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About a decade ago, Will McPhail was just an ordinary zoology student. Now, he's regularly drawing for the world-famous The New Yorker magazine. How does one make such a change in their lives? Well, McPhail admitted to "doodling lecturers" when he was supposed to be learning. And even though he did graduate, it was enough to pursue a cartoonist's career.

So, instead of continuing to study the animal kingdom, he chose to immerse himself in the wildlife of Edinburgh's coffee shops and libraries. There, he analyzed peoples' social behavior, turning his findings into clever and funny comics.

McPhail is now expected to have between 8 and 10 ideas per week for The New Yorker cartoons, a popular American magazine established 94 years ago. "The best I can do is to find an area that I want to do a cartoon drawing on and accept the stage - then hope that my sense of humor moonwalks on to that stage," the artist told the BBC.

More info: willmcphail.com | Instagram | Twitter

"I don’t really have any artistic qualifications," McPhail told Bored Panda. "In fact, I actually studied zoology at university. Because when you ask a seventeen-year-old what they want to do with their life, they always make the correct decision. Thirty grand and four years of my life is a small price to pay for the three armadillo facts that I now know. I’ve had creative ideas and did drawings all my life, though. Or at least as long as I’ve known about pencils."

The artist mostly draws single-panels because he's usually drawing cartoons for The New Yorker, which are classically a single-panel deal. "The weekly submission of cartoons to the magazine is really the only structure I have in my life and every career opportunity that I’ve been given has been directly because of my work being seen in The New Yorker. So I owe them pretty much everything! Armadillos always give birth to four identical quadruplets," he explained.

Despite having a career that allows him to live and work anywhere in the world, Will made up his mind to remain in Scotland even after his cool drawings blew up on the international scene.

"Scotland's got some kind of draw on me," he explained. "There's something about Scotland that just draws creative people and I've definitely felt that."

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One of the reasons behind this choice is the abundance of inspiration he finds in the country. "It's my job to capture all different walks of life, the idiosyncrasies of life, and Edinburgh and Scotland have got a plethora of different classes and niches of people."

"There's all sorts of fascinating social avenues you can go down and find people from all backgrounds. It's super inspirational when it comes to coming up with drawing ideas."

We might invent a lot of our problems, but McPhail never usually tries to trivialize those problems in his cartoons. "I’m usually on the side of the character with the problem because it’s invariably based on my problems! I just think that desperation and panic is very funny. Armadillos are one of the few animals that can contract leprosy."

Also, he blames the pressure he felt at a young age to find a "realistic" career path and is happy he chose to deviate from it. "I realized I didn't need permission to be creative."

Having experienced it firsthand, Will encourages others to follow their dream careers as well. "Education is a good thing - but I think a lot of the time, people feel like they need some sort of academic permission to be creative, and you don't, you can just do it."

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#5

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Angie Chan
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I looked at all the the guys and interpreted this one in more of a "when a woman says 'no, it is an answer...not an obstacle" I suppose it can be seen in other ways tho.

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Kenny Kulbiski
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I pretty much identity with the guy chilling on the right of the O.

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Colin Leetham
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4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

More people need this! "NO" is an answer, and "STOP" is an order.

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April Simnel
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4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know this is about assault, but I'm reminded of when I had a summer fundraising job. I was 18. At training, we got a sheaf of papers that were "objection responses", all to get around someone telling us no. We were monitored, also, so we couldn't just take the L and move on to the next call without trying 3 of the responses. We had to assess their no so we could use the right ones. I had a call, that when I tried to get around the first no, the guy screamed at me for almost 3 minutes about "No means NO the first time!" and that if we ever called him again, the charity would be lucky to get any donation from him. He used harsher language. The guy was a donor who usually gave a good amount of money to the charity, but they wanted him to increase his donation, hence my call. If I had hung up on him, I would've gotten in trouble. I learned that no is definitely a full answer. I only lasted 5 weeks. At least I was off to uni that autumn, so not much harm done financially for me.

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Christina Uhlir
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are charities which do not appreciate generous donors. I don't blame him to get irritated.

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Jus
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, no. When I try my best to be assertive and I refuse, I actually want to be respected. Of course you can achieve your thing with someone else, don't get discouraged.

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Living_Shadow
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I needed to hear this after my mom told me no to a perfectly reasonable thing. What is that reasonable thing you ask? Well, I want to hang out with some friends to play D&D. Our group includes two guys. I can't join in because of that. I don't understand why this crusty old, primitive, ancient, mentality still exists, that girls and boys can't hang out together

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Marc Lauzon
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So is the anti-manspreading chair. It's hilarious how many men just tried to defeat the design only meant to answer a "social implication" furniture design contest.

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That Hockey kid
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

From a certain point of view, I find this inspiring, while on the other, it represents the people who don't respect boundaries. Women do it too. I saw a man in a restaurant getting mad at his gf because she was getting pushy on the romantics

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Christina Uhlir
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4 years ago

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John Colin
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thing is... if every one took no for an answer ans not an obstacle we would not be here today. But hey should you be free ? No. Can you have freedom of speech ? No. Did i just proove no can be an obstacle ? Yes. Take it as it is... no is not just an answer.

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BusLady
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tell that to all the pushy commissioned salespeople out there.

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Joe Bloe
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Completely disagree. No is an opportunity - especially in negotiating

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Rowlie
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It could actually be helpful to distract yourself from what is going on inside by doing something You can control

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Hans
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Too big houses suck. Just imagine your clan mansion. Probably you shat yourself before making it from the veranda, over the floors, down the stairs, to the left-wing bathroom.

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Evil Little Thing
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Finalizing a divorce you've been fighting for for months/years is one of the best feelings ever!

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L1z4rd
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My worst nightmare! Made all the more real by knowing there is a mouse hanging out on my kitchen!

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Hans
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This would be me. Can also hardly resist calling the sniffing dogs at airport "good boy / girl".

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Francis
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

(happend some years agon when i was in my 20s) once when i changed clothes in front of my mum, she said "oh look, the moon is rising" while pointing at my belly... yeah thanks mum. i know i'm fat and pale :D

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Hans
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Isn't this the sole (sad) purpose of women as show "assistants"?

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Clinton Yew
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

nowadays they just try to brainwash you to think your office is your home and co-worker is your family to try to make you give more effort to work...

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