Pat Bagley is a Utah cartoonist who has worked with The Salt Lake Tribune for the past 45 years. He’s the artist who drew “Briney,” Great Salt Lake Collaborative’s friendly mascot.
Collaborative Freelancer Mariah Maynes recently talked with Bagley to learn about the process of bringing Briney to life, and he shared some insights into his process.
A transcript of the conversation follows. Small edits were made for clarity.
Maynes: Can you tell me a little bit about your process?
Bagley: Well, first of all, you have to go look at what a brine shrimp looks actually looks like. And it looks nothing like a sea monkey. It's a crustacean. It's a shrimp. And so I see all those arms and legs and so I gave it some personality, I gave it some eyes, he's kind of cute. I tried a lot of different approaches to it.
[When] the one that finally came out and I go, "Yeah, this is working." And I refined it, that's what we have.
Maynes: Did you feel like it took a long time to design [Briney]?
Bagley: I took a couple of stabs at it. My first go wasn't the best. I thought I was getting better at the second stab at it. But the third time I thought, ‘Yeah, this is good.This should work.’
Maynes: Where do you draw inspiration from in your work?
Bagley: Everywhere. I mean, that's the thing about being a cartoonist — the more information you have, the more you have to draw on. So I read a lot of history. Get out a lot. I like walking around. I love getting out in nature.
I love Utah history and I know the history of the Great Salt Lake. I know the history of settlement here in Utah and that also contributes to my feel for how these things should look and how they work.
