I Do the Doodles
I’m John Walsh, a pen and ink artist in South Philadelphia.
I was born in North Philly, moved to rural PA in high school, moved back to North Philly for art school, then back to the wilderness, and finally settled on South Philly as my forever home. Why South Philly? Because the north is where all of the murders happen and the rural area is where people get eaten by bears.
In art school, I focused on figuring out what I wanted to do for a living. After four years of education, focusing on illustration and cartooning as a career path, and earning some student loan debt I got into web design and have been doing that since 2007.
I got back into drawing in 2022. I now draw pictures for money while others sit in cubicles or sell pictures of their feet.
I spend much of my free time in my sketchbook drawing the things that make me happy; cats, babies with beards, Pikachu getting stomped out by the other thousand Pokemon. I value that weird shit that makes people ask “Why did you do this?” I did it because you wouldn’t. One of us has to be strong.
The Rest of Me
- I have a cat. Her name is Baby-Kiiiiitten and I love her more than you have ever loved anyone or anything.
- Despite being a cartoonist, I do not respect caricatures as an art form. "Draw me but make my forehead and cheeks all fucked up!" Pass.
- I taught myself pet nutrition and recipe formulation so I can feed my cat the healthiest meals possible. That's right, I taught myself a marketable skill just so my cat can eat better.
- I enjoy hydroponic gardening and grow my own food and cooking herbs. It's nice being able to eat lettuce that doesn't have a risk of E. coli!
- My brother and I have a contest to see who can go the longest without shitting our pants. A lawyer took time out of his day to write a contract for this. We take this very seriously.