Cartoons by Jim features a special guest cartoonist this week. Please make way for a cartoon by Ari!

Those who know my son Ari will know he loves reading books and comics and often draws his own by himself and in collaboration with school friends. He writes great short stories and has even attempted to write a novel or two in his 11 years of age so far. He has also been assisting his dad lately with colouring the cartoons that appear on this web site. A couple recent examples of his work were this one and this one.

We gave him a drawing kit for his last birthday, and he's since been having a go at doing some gag cartoons.

It's been interesting to see him struggle with the creative process of communicating humor through drawing, and the frustration of when ideas don't seem to gel, or when a drawing doesn't go quite right. (That's something every cartoonist is well familiar with, and is something he'll continue to face.)

However, after some halting starts, and with a little help from me in drawing the panel frame, he came up with the above 'toon, which as his first published work, I think is a cracker. It does everything a cartoon needs to, and looks great. I'm very proud of him.

Well done Ari! You've got a great sense of humour and I love how you exercise it daily. Keep it up!