Iconic Left-Handed Cartoonists
Famous Lefties Who Drew Their Own Way
Being a cartoonist means living with ink on your fingers, deadlines in your nightmares, and a weird relationship with talking animals. Being a left-handed cartoonist means all that, plus navigating a world where everything from pencil grips to ink flow seems designed to sabotage you.
Still, some of the most famous left handed artists in comics and cartoons have thrived. Their styles are distinctive. Their voices, unmistakable. And their careers are proof that left handed people, even in a world made for the right-handed majority, will always find a way to leave a mark (often a literal left handed ink smudge on the page).
So, are most artists left handed? Probably not. But some of the best cartoonists (past and present) definitely are. Below, we spotlight seven famous left handed people who’ve helped shape the world of cartooning, from newspaper strips to animated TV to graphic novels. Grab your favorite left-handed mug and dive in.
Matt Groening
Creator of The Simpsons and Futurama, Groening is a household name in animation. His doodle-style drawings of overbites, bug eyes, and yellow skin defined a generation of satire. Bart Simpson and Ned Flanders are both lefties, with Flanders even opening the Leftorium, a store for left handed people. As a left handed artist, Groening brought a slightly crooked (in a good way) sensibility to television, poking fun at suburban life, religion, politics, and human nature, all while keeping it weird and surprisingly heartfelt.
Cathy Guisewite
Yes, Cathy. The cartoon that made you laugh, cringe, and recognize your own anxiety in comic form. Guisewite's strip ran in over 1,400 newspapers and was one of the few nationally syndicated comics created by a woman. As a left-handed cartoonist, she showed that neurosis could be art, and that women’s lives — even the messy parts — were worth putting on the page. ACK!
Zach Weinersmith
The mind behind Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, Zach Weinersmith has been skewering science, philosophy, and everyday absurdity for years. His comics are equal parts cerebral and ridiculous, the kind of thing only a left-handed cartoonist with a dark sense of humor and a background in physics could pull off. He also co-authors books with his wife, Dr. Kelly Weinersmith, showing that left handed intelligence can fuel both big ideas and clever jokes.
Ryan North
North’s writing might be what he’s best known for (Dinosaur Comics, Squirrel Girl, Adventure Time comics), but don’t overlook his visual humor. He knows how to pace a joke, build a rhythm, and nail a punchline. A left-handed person with a deadpan love of the absurd, North brings his unique voice to everything from indie webcomics to Marvel titles. He’s also a computer scientist, proving that a left handed creative mind can thrive in both art and science.
Milton Caniff
A groundbreaking comic strip artist, Milton Caniff was best known for Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon. His storytelling was cinematic, his artwork rich with shadow and atmosphere, and his panels often felt like stills from a noir film. Caniff wasn’t just drawing for newspapers. He was crafting serialized adventures with complex characters and geopolitical intrigue long before that became standard. A proud lefty, his creative influence is still visible in modern comics, especially in how artists balance action with mood and pacing.
Paula Cheshire
One of the newer voices in cartooning, Paula Cheshire is carving out her space in the indie webcomic world. Her work combines soft aesthetics with biting honesty, and her use of color and composition has that effortless weirdness often found in left handed artists. While still early in her career, she’s part of a new generation that’s making comics personal, political, and powerfully relatable.
Paul Conrad
A three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist, Conrad was fierce, sharp, and mostly left-handed. In his memoir, I, Con, he revealed that teachers forced him to use his right hand — a traumatic experience that probably contributed to a stutter he carried until age 12. Despite this, he became one of the most feared and respected voices in political art, drawing hard truths with uncompromising lines. He may have been ambidextrous, but his left-handed perspective was dominant in more ways than one.
Left-Handed, Ink-Smudged, and Brilliant
So, are left handed people more creative? Maybe. Are lefties more creative than their right-handed counterparts? Who knows. But if the world of cartooning tells us anything, it’s that left handed intelligence isn’t just about brain wiring. It’s about persistence, wit, and being willing to smudge the page until the story’s told right.
Whether it’s messy ink lines, quirky humor, or a relentless drive to draw something better, left-handed cartoonists remind us that thinking differently not an obstacle. It’s an advantage.
Want to know more about the artistic impact lefties have had throughout the years? Check out our articles on famous left handed actors in Hollywood, left-handed film directors, or lefty visual artists.
