Yorkton's Jeff Buettner is hoping his sense of humour is something others will appreciate as he launches a new cartoon series - Bereft of Center.
Buettner said he has always had what he calls "funny ideas."
"I've always had these funny ideas in my head," he said, adding that for years he more or less ignored them.
Buettner said about two years ago x to start writing down the ideas, adding he now carries a small notebook with him to jot down ideas as they come to him.
"The last two years I've amassed over 200 ideas," he said.
For Buettner ideas come randomly.
"I don't sit down and try to something on a particular thing, the ideas come to me when they come to me," he said. " I might be watching the Discovery Channel and see something on gladiators and an idea comes to me."
The ideas are what Buettner termed "life observation," taking something he sees and adding a humourous twist to his observation.
While Buettner said he began to collect his ideas, he added, "I never went into this with the thought of cartoons."
However, in time Buettner decided that he could create cartoons with the help of an artist.
"About a year ago I thought maybe I should get the ideas on paper," he said.
Initially he made contact through a writers' group with an artist in Calgary. While the art was great, Buettner said the cost was more than he could afford.
"So I phoned Diane Koch (art instructor at the Yorkton Regional High School)," he said. "I thought maybe a young student might be interested."
There wasn't a student, but Koch did point Buettner in the right direction.
"That's where Howie (Fehrenbach) comes in," he said, noting it was Koch who suggested the local artist.
"I contacted Howie out of the blue and asked him about it," he said, adding "he's done over a dozen cartoons for me since."
Buettner said he has found he and Fehrenbach are on the same wavelength in terms of the artist bring the writer's vision to life.
"I write down exactly what it looks like in my head as detailed as I can," said Buettner, and then leaves it to Fehrenbach's artistic eye.
"From what I've seen he does it jives with what I see in my head. I guess I describe it well enough he can encapsulate the spirit of my vision," he said.
Buettner said the collaboration has been a rewarding experience so far.
"It's really a thrill seeing all the ideas I have on paper transformed into visuals," he said.
The next step for Buettner is to share his works with the world.
"I would love to have them in papers," he said.
In terms of inspiration Buettner said he has long been "a big Gary Larson fan." He said the creator of The Far Side became something of an idol because when first discovered he gave Buettner a smile that at the time was a rarity.
Buettner recounts in 1986 his cousin Kyle Buettner was killed by a drunk driver, and he was depressed about the situation.
"Me and my brother (Blake) were going through a mall (in Saskatoon), and went into a Hallmarks," he said, adding they found some Larson cards and began to laugh.
Buettner said he came to realize how incredible it was that "somebody out there made me laugh, made me feel good for a while."
And that is why he hopes one day to be in newspapers and books with his cartoons.
"I'd like to do the same thing for someone," said Buettner. "Maybe someone on a subway in New York is having a bad day and laughs at one of my cartoons and it will cheer his day up like Larson did for me years ago."
