The 5-star community
By Max Pohlenz / translated to English by mariposa

‚Rating’ is an ugly word. It almost sounds as though it describes the activity of one of the most hated, unloved, pestilential creature on this planet: the rat. Ever since 2008, the year of the financial crisis, the word has been on everyone’s lips and ears.

The keyword analysis site ‚Google Trends’ rates the search term ‚rating’ as following: the Search Volume Index decreased rapidly since 2004 from almost 1.50 to approximately 0.80, whereas the News Reference Volume continuously increased since the beginning of 2007, only to reach its short-lived climax on August 8 last year, when rumor had it that the USA was having difficulties in regaining the AAA rating level. To put it in a nutshell: the term ‚rating’ was less and less searched by google users, it turned out to be one of the most hated and unpopular words; and yet it had become irreversibly established in the news.

The rating system of toonpool.com was also hated, but indispensable for an online community like this. And while other portals equipped their users with new possibilities to participate in community life or adapted their rating system, time seemed to hang suspended in this department on toonpool.com – and time flies by dangerously fast on the internet. YouTube simplified its rating options by replacing the five star scale with ‚like’ and ‚dislike’ buttons, the nerdy artist community deviant-art seem to be free of any form of rating because of the invisible brotherhood band around its users, and many facebook users have started a cult in their blue and white cyber world by using the world-famous four-letter word: ‚Like’. Thumbs-up stickers posted all over the walls and doors of metropolitan IN-districts.

What is remarkable is that many facebook users have expressed their longing for a ‚dislike’ button. The most simple rating system is still too unperfect for some users. The biggest dislike group on facebook already has more than three million members, a number coming close to the population of Berlin. No matter what you call it – dislike, diss, bully, downgrade – giving negative ratings can release happiness hormones just like bitching and gossiping does. Since the beginning of my web existence in 1996, I witnessed the Seven Sins going online. All the evil comments and downgrades on the internet are revelations of Ira, the wrath and Invidia, the envy – all of this happening under the cloak of anonymity and by creating multiple identities or accounts, as though the internet and toonpool.com were teeming with schizophrenic stalkers diagnosed with bipolar disorder, who nowadays don’t seek attention by hooting and tailgating during evening rush hour, but arm themselves with mouse and keyboard. Web anonymity and rating agency – never before were these two subjects more present than in the last three years until today.

toonpool.com’s users have (as befits a community of artists) a much more creative approach to this topic. The toonpool forum lists eight threads about rating. As early as March 2008 – toonpool.com wasn’t even 6 months old – a (former) user suggested changes and another one vented his displeasure. Suggestions ranked from mathematic to sociological concerns and even included an expression of outrage, an ‚international scandal in the world of cartoons’, which was aimed at a cartoon competition in cooperation with stern.de. On stern.de, visitors were asked to vote for cartoons of Angela Merkel and Frank-Walter Steinmeier and owing to technical difficulties, the rating system seemed to have a manipulative property/character/touch.

In general, the cartoonist is a special type of the main category of artists: often sensitive, vulnerable, susceptible to criticism, and yet, unlike other creative beings, the cartoonist has the most powerful and dangerous instrument to fight back: the cartoon. The collection ‚the mysterious one-star-rater’ consists of a treasure of beautiful artworks about the mysterious legendary character peculiar to toonpool – the universally hated ‚one-star-rater’. At times he/it sits, as depicted by Dirk Berrens, in his quiet chamber like the phantom of the Opera in front of his gigantic screen, performing his evil doings

By Dirk Berrens

at times he kicks one and receives many stars due to the pain

By Oguz Gurel

or he kneels in front of a star-pooping donkey which is laughing at him (as pictured by Pascal Kirchmair).

By Pascal Kirchmair

These works express the general spirit of toonpool.com: it’s a wonderful and creative community, at times stubborn, at times odd and strange, but always artistic and genuine.  One subject will suffice, whether it be annoying or pleasant, local, global, analog or dialog: and voilá, there will be a response in the form of a cartoon.

Now the rating system is a relic of the past, instead we introduce a plain and simple heart. The new icon/symbol is an ancient/old message to the world. Make Love, not Stars. Or something along these lines. The Internet has become the most important rating instrument, you can give everything and everyone a grade: my house, my car, my wife. The victory of the Internet is also a victory of statistics, charts and databases. A little less of it will do us good, let’s hand out hearts instead.

Maybe the painting ‚The Scream’ by Edvard Munch is worth 120.000.000 $. The German translation for rating (‚Bewertung’) contains the word ‚value’ (‚wert’), so rating must involve a number – whether it be US dollars or toon-stars. Maybe the Norwegian masterpiece would have received one single star on toonpool.com. What is certain though is, that there won’t appear any cloaked people at an exhibition who stick yellow and white stars below the artist’s artworks. On the other hand there’s always plenty of applause at gallery openings – hence the applause button.

Epilog
During my communication design studies, I received a rating for one of my magazine layouts that initially shocked me, yet I learned to appreciate the view of the teacher: ‚That sucks.’ But communication design is no art either.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Deutsche Version (German version)

Die 5-Sterne-Community
Von Max Pohlenz

“Rating” ist ein häßliches Wort. Fast klingt es, als beschreibe es die Tätigkeit eines der verhaßtesten, ungeliebtesten, pestbringenden Wesen auf dieser Erde: der Ratte. Spätestens seit 2008, dem Jahr der Finanzkrise, ist das Wort in aller Munde und Ohren.

Die Keyword-Analyseseite “Google Trends” bewertet, also “rated” den Suchbegriff “rating” wie folgt: der Search Volume Index sank seit 2004 rapide von fast 1,50 auf ungefähr 0,80, während die News Reference Volume seit Anfang 2007 stetig anstieg und einen kurzen Gipfel am 8. August letzten Jahres erfuhr, als bekannt wurde, daß die USA Schwierigkeiten damit haben, ihr Rating AAA wiederzuerlangen. Bedeutet: der Begriff “rating” wurde seltener von google-Usern gesucht, er wurde immer verhaßter und unbeliebter; gleichzeitig war er jedoch nicht mehr aus den Nachrichten wegzudenken.

Auch das Rating-System von toonpool.com war verhaßt, aber bei einer Online-Community nicht wegzudenken. Doch während andere Portale ihren Benutzern neue Möglichkeiten zur Beteiligung am Community-Leben zur Verfügung stellten oder ihr Rating-System anpaßten, blieb die Zeit bei toonpool.com in dieser Hinsicht ein bißchen stehen – und die Zeit im Internet dreht sich gefährlich schnell. YouTube vereinfachte die Bewertung von fünf Sternen auf ein großes “Mag ich” und ein kleines “Mag ich nicht”, in der nerdigen Künstlergemeinde deviant-art untersagt eine Art unsichtbares Bruderschaftsband die böse Abwertung, und viele facebook-User haben die vier weltberühmten Buchstaben zur Bewertung innerhalb ihrer blau-weißen Online-Welt zum Kult erklärt: “Like”. Längst kleben in allen Szenevierteln der Metropolen an Wänden und Türen selbsterstellte erhobene Daumen aus Papier.

Dabei werden immer wieder Stimmen aus den facebook-Untiefen laut, die nach dem “Dislike”-Knopf rufen. Das simpelste Bewertungssystem ist noch zu unperfekt für den einen oder anderen Benutzer. Die größte Dislike-Gruppe auf facebook zählt immerhin über drei Millionen Mitglieder. Wie man es auch nennt – disliken, dissen, mobben, downraten – das negative Bewerten kann wie das Lästern Glückshormone freisetzen. Seit dem Beginn meines Online-Seins 1996 sah ich neben allen großen Veränderungen auch dem Online-Gehen der Sieben Todsünden zu. In allen bösen Kommentaren und Downratings im Web zeigen uns Ira, der Zorn, und Invidia, der Neid, ihre Gesichter – dies alles unter dem Deckmantel der Namenlosigkeit und unter Zuhilfenahme von multiplen Identitäten und Accounts, als ob das Internet und auch toonpool.com nur so wimmle von schizophrenen Stalkern mit bipolaren Störungen, die sich heutzutage nicht mehr hupend und dicht auffahrend im Feierabendverkehr aufmerksam machen, sondern sich mit Mouse und Tastatur bewaffnen. Auf der anderen Seite kämpft die sehr erfolgreiche, erst sechs Jahre alte Piratenpartei in Deutschland um die Anonymität im Web – zurecht, denn trotz der Shitstorms auf etablierte Politiker, trotz Stalkern und Mobbing-Angriffen brauchen die Minderheiten ein Sprachrohr, eine Plattform, in der sie sich namenlos austauschen können, so wie es seit Beginn des modernen Internets möglich ist. Netz-Anonymität und Rating-Agentur – noch nie waren diese zwei Themen aktueller als in den letzten drei Jahren bis jetzt.

Die toonpool.com-Benutzer gehen, wie es sich für eine Künstler-Community gehört, oftmals deutlich kreativer mit dem Sachverhalt um. Im toonpool-Forum dreht sich in acht Threads alles um das Rating, schon im März 2008 – toonpool.com war nicht einmal ein halbes Jahr alt – schlug ein ehemaliger User Änderungen vor und ein anderer drückte seinen Unmut aus. Die Vorschläge waren manchmal mathematischer, manchmal soziologischer Natur und reichten bis zum Ausruf eines “Internationalen Skandals in der Cartoonwelt“, wobei letzeres sich auf einen Cartoonwettbewerb auf stern.de in Kooperation mit toonpool.com bezog. Besucher konnten dort für Cartoons über Angela Merkel und Frank-Walter Steinmeier stimmen, aufgrund technischer Pannen erhielt das Bewertungssystem einen manipulativen Charakter.

Der Cartoonist im gemeinen ist eine besondere Gattung der Oberkategorie Künstler: oftmals sensibel, verletzlich, leicht durch Kritik beeinflussbar, kann er jedoch im Gegensatz zu den übrigen schaffenden Kreaturen mit seiner gefährlichsten Waffe zurückschlagen: dem Cartoon. Die Collection “the mysterious one-star-rater“ birgt ein Dutzend wunderbarer Kunstwerke, die sich mit der mysteriösen, toonpool-eigenen Sagenfigur befassen, dem allseits verhaßten “One-Star-Rater”. Mal sitzt er, wie von Dirk Berrens dargestellt, dem Phantom der Oper gleich im stillen Kämmerlein vor dem Riesen-Screen und führt sein schmutziges Werk aus, mal tritt er gegen den einen und erhält vor Schmerzen viele Sterne oder kniet wie bei Pascal Kirchmair vor einem sternekackenden Esel, der ihn auslacht.

tl;dr

Nun ist das Rating-System Vergangenheit, an seiner Stelle prangt ein schlichtes Herz. Das neue Symbol ist eine alte Nachricht an die Welt. Make Love, not Stars. Oder so ähnlich.
Das Web selbst ist das größte Bewertungsinstrument geworden, man kann für alles und jeden eine Note erteilen: mein Haus, mein Auto, meine Frau. Der Sieg des Internets ist auch ein Sieg der Statistik, der Tabellen und Datenbanken. Ein bißchen weniger davon tut gut, verteilen wir stattdessen Herzen.

Vielleicht ist das Gemälde “Der Schrei” von Edvard Munch 120.000.000 $ wert. Die deutsche Entsprechung für Rating, “Bewertung”, enthält das Wort “wert”, Bewertung muß also zwangsläufig über eine Ziffer erfolgen – egal, ob die Einheit US-Dollar oder toon-Sterne heißt. Auf toonpool.com hätte das norwegische Meisterwerk vielleicht einen Stern erhalten. Mit Gewißheit kann man jedoch sagen, daß auf der Vernissage eines Künstlers keine vermummten Gestalten auftauchen, die gelbe und weiße Sterne unter seine Arbeiten kleben. Applaus gibt es allerdings oft auf Galerieeröffnungen – daher der Applause Button.

Epilog
Während meiner Ausbildung zum Kommunikationsdesigner erfuhr ich für einen meiner Magazin-Entwürfe eine Bewertung von meinem Dozenten, die mich zunächst schockierte, für die ich später aber dankbar war: “Das ist Scheiße”. Aber Kommunikationsdesign ist auch keine Kunst.

Image used for the preview by Medi Belortaja

"Supeeheroes" by Tim Leatherbarrow

"Excreta" by r8r

What I find astonishing is that pretty much all of the toilet cartoons show men only. There is just this one work featuring a female. How come? I am pretty sure women drop a deuce once in a while as well.

Check here for more cartoons.

Toonpool artist Munguίa combines a painter’s command of color with the bold, curvaceous line work and playful humor of a master cartoonist. This is a beautiful, shimmery, decorative style with echoes of Picasso and Klimt, folk art, even ancient mosaics. It’s interesting in itself, but that’s just the beginning. There is always a parody, a joke, a surprising connection or a deeper meaning. His dreamlike scenarios carry you back to childhood, when two unlikely words strung together could call up an instant picture in your head. Or the expression on a dog’s face could put you in a dream. Munguίa encourages the fantasy – and unleashes a gorgeous world of zany, serendipitous delight.

Hawaiian Pizza

A surprised-looking pizza chef catches a wave at sunset on a huge slice of ham-and-pineapple pizza, in Hawaiian Pizza 2. His teal-blue color makes him pop against the red-orange sea of tomato sauce. The waves are foamy with sliced tomatoes, and after a moment it becomes clear what those clouds are – Midas-touched dollops of mozzarella. Like the surfer, we’re carried along by the wave’s red curve and the edge of the pizza slice, to a surprise at lower left – the setting sun frames a tiny bikini-clad girl on a sailboat, with a slice of pizza for the sail. There’s a hum of movement and contrast – flat space gives way to sudden depth, intricate patterns break up smoother areas of color, all in support of the carefree figure at the center with the enviable lifestyle. I would love to be this guy!

What if valet parking were really Ballet Parking, with the lot attendants pirouetting en pointe! In a play on cama, the Spanish word for bed, two beds are entwined in ecstasy in Kamasutra. And I love the sheer outrageousness of Barbies, with the bearded tranny Barbie dolls still encased in their boxes.

Munguίa’s masterwork parodies are always affectionate. A favorite of mine: Monalisa Giving the Finger! At first blush, the cartoonist seems to be putting the most famous painting of all time in its place. But the artist is actually in collusion with his timeless subject. He’d like to give her a break. The lady has been dying to do something rude for a few hundred years, and Munguίa finally gives her the chance!

Monalisa giving the finger

My recent interview with Munguίa.

Francisco Munguia

Where were you born, where did you study, and where do you live now?

I was born and raised in San Jose, Costa Rica. I’m currently living in Guadalupe, a canton of San José, the capital.

Which artists inspire you the most?

As a child I was a fan of Garbage Pail Kids and Topps sticker collections. The style of John Pound influenced me as much as Matt Groening and Quino. My country recognizes the influence of my colleagues Nano, Arcadio and Ferrom in my work.

You use a beautiful painterly technique in your cartoons – do you also put cartoons in your paintings?

I just do cartoons – the techniques are what I change. Sometimes I do acrylic paintings, ceramics, sculptures, animations and video games – all related in the unity of my own style into humoristic art.

How do you work?

When working digitally I start with an original drawing with ink on paper, then scan it and color it on the computer. I usually use Photoshop, but now I’m using a Bamboo Tablet and Animator to put color to my drawings on paper. In addition to publishing my drawings on toonpool, I produce the Calcamunguías, a series of stickers printed on vinyl. The collection started ten years ago, and so far there are 1,226 images and counting. Some are printed on tee shirts, and others are printed on ceramic tiles and then shown in galleries.

What do you do when you’re not doing art?

I’m a husband and father of two children. I live with Deborah, Fausto (two and a half) and Fidel (a year and eight months), along with twenty-two dogs recovered by my wife from the street. In our shelter we had five dogs with three legs, two one-eyed dogs, a scarface one, ex-fighters, and mental illness. All good behavior, quiet and clean, thanks to my wife who has an extra-special ability to change the sad and sick into the happy and healthy.

I do art all the time. I paint and program video games for my kids, I help my wife in her work with illustrations and videos, and I also help many animal welfare groups and associations. I love to cook, I move furniture around the house, and I do installations.

More of Munguίa´s work you find here.

„50 YIL 50 KARİKATÜR: ALMAN KARİKATÜRİSTLERİN
GÖZÜYLE TÜRKLER“

Ausstellungseröffnung und Vorstellung des Ausstellungsprojektes:
Sergi Açılışı ve Sergi Projesinin Tanıtımı:
Bernd Pohlenz, Karikatür Sanatçısı ve „Gesellschaft für Karikaturen toonpool.com“ Bașkanı
Cartoon-Künstler und Präsident der „Gesellschaft für Karikaturen toonpool.com“

12.4.2012 18.30
Yer / Ort: Goethe-Institut Ankara

Die Ausstellung ist bis einschl. 28.4.2012 (außer sonntags und 23.4.2012)
täglich 13.00-18.00 geöffnet
Sergi 28.4.2012 tarihine kadar (Pazar günleri ve 23.4.2012 hariç)
hergün saat 13.00-18.00 arası gezilebilir.

Poster for the Exhibition in Ankara

Die Ausstellung „50 Jahre – 50 Karikaturen: Türken in Deutschland aus der Sicht deutscher Karikaturisten“ reflektiert die verschiedenen Phasen türkischer Lebenswelten in Deutschland. Insbesondere die letzte Phase der türkisch-europäischen Beziehungen, die Ausländerfeindlichkeit, die sich insbesondere nach dem 11. September intensivierte, die Leitkultur sowie der Einbürgerungstest haben in den letzten Debatten über Migranten zu einem Anstieg der Karikaturen geführt. Aber abgesehen davon hat auch der Transfer von Denkweisen der türkischen Migranten in diese Eingang Anklang gefunden. Daher ist zu sagen, dass die türkischen Migranten in den deutschen Medien einen besonderen Stellenwert einnehmen und in keiner Weise mit anderen Migrantengruppen in Deutschland verglichen werden können. Dies zeigt sich auch in den Karikaturen der Ausstellung.
„50 Yıl – 50 Karikatür: Karikatüristlerin Gözüyle Türkler” sergisi, Almanya’da yaşayan Türklerin değişik dönemlerdeki yaşam biçimlerini anlatmaktadır. Özellikle son dönemdeki Türkiye-AB ilişkileri, 11 Eylül sonrası gelişmelere bağlı olarak yoğunlaşan yabancı düşmanlığı, öz kültür, vatandaşlık testi gibi ayımcılık politikaları, çifte vatandaşlık, göçmenler üzerinden yapılan siyasi tartışmalar bu karikatürlerde geniş yer buldu. Ancak en az onlar kadar Türk göçmenlerin yaşadıkları topluma yönelik zihniyet transferleri de bu karikatürlere yansıdı. Sergilenen bu karikatürlerde de görüldüğü gibi, Türklerin Alman medyasında başka hiç bir göçmen grupla karşılaştırılmayacak

See all participating cartoons here<<

The Adda river nearby

01. Which movie/tv character you see yourself as and why?
There is a TV show, “Scrubs”, where the protagonist tends to imagine unreal situations to distract himself from reality. Sometimes I distract my attention from reality like that.

02. What was your New Year’s resolution?
I’m on a course for a new total different work..I hope to be promoted!

03. What bores you the most?
Listening to stupid politicians it’s what bores me the most. Berlusconi was the worst of all. But there are more… Monti and company aren’t different.

04. Do you like your place or would you like to live somewhere else?
I live in a small village in the countryside, a perfect place for children to grow “into the wild”, but I personally hope to move to a place just in front of the sea, somewhere, someday.

05. What are you able to do that Superman can’t do?
Superman can’t give people the intelligence to make this world the paradise that could be.

06. If you were sleep walking one night, where would you probably wake up the next day?
On a train…

07. What would you wear to be kicked out from a black tie cocktail party
No idea..perhaps a black sensual dress with tennis shoes

08. Tell me the biggest prank you did on a friend.
Usually the victim…is me! Maybe because I’m too ingenuous!

09. How to ruin your vacation?
Vacation…what does vacation mean?

10. If I gave you a giraffe, where would you hide it?
I would hide it among other giraffes.

11. What do you do when you see the glass half empty!
I go in front of the mirror and give a speech for the half full part!

More photos. Please click them to enlarge.

Credits to Nicoleta Ionescu for
talking with Cristina Bernazzani

toonpool.com artist Gerardo Llobet’s vision is so deeply held that he can’t draw a line without revealing it. His life-affirming spin on the world is encoded in the DNA of his cartoons. The humor and excitement, hubbub and catastrophe of social life his is subject, in his exquisitely realized bar scenes, street scenes, and beach scenes.

"Titus"

The flow of Gerardo’s breezy, fluid lines creates an almost audible buzz, particularly in his crowd scenarios. In Titus, gesture drawing reaches high art in this bar scene full of life, movement and character. A style like this one requires a dead-on technique. It looks effortless, but of course it isn’t. The ability to draw with this kind of freedom is the result of total self-assurance, technically and expressively. The organic curve is pre-eminent in Gerardo’s work. There are almost no straight lines, and where they exist, they show incredible variation – the same line can begin with a thick dark stroke, and end with a feathery, quivering edge.

Gerardo’s people are a true delight. The bodies and faces of his hilarious characters, their popping eyes and ecstatic grinning faces, their screwed-up foreheads and black-browed frowns, reveal every emotion. We do more than see these people – we know them on sight.
Their personalities bloom directly out of the gestural lines of their bodies, in an ideal fusion of form and character.

"Primadonna1"

In Gerardo’s cartoon portrait Primadona 1, we meet a blonde woman in mid-stride, naked except for the strip of her teal-blue swimsuit bottoms. She’s a squat, confident figure in motion, composed of layers. The heavy-lidded eyes surmount a gigantic potato-shaped nose, and the nose juts out from between the huge breasts. These breasts seem to be the Primadona’s real eyes – two ferocious organs that size up the landscape with piercing pink pupils. She’s balanced on her short right leg, while the other foot stabs the air with ecstatic toes, and waves at us like a hand. Her real hand and arm are flung outward like a tasseled cord. Though her face is submerged, we know she’s a beauty. What does she want, a sunnier spot on the beach? A hot dog swathed in mustard? A new man? Whatever it is, this Primadona has an intensely appealing quality. The tenderness of this portrait is characteristic of Gerardo’s affectionate depictions of his characters, male and female.

Here’s my recent interview with Gerardo

What inspires you the most?
The full moon, a little…and seeing the work of great artists.

When did you first become obsessed with bars?
This is how I get beer! I worked in a bar with my parents in my youth.

Which artists did you admire when you were younger?
Moebius, R. Crumb, Edika, Franquin…and lots more!

How do you get your amazing loose and fluid line?
I developed this technique to make quick notes while taking orders at the bar.

I’m interested in how you’ve combined pen and ink with digital – do you draw first, and then color?
I work on parts of drawings with china ink and watercolor, and I also do ballpoint sketches.
I scan them, and then use the magnetic loop. With the magic wand I select areas in which I use gradients, brushes, filters, and the clone stamp to get the same tone as watercolors.

How often do you draw from life, with something in front of you?
At all times I observe the girls around me. The rest is all imagination.

Are women’s boobs bigger in Spain?
Everything is bigger in Spain!

What would you say your philosophy of life is, if you have one?
Pursue gurus!

Please click on the images to enlarge.
The interview you find below the picture gallery.

01. Which movie/TV character you see yourself as and why?

Well, I never identified myself with those heroes-superheroes-antiheroes and their daring lives fraught with danger and emotions, too much stress…Who on earth lives like that in the real world?

Of course I would appreciate it if I slightly resembled the great Totoro or Ponyo or one of those Forest Spirits appearing in the movies by the great Miyazaki. I like that kind of character which is aloof from human morality, where nothing is good or bad in itself, where everything is small and big at the same time; they exist just like mother nature. They are little pagans who incarnate the rebirth of the savage „rewild“ and many other sentiments which the human being forgot about a long time ago, one last opportunity for humanity.

They are the primary harbingers of a new manner of understanding the relation between man and the planet, and with regard to this huge task, I like the idea that I have to put in my little grain of sand,too.

02. What are your New Year’s resolutions?

To keep on trying…which it not little. Trying not to lose ilusion and hope in this black future we’re bound to experience. Paraphrasing the great Robert Crumb: Keep on Trucking!

03. What bores you the most?

I’m bored with the discinlination to progress, the passivity of the society in view of the injustice and inequality. The arrogance and malice inherent to power make me despair.

And I’m terrified to live on a planet ruled by ignorance and the egoism of the Great System which is devouring us little by little without any prospect of us being able to or rather wanting to do something in order to avoid this process.

04. Do you like your place or would you like to live somewhere else?

You are in many respects a reflection or product of the place where you live, with all its defects and virtues. Like a huge tree, firmly fixed to the soil with its roots to nurture it. No one can know himself without knowing his soil, no one can love himself without loving his soil and no one can hate himself without hating his soil.

If I had been born somewhere else, I wouldn’t be me. Therefore I’ve learned to cherish and enjoy this place. The landscape, the silence, the sunsets, the flatness and the holm oaks are the great gifts of La Mancha which I wouldn’t change for anything in this world.

05. What are you able to do that Superman can’t do?

I can eat Kriptonyte, join an anti-system group, dine with my family on Sundays, crap on the flag of the United States, I suppose a  lot of things, huh?

06. If you were sleep walking one night, where would you probably wake up the next day?

I would probably not go very far, I remember that one time as a child I woke up totally disoriented under the living room table and I was quite frightened, I much rather travel dreaming, that’s safer.

07. What would you wear to be kicked out from a black tie cocktail party?

A white tie? I prefer to avoid parties where I’m not well received, a penguin party would probably be a good example.

08. Tell me the biggest prank you did on a friend.

The biggest prank I did on a friend was convincing him of precisely translating all of my cartoons and comics to English – I have a slight problem in the language department-, I hope the effort and inconveniences will someday come to fruition and compensate for the work.

09. How to ruin your vacation?

The vacation is irretrievably ruined the moment someone begins to work.

10. If I gave you a giraffe, where would you hide it?

It would definitely be far away from man, and quite possibly in company with many other giraffes.

11. What do you do when you see the glass half empty!

Finish it and serve me another one.

Credits to Nicoleta Ionescu for talking with Mortimer

More videos by Snägelsyou can find on his youtube channel.
If you are an artist on toonpool.com and do your own “making of” videos, feel free to send us the link to your video so that we can feature it on our blog as well. Just write to becci@toonpool.com.

Click on the images to enlarge

1. What was your dream last night?

I think I was being chased by a gang of gangster clowns. We exchanged some heavy pie shooting and… wait, no, that was before. Last night it was something about butterflies in the ice-cream. They were singing tarantellas to me… no, wait… break-dancing camels. I was in the desert when… hmmm… Sorry, I seldom remember my dreams… Think those I said were actual events…

2. Next plans or ideas?

There’s a plan going on for a book with all the cartoons I published in my first year of collaboration with Ponto Final, a newspaper from Macau, the place where I’m living since 2009. Maybe we can organize an exhibit for the launching of the book, probably by the end of this year.

3. Your food today?

For lunch I’ll probably invent something with rice, eggs… and whatever I have in the fridge (I love creative cooking). For dinner, I hope I can make the time to go to a restaurant called Nga Tim (the best in Coloane village) and have my favorite spicy clams cooked with black beans in Macanese style. Let’s see how that goes…

4. Do you like your place or would you like to live somewhere else?

Both. I like very much the life I have in Macau. But I’d also like to try some other places in the future. The thing is that working at home (God bless the Internet), in theory I may live wherever I want. I don’t know where I’m going next. Maybe, New Zealand…

5. What was the huge mistake in your life you (unfortunately) never did?

I didn’t join a football team when I was a kid. Or a political party when I was a teenager. Today I could be a very rich man…

6. Who are your neighbors?

They are mainly Chinese. Some are locals, some from Hong Kong, Guangzhou and other parts of China. But there are also some friendly people from Portugal, Australia, USA and others. I can’t name them all, cause my building is 47 floors high (I live in the 45th). Each floor has six flats. You do the math…

7. Tell me the shortest joke you know

Berlusconi. The guy is a joke. Not a very funny one, sometimes. But pretty short.

8. Tell me the biggest prank you did on a friend.

Once I told a friend that if he did ride his bicicle in circles around the city he could actualy be transported to another dimension after 50 laps (don’t ask me where I got that from). He believed. He was about to finish the last lap, when I called him and said that was a joke. He was furious cause he had to pedal back. That was fun.

9. How to ruin your vacation?

I don’t want to give you ideas, but… if I’m on the beach and you perform a “rain dance” you may actually ruin my vacation. But not that many people can do it. Please, Native Americans, stay away from the beaches I go to.

10. In 1977 NASA has sent orbiters Voyager 1 and 2 into space which will never stop to fly through the universe by gravity. They contain the Voyager Golden Records with many testimonials of whole mankind, greetings in 55 languages introduced by US president Jimmy Carter (“This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings….”). The Golden Records with a lifespan of 500 million years at least are including drawings of a naked man and woman, detaild genitalia, many scientific graphics, sounds of planet earth and music by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart – and Chuck Berry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3haYAbqKjA

Maybe aliens out there will be shocked in some million years! But in case such a NASA mission will be replayed: which (1) of your artworks should join it ?
This one (and I hope they have a good sense of humor): http://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/iPhone%204_87695

11. Please give us an answer to a question we didn’t ask!

My mom.

Credits go to Nicoleta Ionescu for conducting this interview.
Find all our “Letter from” interviews here:

More videos by Marcus you can find on his youtube channel.

If you are an artist on toonpool.com and do your own “making of” videos, feel free to send us the link to your video so that we can feature it on our blog as well. Just write to becci@toonpool.com.