I have a German fan! His name is Hans. He’s a 59 year old chef. His wife Ulrike collects “pig-tures”, cartoon pigs made by comic artists from around the world. He sent me a long very kind and sweet e-mail asking me to draw a pig for his wife. This is so far out it could be someone pulling my leg (Jimmy, is this one of your practical jokes?). If so, it was so well done that I’m happy to fall for it.

Here’s an Elvis pig for Ulrike!

Regardless if Hans and Ulrike are for real, I’ve been wanting to find a technique suitable to make “luxury cartoons” if the occasion should arise. So I used this fine request to try some stuff out. Which one of the pigs do YOU prefer?

A Steve Martin caricature illustrating a film review of Pink Panther 2 (for a magazine coming out next week, edited by my colleague Jimmy Wallin).

Sketches leading up to the finished work.

Don’t you just hate it when your sketches is better than the finished piece…?