Drew Has a Dream

17 thoughts on “Drew Has a Dream”

1. Drew,

   Good Morning from Omaha.

   What a tall task you have assumed. I have enjoyed your cartoons, yes even from Nebraska, since1990 when I picked up a copy of the Rocky from a vending machine in North Platte, NE.

   I have been enthralled with your cartoons and the Rocky ever since.

   When I get the chance to visit Colorado I would always get up early and walk over to either the safeway or another store and get a copy.

   I read it from cover to cover. I loved the writing. I even followed the article about the crossing and how lives had changed since the accident between the school bus and the train

   Drew It seems you want to do more than draw cartoons. We may disagree politically but I can take a poke in the ribs and enjoyed your John and Barack cartoons and animations.

   Do you write as well as you draw?

   I am kind of ADHD and as my wife put it, I get in a rut and don’t want to climb out of it. so as I read your cartoons and ideas I watch wings and Mike and Mike. I switch to CNN and local news as well to see the weather, who got shot, robbed and road reports. No they don’t do corn and bean prices with a side of dressed cattle and hog futures( as an aside everytime I hear the term hog futures I scream at the radio”Hogs don’t have a future) but they really do a fine job.

   Drew Litton ,Com is in my morning rotation that includes several papers not just Omaha’s and several political web sites as well as the bbc .

   I just read what I have written, seems I talk so much and say so little.

   Whatever you decide to do I am with you, always have been, always will be.

   Gene

2. Drew,

   To quote the NFL “upon further review” you have basically hit the sport doldrums. No baseball, no football, no basketball… Life will change, that you can depend on.

   In between I would think Drew does go out of the house, and gets his chances to observe life outside of sports. There is always something happening in Denver and the front range.

   My son and his wife live up in Fort Collins and go to CSU (insert joke here) . I am amazed at the variety of activities you see going on in your area. Runners, bike riders,golf, soccer, skate boarders, the scenery my gosh you have it all and its on your doorstep if you just go out and look for it.

   always remember Strive for excellence, nothing but your best.

   You will notice that the word I was used very sparingly in this post. That, according to my 8th grade composition teacher, Mrs. Stevens, was a sign of good writing.

   Have a good one.

   Gene

3. Thanks Gene, for your great input. Sounds like you are a major news junkie like me. Although I must admit, my TV here in the studio is more often tuned to the Cartoon Network than it is CNN. But I go back and forth. You’re right about the lull we find ourselves in. I think that’s the reason the Cutler-McDaniels story has been so much in the News. The Avalanche are having a horrible season, the Nuggets are “been there, done that” at least until they get beyond round 1 of the playoffs and nobody seems too excited about the Rockies.

   Anyway, great ideas. keep ’em coming. And thanks for being such a part of this blog. I look forward to your posts.

   Drew

4. Would it be possible to create a “retro” area with some of your older comics posted with the back story? There’s several old classics that would be great to see and relive those memories. I emailed you about the Lakewood High School 85′ State Champ one. Another great one is the Bronco 93(?) Preview with Elway flying a bomber and Wade Phillips in a Barney Suit. The Wade Phillips one would probably still be relevent today in Dallas. Maybe you could post one up every few days? I used to love reading them when I was a kid… Dan Issel, Alex English, Carl Mecklenburg, Sammy Winder, Rich Carlis… it goes on & on.

5. i would love the idea of creating desktop wallpaper. I love your cartoons and would love to have them displayed. Maybe a screen saver with a bunch of your favorite cartoons, too.

6. I always look forward to Good Morning from Omaha….

   While I enjoy your cartoons like nothing else being the sports-junkie that I am, I really appreciate the blurbs you write in their companion entries. I appreciate your perspective.

   A totally off the wall question and I’m embarrassed to ask, but we are a community of friends–have you ever drawn a cartoon depicting anyone quilting?

7. Drew,

   Your vision and ability to capture a sentiment in one panel is what kept people opening the RMN to your ‘toon and keeps people coming to this site. How you see the world and communicate it to others is so very valuable. Your art sums up what people feel, it helps them see an issue from a different perspective, and it always starts a conversation.

   When you did some of the political cartoons during the election season, it seemed like you enjoyed extending your work to a different arena. To that end, I’d be thrilled to see some cartoons having to do with politics and current events.

   Your sketches, rough drafts, and particularly your written thought process about how you create one of your works is always interesting to me. Seeing behind the curtain is always fun. Please do post some of your sketches and your “stories” about how you developed a certain ‘toon to final form.

   As for the comments and discussions from fans, it is always a risky business. By and large, the posters to your new site have been helpful, constructive, sometimes critical, but always added value to the discussion. All too often on the RMN site we saw people post flame-bait and reduce the discussion down to personal attacks and name calling which simply kills the participation. “Tom” and his “boat-rocking” posts was a guy who posted some thought-provoking, and sometime uncomfortable comments. It wasn’t until he was run out of town by others posting in his name and generally behaving poorly that I realized I missed being challenged by his critiques insights even if I did not like them. People like Tom truly move the discussion, but often end up being abused by others who disagree but can not put their thoughts into words. Having said all that, if you do open up a wider fan-based discussion board, please make sure it is actively moderated to keep the discussion at a higher level than insults and general misery.

   For fan participation, it would be fun to post fan-created ‘toons and continue the captioning contests. There are many people who read your site and want to participate in the creative process. Encourage them to post their art and keep posting captions.

   Finally, podcasts or video of your creative process would be great. Hearing you discuss or talk through the way you create a given ‘toon would be fun.

   Mike

8. I have an idea. I have been a huge fan of your work for the nearly 20 years I’ve been reading the Rocky. It was work like yours that inspired amateur cartoonists and artists such as myself to do the same and have a different although humorous perspective on the world around us, and having an avenue to share that with.

   I think it would be awesome to have amateur cartoonists young and old submit cartoons to you and have you select the best 2 or 3 to publish on Drew Litton.com.

   What do you think? It would be a strong temptation for me to pick up my pencil and pen again now that I’m in my 30’s and immersed in my work-a-day world.

9. wow,

   Did Mike hit it hard and on the head.

   I think Drew has a lively following that will make for an interesting blog.

   I can’t draw other than football play diagrams the ol X’s and O’s but with a behind the scenes maybe an animation of lines to paper, like Mike suggested. That would be great and might let

   know a little more about Drew and his inner workings.

   We will see you in the morning.

   Gene

10. Hi Everybody. Great responses and feedback. I love all of the concepts and I’m going to implement them as soon as possible. I might hold off on asking for cartoon submissions from all of you and posting them here until the sports scene heats up a bit more, but I love the idea, so that will happen as well. I think it would be fun too to run an oldie cartoon of mine every week or whenever there is a gap in the seasons (kind of like now). i always tried to get them to do that at the News, like when I was on vacation, but they weren’t receptive to it. But I think it’s fun to look back on the old cartoons that came from memorable sports moments, especially ones in Colorado’s history.

    So thanks for the ideas and please feel free to leave more of them as the creativity strikes you.

    Drew

11. Hi Shannon,

    There’s nothing embarrassing about your question. I can’t think of a quilting cartoon of the top of my head. I did one years back about Dan Reeves scotch taping the Broncos back together after a bad season. It was called a Patchwork Orange. But quilting would be a good metaphor. I’ll tell you what, if I do one I’ll send you the original. Just remind me.

    Drew

12. I find it kind of odd that there’s so little mention of the passing of Lou “Half a loaf” Saban.

13. Drew,

    What I appreciate (beyond your expertise in cartoons) is your other hobbies. You’ve written about politics, music and films. Maybe start that sort of conversation and board. In additional, we all have hobbies as well so maybe solicit on those topics as well.

    BTD

14. Bill,

    I thought about a half-a-loaf-Lou cartoon but the Cutler story broke tonight so I went with that. Maybe I’ll post a rough of it.

15. Brad,

    I would love to talk about some of the influences that shape my creativity day to day. I just wasn’t sure whether people would be interested if I got off topic every once an a while.

    Drew

16. “I think it would be fun too to run an oldie cartoon of mine every week or whenever there is a gap in the seasons (kind of like now).” – Drew

    Yay!! I can’t wait!

17. Drew,

    Great idea on the community. I may have mentioned a book that I like called ‘Back of the Napkin’ by Dan Roam. It is about using simple drawings, illustrations, ‘back of the napkin’ stuff in business situations. However, for me, easier said than done…maybe you could offer some of this type of work too – doesn’t have to be the full blown cartoons to help make a point. I recently used a handwritten flowchart in a email campaign that generated a great response because it was memorable and unique. I scanned in the jpg and pasted it into the email and that was it. I’ll email the example of the flowchart.

    Cheers from the home of Cheers!

    Go Sox!

    What’s the difference between a Yankee Dog and a Fenway Frank? You can get Fenway Franks in October…