# What's up with Dilbert? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124 "2016-03-06T16:41:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/21 "2016-05-25T14:55:28Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > I love the look of the newest Dilberts by Tapper. Go back to CNN, Trapper! ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/22 "2016-05-25T16:11:56Z")
Today’s strip with Wally and the Pointy-Haired Boss is really weird. Wally doesn’t even have his ubiquitous coffee cup. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/23 "2016-05-25T16:26:17Z")
What surprises me about these “guest” artists, is that it doesn’t seem like some of them are even trying to draw it like Adams. Would be interesting to hear what direction Adams gave. Either “try to make it look like I draw it” or “draw it however the hell you want, just keep a couple of clues to hint at who the characters are supposed to be.” ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/24 "2016-05-25T16:43:56Z")
In yesterday’s [strip](http://dilbert.com/strip/2016-05-24), who is the guy in the first panel that’s not Pointy-Haired Boss. Is that a regular character or a new one-off character? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/25 "2016-05-25T18:17:48Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > In yesterday’s [strip](http://dilbert.com/strip/2016-05-24), who is the guy in the first panel that’s not Pointy-Haired Boss. Is that a regular character or a new one-off character? [Ted the Generic Guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dilbert_characters#Ted) – he’s always getting fired. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/26 "2016-05-25T18:22:51Z")
I _really_ dislike the current substitute artist. His people are all wrinkly and depressed-looking. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/27 "2016-05-25T18:40:48Z")
Nobody seems to have posted the real reason, as far as I can see. For many years, Scott Adams has had an ongoing problem with his drawing hand called [focal dystonia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_dystonia). It comes and goes, and sometimes makes it very difficult to draw. At the moment he’s giving his hand a rest from drawing for a few weeks, hence the guest artists. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/28 "2016-05-25T20:40:13Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I _really_ dislike the current substitute artist. His people are all wrinkly and depressed-looking. So, is the point of the guest artists to display their own style with the artwork, or to “take over” for Adams? I would think that literally hundreds of artists could copy (plagiarize?) Adams so that the cartoon would look normal. In fact, I would think that Adams would already have a team of lackeys to do this kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/29 "2016-05-25T20:44:55Z")
This new guy needs to find a new career. His drawings are awful. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/30 "2016-05-25T22:00:02Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > So, is the point of the guest artists to display their own style with the artwork, or to “take over” for Adams? I would think that literally hundreds of artists could copy (plagiarize?) Adams so that the cartoon would look normal. In fact, I would think that Adams would already have a team of lackeys to do this kind of thing. [Here’s what he says in his blog:](http://blog.dilbert.com/post/140211504101/dilberts-changed-look-explained) > [@](#): > > I haven’t taken a day off from work for about three years, and my drawing hand needed some rest and rehab. So I asked my “coworkers” (at Universal Uclick) to fill in for me while I try to figure out how vacations work. (The alternative was running repeats.) > > My instructions to the guest artist were that I would do the writing and they were free to draw Dilbert in their own style, or to copy mine as best they could. You will see six different Dilbert styles in six weeks. This first week is drawn by the President of Universal Uclick, John Glynn. The last week in the series will be drawn by an intern. So…expect every week to be better than the one before :-). I also dislike the present style. This may be a clever strategy for Adams to have his own crude drawings appreciated more.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/31 "2016-05-25T22:30:52Z")
One of the vacation artists from the previous series of substitutes was very good at drawing precisely like Scott Adams. Her name’s Donna Oatney, and her work is right around April 1 of this year. If Adams ever wants to take a year-long hiatus, I hope she does the strip in his absence. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/32 "2016-05-25T23:58:33Z")
My all time favorite Dilbert. Pointy Haired boss…“We need you to increase profit 10%, without spending any money or changing anything.” Has rung true for all the years since I first read it! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/33 "2016-05-26T12:25:06Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The guest cartoonist is [Jake Tapper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Tapper), who is . It was already obvious that he was not a cartoonist. Are these guest artists just doing the artwork while Adams still makes up the jokes? ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/34 "2016-05-26T15:58:19Z")
See post #30. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/35 "2016-05-26T16:00:26Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > It was already obvious that he was not a cartoonist. > > Are these guest artists just doing the artwork while Adams still makes up the jokes? That’s what the blog entry quoted above says. If he has so much trouble with his hand he should just go digital. Draw his main characters in a few angles, scan and just copy’n’paste his way to profit. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/36 "2016-05-26T16:04:17Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > It was already obvious that he was not a cartoonist. > > Are these guest artists just doing the artwork while Adams still makes up the jokes? > [@Kimballkid](#): > > See post #30. Damn, I knew I shouldn’t have stopped reading at post #29. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/37 "2016-05-26T17:01:53Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > What surprises me about these “guest” artists, is that it doesn’t seem like some of them are even trying to draw it like Adams. > > Would be interesting to hear what direction Adams gave. Either “try to make it look like I draw it” or “draw it however the hell you want, just keep a couple of clues to hint at who the characters are supposed to be.” That’s generally what’s done nowadays (at least in webcomics). Artists will often guest draw another’s comic for fun (and they’ll get someone doing theirs, too) and a big part of that is using their personal style. It can be really interesting seeing the stylistic adaptations even though it also feels ‘wrong’. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/38 "2016-05-26T17:11:27Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > That’s what the blog entry quoted above says. > > If he has so much trouble with his hand he should just go digital. Draw his main characters in a few angles, scan and just copy’n’paste his way to profit. Scott Adams’s style is so spare and pared-down that it wouldn’t be hard to argue that he’s been doing it the copy’n’paste way for years. Ahem, that’s a joke, in case you didn’t notice the spare, pared-down way I wrote it.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/39 "2016-05-26T18:24:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I also dislike the present style. This may be a clever strategy for Adams to have his own crude drawings appreciated more.🙂 I dislike it too and for some reason, the bad bad drawing makes the jokes seem waaaayy less funny. Unless he just took a vacation from the joke-writing too… ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124/40 "2016-05-26T18:31:48Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > For many years, Scott Adams has had an ongoing problem with his drawing hand called [focal dystonia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_dystonia). It comes and goes, and sometimes makes it very difficult to draw. > > At the moment he’s giving his hand a rest from drawing for a few weeks, hence the guest artists. Yeah! All that _drawing!_ That’s what’s wrong with _my hand_ too! That’s it. Too much _drawing._ That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-dilbert/748124.md?page=3)