{"id":28501,"date":"2024-04-08T08:00:55","date_gmt":"2024-04-08T15:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=28501"},"modified":"2024-04-11T13:43:16","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T20:43:16","slug":"a-cartoonist-talks-about-how-to-be-an-artist-with-parkinsons","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/a-cartoonist-talks-about-how-to-be-an-artist-with-parkinsons\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cartoonist Talks About How to Be an Artist with Parkinson’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cartoonist Peter Dunlap-Shohl<\/strong> was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) at the age of 43. In the documentary <\/span>Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s<\/span><\/i><\/a>, he remarks, “To lose the ability to draw would be a catastrophic loss of myself in a sense.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But despite being diagnosed with the degenerative movement disorder, Peter continues to draw\u2014and quite successfully, thank you.<\/span><\/p>\n

A former political cartoonist\u2014he drew for the <\/span>Anchorage Daily News<\/span><\/i> in Alaska for years before moving to Washington state to be closer to better medical care\u2014Peter did contemplate whether he’d be able to continue drawing at all as the disease progressed. But he framed his journey with PD with a sense of humor, turning his experiences into a graphic novel\u2014or “graphic medicine”\u2014entitled <\/span>My Degeneration<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peter talked to us about how his drawing has evolved with Parkinson’s and gives advice for other artists\u2014and would-be artists\u2014who also have PD and want to tap into that creative side.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\"Peter\n

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How has your art\/drawing style evolved or adapted since your diagnosis?<\/b><\/h4>\n

My drawings tend to be simpler now than in the past. I tire more easily than when I was healthy. I have to tell myself, “Enough is enough,” and lay my stylus down until I am fresh again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As far as my style is concerned, Parkinson’s-driven ergonomic problems forced me to switch over from analog drawing to drawing with a pad on a computer running Photoshop. I never cared for computer-generated graphics with their electronic sheen and mechanical, untouched-by-human-hands appearance. But it is much friendlier ergonomically, and it solved my pain problems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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“Why would you not take advantage of this new possibility for self-expression?”<\/pullquote><\/strong><\/em><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I worked to recreate my old cross-hatched pen look. When I finally did, after months of struggle, I felt a moment of triumph and then had an epiphany. I had taken a cutting-edge, 21st-century tool and turned it into something a monk would have used in the Dark Ages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So I started to work with the new powers that the computer gave me to add color, sound, and motion to my work, while still maintaining my hands-on, hand-drawn look.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"self

From “My Degeneration”<\/p><\/div>\n

For artists with PD, are pen and ink drawings more challenging than painting?<\/b><\/h4>\n

I think either is difficult to do well. One nice thing about computer-based drawing is the <\/span>undo<\/span><\/i> command. It is much less of a risk to experiment with an image when you know if you don\u2019t like the result you aren\u2019t stuck with it, and it can be undone with a few clicks of a mouse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you have advice for people with Parkinson’s interested in actually learning a visual art form, or continuing to be an artist?\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n

Yes: Go for it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

People on Levodopa therapy, the most effective treatment for PD, often develop creative urges they would not have otherwise: writing books, doing paintings, quilting, etc. Why would you not take advantage of this new possibility for self-expression?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You may not have the manual dexterity of Michaelangelo, or the raw talent of Raphael, but let\u2019s face it, hardly anyone does.<\/span><\/p>\n\"Sign<\/a>\n

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A post shared by Peter Dunlap-Shohl (@dunlapshohl)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n