Author Archives: Jeroen

About Jeroen

I'm a cartoonist. Yeah, a real one, I swear. It's just because man cannot live on bread alone that I just happen to work in a bank, also.

Jeroen Live

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19

For those of you who live in Belgium – or who would be so fanatic as to come to Belgium for the occasion – there will be two occasions to meet me live in the near future. Because I’ve won the Leuven Draait cartoon contest, there will be a modest exposition of some of my cartoons at the closing event, on September 19th at the Molens van Orshoven in Leuven, starting at 2PM (more information here). And in October, on the 17th to be precise, I’ve been asked to give an ‘acte de présence‘ at the Stripfestival in Lanaken, starting around 11AM (see here). I really hope to meet a lot of my regular visitors there!!

For those of you who live too far away to come, there may be one other opportunity… if you would happen to be in Mallorca next week. Mail me at kartoen@gmail.com if you are.

Oh, and finally, there’s someone who wants to say hello to you all…

While I was out

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Hello my Happysad friends,

Thanks again for all of you who’ve been leaving all these great comments in the past five weeks – it feels like you’re the ones keeping this site going at the moment :-)

As for the cartoons, I still haven’t made my mind up yet. It’s still a tricky question, you know… Let me put it this way: suppose that, hypothetically speaking, I would have met someone in the meanwhile who I really like. Certain experiences in the past may or may not have proven that in such an (imagined) situation, it can be unwise, counterproductive even, to start drawing revealing cartoons about that (entirely fictitious) person, as she is bound to find out about this (totally non-autobiographical) website sooner or later. In this (clearly theoretical) scenario, I wouldn’t want to jeopardize my chances, now would I?

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

Jeroen

Woops

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29

As I was updating the Happysad gallery on my (still crappy) alternative website www.happysad.be, I noticed I miscounted my cartoons. Apparently I haven’t published a thousand Happysad episodes, but 1001! The question now remains: should I continue, to make it a nice, even number again? ;-)

Still very much enjoying my holidays BTW, and thanks for (still) dropping by! :-)

Jeroen

The jury is still out

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18

Hi everyone!

Since I’ve noticed I’m still getting between 1000 and 2000 visitors a day, I thought it would be nice to let you know I’m still alive and well. That’s the good news. As for the future of Happysad, I’m afraid I’m still no step further than three weeks ago. Still very much in doubt… One thing I’ve come to realize in the meanwhile though: maybe, just maybe, the last three years of my life haven’t been a total waste.  Because at least I have created something which no one can take away from me anymore. Which is nice :-)

Anyway, next week I will be having a real break – two weeks holiday, and two more weeks in September. Even more time to think & get inspired. Yeay!

Game, set, match (#1000!)

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There, that was Happysad #1000! I hope you won’t mind me taking a longer break now. Not only do I need one to refresh my batteries, as ever so often, I also need time to think about where I want to go from here on.

To be honest, I have been thinking about calling it quits. Partly because it’s getting ever harder to come up with new ideas. Partly because I think one of my recent commenters (who shall remain nameless for his personal safety) was right when he pointed out I’ve been dwelling over the same issue for three years now. Three years!! Sometimes I feel that Happysad, ironically, could be interfering with my real life. I don’t want it to become a self-fulfilling prophecy – or a self-destroying prophecy, depending on how you look at it.

But then again, I love making these cartoons, I love the comments and compliments I get from all over the world, and after a thousand gags, Happysad is stuck somewhere in the back of my head so I’ll always keep coming up with new ideas. So it’s a bit of a dilemma. I still wish for a happy ending for the little guy, but that’s just not possible right now. I know what you’re thinking: I can make up whatever I want, so why not draw him finding the girl of his dreams and have some fun with that? Well here’s the catch: there is a difference between making something up, and lying. I don’t lie.

Anyway, time will tell. I’ll let you know. But right now, I think I’ll have a drink.