Joshua W. Cotter
LightNews LightNews
banner
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
Joshua W. Cotter
@joshuawcotter.bsky.social
3.1K followers 990 following 620 posts
ND Secular Humanist ♾️ Cartoonist When I’m Able 🫀 Fix Your Hearts or Die
https://www.joshuawcotter.com/ -or- https://bio.site/joshuawcotter
Posts Replies Media Videos
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
Making comics (nod away, volume 3, WIP)
A piece of paper covered with little pen thumbnail drawings and notes regarding plans for comics pages.
November 21, 2025 at 1:42 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
‘nod away, volume 3’, WIP, blue pencil on bristol
Cropped panels of three female characters tied to gurneys, one of them is angrily yelling at a male character. Text is in an unfinished state.
November 20, 2025 at 12:56 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
This guy’s Sieg Heil (this guy currently concerned about ‘the radicalization of the left’) wasn’t as prominent a Sieg Heil as Musk’s Sieg Heil, but he did do a Sieg Heil.
A watercolor and pencil drawing of Bannon dressed as a sloppy N@zi giving a little guy Sieg Heil, standing next to a realistically depicted cloven hoofed Peter Thiel, the guy concerned about the ‘rise of the Antichrist’ (aka Peter Thiel).
November 7, 2025 at 2:18 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
Evening, looking east out of the river valley in rural Japan where we live now. It’s been one year since everything fell apart. We miss our farm, but it is beautiful here.
An evening in a river valley surrounded by mountains heavy with foliage, power lines the only evidence of a human presence.
November 6, 2025 at 10:52 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
‘nod away, volume 3’, WIP, blue pencil on bristol
A cropped page of a comic, female characters showing a range of emotions from surprise to frustration. Central character is saying ‘What the HELL?!’ while the character next to her asks ‘Where are we?’
October 31, 2025 at 12:45 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
Title page from my ‘08 mini comic ‘March Hare’
Pen drawing of a scruffy, floating rabbit in jeans and a cardigan, text below it reading ‘non compos mentis’
October 30, 2025 at 12:07 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
Well, to be fair, those two are more detailed than most of the others. Detailing helps me figure out a sequence and I recall needing these two pages (and a few others) to work a certain way.

These images are more representational of the other thumbs.
Loosely drawn graphite thumbnails of anthropomorphic characters in a wooden city.
October 28, 2025 at 11:35 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
Thumbnails for a kids’ comic project that didn’t end up happening. I was really excited to draw this at the time, maybe I’ll be able to get back to it someday.
Graphite pencil thumbnails for two pages of a comic, a sequence of anthropomorphic animas having conversations and walking through a wooden city on a hill.
October 28, 2025 at 2:09 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
‘nod away, volume 2’, pen and ink on bristol - Tachikawa t-5 and t-99 nibs, Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star Matte, Strathmore 400 Series bristol
A drawing of a spacious rocky landscape within a canyon with unusual eroded forms.
October 22, 2025 at 12:05 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
‘nod away, volume 3’, Dr. Serious, blue pencil on bristol
A drawing of a bespectacled bald man with wild white hair on the sides of his head wearing a lab coat and eating a lump of something directly out of a can.
October 20, 2025 at 2:39 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
‘nod away, volume 3’, blue pencil on bristol board
A cropped comics page depicting a sequence of a woman lying on a gurney opening her eyes and looking around at the women lying on gurneys on either side of her.
October 14, 2025 at 11:00 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
Frog on the persimmon tree by our house in rural Japan. We’re supposed to keep the tree picked so it doesn’t attract bears but I left this one alone.
A little green tree frog sitting comfortably on top of a sweet persimmon.
October 13, 2025 at 11:00 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
‘nod away, volume 3’, blue pencil on bristol. Finally back to drawing. Full page is up over at www.joshuawcotter.com
A blue pencil bird’s eye view drawing of a woman unconscious on a gurney, her wrists are bound and she’s tied to the gurney side guards. She’s wearing an old threadbare punk shirt that reads ‘!yaki!yaki!yaki!’ in katakana. Below the gurney are storage boxes.
October 9, 2025 at 5:01 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
Walt in the rain, from ‘nod away, volume 2’, pen and ink on bristol
A six-panel sequence depicting a disheveled man with long hair and a beard sitting down outside of a wooded area and letting a storm rain down on him.
October 8, 2025 at 1:44 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
About to start penciling ‘nod away, volume 3’
Pen thumbnails of page 3 of the next volume of nod away drawn on grid paper, a sequence depicting a woman opening her eyes.
October 6, 2025 at 5:55 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
A strip from when I was a cartoonist for the Kansas City Star.
A Mr. Peanut-esque character strutting down a city sidewalk at night. The Mr. Peanut-esque character encounters a Lady of the Night Chocolate Bar, wrapper peeled down seductively, blonde hair with a pink bow, smoking a cigarette. Mr. Peanut-esque and his wife walking down a sidewalk at day, the Lady of the Night Chocolate bar is pushing a stroller with a box of Goobers in it, she’s trying to get Mr. Peanut-esque’s attention but he only pulls down his top hat in shame and keeps walking.
September 30, 2025 at 10:51 PM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
Chicago, from ‘nod away, volume 2’, pen & ink on bristol
The left half of a drawing of the frozen Chicago lakeshore, chunks of ice built up along the concrete shore, nude people floating through the air towards the skyline. The right half of a drawing of the frozen Chicago lakeshore, chunks of ice built up along the concrete shore, nude people floating through the air towards the skyline, the John Hancock building prominent in the composition.
September 30, 2025 at 4:21 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
social decay
Sphere drawn with outward radiating green lines Sphere drawn with outward radiating green lines, brown lines at its core Sphere drawn with outward radiating brown lines, red lines at its core
September 25, 2025 at 4:49 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
‘Father Explains’, pen on paper
A pen drawing of an anthropomorphic tornado tearing across a midwestern landscape, gathering cows, grain towers, hay bales and other objects up in its back.
September 18, 2025 at 12:04 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
Lē’ahi from Waikiki, watercolor on paper.

For legal paperwork reasons I had to touch US soil, luckily for me Hawaii was the closest/cheapest option.

Was only there for 48 hours, but good to be reminded of the abundance of beauty in our world, despite all of the ugliness being forced upon us.
A watercolor painting of Lē’ahi from Waikiki, mountain painted in browns and yellows, greens and yellows of the beach below it.
September 16, 2025 at 2:06 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
‘Brother Explains'. Pen on paper.
Two young boys climbing a gnarled, uprooted floating tree with two triangles in the air between them.
September 10, 2025 at 12:25 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
A page from ‘nod away, volume 2’, pen & ink on bristol #comics #penandink
A long-haired, bearded astronaut traversing landscapes featuring unusual geographical objects/forms.
September 8, 2025 at 11:59 PM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
Project 2025
A cartoon painting of the Statue of Liberty (in acrylic gouache). She has a stunned expression, her robe is smeared with an orange substance.
September 8, 2025 at 1:30 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
Eugenicist
A flattering pen portrait of RFK jr., a hostile being lacking the most basic intelligence and empathy, composed entirely of sentient rat jerky.
September 5, 2025 at 5:48 AM
joshuawcotter.bsky.social
‘nod away, volume 3’ - Sketch for ‘The Dawn Aquila'
A blue pencil drawing of a space craft showing the interior layout, inhabitants & dimensions from the side and from above.
September 5, 2025 at 1:41 AM