Dan Piraro’s 40 Silly And Funny Single-Panel Comics With Unexpectedly Absurd Situations

Bored Panda reached out to Dan with some more questions! First, we asked the artist if he has any upcoming series of works we should be looking forward to.

"I've written a long graphic novel called Peyote Cowboy and am currently posting it online as I illustrate it. It is free to read at PeyoteCowboy.net. It is a story in the style of magical realism and is set in a fictional place in the American Old West, somewhere near the border of the U.S. and Mexico. The story came to me in what I'd call mystical flashes over a period of a year. I did not set out to write or illustrate a graphic novel, but the story began coming to me and I became so hooked in that I followed the inspiration, completed the story, and began drawing it. When it is finished, I will likely publish it as a book or series of books."

We also wanted to know if the artist had a comic he was proud of, and we thought it was only fair if he'd share his thoughts with us!

"I've published seven cartoons per week since 1985, so there are over 13,600. That makes it very hard to choose a favorite. One that springs to mind is the scene of a figure drawing class in an art school or university. On a pedestal in front of the class is a nude, middle-aged man sitting casually on a chair. The class is full of middle-aged women, all of whom are busy knitting sweaters, rather than drawing on easels. The caption across the bottom says, "FIGURE KNITTING CLASS."

Artists go through a few art phases trying to find the art style they could call their own, however, it seems like Dan is pretty settled in that area, however, that doesn't mean the artist wouldn't like to try something new.

"Sounds old-fashioned, but I've always wanted to try sculpting in stone. I've tried just about everything else."

Starting out with comics (or art in general) isn't easy, so we asked the artist if he had any tips to share.

"My advice to anyone is to feed their creative urge. If you are inspired to write and draw comics, do it! Creativity is the language of God and nothing feels better than bringing something new into existence. If a person wonders how to make a living from drawing cartoons, or how to build a following doing so, the best resource for that is online. Just ask your favorite search engine, "How do I make money drawing cartoons?" I recommend this because the business (and the world!) has changed so much since I began that I have no idea how it works anymore. The old paradigm is gone!"

When it comes to people having opinions on his comics, here's what the artist thinks, "I try to make cartoons that make people chuckle, think, or question. All of those responses are appropriate and I hope that each person gets something a little different from each cartoon."

Most artists usually create art in order to accomplish something, therefore we were wondering if Dan felt the same.

"When I got into cartooning, all I was trying to accomplish was to make a living. After 30+ years of it, I have been amazed and greatly gratified by how many people have told me that I'd improved their lives, helped them through tough times via laughter, etc. It is undeniably true that we each change the world with everything we do, and I am happy that my work has seemed to improve small parts of the world in small ways."

Dan has been in the comic scene for quite some time now so we were curious whether he had any comments from his followers that particularly stood out, "A woman once told me that she shared my comics with her father each morning in the newspaper comics section while she was growing up. As an adult, as her father lay on his deathbed, they shared some of their favorites once again and shared some laughs before he passed. That one note touched me more than probably anything else in my career."

Lastly, given how popular the artist's comics are we asked him how all of this had impacted his life.

"Since I was a small child, my entire self-image has been that of an artist. I have always instinctively known it was what I was created to do, and I have followed that calling to the best of my abilities. Making art has been nothing short of the reason for my existence, and I am in profound gratitude for that."