A Little 'Bout Me

Let's go back. Just a few decades or so. My family made such a fuss over every work of "art" that made it to the refigerator door or Grandma's display. "You're going to be an artist like your Uncle John Holt". They called him that even though he was the only uncle named John in the family. My brother Jim would impress me and the grandparents with his handmade treasures. the clay turtle was one that made it to the hall of fame. I waited and waited until we did something with clay in school. I made a turtle. When grandma opened it... Laughter. Then there was a comment or two about what a nice camel it was, followed by the "Uncle John Holt" line. That's about the time I became a cartoonist. I was in second grade. I figured that if my works were going to make people laugh, even without trying, perhaps I can build on that concept. Never take it too seriously.

The 'toons started flowing when I was in seventh and eighth grades. I had a little inspiration from the study hall teacher who told me I was wasting my time. That gave me a little of that underground feel. the other driving force was, well, puberty, I guess. There was this girl who liked cats and I worked on them and showed them to her for approval. She was very gracious. She never complained about free cats.

Cats weren't the only things I scratched out in my wirebound notebooks. I often created teams of space travelling alien teams. Inspired by Star Trek and the bar scene in Star Wars, they helped me blast off from the world of red-faced loud people that worked at my little school.