Useless Facts, Badly Drawn #528: Dolly.

Aug 26, 2026 4:15 PM

Okay, I know my comic strip has "badly drawn" right in the title as a self-deprecating joke. But honestly, Dolly's really hard to draw! She's instantly recognizable, yet almost impossible to get just right. I also didn't want to make it seem like I was making fun of her appearance (although if I did, I'm sure she'd have a hearty laugh at it if she saw it). And combined with keyboard / hardware problems plaguing me this week and nearly sending me to the psych ward, all in all this was pretty horrible to draw, but I forced myself to at least try.

What a sad day :(

A double and a half backdoor entrance.

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Dolly once said "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap" She would indeed have a good chuckle at your work.

3 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

You did well! 👏 An original Dolly post.

4 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Wishing I'd been there for the announcement just so I could say "I beg your finest Dolly Pardon?!"
(I mean I'd be laughing too, I just wanna say it.)

4 days ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 0

Dolly in heaven rn chatting with Charlie Chaplin about this episode of their lives.

3 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Understandable. Human vision and visual processing is *highly* tuned to identifying other human beings. By a similar token, it's why the uncanny valley is so off-putting, where something is human but not quite right. It's much easier to adopt an art style that is intentionally at least somewhat unrealistic so people don't get hung up on that.

4 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

It’s also a case of costuming.

She went into the contest dressed up like an exaggerated version of herself while the other contestants were trying to match her public persona. So she ended up looking like someone in a Halloween costume rather than a proper attempt at copying the subject.

A similar case was when Charlie Chaplin lost a similar contest: Everyone was dressed as his famous character and he just went in street clothes. Without the recognizable getup he’s just some dude, a lazy one.

4 days ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

True, they probably both could have placed better if they actually tried to win, instead of doing it for laughs. But then again, what is life if you can't do things for laughs sometimes?

3 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I thought that was Charlie Chaplain.

4 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Also true.

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Hers was more entertaining, it was a drag queen look alike contest.

4 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

To be fair, this is what Charlie Chaplin looked like out of costume:

4 days ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

He doesn't look like Dolly Parton at all.

3 days ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

History repeats itseft.

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I heard this anecdote with Elvis Presley.

3 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

You sure it wasn't Charlie Chaplin? Or maybe it was both?

3 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Apparently, both Chaplin and Presley stories are urban legends, but Parton's story is true.

3 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Ouch 😭 There goes a nice story I thought I knew. (Or at least it's unproven.) Wonder if both were inspired by the Dolly one…

2 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Not only did she lose, the person that beat her was a Drag Queen.

4 days ago | Likes 136 Dislikes 0

So men are even better at looking like a woman than women? *Zing*

3 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 2

I thought that whole contest was completely drag. It's such a great story!

4 days ago | Likes 23 Dislikes 0

I think you evolve from drag Queen to like drag Empress if you beat her at her own lookalike contest.

4 days ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 0

oh yeah i had to REALLY thread the needle drawing the winner as a drag queen without it looking like i was also making fun of drag queens. This strip was a minefield to draw lol

4 days ago | Likes 55 Dislikes 1

You did a good job threading the needle!

3 days ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

lol

4 days ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

could you just draw like a crown with big wheels on the side... cause Drag queen... get it DRAG.. queen drag like in the DRAG RACE cars.. they have big wheels on the back...

OK, I know when im unwanted....

4 days ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 1