I’ll tell you something else the Internet has changed. In the past, professional cartoonists could rely upon a steady stream of novices dropping in to learn the tricks of the trade. Most cartoonists graciously accommodated the newbies, although they weren’t called “newbies” in the day, because someone probably had helped them along in the same way. It was part of the fraternity dues. Today, would-be cartoonists can put their material directly on the Web for the entire world to see, and they no longer feel the need for instruction. Besides, if they do, that instruction is available instantly on the Internet. Who needs the advice of some old has-been who’s just taking up space and breathing air that could be used by someone else? I’ve drifted off into a rant, when what I really set out to do was give you a quick cartooning tip. See the last panel? See the water cooler? Sure, it adds interest and takes up space, but the real reason it’s there is to break up the vertical edge of the restroom door. You never want a line, either horizontal or vertical, to extend, unbroken, across an entire panel. It plays havoc with the composition, and it simply looks bad. Breaking it up just the least bit solves the problem. There, you read it on the Internet.
75 responses to “Motion Denied”
Thanks for the tip. I still am unable to draw a decent stick figure.
It never ceases to amaze me how many times in public restrooms, if they have a towel dispenser rather than a blower, that they are out of towels. Especially when you see a sign that says ‘Employees must wash hands after using restroom’. Don’t they care that the towels dispensers are empty? That being said, I do like the motion detector dispensers much better. One thing less to have to touch.
billinbossier, or there is no soap in the dispensers. That really makes me wonder how sanitary the food prep is in a restaurant.
JJ-The Bob Ross of the comics world 🙂
I can’t make those motion activated dryers work either.
Frustrating all the talented cartoonists that can’t get their strips in the newspapers. My Columbus Dispatch runs repeats of Get Fuzzy, Peanuts and the For Better or Worse retread every day. Thank goodness for GoComics subscriptions.
Good morning, Villagers. JJ, thanks for the compositional tip. I’m no budding cartoonist, but I am a budding artist and any compositional help is appreciated.
Sideburns:we are both right. From Wikipedia: Ptolemy I Soter I (Ancient Greek: ?????????? ?????, Ptolema?os S?t?r, i.e. Ptolemy (pronounced /?t?l?mi/) the Savior), also known as Ptolemy Lagides,[1] c. 367 BC – c. 283 BC, was a Greek Macedonian general under Alexander the Great, who became ruler of Egypt (323–283 BC) and founder of both the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Dynasty. In 305/4 BC he demanded the title of pharaoh.
His mother was Arsinoe of Macedon, and, while his father is unknown, ancient sources variously describe him either as the son of Lagus, a Greek Macedonian nobleman, or as an illegitimate son of Philip II of Macedon (which, if true, would have made Ptolemy the half-brother of Alexander), but it is possible that this is a later myth fabricated to glorify the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Ptolemy was one of Alexander’s most trusted generals, and was among the seven somatophylakes (bodyguards) attached to his person. He was a few years older than Alexander, and had been his intimate friend since childhood.
We have the opposite problem with a motion-activated towel dispenser at work…the one in the female employee’s restroom will, completely at random and with no one anywhere near it, activate and dispense a section of towel. The Director of Plant Ops tells me there is an internal sensitivity adjustment, but somehow no Plant Ops worker has yet shown up to make the required adjustment. (Another department head told me she’d heard a recent report of one being seen somewhere on the main campus, but after we discussed it, we both agreed that was about as likely as a Sasquatch sighting.)
I finally told my all-female staff I’d determined that their restroom was haunted by the ghost of a deceased perv named Marvin. Some of them seemed creeped out by that thought. Others seemed to be excited by the idea.
http://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2005/03/05#.U_yhN_ldWa8
Heh, I have no worries about Marvin. Our bathroom/sanctum sanctorum just has a crank-operated dispenser, supplemented ad lib by purse towelettes, handkerchiefs, and scrub bottoms. Standing office joke: “Somebody grope you or are we out of towels again?”
Jerry, I’ve been following here but not commenting often. You folks are special to me, and I can’t do without you.
I learn something new every day here. 🙂
Denise in Michigan, it’s so good too see you back here! I had wondered what had become of you. Please write more often.
The first Superman comic book just sold for $3.2-million. Jimmy? Shall we start the auction?
How many of us prefer towels to hand blowers because we use the towels to open the door on our way out of the restroom?
Ha, Lily! I have a great story about ladies’ room “supplements”. Unfortunately, I can’t tell it here.
Great to hear from you, Denise. Remember, you promised to write my eulogy.
Still don’t need it right now, but one can never tell. 🙂
Never use a blower! Those things add germs to your hands. If I am confronted with a blower, I wash my hands and take the opportunity to smooth out my frizzy mop. If you beat on the soap dispenser hard enough, you generally can get at least a little soap out of it. If not, I get the water as hot as I can, scrub, then locate the next closest restroom ASAP.
Ghost, time has passed, so my comment is old… but I meant we wanted video of the stripper you had originally pictured. I do some wood working, and it always amazes me how a properly wielded belt-sander can remove unwanted surface! Hmm… maybe I could get the Boss of Lily’s life to apply a belt sander to my mid-section!
[rant on]
JJ, unfortunately it seems these days most young people entering the workforce reject anything that might smack of an apprenticeship. Asking an experienced artist for help improving one’s craft is too old school.
The objective is to jump right out of college into a six-figure income (possible only if you are a spectacular software engineer or hardware engineer). Few young people are interested in trades and we’ve helped create a stigma by removing trades from high schools and trying to set everyone on a college path. Today, it’s rare for kid to choose to be an auto-mechanic, plumber, electrician, AC/heater repairman, or one of dozen other skilled tradesman. In Texas, if it weren’t for immigrant labor (both legal and not) we wouldn’t get much construction done.
One of the things I’m doing to combat that trend is to support the Mike Rowe organization, MikeRoweWORKS. It is a non-profit geared toward improving the reputation of hard work by providing scholarships for training. The website says, “We award scholarships to men and women who have demonstrated an interest in and an aptitude for mastering a specific trade.” The idea is that we have lots of jobs available for people that have a specific skill and are willing to work. The website is: http://www.mikeroweworks.com/home
[rant off]
[…] interesting observation by Arlo and Janis creator Jimmy Johnson: I’ll tell you something else the Internet has changed. In the past, professional cartoonists […]
Dang. This blog gets much more interesting spam than I do. All I get are ones with grammatically improbable subject lines and ads for Russian “viagra”. And before anyone comments, No, it’s not because I’ve been to any of “those” websites, because I haven’t, except for that one time and that was totally an accident.
But just to be safe, and if you don’t need ads for Russian “viagra”, you probably shouldn’t click on the site that sent the above comment.
Don’t worry, Ghost, you know how I am about clicking, especially obvious spam posts
David, here in my small town, a lot of those positions get filled by high school dropouts. We have a lot of mechanics, machinists, etc. that never finished high school
Geez, I sure get some weird requests here, but OK, David, this for you. Also, it’s a male stripper. (Something for the ladies, I suppose.) But I’ve got to say, not quite as interesting as the other video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko4jIPLJ81U
I worked for a time with a corporation which used gps to map out restaurants, motels and gas stations on the Interstate highways for information to use on the internet. As part of the job we got to rate restaurant, gas station, and rest area restrooms for additional tourist information. A scale of 1-3, 3 being great and 1 being hopeless. There were a few I would happily given a -100 to, outside gas station ones that you smelled first when you got out of the car. And there are a few restaurants I will never frequent again. Oddly type of restaurant didn’t always factor in. One fast food chain that starts with M consistently across the country rated a 2, while another fast food with the initials BK had a tendency to rate 3. I wish I could get my hands on those old reports when I travel across country now.
GR6, sure go blame the Russians. It could be your ladies room poltergeist.
I wish I knew this lady. 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_dj3gTAJsY
I feel really moronic, sometimes I can’t make the motion ? body heat? sensor automatic faucets come on, which is handy after I already got soap