I like birds.

For the most part of my childhood and young adult life there have always been at least two birds in my house. So needless to say I have always been partial to them. They are also my default for cartoons: if I can't think of anything to draw I draw bird cartoons. Throughout history cartoons have targeted the chicken. This is completely understandable what with the quirky movements, stupid looks, and of course the ridiculous sounds. BUT there are MANY different kinds of birds in this world with even more bizarre character traits than a chicken. It has been carved in the heads of cartoonists to turn to the chicken when in need of a bird. Robert McKimson's rooster, Foghorn Leghorn, is, in my opinion, the best bird character to date. Mainly because he was a big arrogant southern asshole. Daffy Duck is another great character who like Foghorn has an amazing personality. I've heard rumors that Daffy was originally supposed to represent a black person, being colored black and being a loud mouth, but I can't confirm that.

I wanted to mention the picture I have posted above. It is called "Capistrano Spring Break" by Andy Gonsalves. I recently found this design on a t-shirt at threadless.com and immediately bought it. Why is this picture so great? Let's go through the simple factors.
1.) it features birds....cute birds.
2.)Andy's use of color is gorgeous. Maroon, orange, blue, teal...they are all such strange colors rarely used together and yet they work beautifully.
3.) I'm not sure about this one but it appears to me that the picture depicts a story. It others think the layout shows different birds in different situations. I personally think its the simple story about two birds talking over some drinks, fooling around, and eventually ending up with the male bird passed out, yet possible smiling.
4.)THE CUTENESS STAYS! Even though this is an adult situation and the bird ends up getting smashed, he appears to still have a smile on his face. That and the design of these characters makes for a cute little tale of spring break.

Please check this guy out! He's an amazing artist with wonderful ideas....some of which you can buy on t-shirts. www.andygonsalves.com

NEXT TIME: MY IDEA FOR A BIRD CARTOON---a very RACIST bird cartoon.