“Dads Are”: I Illustrate The Average Experience Of Being A Dad (35 Pics)

“Dads Are” started one day when I was schlepping ALL of my family's luggage through the airport. I was traveling with two kids and a wife. Then it occurred to me... as a dad, I’m a sherpa. From that moment forward I started looking at being a dad a little different.

I started writing ideas while driving to work, or seeing something out in public that sparked an idea. I found myself smiling a lot.

I didn’t start drawing the characters right away. I hadn’t really drawn anything since high school and was a little self-conscious about starting a comic. One day, while perusing books in a second hand book store, I discovered an old book from the 1940s by Andrew Loomis. The title of the book was “Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth”. I bought it, took it home and started practicing. While my comics are pretty basic, I think they are good enough to get my point across.

My own experience with my kids inspires a lot of my ideas, along with some of my own memories with my own dad. Some ideas come from friends, family, and now fans. One in particular was from a photograph of a friend and his newborn baby falling asleep on his chest. That photo sparked the idea of the “Memory Foam” comic. Some of us dads are kind of squishy and comfortable to sleep on.

Now that my kids are 13 and 16, I’ve started to incorporate new ways my kids view me, like an ATM, or driving instructor, but I’ll still go back and draw memories of when they were little.

My kids help me with my comics. My youngest will occasionally do the coloring after I get it inked and my oldest will give ideas along with critiquing the actual drawing. My sixteen-year-old is a better artist than I am. I appreciate their feedback on what could make the drawings better. They also have a similar sense of humor, so if I run an idea past them and they roll their eyes, I know it's kind of dorky. But sometimes I intend them to be dorky.

When I started drawing the “Dads Are” comic, I was going for chuckles. As the comic grew a little, I’ve started getting some really nice comments. One dad said he works 3 jobs and seeing my comics is the highlight of his day. Another dad said he was looking for a new idea for a tattoo and one of my comics was at the top of his list. That really warms my heart. I like helping dads enjoy being a dad a little bit more. It’s also a fantastic way to connect with other dads and parents.

Thanks for taking a look at my comics, I hope you get a chuckle or two and feel free to share them with others. I try to post consistently, but as any parent knows, time is tough to come by. I’m currently working on another round of comics and will be posting them soon.