Episode -89—Try-Out

If you decided to start reading the cartoons from oldest to newest, hello!

Way back in November 2002, AtU2 announced that Jo Whitby was going to stop making the site’s cartoon feature called Achtoon Baby, and they were looking for someone to replace her. I was familiar with Achtoon Baby, which was a one-panel cartoon that was published every month, and my little tribe of online U2 pals encouraged me to try out for this non-paying but fun-seeming gig. So I did, and below is what I sent in.

My initial idea was to create watercolor caricatures of the band, which was way harder than it needed to be. At the time, the hot topic in the U2 fandom was their Best Of collection that spanned the 90s. “The Fly” was not included, and neither was “Lemon,” and, in an edit that was disturbing to some, the “boomcha" refrain of “Discotheque” was inexplicably no more. I tried to imagine the decision-making process for what stayed and what was left behind and got to work. The painting took an entire Saturday to create, and I’ve included the preliminary drawing, which I still have in my big box of U2 art.

The next morning I woke up thinking…It’s not enough! And I drove to the nearest discount store for crafty art supplies such as glitter and metallic acrylic paint. I spent a happy afternoon making four U2 trading cards, again with watercolor caricatures. I put the appropriate year in the little circles (‘81, ‘92, ‘97, ‘02) and wrote funny stats in the big blank areas (I lost the funny stuff, unfortunately). Like any artist, looking at my old work makes me wince and cringe uncontrollaby, but here it is.

I revisited this trading card idea almost 18 years later. This would have seemed like madness to me at the time because who could imagine making U2 cartoons for almost two decades? And anyway, who knew if I’d even get the job?

I got the job. Then, the next month, I immediately changed my style to something more realistic.

Achtoon Baby has made me a better, faster, and more confident artist, and I think you’ll see that I’ve improved a lot over the years, especially now that I have more time for it.

Thanks for your interest in this U2 art project of mine, thanks to AtU2 for saying yes to me and hosting my work, and thanks to U2 for being my oblivious muses!

—Kelly