KAREN FAVREAU: Last Cartoonist Sitting

Introduction

My name is Karen Favreau, and, for a number of years, I worked as a freelance cartoonist by night and a fill-in-the-blank by day. I’d always intended to create a cartoon archive online, but needed something to motivate me. Then I was diagnosed with Stage III Ovarian Cancer in October 2009, and suddenly felt very, very motivated.

I hope you enjoy the ‘toons. All the work is copyrighted, so, if there is one that you would like to use for a flyer or booklet or whatever, please give full credit to Karen Favreau. If your heart is into it, you can also make a small donation to www.ovariancancer.org

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Please Note:

Karen Favreau died on July 7, 2010 after a courageous battle with ovarian cancer. This website shall continue and stay up as she directed. Please honor Karen's memory by following her instructions above on the use of the cartoons. May they bring you laughter and light as Karen did to all of those around her. You can view her obituary here.

About Me

I blame the late, great MAD Magazine artist Don Martin and the nameless, faceless “monkeys chained to a drafting table drawing ARCHIE comics” for turning me into a cartoonist. I began my freelance career knocking out ‘toons for some of the free weekly entertainment papers aimed at the gay community in New York and Western Massachusetts back in the pre-blog 90’s. I even joined something called “The Lesbian Cartoonists’ Network,” courtesy of “Stonewall Riots” creator Andrea Natalie (we're here-we're queer-we got cartoons).

My drawing style was an ever evolving work-in-progress stirred up by night classes at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. Eventually it got too difficult being both funny AND gay, so I switched over to a single-frame “gag” format. National Lampoon, Eightball and The New Yorker replaced MAD as my muse. A number of wonderful editors featured my work in their magazine, which include Funny Times, Valley Comic News, Nerve, and Factsheet Five (greatest hits and a little bit rock-n-roll). The best rejection letter I ever received stated “We laughed, but not hard enough—try again.”

Here are a few of my attempts at “multi-panel confessional underground commix.” The results are mixed.

Karen’s two biggest PRIDE AND JOY moments as a cartoonist:

1. National Lampoon prints one of my cartoons as part of a contest—it ain’t Maus, but it’s Don Martin-inspired silliness at its finest!

2. Funny Times selects my cartoon to be on the cover! (Incidentally, this has been my single-most successful cartoon, having been reprinted in numerous periodicals. And the funny thing is that, when I drew it back in the early 90’s, I’d never sent an e-mail or surfed that mysterious thing called the Internet).

I’ve also had the pleasure of seeing my work appear in a number of anthologies:

My cartoons also popped up in something called Ex-Lover Weird Shit and a compellation called Kitty Libber.

While I no longer freelance on a regular basis, I DO teach “Cartooning 101 Crash Course” workshops to kids at camps, libraries, schools, etc., which I enjoy tremendously.

KAREN FAVREAU:
Last Cartoonist Sitting

Introduction

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Please Note:

Thursday, July 1, 2010

v.3-5

v.3-4

v.3-3

Ridiculous Packaging

Followers