Cartoon Illustrations – Brenda Johima : Vancouver Island Photographer and Artist : British Columbia Canada

Yes, I can draw … weird, cool, funky animal-themed characters. Many of my cartooney-looney-characters have been used as the foundation for company logo designs. And many more, I simply create for FUN, and for “me-time.”

Recently I have decided to spend even more time creating cartoons, all kinds of them. It’s a piece of my creative life I have let slip, or shall I say, it went on vacation, or on an extended leave? And after a long break, I’m eager to see what new direction my cartoon illustrations take.

When I was young, I spent much of my time drawing cartoons, tracing cartoons, making up my own cartoons, copying cartoons … and watching cartoons of course, on TV. Don’t think I’ll ever grow up. I love the simplicity and color … of my style below, and also like the wit and talent of a different cartoon style, for example, LOVE the work of Rob Cottingham. Brilliant, witty, never offensive (to me) and LOVE the social media theme that shows up in so much of his cartoon work. Here’s where you can find Rob’s work :

Rob Cottingham’s website
Follow Rob Cottingham on Twitter (I do follow him too 🙂
Noise To Signal : The Social Media Cartoon

So there’s a plug for you Rob 🙂 And why? Well, I do believe in promoting and spreading the talent of artists I believe in, as much as possible. The other reason? Rob doesn’t know this until he reads this post (hopefully he will read it. LOL) … that Rob has inspired me to get back to my cartoons again, and to start drawing, start creating again. He doesn’t know that he did that. How did he inspire me? Simply by creating, and putting it out there on the world wide web, and by sharing it through his social media channels. He didn’t have to “sell” anything to me, he simply created, and put it out there.

You just never know who is watching you, reading your posts or listening to you. You just never know who you might inspire today. Thank you Rob!

So for the rest of us, think of it, every time you might doubt your creative process, or doubt your talents (we all do sometimes) … never underestimate the power of creativity and your gifts, and never underestimate how far the reach of your hard work can go (especially via social media).

Someone out there somewhere, wants to read what you write, see what you create … and someone wants to be in your cheering section. So, we must create, in order to fulfill our own inner urge to create. We are born creative, and happiness to me, must include creative expression. I’m looking forward to whatever cartoon process emerges from me in future. And through our own creative expression, we inspire others … or at least make them think … or dream.

When I am in the midst of a creative process, I truly have no idea if it will inspire someone else or not. That’s not the point. The point is to do it, because you want to, you must. Let the rest go, and see what happens. At minimum, you will be a happier person.

Thanks for popping by my blog. Hope you enjoy my ever-so-simple colorful animal-themed cartooney-looney characters 🙂 More on the way!

~ Brenda Johima ~