The Cartoon Guide to Cartooning

As the cartoonist/author or coauthor of nine Cartoon Guides to scientific and mathematical subjects and many magazine features (including the only 2-page comic ever published in Science), I will describe cartoons’ power to convey complex scientific subjects ranging from genetics to calculus in a way that leaves an indelible and accurate impression on readers' minds. My concerns include: rapid recognition of key concepts; narrative and story; when to be funny and when to be serious; the use of human (and human-like) characters; the pitfalls and merits of anthropomorphism; point of view, both narratively and pictorially; and the distillation of information, both visually and structurally. Key points will be illustrated both by live drawing and with examples from published work.