NBSV 233: Drawing by hand in an AI world: Vegan cartoonist Julian Lawrence on comics and compassion
“The cartoonist makes people see things.” Cartoonist, educator, and comics researcher Julian Lawrence has been proving that for decades. We met during a virtual coffee chat, and I knew right away he had to come on the show.
Julian has been vegan since 2000 and is a senior lecturer in comics and graphic novels at Teesside University in the UK. He created the Green Kid educational comic series and Drippy the Newsboy, a teardrop who, in middle age, has swapped reading newspapers for doom-scrolling. We talk about why his students are rejecting AI, and why comics might hold up better than other creative fields. We dig into what to say when a non-vegan asks, “Do you respect my dietary choice?” We also cover his students’ graphic-novel reimagining of the Bayeux Tapestry, the French roots of words like “beef” and “mutton,” and his Vancouver band July Fourth Toilet, which had more than 50 members and never played the same show twice.
And a first in the history of the show: Julian plays ukulele live in our session. Yes, really.
Important topics we discussed:
>> How drawing comics helped Julian survive French school as an anglophone kid in 1970s Quebec, and how that led to a career bringing comics into classrooms.
>> A 1917 cartoon captioned “The cartoonist makes people see things,” and explains why comics can carry a message that words alone can’t.
>> He makes his case for a vegan-themed Green Kid issue, so if your organization wants to sponsor one, he’s waiting for your call!
Connect with Julian:
>> Julian's website
>> Julian on Instagram
>> Julian's academic profile at Teesside University
Mentioned in the episode: join Karina Inkster and Vesanto Melina on Oct. 15th!
Join me and renowned vegan registered dietitian Vesanto Melina as we host a free webinar + Q&A. Learn about fuelling strength training on plants, a few key nutrients to be aware of as a vegan, and the most common mistakes people make with their plant-based nutrition.
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