This is one of those “I’m almost transcribing, but people will think I’m making it up” cartoons.
I have a bad habit of searching social media to see what people are saying about fat people and fat acceptance, and I’ve found that this sort of “critic” is distressingly common. “I’m saying this because I care” is to fat bigotry what “I’m just joking of course” is to antisemitism – a way for people to enjoy being mean and bigoted while denying taking any responsibility for what they’ve said.
When I drew this, I may have overdone how much movement the character does from panel to panel – no one in real life would ever move around this much while monologuing, particularly while staying in one spot. (Panel two, especially, seems unrealistic that way.) But I’m so afraid of being a lazy cartoonist – especially in a cartoon like this, where there’s nothing going on but a single character talking – that I think I overcompensated.
Anyway, drawing this was fun. The teeth were fun, trying to get the molded shape of the hair was fun, the framed Freds in the background were fun. What was most fun, though, was the cat. I usually find drawing cats very difficult. And because I find cats difficult, I usually wind up drawing felines that are realistically rendered and look nice, but are much less lively and fun than I’d prefer.
Here, for example, is some in-process art from a cartoon I’ve been working on gradually for months (I’ll get around to finishing someday):
For this cartoon, I managed not to freak out and default to realistic proportions. After looking at a ton of cartoony cats for inspiration, I just drew a cartoony cat. And it was easy! And fun! And I’m somewhat moderately almost happy with how it looks!
I wasn’t sure what book the cat should be reading; Mandolin reminded me of the “The Cat Who…” series of mystery novels, and that seemed like a good way to go.
TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
This cartoon has four panels. All four panels focus on the same character, a cheerful young man standing in a what looks like a home office. There’s a desk, a lamp, an armchair with an ottoman, and a photo hanging on the wall in an oval frame. A cat is relaxing on the ottoman.
The main character has blonde-orange hair that’s neatly combed and kind of puffy. He’s wearing glasses, a red t-shirt with a big exclamation point on it (which is sort of what I defer to when I have no idea what to draw on a character’s t-shirt), blue jeans, and red sneakers.
PANEL ONE
The man is standing and talking directly to the readers. He’s waving at us.
MAN: I saw this fat woman on YouTube. I left a comment and said “maybe you should try jogging… away from the donuts!” Ha ha!
PANEL TWO
The man, still grinning, is holding up a finger in a “wait, wait, there’s more!” gesture.
MAN: Then I commented “obesity is linked to conditions like diabetes… and virginity!” Haw haw!
PANEL THREE
In a close-up panel, he raises his hands, palms out, as he continues to grin and talk.
MAN: Then I said “You’re going to die of a heart attack by the time you’re 35.” Hah!
PANEL FOUR
The man, no longer grinning, is clasping his hands together as he tries to look very kind and sympathetic.
MAN: Of course, I said those things because I care so much about fat people’s health.
CHICKEN FAT WATCH
“Chicken fat” is an old cartoonists’ expression for unimportant but hopefully amusing details cartoonists slip in.
We can’t see the background in panel 3 because it’s a close-up. But in the other panels, we can see a framed photo on the wall in the background. In panel one, the photo shows Fred Flintstone; in panel two, Freddy Kruger; and in panel four, Freddy Mercury.
There’s also a cat relaxing on the ottoman. In panel one, the cat is just napping. In panel two, the cat is reading a book; the book has the title “The Cat Who Read A Book.” The author name is in print that’s probably too tiny to be read and says “Tiny Print, M.D.” And in panel four, the cat is sitting up like a human, one leg crossed over the other, and smoking a cigarette.
Re: People who think they can insult fat people into losing weight:
The beatings will continue until morale has been improved.