Standup and ‘toons collide

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on October 5th, 2010

We’ve been getting a lot of compliments on our cartoonified likenesses (see above) since we started using them as our Facebook profile pics. They were created by Ambrose Quintanilla IV, a cartoonist and illustrator who is also a huge standup fan. He recently saw The Male Half perform at Comedy & Magic in Hermosa Beach, CA, and created the caricature soon after. He subsequently created The Female Half’s caricature to complete the pair.

In addition to churning out a conventional strip or two (including one based on a gopher named “Digger Davis”), Quintanilla also creates one-off strips (with permission) based on the occasional standup bit. (Go here for a selection of strips based on a one-liners from The Male Half and other comedians at Quintanilla’s Gopher-It Productions Facebook profile.)

We’re seeing a lot creative use of old and new art forms to promote standup comedians or sort through issues surrounding the business of standup. And we’re seeing some new technology applied to old forms. Darren Carter has enlisted the creativity of cousin Brian Carter to animate his Orange Armenian Baby-Man bit. Audio of Carter (from Carter’s CD) is brought to life in the three-minute clip, complete with audience response. It’s a commercial for the CD, a commercial for Carter and an interesting cartoon on top of it all.

The Quintanilla caricatures are appealing because they’re simple (hearkening back to Jay Ward?) and they seem fresher than the caricatures of old from artists at street fairs or on the boardwalks in Jersey. (The Female Half says she looks like “the “Hot Mom” in a Ren & Stimpy cartoon.” Hmmm… comparisons to Jay Ward and John Kricfalusi. It doesn’t get better than that.)

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