‘I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you can’t learn cartooning, and it can’t be taught.’

And so beginneth Oslo Davis’ illustrated book on how to draw gag cartoons. Talk about shoot yourself in the foot! But he’s kidding, kind of.

There are reasons why your terrible cartoons are not funny, and Oslo is very happy to point them out to you. He’s also prepared to give you some advice, for what it’s worth, and lots of examples of his own work selected from more than twenty years drawing for newspapers and magazines worldwide.

Drawing Funny is a rare, tongue-in-cheek how-to guide for people who will probably never draw a cartoon in their life but always read the cartoons first in the New Yorker, and want to know how it’s done.