Berkeley Mews' creator calls it a dark humor comic series that exposes the seedy underbelly of everything wholesome and pure. "It takes fairy tales and Disney movies and fond remembrances of childhood and turns them into horrible nightmares - but, like, in a fun way," Ben Zaehringer told Bored Panda.
Ben took some art classes in high school and at the nearby community college, where he learned life-drawing and basic anatomy. "We were also taught to draw cars," he said. "Cars are the bane of every cartoonist, so I'm glad that I was forced to draw them early." Now, he's using these skills to unleash his creative ideas, and people think he's doing a great job. His dark comics has about 200K followers on Instagram and Facebook, and this number is constantly growing.
More info: berkeleymews.com
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"I've been doing these cartoon drawings for as long as I can remember," Ben said. "My mom's cousin, Steve Moore, is a cartoonist, so right away I thought of cartooning as a vocation. My first comics were all in the style of newspaper comic strips, like FoxTrot and Peanuts, only bad instead of good."
"My friend Kevin Garvey and I would make comic books every day after school, by folding two sheets of paper together and then filling them in with funny comics. Mine were mainly parodies of Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z, and Kevin's were these epic, super-funny space operas. When we were done, we'd show them to each other and to our friends. This was the best comics education I ever got. If you are an aspiring cartoonist, make a friend who draws comics (or make your friends draw comics)."
The creator of the webcomics said that disappointment is the main theme in Berkeley Mews. "When I'm writing I ask myself, 'How can something fun be made disappointing?' Recurring motifs include: God, Santa, love, death, childhood, and 90s pop culture references. Life moves fast, so I try to only riff on things that are timeless, like Disney movies that get remade every ten years."
.. which is a secret ticket to an unknown society where the dad stored his true will...
Pardon me for my rambling, but along with Grapeling's comment, this story can be used as a writing prompt for, say . . . a fantasy / adventure story where this guy now inherits his father’s magic skills and go on an eventful journey to discover the true will left by his dad.
The will says QUEEN OF HEARTS which means his dad already knows way back that his son was gonna pick that card and that he might not have the chance to reveal his son the magic..
Playing with the Queen Of Hearts, you know it ain't really smart...The joker is the only fool who'll do anything for you.
I feel sad to say I had to read this about twelve times before I got it!
Whats dark about this? I went to speech therapy for years as a kid and found the whole experience enjoyable. Its the only reason i speak without my horrible speech impediment I had
Note: this post originally had 107 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Someone missed the upvote button- so I fixed it :)
Load More Replies...Ben said, "We were also taught to draw cars. Cars are the bane of every cartoonist, so I'm glad that I was forced to draw them early." I'm not an artist or cartoonist. Why are cars the bane of every cartoonist?
Top Ten Bored Panda Items. These are so good. It's all in the context.
Someone missed the upvote button- so I fixed it :)
Load More Replies...Ben said, "We were also taught to draw cars. Cars are the bane of every cartoonist, so I'm glad that I was forced to draw them early." I'm not an artist or cartoonist. Why are cars the bane of every cartoonist?
Top Ten Bored Panda Items. These are so good. It's all in the context.