410Kviews
“My Sole Aim Is To Make People Laugh”: 35 Sarcasm-Filled Comics And Illustrations By Cartoonist Steve Nelson
Interview With Artist
Funny comics are a sure way to brighten someone’s day, and that's exactly what comedy writer and illustrator Steve Nelson does! Steve’s comics might look rather simple at first glance, but they uncover much more than that at a closer look. In fact, Nelson's work is known for sarcasm and deadpan humor, and perhaps that’s why he has gained recognition all over social media so rapidly.
Comics such as “The Roofs of Egypt”, “Careful with voodoo maps”, and others have accumulated millions of likes on social media platforms such as Instagram. With that being said, Nelson’s work has been previously featured on Bored Panda, and you can find some of the artist’s own posts by clicking here, here, here, here, and here!
More info: Instagram | snelse.co.uk | twitter.com | Facebook
This post may include affiliate links.
Bored Panda also reached out to Steve with some questions! First, we asked the artist if there were any series of works we should be looking forward to, and here's what Nelson revealed to us, "Right now I am currently in the middle of doing cartoons for the Confused.com ads which are appearing weekly on the front of various newspapers across the UK (Metro, Evening Standard and Sunday Times). You can see them on my website here. I also have greeting cards coming out in shops across the UK, made by the lovely people at Woodmansterne. Other projects are TBA!"
We also asked Steve, if perhaps he had a favorite comic of his, and he was quick to share his thoughts! "My favorite comic would have to be the pyramids one, where the Egyptian has confused the building instructions. It’s probably also my most popular one!"
Artists are always looking for ways to improve or perhaps even try something new, we asked Nelson if he had a specific art genre he'd love to try.
"I always toy with doing animation, but it’s very time-consuming and admittedly quite boring! I’ve done a couple of very simple ones and it’s really cool to see it all moving at the end, but man... it takes so long! Otherwise, for now, I’m just very happy with doing illustrations and cartoons."
Yes sir. Mean at what point did we think an animal that can’t feel pain is possible I mean it’s kind of necessary for life complex life that is.
Load More Replies...
Lobster isn't even that tasty to me anyways, but not killing the poor things before boiling them or frying them up is stupidly cruel. I think everyone who does this has at least some amount of sadism running in their veins.
Hi, I'm a zoologist. Yes, lobsters feel pain. You can kill them instantly with a sharp knife, stabbing straight into the center of the head and following through bringing the knife down towards the front, bifurcating its ganglia. It takes all of five seconds. There's no excuse to not do this before cooking them, it changes nothing and is the far kinder option. Fish feel pain too, so I am very angry at certain cuisines that cut fish up alive and serve them to the customer still conscious.
An official Government report in 2021 concluded that, yes, they DO feel pain. Also, grass lets off that wonderful smell as a way to warn other grass that they've been injured. They scream.....
Do people actually think this, because this is one of the reasons I think it’s wrong to cook lobsters, crabs, and clams
Red lobsters are already cooked. They are typically darker color if uncooked and alive 😅🤣
Do you know that in China,when it's dogmeat festival,they do the same with dogs. Putting them in a boiling water. That's why i hated them for that.
Just like fishing commercials to advertise life insurance... fish life. I guess looks like fish must be life
Humans are cruel? Nature is cruel. Ever watched an animal hunt another animal? Yes we kill also animal for fun. Fishing and hunting without the means to eat your catch. That's indeed cruel and should be forbidden. But an lion kills to eat. And it's a brutal kill. Most of the time suffocating their prey with their jaws. But for some weird reason we need to use Anesthetics because otherwise it would be cruel. We are weird not cruel.
Nature doesn't have a choice as to be cruel or not, same rules don't apply to humans who can choose to inflict the unnecessary pain or not.
Load More Replies...
Um. Lobsters may have a very different body plan and no refined brain like vertebrates, but they *do* have a nervous system! To conclude that they wouldn't feel pain because of their different and "simpler" body plan is quite something. Yes there are, apparently, studies saying they don't. But there are also studies stating the contrary, so clearly this is not an established fact. Speaking from a basic evolutionary perspective: 1 Yes, pain may be processed in the brain *in higher animals*, but the same is true for processing locomotion and sensory input. Since lower animals can do the latter just fine with their limited nervous system, why shouldn't the same be true for pain? 2 Pain is a useful tool for making an animal avoid damaging stimuli. It doesn't make sense for organisms that only have body chemistry for defense (plants) but for any animal that can run away or fight, it's incredible advantage. Bet you that once this question *is* fully settled, it'll turn out they do feel pain.
Load More Replies...
Speaking of art, we were wondering if Steve had any tips to share with those of you who might be just starting out in the field.
"Oh God… From my zero education in art/comics/cartoons I can only speak from my experience. And it might be super unhelpful! I came into it from a comedy writing background so I’ve been writing jokes for over 10 years. That helped massively, I think, because being a good writer outweighs drawing ability when it comes to funny comics. Actually, being bad at drawing can often make the comics funnier. I used to draw more crudely but the neat-freak part of my brain wouldn’t allow it to carry on so I had to balance that out. I still wrestle with it! So, anyway, learn to write jokes and that’s 90% of it. While doing that, just draw a lot - that’s how you'll develop your unique style. It can take years and years and, if you’re like me, you’ll never be quite happy with it! But it’s really important to have a unique style so you stand out. Ideally, you want people to know it’s your work at one glance."
When we look at a piece of art, what happens is that we usually perceive some sort of emotion, whether it's positive or negative is entirely up to us, but in the end, the artist still has achieved a certain goal - a reaction. We asked Nelson to share with us what he'd like for people to take away when looking at his comics.
"My sole aim is to make people laugh. Preferably out loud while they’re in a public setting. Or in an inappropriate setting, that would be even better."
For some people, art is not only a hobby, but something way more, and it seems that Steve certainly has his own goals he wants (or hopes) to accomplish when it comes to his comics.
"Someone laughing at my cartoon during a funeral is what I’m learning from my answer above."
Most creators tend to receive some type of comments about their work pretty much every day, but sometimes some of them stand out more so than others.
"My brother-in-law commented on one of my posts pretending to be offended by it. He was making fun of trolls who have made similar outlandish comments in the past on my other cartoons. The cartoon he commented on then went viral and I pinned his comment to the top. Nearly everyone took his comment seriously and he got torrential abuse thrown his way - some were even DMing it to him! Ha ha. I should point out that he found this all hilarious. I offered to unpin it and wind everyone in, but he said no and had fun with it all. Nutter."
Lastly, we were curious to find out if Steve had any other hobbies besides making art.
"Not a lot, to be honest! I spend most of my time writing and drawing. Otherwise, I’m reading, watching TV, or going out to watch live music. Love indie music. While I’m here everyone should be listening to my favorite indie band Nature TV. I do the designs for all their merch and a lot of their posters and social media stuff. They’re unsigned so you should go throw them your support!"
Can everyone stop to look at what they’ve all painted, I mean banana and apple have gone basic but the other two?! 😳
They usually name diseases after the doctor that discovers them though.
For anyone who can’t figure it out, that bird is giant and bird is rooster another name for a rooster is??? (For anyone who doesn’t know another name for a rooster is a c**k)
Time for the Care Bear Healthcare Stare! (In the US will only cost $184,000.)
Omg there's a movie where they baked the cake with a girl in it.. I wanna say it was one of the Addams family movies 🤔
That one person who never lets a meeting end: "Could we just quickly circle back to the fiscal reports of Q4 1993?"
Note: this post originally had 70 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.
Well, at least it wasn't someone trying to make deep statements on humanity which mostly just amount to "we spend too much time on our phones" or something.
I hate all those over time top statement comics. Statements are not funny.
Load More Replies...
I giggled. I guffawed. I snorted (with laughter). I appreciate Nelson's humor, warped though it may be. I guess I'm warped, too!
Well, at least it wasn't someone trying to make deep statements on humanity which mostly just amount to "we spend too much time on our phones" or something.
I hate all those over time top statement comics. Statements are not funny.
Load More Replies... I giggled. I guffawed. I snorted (with laughter). I appreciate Nelson's humor, warped though it may be. I guess I'm warped, too!
