Le Cartoon

And a Starter Prompt

le carton

masculine noun

1. cardboard un morceau de carton a piece of cardboard

2. cardboard box un carton à chaussures a shoe box

For the longest time I believed that the word Cartoon was derived from the french word Carton which means box.

I must have read that somewhere, otherwise how on earth would I know that french word even existed?!

But when I tried to look it up, I found this:

“Until the mid–19th century the word cartoon referred to preliminary drawings made by artists in developing their plans for paintings, mosaics, and tapestries. The English humor magazine Punch, first published in 1841, is regarded as the catalyst in expanding the definition of cartoons to include drawings of humor, wit, satire, and parody.” - Britannica Kids

And this.

“Cartoon” (1670s) first referred to the heavy paper on which preliminary sketches for artwork were made. While political cartoons and caricatures (literally “an overloading,” from caricare “to load; exaggerate”) are much older, “cartoon” was applied to them around 1843, then to animations c. 1916.

“The Italian word cartone—which also influences the contemporary word “carton” (as in packaging), likely by way of the French carton—referred to the heavy paper or pasteboard on which artists would sketch and plan out their larger works. From the 1670s to the mid-1800s, the English word “cartoon” referred to this paper. The -oon ending is a common English adaptation of French and Italian words ending in -on and -one (e.g., balloon, buffoon, macaroon).” - Useless Etymology

The most likely situation is that I simply misunderstood that the word was referring to the box that often encases the drawing rather than the paper that it was made on. So while the origin of the word Cartoon has nothing to do with the word box.

You will find the majority of cartoons these days live in boxes.

I’m not letting go..

Because today’s prompt is to draw a cartoon!

And by that I mean picture in a box, or frame. I would recommend you use a frame every time you make a picture in your Sketchbook or ArtistBook.

Ten Minute Artist Prompt:

Create A Cartoon

Draw a box, and put a drawing inside of it. Under it write Best_____ of _____ (fill in the blanks. For example “Best Date of 2024” or “Best 5 Minutes of my life”

This prompt is one that you can use over and over again,

“Best ____of____”,

you could also try it with …

“Worst ___of___”,

“First ___of___” and

“Last ___of___”

Inspired by an exercise in the book Story Worthy. So come back to it over and over again maybe even do it all together creating 4 boxes effectively turning your cartoon into a comic.

I‘ve been writing from my reading room rather than the studio for the last couple of days and I’ve been enjoying the separation. Tell us about the space you are in at the moment.

PS: Have you reflected on the Year Yet? if you want to do this in a free guided workshop that I did with Katie Stack, click here.