My name is Peta Manning. I’m a cartoonist from Australia.
In the quiet corners of my childhood home, I discovered a lifelong affair with art. I embarked on a journey that would lead from the doodles on my bedroom wall to becoming a cartoonist who found humour in the most unexpected places.
My artistic odyssey began with the adventures of Garfield and the heartfelt wisdom of Peanuts. As a child, I would cut the strips out of the paper and collect them. I would also draw my own versions of Garfield doing silly things I thought were funny, like eating a giant sandwich. While my friends played with dolls, I was engrossed in the world of animated cats and philosophical beagles.
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The Influenzer
Most instagram "influenzers" are like viruses, spreading hateful messages.
When I was a teen, I stopped drawing and became interested in making short films, but still loved reading cartoons. When I left high school, I studied a bachelor of Film & TV, later working in television, first as a creative trainee, then for ‘Funniest Home Videos.’ In my mid twenties, I became ill with ME/CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) and had to move back to the small town I grew up in to be looked after by my parents. ME/CFS is a complex debilitating medical condition. I was bedbound and housebound for about 12 years. I was unable to watch TV, listen to music, or do the simplest of tasks. The only thing I was able to do was look at simple pictures with few words, and voice ideas into a voice recorder.
Other Bermudas
The Bermuda Washer. Where socks go to murder their spouse, and dispose of the body.
During this time, I started dreaming about being a cartoonist. My mum started buying me lots of cartoon books. I still have an ever-growing collection today. I voiced thousands of cartoon ideas, some which made no sense, while others I’ve turned into cartoons when I was able to draw again. It was years before I was well enough to draw again. To start with, I was only able to draw simple stick figures, then eventually more complex single-panel cartoons, which you see here.
I collected John Callaghan cartoon books, and realized he also had a disability. Despite his profound disability, he became quite an influential cartoonist. Extremely funny.
Vampires
Inspired and determined by Callaghan’s story, I started creating my own cartoons about the absurdities of life.
I find inspiration from many different cartoonists, from Gary Larson, to New Yorker cartoonists to many Australian creators, like Michael Leunig, Andrew Weldon, and Oslo Davis.
Rhombicosidodecahedron Technique
I draw all my cartoons now, pen on paper. I use pigment ink on 300gsm card stock, then greyscale alcohol markers to shade and colour in. I use the computer to scan the cartoons and affinity photo to do touch-ups. I then take the image into my iPad to do the final touches in the app ‘Procreate.’ I’m not able to use the iPad for long as I get headaches and nausea. Unfortunately, my ME/CFS still affects me. I try to draw about two cartoons a week.
Comedy Routines
For me, coming up with the idea is very important. As Bob Mancoff, former editor of the New Yorker, says, “it’s not the ink, it’s the think.” A cartoon is like a single frame of a film, it has to tell a story in one image. I’ve always loved brainstorming ideas. I often use mind mapping, and see if anything pops out at me. Other times a conversation with a friend sparks an idea or looking at other cartoons might inspire new material.
Hopefully, I make people laugh or smile with my cartoons. I share my cartoons on all social media platforms. Thanks for reading.
Creation Of Earth
The Hardly Used Room
I want to think the cat gets petted in other rooms :)
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Cats can get depression too people, just like any other animal. You see those videos where the cat's staring off into space as the automatic ball comes around and hits them in the face and they don't move? That's not funny. That cat's depressed and needs some help. (Or they could be drugged up, which that's funny then. But unless it's shown otherwise, they're most likely depressed.)
When I was little my God parents had a room like this and during the holidays it had so many Christmas decorations in there but we were never able to go in there and sit on the furniture cuz she didn't like kids!!
The Unsneakily Sneaker
Funeral Trivia
Macbeth And The Splayd
Pins And Needles
Some of them were okay but the majority of them weren't my cup of tea. The jokes were a bit try-hard. They'd probably be fine for a niche audience separately, but for a general audience, a lot of these were reaching pretty hard to come across as both smart and funny.
Agreed. I think that might be why I didn't even get the jokes on some of them.
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The drawings were okay, but the jokes could use some work. I didn't quite get half of them. Keep it up and good luck.
Some of them were okay but the majority of them weren't my cup of tea. The jokes were a bit try-hard. They'd probably be fine for a niche audience separately, but for a general audience, a lot of these were reaching pretty hard to come across as both smart and funny.
Agreed. I think that might be why I didn't even get the jokes on some of them.
Load More Replies... The drawings were okay, but the jokes could use some work. I didn't quite get half of them. Keep it up and good luck.
