I'm Rusty and I draw a little webcomic called No Happy People. I’m a Boston-based writer and artist who used to write Depressing Fridge Poems and now draws comics! After about eight years of creating sad refrigerator magnet poetry, I felt like I had exhausted everything I could do creatively with that medium and started branching out. I had always dreamed of being a cartoonist when I was little, so in 2022 I decided to give it a shot — and now I’m doing it!
Here are some of my favorite comics I drew in the year 2022. Hope you enjoy!
For more of my comics on Bored Panda, see part 1.
More info: Instagram | webtoons.com | reddit.com | patreon.com | rustycreates.substack.com
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When I decided to start illustrating comics, I hadn’t been drawing at all for many years, so it was a huge adjustment to get back into the swing of it. The first several comics I drew were pretty awful in quality, but I just kept practicing and trying new things, and eventually, I started finding my own style that worked for me.
I keep a note on my phone for ideas so I can jot them down whenever something comes to me. Sometimes the notes are just passing thoughts — like “Katydidn’t” or “Giralf” (it’s a giraffe with ALF’s face) — and other times I’ll get an idea and write an outline for an entire comic. I have a terrible memory, so if I don’t get it down in writing immediately, I’ll lose it forever. And then the world would never get to experience Giralf, and we obviously can’t have that.
There are about 30-40 comics I’ve finished but haven’t shared yet. Sometimes I don’t share a comic because I’m not satisfied with the quality of the joke or the artwork, but more often it’s just because I’ve been creating faster than I can share things with the internet. I only post four comics online a week, but I usually finish drawing five or six weekly, so it starts to add up.
As for the future, I’d like to continue finding ways I can share my work without having to rely on finicky social media algorithms. As I’m sure people have heard over and over, the pivot to video over the last couple of years has made it virtually impossible for visual artists to reach new people on platforms like Instagram. I’ve been turning to more subscription and community-based platforms lately, like Substack, Webtoon, and Reddit, with the goal of getting my art to people who want to see it without having to navigate 14 sponsored posts and a bunch of reels.
And, of course, I always love sharing my work with the BoredPanda community who have always been super supportive.
PLEASE. We need everyone we can get! If you are old enough, for the love of freedom, VOTE.
I wrote/drew this as a tribute for Charles Schulz's 100th birthday!
Load More Replies...Meanwhile, my skin: “oH MY GoD! i gOT caLleD SOfT! I’m gONNa dIE!”
You forgot chocolate and/or cheese. And pastries. Food in general.
I want to see a musical named Shark the Herald Angels Sing
Hey, we can plagiarize now and just call it anti-capitalism?! Why did nobody tell me this sooner?
The word duck comes from Old English dūce 'diver', a derivative of the verb *dūcan 'to duck, bend down low as if to get under something, or dive', because of the way many species in the dabbling duck group feed by upending. (Yes copied from Wikipedia, I'm too lazy to type all that out)
If you're going to make less than mediocre comic strips, make sure to insult every other person that reads them. Task completed on both jobs.
The word duck comes from Old English dūce 'diver', a derivative of the verb *dūcan 'to duck, bend down low as if to get under something, or dive', because of the way many species in the dabbling duck group feed by upending. (Yes copied from Wikipedia, I'm too lazy to type all that out)
If you're going to make less than mediocre comic strips, make sure to insult every other person that reads them. Task completed on both jobs.