Doug manages to capture the audience with his comics, not only because of the simple style or the one-panel illustrations, but because of his unique humor. Some will feel nostalgic, some have never seen these types of comics and will be interested just because of that. It's really fun to see that this style is still up and running.
Little is known about Doug as a person. His comics are humorous and often very naughty and dirty. The topics and themes he chooses are sometimes risky, but it's all in good fun. The artist makes fun of society, marriages, human emotions, and many other things. He doesn't hold back and isn't afraid to say it how it is.
There are some more old-school, newspaper-style comics here on Bored Panda if you like these ones. Like this artist that illustrates the sad truth of modern life and takes a critical look at our society, or these absurd dark humor comics by Perry Bible Fellowship, or perhaps you would be more interested in comics that, hopefully, might make your day a little better.
We asked Doug what the main goal of his illustrations is and how he got into art in the first place: "To make people laugh. I rarely do any serious topic comics. I started cartooning back when I was 12 or 13. Mostly copying Mad magazine cartoonists. I had a comic panel in the local newspaper, then in the Army, I had a panel in the post paper."
Doug shares what the most difficult part of creating art is for him: "Always the idea. Sometimes I’ll start with a drawing, but mostly I have to visualize the idea before I draw. I do a lot with puns and cliché twists as well."
The artist says that the topics he chooses to cover are very broad: "Almost anything. Whatever pops into my head. I’ve only ever done one political cartoon, almost exclusively general humor. I do have two other series, Off The Wall dealing with dungeon humor, and Bartoons." Doug also describes his style and type of humor: "My style is sometimes semi-realistic, loose at times, but rarely bizarre artwork. My humor is based mostly on real life. Humor many people can identify with. Sometimes I suppose it’s Boomer Humor (I am 73), and some slightly twisted as well."
Here's when Doug started these comics and how long he expects to keep doing them: "The two current panel comics, Potpourri and Bartoons, started after I retired in 2010, but I seriously got into them in 2017. The greeting cards go back to high school, and Off The Wall, cartoons were created after college. I want to share my humor with as many people as possible. I have my retirement income so not getting paid for Instagram cartoons is no problem. (I do appreciate the greeting card income, though.)"
Here is some advice from Doug to upcoming artists: "As I used to tell my students: there is no single cartooning style. Look at other cartoonists’ work, but don’t copy them. Learn from them. Analyze why you like it. But stick to your style. A forced style will look amateurish (although there are some great cartoons that have an 'amateurish' style.)"
Doug shares some more information on himself: "My first cartoon magazine sale came in the early 1970s. I did quite a few for the adult magazine market, but then I went into teaching art (for 31 years). I had been an instructor in the Army and found I loved it. While I did some magazine cartoons during that time, most of my time was spent teaching. I taught high school for the last 12 years and had classes in cartooning and animation. After I retired, I started creating greeting cards and it makes a nice source of extra income. The Instagram comics are my way of getting the 'cartoonist' career I never had."
"I hope your readers appreciate my humor. I do not draw digitally. I use pencil and paper and a Papermate flair pen to ink. I do use Photoshop to color and use text, but no iPad or stylus. I have sold over 2,000 cartoons and over 45,000 greeting cards. I’ll probably be found still at my drawing board when I pass away."
