DREW DERNAVICH

Drew has taken a passion for art and communication and successfully applied it across multiple areas of life. 

He is best known for being a cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine. A regular contributor since 2002, his woodcut-style drawings (done on scratchboard) are instantly recognizable, and he was previously given the National Cartoonists Society’s “Reuben Award” as the country's best gag cartoonist. All his cartoons are really funny, and if you don't understand one of them, please just assume it's really funny.  Additionally, he co-created a cartoon improv show (with his friend Matthew Diffee) whose exploits can be read about here.

Drew has written and illustrated two children's books: It’s Not Easy Being the Number Three, about the Number Three having a bit of an existential crisis, and Elvin Link, Please Report to the Principal’s Office, about a young compulsive doodler also having a bit of an existential crisis. Both were published by Henry Holt & Co.

He’s also drawn cartoons for Google, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, The Boston Globe, his dentist, and others. Drew actually started out as a political cartoonist until he realized: ugh, politics. And that was that. 

In addition, Drew frequently works with companies as a graphic recorder, or, as it is often called, "graphic facilitator," or "visual note-taker," or "person who stands at a white board and doodles cool-looking notes all day based on what other people in the room are talking about." You’ve probably seen it in one form or another. It really helps people to visualize, comprehend, and retain information. If you don't know what is meant by this, check it out here. 

Drew was born and raised in suburban western Massachusetts, got his BA from the College of William & Mary in VA, and then moved back to Massachusetts - but this time to the east, to Boston. His first career was etching gravestones. You read that right. There’s a gallery here. Once the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, Drew figured his work in MA was done, and so he relocated to Hoboken, NJ, just because the name sounded funny. It was funny for about seven years. Drew now lives in Brooklyn, New York. 

Drew wrote a blog once, when that was a thing. It’s here.

From the archives: Matt Diffee and Drew doing a morning interview on Vail TV in a studio that definitely hadn't been cleaned in a long time. 

And from the same show, Matt and Drew demonstrate how to color drawings in with raw meat. Really.