Besides a passion for genetics and botany, Ed Himelblau, a professor in the Biological Sciences Department at California Polytechnic State University, is also a cartoonist. Ed draws funny, sometimes sciency, sometimes about the past, but mostly silly one-panel comics that we are sure you will enjoy!
Ed tried to describe the essence behind his cartoon himself: "Some cartoonists–Roz Chast, George Booth, Frank Cotham–just draw funny. I’ve always hoped my drawings are funny too. I try to put lots of details into most cartoons so someone who looks closely can discover something new. I’m an optimistic person and so I tend to steer away from dark humor and veer toward silliness."
So, without further ado, we invite you to the silly world of Ed, where science meets cartoons.
More info: Instagram | x.com | himelblau.com
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Image credits: himelblog
In an interview with Bored Panda, Ed shared a little more about his background.
“I teach biology and draw cartoons. For the biology part, I’m a professor at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, CA. I teach about the small stuff: DNA, cells, etc. The boring way to describe what we do in my lab is that we study how changes in DNA alter how plants grow. The more fun way to say it is that we study mutant broccoli!”
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Ed also wrote what initially drew him to the world of cartooning and artistry.
“My first cartoon love was Peanuts, by Charles Schulz. I collected about 150 Peanuts books–mostly from garage sales. We got the New Yorker in my home and I thought the cartoons were great. Roz Chast published her first cartoon in the magazine around the time I was eight. I thought her cartoons were weird and the drawings were funny and I loved them. I majored in biology in college but took lots of art classes. When I got to grad school, I was doing biology all the time and started missing art. So I decided to start drawing science cartoons. More recently I’ve expanded into other subject matter and those are the cartoons that helped me get into The New Yorker. My goal is to one day publish a lab/science cartoon in the magazine.”
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We were wondering about Ed’s creative process and how he comes up with ideas for his cartoons. Ed shared: “I admire people who can sit down and write jokes. I believe that's a learned skill or a muscle that you can train… but I’ve never done the heavy lifting required to get good at it. So I’m stuck walking around, trying to keep an open mind, and hoping to have a decent idea. I’ll get an idea that something could be funny–kitchen whisks for example–then weeks later I’ll be in the shower and a whisk cartoon will come to me. (Question for all you cartoonists out there… Do you draw that eyes and mouth on the whisk handle or on the whisk wires?)”
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In regards to the audience, Ed commented on what he would like for people to take away from his artwork.
“My cartoon mission statement–for my science cartoons at least–is that scientists can be portrayed with humor and authenticity. I hope my cartoons give people a peek into the world of the modern laboratory and the diverse, funny humans who inhabit that space. Or maybe I just enjoy drawing beakers and bottles… I draw a lot of those.”
And lastly, Ed added: “I have a free science cartoon newsletter, The Lab Meeting. You can subscribe on my website to get a new cartoon every month. Also, mutant broccoli means you no harm!”
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