Thursday, February 07, 2008 Ng: Expressing through cartoons By Wilson Ng Wired Desktop
THIS is the 787th article for this space. I have been writing for Sun.Star Cebu for almost 14 years.
I also write for SME Insights magazine and occasionally contribute various articles to several journals. Apart from these, I maintain a blog, where I must have written more than a thousand articles since I started it about three years ago.
When I checked my e-mail in the last 12 months, I realized that I had sent out over 6,000 emails in the period, which means I wrote and sent more than 20 e-mails a day.
I guess all this shows my passion for writing, which I believe is a form of expressing one’s ideas.
A few months ago, I decided to take up graphic arts. I wanted to enroll in oil painting but later decided that I did not want to start something which I did not have time to finish. I decided instead to do sketching. After a period of self study, I decided that I would try drawing cartoons, which was fun.
I wanted to do cartoons on business-related issues as I have my own experiences and readings on the topic that I want to share in a fun way.
Technology has made it easier for me, a person who is really bad at drawing, to do some decent cartoons. Technology also gave me the avenue to share these cartoons without really publishing it.
Since I started posting some of the cartoons in my blog (www.bizdrivenlife.net) a few weeks ago, I have had a good increase of traffic.
Evidently, cartoons became a new avenue of expression for me. Being graphical, it is easy to read, which is why it became popular. I also found out that it allows me to express things that I can’t state in writing.
A few days back, there was the story about being “photoshopped,” which means the digital alteration of a photograph using image editing software of which PhotoShop is the most popular. Here is a toon that I believe expresses this new development in a frustrating and fun way.
Here is a toon that expresses the hidden desire of all geeks to rule the world.
Finally, here’s a toon that expresses our frustration at the rat race we are trapped in, as well as wishing you all a happy Chinese new year.
To all the businessmen out there, don’t be too focus on winning in the rat race. There are other ways to attain happiness.
As one philosopher says, “The problem with competing in the rat race is that even if you win, you are still a rat!” Kung Hei Fat Choi!
