Ever wonder how cartoonists do it? If so this is is the class for you. We'll enjoy getting to know some of the great cartoonists of our time, and times past. The New Yorker magazine has been discovering and sustaining original work (as well as timeless chestnuts) since its inception, so we'll spend some time in the archives as well as other resources. Seeing and appreciating a diverse bunch of artists (from James Thurber to George Booth to Roz Chast) will inspire us to get cracking on our own work with confidence--we'll already know there are no rules.

Some fundamentals of drawing will be shared, but only to the extent that supports the cartoonist's vision. This is not a drawing course. Some fundamentals of writing (even a captionless cartoon tells a story) will be shared, but only to the extent that it supports the cartoonist's vision. It's not a writing course. It's a cartooning course. We will try our hand at some of the classic set-ups: one person on a desert island... two people on a desert island... a couple reading in bed... two dogs talking to each other... you get the idea. We'll also write our own punch lines for other people's drawings (a stolen idea made famous by the New Yorker Caption Contest.)

We'll share what we want to share with each other and the camp community as a whole--maybe even publishing a daily cartoon issue for breakfast?

Meet your Instructor

Chuck Wilcoxen

I worked for three years as the cartoonist for my college newspaper and I have worked for nearly 20 years as a freelance editorial cartoonist, working for the New Haven Register, Hartford Courant, Stamford Advocate, Greenwich Time, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Examiner. I have experienced decades of having people look at me quizzically, and waiting for my wife to explain to them what's wrong with me. I also write humor essays, several of which have ended up on the Monitor's Home Forum page.