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.
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"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."
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."
Isn't the purpose to allow for multiple interpretations?
Load More Replies...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.
I pretty much identity with the guy chilling on the right of the O.
More people need this! "NO" is an answer, and "STOP" is an order.
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.
There are charities which do not appreciate generous donors. I don't blame him to get irritated.
Load More Replies...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
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.
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
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.
It's not. Not in the message this comic implies.
Load More Replies...Finalizing a divorce you've been fighting for for months/years is one of the best feelings ever!
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...
That's really true. Subways are nasty nasty places. I have seen lots of stuff, like people urinating on those columns and it grosses me out. I get it that a lot of people go through subways but we can still clean it up. This also shows how people don't really take responsibility, she wants the subway to be clean but she does nothing about it
hehe cause female mantises bite off the males head when they are done mating
I feel ya sister. My sweet husband does everything right but sing. Luckily, out son's got a better knack for holding a tune.
This is missing the caption. It should say "son, your dad and I are divorcing"
Agree. They're "just" cartoons, but I aspire to that level of drawing realistically.
Load More Replies...I like the general observation ones, but the progressive virtue signalling ones were cringey. I don't think they got him laid.
Load More Replies...I really like McPhail's artwork! I wish I could draw such realistic people with so few lines. They have volume and life! And the women look like REAL women, not anime porn.
It's not often you see real wit and imagination in BoredPanda's cartoon selections. Plus, excellent drawing. I'd seen several of these before in the New Yorker and will be glad to see more anytime.
Agree. They're "just" cartoons, but I aspire to that level of drawing realistically.
Load More Replies...I like the general observation ones, but the progressive virtue signalling ones were cringey. I don't think they got him laid.
Load More Replies...I really like McPhail's artwork! I wish I could draw such realistic people with so few lines. They have volume and life! And the women look like REAL women, not anime porn.
It's not often you see real wit and imagination in BoredPanda's cartoon selections. Plus, excellent drawing. I'd seen several of these before in the New Yorker and will be glad to see more anytime.