gets rejected.
“Well, I submit a lot of cartoons to the New Yorker — typically 5-10 each week. So, they can’t all be winners! Thankfully they do buy some of my comics from time to time, but I usually like a lot of the rejects as much as the ones they choose for the magazine. The thing is, the New Yorker is a serious long-form journalism publication, so the cartoons can’t be *too* stupid or it disrupts the flow for the reader,” explained Tommy.
We were curious what are some of the biggest challenges that the artist faces in his creative process. Tommy responded: “Generating ideas and finding inspiration is always tough — or rather, it’s hard to *control*. I find that ideas often come when I least expect it and don’t arrive if I’m under pressure. The key for me is just allowing space and time for ideas to trickle in, and making sure I write them down when they come. I usually think of my best ideas when I’m away from drawing — usually on long walks or while doing something away from my drawing station!”
Lastly, Tommy shared what he would like for people to take away from his artwork: “With my New Yorker-style comics, I’d mostly just like to get a smile out of people. There’s a lot of dark stuff out there — I’d like to hope my comics can provide some levity or maybe a little zoom-out moment of poignancy if I can manage it.”
