Saving the planet is serious business — but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun along the way.
Twice a month cartoonist Tom Toro contributes single-panel environmental cartoons to The Revelator’s weekly newsletter. These exclusive cartoons use Toro’s uniquely odd way of looking at the world to skewer some of the issues threatening life on Earth — from climate change to pollution to the extinction crisis.
You can sign up to get these cartoons (and the rest of our newsletter) here:
But the published cartoon is just part of the story. After the finished cartoons are released into the wild, Toro also shares process videos detailing how he created them. The videos, posted to Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube (and perhaps some other social networks that haven’t descended into chaos), offer unique insight into how each cartoon is composed.
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“I make these process videos as a way to invite people into my studio and to enjoy the creative process,” Toro says. “But I also make them to celebrate the art of cartooning at its most fundamental, and fun, level.”
Sometimes making the videos even provides Toro with a few other opportunities to be creative. Or just to make silly voices.
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One great aspect of these videos is seeing the art build — from initial sketch to hand-drawn black-and-white line art, and then through the addition of incredibly detailed, painted gray tones.
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It’s all a welcome reminder of the power and effectiveness of physical art — and cartooning — in our digital age.
“Over the years I’ve made concessions to technology in my artistic process, sketching on digital tablets and making edits in Photoshop,” says Toro. “But I always draw my final cartoons with pen and paper. Nothing beats the tactile feel of creating something by hand. The way the ink soaks into the vellum; the momentary sheen before it dries, as if the lines are winking at me; the unpredictable bloom of watercolor across a wet patch. It’s incredibly fun. I feel as if I’m in conversation with the cartoon, as if we’re co-conspirators trying to figure things out on the fly.”
Sometimes the videos show things change as Toro layers on the details.
“Whenever mistakes happen — and they happen all the time — there’s no quick fix, no Control-Z undo,” he says. “I need to find a way to cope with the accidental mark, the sloppy daub, the errant splash. Or maybe I don’t try to correct it? Maybe I let it guide me in a new, unexpected direction? Maybe the mistake isn’t a mistake at all, but a discovery? One that I never would have stumbled upon in the digital realm.”
Watch more of Tom Toro’s process videos below — and seriously, sign up for the newsletter, which links to our latest articles and commentaries each week. We put a lot of heart (and humor) into every issue, and it always contains exclusives only available to subscribers.
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