Happy to be a Stupid Dummy Hed

What are Stupid Dummy Heds?

I sat with local cartoonist, Robbie Adamson to discuss the past, present and future of his popular noseless characters as he reluctantly provided me with sugar to "contaminate" my tea.

"I was baby sitting my Mom's friend's children and they got into a name calling fight," recalled Adamson.

"I think it started with Ding-Dong-Potato-Head and evolved into Stupid-Dummy-Head. I just thought it had a great ring to it and I knew my comics were pretty dumb. So it worked for me."

Adamson had already drawn his first cartoon at this point and had few more ideas in mind.

It was 1988.

He was 17 years old.

Adamson claims no one will ever see that first cartoon.

It's just that bad.

But after almost 20 years of cartooning, he has mastered his unique and charmingly simple style.

"I had already settled on the 2 dots and a line format for the face to fast track and get cartoons done. I was not that skilled as an artist and I'm still not that great. But I've managed to to develop a knack for making expressions from 2 dots and a line."

He also possesses the brilliant ability to create uncanny and immediately recognizable caricatures using those same 2 dots and a line.

"It has evolved slightly. And they're sort of getting better by getting worse. I used to get hung up on details and make sure every hand had 5 fingers and such. Now it seems the faster I draw, the more expressive it is even though it's simpler.

"The humour mechanism has changed somewhat. I'm using more puns, spoonerisms, rhymes and old switch-a-roos. Those are my gimmicks for humour. Not many comics use those mechanisms. They're used a lot in common jokes and what not. But puns and this kind of thing are a bit rare. But that's my bag and I just can't stop!"

During his cartooning career, Adamson has experienced the highs and lows that often follow independent artists.

Around 1992 he decided to distribute his comics to National and College publications, during which he had a readership of approximately 200,000 fans.

After 2 years of near constant drawing, he could no longer keep up with the demand and fell into a slump.

A very long, deep slump.

Between 1994 and 2005 very few Stupid Dummy Heds saw the light of day.

Also during this time, he was involved in a law suit against a magazine that published his cartoons without his knowledge or consent.

Unfortunately, the magazine went bankrupt and nothing came of the suit.

Thankfully, the slump is over and done with and Adamson is in preparation for his upcoming show at Loplops Gallery-Lounge.

He is drawing an average of 2 comics a day in order to meet his criteria of 100 new comics to showcase at the exhibit.

"I did it that way because I find that when I dedicate myself, force myself to essentially wake up in the morning and tell myself that's my job for the day, then I'll do it. The longer the hours I put in for consecutive days, the better my brain works and the more creative the comics are.

"I started out with 330 ideas or so and I had to cut it down to 100. To illustrate how my brain works better if I draw comics everyday, I'll only get to half of the 100 on the list because the rest are ideas that come to me at the table. I would finish a comic and go back to the list but the idea I just had would be better. Those are always my favourite."

I'm pretty sure I've never had 330 unique ideas in my entire life, let alone 330 cartoon ideas.

And those 330 are only a fraction of the actual ideas that strike him, explaining the idea has to be exceptionally good in order for him to seek out a pen and write it down.

"There's a part of my brain that processes the English language and phrases and signs that constantly rearranges letters. Thats where it comes from and they just pop up.

"Sometimes it's a bit obvious at least what area they came from and sometimes I have no idea. I am dyslexic and my sister thinks that has something to do with it."

Adamson's exhibit of 100 brand-spankin' new Stupid Dummy Heds cartoons will be on display at Loplops Gallery-Lounge from April 4 to April 30.

All of these one-of-a-kind drawings will be for sale and he will be on hand the evening of April 4, happy to explain any of the humour that may drift over your head.

Apparently, this happens a lot.

He doesn't mind but recommends you let anything you don't quite get to sit for a while.

It will eventually come to you.

And always taking enjoyment from giving a twist to everything he sets his hands on, rather than an opening reception, there will be a closing gala the evening of April 30, during which he will have some additional merchandise for sale.

After 20 years of cartooning, Adamson claims he will be a Stupid Dummy Hed for life and aspires to make this his livelihood.

"Drawing cartoons doesn't make me happy. Being happy makes me draw cartoons."