In a latest interview with the New York Public Library, Amy Kurzweil described her cartoons as research in “erudite silliness.” Effectively, Kurzweil is definitely erudite—simply take a look at these pencil-nub earrings (Blackwings, no much less, favored by the likes of John Steinbeck, Truman Capote, Stephen Sondheim, Vladimir Nabokov, and Amy Kurzweil). Additionally, delightfully foolish—simply take a look at her earrings. They’re pencils! Who higher, then, than this fiction-M.F.A.-holding artist to supply a tutorial on drawing hilarious cartoons about characters from literature and in regards to the literarily minded. It may be a harmful endeavor—folks don’t all the time like to see the way you suppose Mr. Darcy appears. (Colin Firth or bust!) Others, together with a critically un-silly girl Kurzweil as soon as encountered, might publicly accuse you of “stealing” Maurice Sendak’s Wild Issues and demand that you just be “ashamed.” Fortunately, Kurzweil has recommendations for dealing with that, too.
—Emma Allen, New Yorker cartoon editor
Do you draw together with your left or proper hand?
Proper.
What artwork do you have got hanging in your studio partitions/above your drawing desk?
A wooden portray of Borges {that a} buddy made for me that cracked and I glued again collectively. Then one million of my very own cartoons tacked up with string, as a result of I’m too lazy to place any of them away in my labyrinthine cartoon-filing system.
Do you snack whilst you draw? If that’s the case, on what?
I don’t snack whereas drawing. Ought to I be snacking? Certainly I’d get potato-chip grease on the pages.
Do you take heed to music or podcasts whilst you draw? If that’s the case, specify.
Whereas I sketch, I sit in silence, like a weirdo. Music tends to make me wish to dance, which could be distracting. When inking, I like listening to podcasts: I actually like personal-story exhibits like “Heavyweight” and something from Mermaid Palace.
What object or setting do you completely hate drawing?
I don’t like drawing straight traces! I want fleshy issues like, folks and animals. The worst issues to attract are telephones, particularly if individuals are holding them with their fingers, as they all the time are.
What’s your favourite New Yorker cartoon trope or cliché (e.g., desert island, grim reaper, Rapunzel tower)?
I’ll go along with the Moby Dick trope, as a result of whales are straightforward to attract, and I like a superb metaphor for the unattainable.
In case you might have dinner with one cartoonist, residing or useless, tonight, who wouldn’t it be?
Is that this, like . . . Are you arranging a factor? Are you able to see if Roz Chast is accessible? Additionally Chris Ware?
What would you serve?
I’ve to prepare dinner?!
What was your favourite cartoon (strip or animation) as a child?
I cherished “Life in Hell,” by Matt Groening, and Invoice Watterson’s “Calvin and Hobbes,” after all.
What did you spend your first New Yorker cartoon-sale examine on?
Lease!
In case you needed to get a tattoo (or new tattoo) proper now, what would you get?
Me? A tattoo? Who am I, a cool individual? I don’t like ache.
Canines or cats?
Cats.
