40 Comments
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Rick Lewis's avatar

Here's what I want from you after this issue. A essay on how a person finds their style. This occurs to me because everything you create is so inimitably you. Seeing these drawings really brought that home. Whatever you put out is not duplicatable by anyone else. So that's the question. How does someone else do that? Could you train them? Are there practices? Or is that just your style?

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

…that’s a good prompt Rick and happy to give it a go…i have lots of thoughts on style would be interesting to explore…

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Ed Mirago & friends's avatar

Wahooooo! Yeah, CansaFis!!! Thank you for sharing this work.

The total conviction and commitment in these drawings is off the chart. You poured yourself into them, you didn't hold back, you followed through, you gave not two fucks about commercial viability, you didn't force anything into a (dumb) grid. As a result, they are drawings as much as comix panels, sharp and shiny with particularity, truly and joyfully strange. To my delight, your famous wacky word play is right there! Seeds of current you in past you.

On the emotional level: When I make something that embarrasses me, when I cringe, when I want to hide something, it's a sign that I surprised myself, that is, foiled my own possibly lame expectations, I accidentally busted a container.

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

...that is such a cool framing Ed and one I have to remember...just got off an amazing call with a friend who went to clown school and they relayed a story where they had to lean into the cringe in order to pass the class...they were nothing without authenticity...this is the juice...find our real selves continuously without fear...

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Lily's avatar

You see cringe but I see fascinating line work and a great eye for design and line weight. And I see you. Your art is like your writing. No one else can do it.

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

…thank you Lily that is super kind to say…this might explain all my failed attempts to create an offshore factory to manufacture these…the closest i got to success was teaching a baboon named bobby blue to draw like this in exchange for a jar of banana flavored peanut butter…he used the jar to incapacitate me, stabbed me with my pen, and last i heard he still works with a clint eastwood impersonator in the wrong side of wakaliwood…

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Lily's avatar

Not just a kind thing to say, a real thing. I’m not formally trained in art by any means but I’ve painted for a long time, and I think the voice in your art is something someone (like me) would struggle with establishing for a long long time.

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

…well one thing i definitely excel at is struggle :)…

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Chao Lam's avatar

Wow, your name CansaFis and this drawing style just seems to go so well together!

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

…lol you rule Chao…it’s almost like did i make these drawings or did these drawings make me?…

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Ian Simbotin's avatar

This is an epic boatload of wondrous imagery... I feel like you're channeling a Mayan artist from eons ago... but it's all you... maybe time is circular... maybe the Maya are channeling you... Anyway, I need to learn to speak the Mayan language... This intensive course you've just uploaded is the ticket...

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

…you know what is wild about that…i had a friend who works in the part of the history museum where they feed bones to cockroaches and she said they got a real old mayan statue in that was called a cansafis…she asked me if that was my name origin…that said I have never been able to find said statue in the wild so legitimacy of the claim is in the air…

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cain vs the robots's avatar

These are so great. Trippy, funny, and gloriously weird. I'll be saving and revisiting. Thank you for sharing!

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

…thank you so much for saying that and checking them out…i think the verdict lands at make more and share the rest :)…

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Larry Carter Jr's avatar

I wish I had your talent. We can't all be brilliant, I suppose.

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Kerry On's avatar

Omg these are awesome. Also saved it for later days 🍄🍄‍🟫

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

...love that...🐉🐉👽👽🐙🐙🦄🦄🍭🍭...

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Tyagarajan S's avatar

Wow! There is a specific feeling when I look at these drawings, which I cannot put in words. Bookmarking to come back and immerse in them. Keep making them!

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

…thank you so much bud…you know it is interesting…the cringe might be how emo i feel looking back on these but also as i made them…it was hard to put into words so i put it into words and drawing and repetition…really appreciate you reading and taking a look!…

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Claire Coley's avatar

This was an epic read – felt like a real behind the scenes. Nothing cringe to see here.

Love the art. Super distinctive, I vote you bring the illustrations back!

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

...thank you Claire...really appreciate you taking a read and a look...I do feel overdue for some longform drawing...maybe I can do a new one once a month in 2025...good to stretch again...

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Claire Coley's avatar

That would be so awesome. I think zines need to make comeback. I’m tired of this high tech stuff. Gimme some ink.

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Sarina's avatar

MAGNIFICENT and so very only you, which I happen to enjoy, a lot. Thank you for sharing and I want to look at these again bound into a book over the shoulder of someone buying multiple copies at gifts for others at their local bookstore.

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

...that might be the ultimate end game maybe...possibly an edition of 100 for fun...

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Sam Robinson's avatar

Amazing!

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

...thank you brother!...let's find that hang this week or next!!...

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🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

Wow, wild stuff man!

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

…it was an era for sure!!!…maybe i’ll do more in 2025…appreciate you taking a look…

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🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

Very nice

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Dreaming of a song...'s avatar

CansaFis - I really enjoy your writing style, keep it coming!

Tangent: For some unknown and painful reason, I had "Key Largo" stuck in my head a few months ago, a cruel, cosmic joke, and now your post the punchline, a painful poke.

Déjà vu, normally a nostalgic sigh, now a haunting reminder, a reason to cry

"Here's looking at you kid!" ::>_<::

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

...oh i am so so so sorry for you lol...HBO just put out a yacht rock documentary (by Bill Simmons natch) and i am equal parts horrified and excited to watch it behind closed fingers...that song is some real cringe lol...those lyrics...i love this photo because it totally looks lie Matt Berry was in a yacht rock parody but nope this is all real...we had it all! just like Bogie and Bacall...brutality...pure brutality...

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Dreaming of a song...'s avatar

Yes, I saw that promo yesterday, I have to admit although I dig Sabbath, The Stooges and Zeppelin's first album, part of me does listen shamefully when "Sailing" comes on an adult contemporary station in a restaurant somewhere....

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

...i knew i was officially old as soon as i bought an extended 12" of sweet freedom sans irony...would officially never like to hear gorgy porgy by Toto ever again though...

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Chris Buczinsky's avatar

I love these, CansaFis. I would like to see separate posts some of these cartoons, exploring what was in your mind at the time--how you were thinking and what you were feeling. I think they could be mined for some real gold.

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Chris Buczinsky's avatar

"A reflection of a trying human trying to be human." I love this.

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

…that sounds fun chris…want to drop a handful at me and I’ll make a go of it?…

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Chris Buczinsky's avatar

I also like the point that they are reflections of your id. The whole block of them: are they an attempt to allow that hidden and unrestrained part of you a free rein? And were you thinking that doing so would free you? Is that why they are "cringe"? Have you changed your relationship to your own id over the years?

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Chris Buczinsky's avatar

Any one that seems like it's tied to a bigger or deeper experience from your past. I can't tell which those are, and some of these are mysterious, but I was thinking that if you could find some that tie into a common experience we all share--it would be a fun way of bringing this older work back into circulation.

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

...great prompt bud...i will try and make a bonus post calling out a few of these and what was or is happening in the creation...thank you!...

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Chris Buczinsky's avatar

I really like your mix of romp and insight, CansaFis. Keep up the good work.

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