Drawing D'Ville: Cartoonist Joins Patch

When a self-described smart alec is as quick with his pencil as he is swift with his wit, what do you git? er, get? The answer is David Tovey, a cartoonist that assembles his random thoughts into pieces of art that give family and friends a chuckle. Starting tomorrow, at 10 a.m., they will also put a smile on the faces of Douglasville Patch viewers.

Over the years, the subjects of his comics have ranged from everyday life to childhood, politics, golf and aliens.

"Whatever strikes me," he said. "My favorites come from real life experiences but they may not be exactly what happened."

How do family and friends like being the subjects of his uniquely-humorous creations?

"They seem to enjoy it, even when they are the butt of the jokes," he said.

Even though he's been drawing since early childhood and he's always had a healthy sense of humor, he said he hasn't had much luck getting published. He just drew for family, friends and co-workers.

"I was working in an office environment and something would happen or someone would say something and I'd just draw a comic about it on the spot," he said. "We'd just enjoy it at work and that would be the end of it."

He said he once had a book of comics published in a little booklet that was handed out to employees for Christmas presents. Over the past four or five years though, he's begun saving them and has about 300 in a book, Dave's Book of Nonsense.

Originally from Kansas, Tovey's lived in Georgia since 1969 and in Douglas County since 1975. He and his wife Katherine have just celebrated their 30th Wedding Anniversary and David is currently a manager of a security company.

They have two children, both graduates, Kyle, 24 and Derek, 21.