ADVERTISEMENT

A poppy seed stuck in the teeth, our shower routine in the morning and what we actually think there, petting dogs, and giving your name at Starbucks just to get it horribly misspelled are some of the topics in the wholesome universe of the cartoons by Yoyoha. The 48-year-old artist from Columbus, Ohio, whose real name is Josh Hara and who works as a creative director for a technology company, has been drawing since preschool and even probably before that. His dad was an artist and Josh never thought there was any reason to stop.


Below, here are a few of his genius, heartwarming, laughter-inducing cartoons and his story as Bored Panda got in touch with Josh to pick his brain a little bit about life and drawing. You can vote for your favorite ones and let us know what you think!

More info: Instagram

Josh’s creative universe is full of quirky characters that are actually based directly on his own life experience. “I did a cartoon about a poppy seed being stuck in between some teeth because I had a poppy seed stuck in my teeth. My most recent comic was about my shower routine—I guess I just try and take some of the more mundane parts of life and find something funny about them. Which is not uncommon or special, I think that’s what all comic artists and comedians are trying to do. Shine a light on some minuscule part of life and make fun of it a little.”

When asked about his inspiration, Josh admitted that there are tons of people in charge of that in his life. “I can’t just pick one person in this department—because there are so many people that continually inspire me. When I was a little kid it was Jim Davis and Garfield, in high school it was Berkely Breathed (Bloom County), Gary Larson (The Far Side), and Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes). I also loved Matt Groening’s Life in Hell comic so much. Nowadays there are so many web comic-era artists I love. Shen, The Oatmeal, Dustinteractive, Liz Climo, RubyEtc, Gemma Correll, and so many more.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Quite a few of his cartoons are drawn on paper takeaway coffee cups and it seems that he must have quite a sincere relationship with them. “Well, it’s fairly simple. I love it more than any other substance on the planet,” admitted Josh. He also recently discovered the value of status updates after caving in and joining Facebook after all these years. So he also runs his Twitter account, posting somewhat one-line jokes that he was previously sharing on Facebook and gathered quite the community of people with a similar sense of humor. He does see it as a potential catalog of comics, but then again—it seems like a colossal work consuming time and of course—coffee.

Turns out that the artist doesn’t have any more goals in this world regarding his artwork and perhaps some artists can relate to it. “For a long time I wanted to find a way to make comics full-time, but honestly, it’s not an easy life. It is a constant hustle to find ways to monetize your work, and you are consistently battling algorithms from social media sites that treat you like a multi-million dollar corporation because you have 100,000 followers.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Josh has stopped fighting the social media craze and he now creates stuff and posts it when he feels like it. And as he points out without wanting to sound jaded, he has never been happier without the desperation posting and paragraphs of hashtags trying to reach more people. “Now I make comics because I love doing it. And when one goes viral on Reddit, it’s a great feeling. I gave a bunch of people 3 seconds of joy before they moved on to the next post. In this insane world, that is as much as you can ask for, and I will happily take it.”

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
#17

Cartoonist-Yoyoha-Comics-Josh-Hara

yoyoha Report

Add photo comments
POST
vanhannah04 avatar
alexisdavar avatar
Luna Lovegood!
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

WAIT. I'm not the only one who does the mid-yawn tongue poke?? who knew?

hjdashiell avatar
Paradise
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My dog would bite my hand off unintentionally if I grossly put my finger in her mouth. She is lab/pit, she is strong.

inkslingerkate avatar
M Kate McCulloch
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I too tongue poke - cats, dogs, humans. It's an impulse control thing... I'm working on it...

adrianacoppage avatar
Adriana Coppage
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i like to do the WARP FACTOR CANINE and then the SMUSH hehe its fun

elianamount avatar
Ginny Weasley
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

many of these i do include: Warp Factor Canine, Tongue Poke , Foot Wiggle, Airplane Ears, Human Sheild.

haight_tim avatar
Tim Haight
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I am at the kitchen table 2 of my dogs will lay on my feet, so I get lots of the foot wiggle.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#29

Cartoonist-Yoyoha-Comics-Josh-Hara

yoyoha Report

Add photo comments
POST
malekbsa186 avatar
Malek Basata
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

nothing is better than a good hot cup of coffee/nescafe/latte/macchiato/cappuccino/americano/tea/whatever the f*** u drink that has caffeine

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#32

Cartoonist-Yoyoha-Comics-Josh-Hara

yoyoha Report

Add photo comments
POST
hjdashiell avatar
Paradise
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have a $20 meditation app. I have only paid for like 3 apps, and never one so expensive, but it is a good one. Has a blue watercolor swirl on it.l if anyone is interested. The 1-2 coffees a day from people who then complain they have no $ piss me off.

View more commentsArrow down menu
#40

Cartoonist-Yoyoha-Comics-Josh-Hara

yoyoha Report

Add photo comments
POST
ellahayes361 avatar
SwimmerGirl
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Please say I'm not the only one the read Bad Romance then started singing

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu

Note: this post originally had 42 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.