Comment from LAM
Time July 8, 2009 at 3:21 pm

Great interview! Thank you!

Comment from Amy Arrigo
Time July 11, 2009 at 8:36 am

That Jen Sorensen is so witty with her dry sense of humor and \"slightly\" cynical slant. Love her commentaries on society\’s myriad momentary preoccupations like the above: overscheduled kids as well as the need to have the newest model of technology. Really makes one question where humans are headed! Go, girl. The direction I see our society heading will continue to provide rich and interesting material for you.

Comment from FSM_Ed
Time July 11, 2009 at 7:25 pm

Wow, Mikhaela…I’ve watched for 5 minutes and I think you’ve interrupted Jen that many times. I wish you would have let her speak and answer the questions that were addressed to her,

Comment from Fred Hotel
Time July 13, 2009 at 3:47 pm

The Reid and Sorenson interview enlightened me to the challenges cartoonists are facing in the industry. I am a teacher in Chicago and recently started to explore cartoon development as a way to promote critical thinking skills in gifted youth. My web based workshop “Humor and Learning” will implement multiple approaches to humor and the development of critical thinking, cartoon development being one.

I wonder if here are any cartoonists that might see this as an opportunity. Since the he viewer base and media used to deliver cartoons is diminishing perhaps this might be an avenue for some cartoonist to pursue. Providing web cam based mentorship can be a type of advertisement. If any of your members are interested in an out of the box approach to promoting their talent, I would be interested in talking with them.

Fred Hotel
fhotel@comcast.net

Comment from DANN
Time July 13, 2009 at 5:59 pm

The lack of female cartoonists could possibly be attributed to the fact that women tend to mature earlier than men. By that I mean when young girls develope their artistic talents they could possibly approach the world of art in a more serious vein and therefore may tend to explore the more classic form.
In other words, at an early age they may aspire to be \"classic\" artists looking towards having their work displayed in galleries and hanging on walls.
On the other hand, due to their immaturity, more young boys may tend to eschew thoughts about a more serious art career in favor of drawing cartoon characters patterned after those they grew up reading about in comic books.

Comment from JimG
Time July 13, 2009 at 7:19 pm

I agree that Michaela kept cutting into the questions asked of Jen. She would have had her turn to speak but she kept taking up Jen\’s time, which is a drag since Jen seems very articulate in comparison to Michaela.

But hey the more female cartoonists the better. Hillary Price (Rhymes With Orange) didn\’t get mentioned here. Could be that she can\’t draw worth a damn but she is funny anyway. Trina Robbins, who can draw great, deserves kudos too.

I recall my art school cartooning class had hardly any girls. The girls I dated in art school were either in fashion design or illustration/fine arts. Serious mature stuff. The ones that did take cartooning as a major were very introverted, but also were very mature minded so I doubt immaturity comes to play with female cartoonists in the way that DANN theorizes about male cartoonists. Maybe its some primal urge that boys have way more than girls. Question: were any of the pre-historic cave paintings done by women? They seemed to record the hunts (mostly bison), a primarily male activity, so that could be the origin of cartooning as being dominated by males.

Comment from DANN
Time July 13, 2009 at 8:01 pm

@ JimG

I hadn’t really given any thought to those girls that DID take up cartooning. I didn’t mean to imply that girls who took up cartooning would be immature as well. I also had failed to consider the obvious fashion and graphic design aspects of an art education. My bad.

Now that you’ve pointed it out, I would imagine that their more mature nature might lend itself to the possibility of young women using more mature minded cartoon subjects in which to express their talent.

Thank you for your insight.

Comment from JimG
Time July 15, 2009 at 7:20 pm

In response to DANN: now that I think about it, the female cartoonists that I can recall have a more dry, sarcastic, and ironic sense of humor, within a more feminine perspective in terms of social observations, and are way less slapstick (physical) or action-oriented in their approach. Both Michaela and Jen are good examples of that. Guys seem to lean toward more boisterously drawn,visceral cartoons. Of course these are generalizations and there are exceptions but it seems that way to me.

As for your comment about guys who avoid “serious” art to pursue a cartooning career to keep that comic book loving adolescent attitude extended into their adult years: Some superhero comic artists may very well fill that description, but I have been a published cartoonist ( for three years-now on a cartooning sabbatical) and in my art school experience the kids in my cartooning class had to take rotational classes in Photography, Commercial Art, Illustration, oil painting, sculpture, watercolor, art history, and media arts as well as cartooning class (my major). As a result, I have a well-rounded art background. In the working world I have done professional layout, paste-up, photographic reproduction, spot illustrations, logo design, multilith press operation, and graphic art, along with my gag cartoons. All “serious” areas of the pro art field.

Comment from Sweva
Time July 26, 2009 at 6:55 pm

Michaela, SHUT UP!!! OMG, you’re beyond painful!

Whenever I wanted to hear Jen speak, you interrupted her…and you even managed to snake questions that were asked directly of her, and THEN contributed very little in the way of substance. I can’t recall ever witnessing that before in any sort of interview. Ever.

Frankly, I think you owe Jen an apology…or the camera guy, who seemed to goof on this too. Next time Jen Sorensen should be interviewed alone, without interruption.

Sorry, I wish I had more to add, but that was beyond annoying. I would have preferred to have a root canal, LOL.

What else…I believe the cartoon biz is richer because of the creativity and involvement of these women. In particular, Jen’s work makes me laugh and hopefully more papers will pick her up. I hope they’re able to sustain themselves through the recession and keep the creative juices flowing…keep up the great work!