The Cartoon Kid

By Carolyn Sloan

The Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

Between the pages was a world of adventure, escape and imaginative play, and it was all his for the price of 35 cents.

As a young boy, Bruce Rice eagerly awaited visits from his aunt in Boston, who would bring him the latest issues of Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Looney Tunes comics – his playground currency for the year.

“I read every comic I could get a hold of,” he says. “It’s that break away, fantasy thing. I always was a dreamer.”

With a passion for cartoons, came the desire to bring to life characters of his own. It was a dream that Bruce has had for over 50 years, until, in 2005, he decided to teach himself how to draw. Through the Internet and by mail, he ordered a couple cartooning courses and got started from his home in West Dalhousie.

An electronic technician for many years, Bruce found that his good eyesight and steady hands were a tremendous asset in learning the art of illustration.

“I always wanted to draw ever since I was a kid, but I never thought I could actually do it,” he explains. “My aptitude is toward the technical and the finely detailed… It worked into the drawing because it’s the same [skills].”

Three years later, Bruce has gone from a self-taught cartoonist to a published illustrator. Through connections on the Internet, Bruce came into contact with a woman by the name of Pearl Blevins, who lived in Harrison, Arkansas. A writer of stories for children, she was enchanted by a drawing of a little white bear he had created a year ago, and was convinced that it was the perfect likeness of a character in one of her stories. With that, Bruce set about illustrating the book, and in April of this year, Sno Drop and the Human Critters was released by PublishAmerica. A second collaboration is already in the works.

“It’s like a Sunday school lesson, in a way,” he says, describing the story. “We wanted to work together to bring children to the Lord.”

Animal stories with a Christian message have also been the inspiration behind Junkyard Dogs, a children’s book Bruce has been creating on his own. It’s a story about an orphaned Chihuahua who must leave Mexico for the United States. Across the border, he is confronted with bullying and discrimination, but eventually finds safety and companionship with a group of junkyard dogs who take him under their wing.

“It plays on the idea that there are people who are very poor and very persecuted and they need a place to go,” Bruce explains. “The whole story is about these dogs that take Chi Chi as an orphan, take care of him.”