Cartoonists and Parkinson’s Disease

Dick Locher, Richard Thompson and Peter Dunlap-Shohl all have one thing in common – they all have Parkinson’s Disease. Michael Cavna talks to Peter about how deals with the disease’s effects on his motor skills.

At the same time, the Internet was changing publishing. I decided that I would start a Parkinson?s blog illustrated with my drawings. Part of the idea for me was to leave a visual record in the actual marks I made in the drawings of the effects that Parkinson?s was having on my ability to render. Over time, you could see my drawings suffer the impact of both the disease and the medications, which bring on their own motor complications. This would also be a way to work at writing, which I figured I could still do if I were unable to draw. In a perverse way, as my sister pointed out, Parkinson?s became my muse.

Top