You'll find some pretty familiar problems in these 'sadorable' animal comics

If illustrator and graphic designer Geoffrey Hewer-Candee could get away with never drawing a human again, the Massachusetts-based artist would happily while away all his days cartooning the furry, the slimy and the scaly. His latest series, 'Animal Problems', follows a cast of misfit critters as they trudge their way through some all-too-familiar dilemmas.  

Problem #35: Getting older. Image: Hewer-Candee/used with permission

Because most of the series has an undercurrent of sadness and futility, Hewer-Candee uses the inherent squee-factor of the animals he draws to hit readers with a mixed-emotion roundhouse kick. "Using animals ... it allows me to address human issues that are part of daily life, but in a re-contextualised way," he explains. "Their cuteness and earnestness (besides making the problems engaging on a visual level) arouses an emotional response in the viewer that melds with the conflict and humour to make the illustration more potent."

He refers to this effect as 'sadorable', a term coined by a friend, which we agree fits the bill quite nicely. "The thing I love about the series is the range that it allows me. I can have one that's mainly just a visual gag, one that comments on serious societal issues, one that plays with language ... but most of all, I just hope that people enjoy them. Whether the problem simply makes you chuckle for a moment at a goofy pun with a cute octopus, or makes you think about an important social issue, I hope your day is at least a tiny bit better for having seen it. To me, the most important thing about art in general is for it to be enjoyable. Be it a painting, cartoon, story, whatever, the viewer needs to get some form of enjoyment out of it for one reason or another. Anything else isn't worth it."

Problem #12: Agoraphobia. Image: Hewer-Candee/used with permission

Problem #64: Psychoanalysis. Image: Hewer-Candee/used with permission

Problem #3: Pointy bits. Image: Hewer-Candee/used with permission

Problem #13: Victim blaming. Image: Hewer-Candee/used with permission

Problem #40: Gluttony. Image: Hewer-Candee/used with permission

Problem #49: Puns. Image: Hewer-Candee/used with permission

Problem #51: Villains. Image: Hewer-Candee/used with permission

Problem #53: Legs. Image: Hewer-Candee/used with permission

Problem #25 Vegetarianism. Image: Hewer-Candee/used with permission

Problem #10: Derogatory terms. Image: Hewer-Candee/used with permission