Here is a movie of Steve Sack drawing his latest Lance Armstrong cartoon on his iPad.
And here is the cartoon …
Check out our great collection of Lance Armstrong cartoons.
ECLIPSE TIME! Top Ten Cartoons of the Week!
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Watch Steve Sack Draw Lance Armstrong
Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!With 10 days left in our Indiegogo fundraising drive to fund the work of brilliant, unemployed cartoonist Bill Day, I’m happy to report that we’re less than $2,000 away from reaching our goal!
Today has also been labeled “Bill Day Day” by the folks behind the popular Facebook page The Pragmatic Conservative. They are posting a Bill Day cartoon every hour, on the hour. So make your way to their page, “like” Day’s cartoons and share them with your friends on Facebook.
Hopefully, we can raise the $2,000 needed and put Bill over the top today! So please continue to spread the word – we may be in the final stretch, but we’re not going to get there without your support, and Bill needs your help now more than ever!
Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!
If you haven’t donated yet, please consider doing so. There are some really great perks still available for donors – everything from signed prints of Bill’s work to an actual original piece of Bill Day artwork that you can frame and hang up in your home or office!
Donate enough and you could even receive a custom Bill Day cartoon drawn about any subject or topic important to you! That’s a one of a kind item that you can cherish your entire life!
And forward this newsletter to your friends, relatives, co-workers, enemies – the more people that know about our fundraising drive, the more likely we’re going to be successful in preserving one of the most important political cartoon voices in the country.
Again, thank you for all your generosity and support of political cartoons. You guys are the best!
Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!
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Edward Hopper and the Trillion Dollar Coin
Here is my new cartoon, based on Edward Hopper’s famous 1942 painting, Nighthawks. and the original for comparison.
Here’s a little detail, blown up as it can be hard to see on the Web …
This was fun.
Here is my previous cartoon, on the trillion dollar coin.
The trillion dollar coin is a great idea, and should be great fun for cartoonists. This one by knuckle-dragging, conservative cartoonist, Eric Allie, is quite funny.
There haven’t been as many trillion dollar coin cartoons as I expected – maybe they are coming soon.
By the way, back when I was working in the toy industry it was a time when toy execs were getting lots of government pressure and press criticism about unsafe toys. I often heard the toy industry argument that many more kids are killed each year by choking on coins than by toys, and the government could fix that easily by putting holes in the middle of coins, as some foreign countries have done. But nobody cares about unsafe coins and the government was being hypocritical by focusing on unsafe toys while doing nothing about unsafe coins. That’s also an interesting argument with the gun debate, since so many kids continue to be killed by coins, but I’ve never thought of a way to do it in a cartoon, since kids choking on coins (or shot by guns) is nothing anyone wants to see in a cartoon.
Now I’m rambling. Time to stop.
Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!
I have two cool news items to report in our Bill Day fundraising drive. First, we’ve exceeded $30,000, and now just have $5,000 remaining to successfully fund the work of brilliant, unemployed cartoonist Bill Day!
Second, Editor & Publisher magazine did a story on our fundraising campaign. E&P’s Rob Tornoe spoke with Bill, who said the outpouring of support in this crowd-sourcing effort means a great deal to him.
“If we’re successful, it will allow me to continue my passion of drawing editorial cartoons at a time when it’s very difficult for me to continue,” Day said. “We’re so close, and I feel honored that so many readers feel so strongly about my cartoons to support me.”
Day went on to say that he is moved by the experience, and is thankful to everyone who has donated “for their willingness to help the cause and promote the art of editorial cartooning so it doesn’t die… their generosity is truly touching.”
Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!
Please continue to spread the word about our fundraising campaign. We’re in the final stretch, and need your help now more than ever!
If you haven’t donated yet, please consider doing so. There are some really great perks still available for donors – everything from signed prints of Bill’s work to an actual original piece of Bill Day artwork that you can frame and hang up in your home or office!
Again, thank you for all your generosity and support of political cartoons. You guys are the best!
My cartoonist buddy, Steve Sack of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune just sent me this e-mail and video:
Hi Daryl,
That was the first time I drew an edit toon on the Ipad. I used a stylus, which is better than a finger but still not all that precise. App is called Sketch Club. Cost me three bucks. I may do more vids like that from time to time, depending on time and the image I’m attempting. The program doesn’t have all of the Photoshop features and effects one often needs. I just got it Sunday so I’m still learning how useful it will be.
Steve
I can’t get past drawing on paper, although I rely on Photoshop and my Wacom Cintiq. Here is my rough pencil sketch, in pencil, on a piece of 11″x17″ paper.
Next I draw it with a 4H hard pencil on vellum and scan the drawing at high contrast and high resolution for most people to see in black and white in the newspaper – looking like an ink drawing. I have to design everything so it works in black and white, and I usually like the black and white versions best – here I did that by making the speech balloons black, so they stand out and are readable making the point of the cartoon.
Next I put in the color in Photoshop, under the black line art layer.
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Better Not Insult Adam and Eve
Egyptian Cartoonist Doaa El Adl of the Al-Masry Al-Toum newspaper.
It didn’t take long for the new Islamist government in Egypt to start acting like other nutty Islamic regimes when it comes to cartoons. The latest wacko religious intolerance comes in response to the cartoon below, by Egyptian editorial cartoonist Doaa El Adl.
The cartoon, published on her newspapers online site, shows an Egyptian man with angel wings lecturing Adam and Eve. The three are on a cloud beneath the infamous forbidden fruit tree. The man is telling Adam and Eve that they would never have been expelled from heaven if they had simply voted in favor of the draft constitution in the recent Egyptian referendum. Some of the supporters of the referendum were quoted as saying a “yes vote” guarantees one a spot in heaven, while a “no vote” guarantees one a spot in hell. Neither Adam nor Eve in Doaa’s cartoon is uttering a word. In short, the cartoon is critical of Egyptians who have recently politicized religion.
The cartoonist is being sued by Egypt’s new Secretary General for the Defense of Freedoms, Khaled El Masry; he claims that the cartoon insults Adam, who is considered a prophet in the Muslim religion. Egypt’s Attorney General has ordered an investigation.
This is the offending cartoon. The angel who appears to be a typical Egyptian man, is telling Adam and Eve that they would never have been expelled from heaven if they had simply voted in favor of the draft constitution in the recent Egyptian referendum.
I met Doaa El Adl at the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention a couple of years ago in Florida, shortly after the revolution in Egypt. She was the only woman cartoonist in a large group of Arab cartoonists sent by the US State Department to visit their colleagues in the USA. In our conversations she was beaming with pride and optimism about Egypt’s revolution and her high hopes and expectations about Egypt’s future.
In Egypt, editorial cartoonists are especially important. There are lots of popular, thriving, competing newspapers in Egypt, and most of them run their editorial cartoon in color on the front page. The editorial cartoonists are the most important voices in each newspaper, and clearly, the most threatening voices to Islamic-extremist politicians. I doubt that Doaa is being sued because of insulting Adam, rather she is being sued to chill her voice, and make it costly to be a cartoonist who is critical of Egypt’s new religious junta.
This is a shame. Doaa is talented, brave and eager to seek a better future for Egypt – just what Egypt needs right now. Read more about her case on the Cartoonists Rights Network site.
Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!
Our fundraising campaign to pay a salary to brilliant, unemployed cartoonist Bill Day is now in its final stretch. With only 19 days left in our campaign, we really need your help to get to the goal of a $35,000 for Bill, to keep him drawing cartoons and avoid foreclosure on his house! Bill is an important cartoonist, we can’t afford to lose him! Please help!
This weekend, Bill filmed a short video of his own, where he talked a bit about the history of political cartoons and their importance in the growth of our society. It would be a shame to lose Bill’s unique voice in our increasing homogenized media environment.
I’ve been struck by some of the heartwarming comments posted by people who have already donated to Bill’s campaign. “Bill Day is a brilliant political voice and I hope others will join in to keep that voice heard,” a donor named Gerald wrote.
Another donor named Jean commented, “Support Bill Day – he is a national treasure! He helps us see into the heart of things in a way no one else does.” I couldn’t agree more.
The good news is you still have time to contribute to this worthwhile cause. Not only would you be helping to keep our dwindling profession alive, there are some really great perks you can receive for doing so – everything from signed prints of Bill’s work to an actual original piece of Bill Day artwork, suitable for framing.
Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!
So please, considering donating today, or even making a second donation – there is nothing more cool than an original Bill Day cartoon hanging on your wall – except TWO original Bill Day cartoons hanging on your wall!
And thank you all for your generosity and commitment to political cartoons!
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Welcome Steve Sack!
I’m happy to announce that we have added my cartoonist buddy, Steve Sack, of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, to our newspaper syndication package.
Steve has been one of my favorite cartoonists for decades. Steve’s style is deceivingly cute and sweet, masking some nasty, hard-hitting commentary. Here are a few of my favorites from Steve’s last year. I’m still laughing at “Rice Konspiracies” below.
This one surely made Republicans growl …
Looney Michelle Bachmann is a local favorite for Steve in Minnesota …
This Donald Trump hair cartoon is great …
I thought this one was wonderful just because of the way Steve draws helicopters …
I’d suggest that a cool way to spend New Years Day is a stroll through our
Steve Sack cartoon archive. It is great fun.
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Cliffs, Fighting Elephants and Picasso
Here is my latest cartoon, about the Republican infighting while Obama just sits back and waits for a deal.
This Fiscal Cliff mess came about because of the failure of the “Super-Committee.” I remembered a drawing a did of the Super-Committee some time ago, with a nice fight scene between super donkeys and elephants …
I liked that Super-Committee cartoon. Super political stuff is always great for cartoonists, especially when super-politicians fail. It occurred to me that I could use the fight scene again, if the donkeys were elephants, so I printed it out lightly and sketched in some rough changes, adding Obama and making the donkeys into elephants in the same, fighting positions …
… and then I drew over it for finished line on vellum. This black and white line drawing is what most people see in the newspaper …
… and then I colored it in layers on Photoshop. The line drawing is always better than the color, but readers and editors never seem to think so.
The previous cartoon was also about GOP angst, this time in the form of Picasso’s Guernica (below).
Oh the GOP suffering; oh the humanity! I did pretty much the same thing with this one. I printed out the Guernica painting and traced a nice line drawing on vellum.
I wanted it to look like it came from my hand, which is why I did all the cross hatching and un-Picasso like line quality. Then I added the gray tone …
Oh! Those poor Republicans! My most recent one was the New Years Fiscal Cliff cartoon below. This one probably works better on the Web because you have to scroll down to get to the gag.
My wife thought this one was too cruel to babies. She told me I shouldn’t draw it. My Australian cartoonist buddy, Peter Broelman did a similar one today, without being cruel to the baby – and his will get reprinted more because it isn’t in a vertical format. My wife likes Peter’s better too. Oh well.
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Sandy Hook, the Cliff and Unions
The cliff is such a natural cartoon that I have to keep drawing it. This cartoon (right) was from December 20th, when the fiscal cliff negotiations were going nowhere, and I was drawing John Boehner hanging off the cliff where the elephant is, and my son came by and asked me who that was. It was fine when I explained it, but he didn’t know John Boehner, and I thought I needed to draw and elephant. We’ve had lots of Boehner cartoons, even a great Boehner section – but he hasn’t risen to the level where young people know him, and I’ve been sticking to the elephant in his place. I hate that our cartoons are puzzles for schoolkids to suffer through.
I’ll draw Boehner soon enough.
The two cartoons below were drawn about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I hate that I have to draw cartoons about heinous crimes, because we all agree on how awful the murders were and the issues are all side issues … comments about grieving, and cartoons about gun control are appropriate, I just wasn’t inspired for another round of redundant gun control cartoons. Then I watched a horrendously insensitive interview on Fox News with parents of a surviving child, and a couple other, awful interviews with grieving parents that made me angry. The hype around this was pretty ugly, and inspired the media vultures cartoon below. I think it is good to bash another bad guy than the shooter in cartoons – best not to mention the shooter at all – the few news outlets that don’t mention the murderer’s name are being responsible journalists.
The next cartoon is another riff on the same theme. I got a lot of response to these cartoons from readers who were also disgusted by the media reaction to the tragedy. Ugly stuff.
The next cartoon was about the passage of “right-to-work” legislation by Michigan’s Republican governor and legislature. I know this cartoon won’t get reprinted much, but when you gotta pee, you gotta pee.
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Bill Day’s Gun Control Cartoons
Back in May, columnist Tina Dupuy (who I syndicate to newspapers and Web sites nationwide) wrote about the need for gun control in America, noting that the NRA was for gun control over its first hundred years and only recently started to mention the Second Amendment as their cause.
There’s no cartoonist who cares about the issue of gun control more than Bill Day. Here are some of Day’s best cartoons about guns in America, including some of his recent cartoons following the tragic school shooting in Connecticut.
(Donate to our Bill Day fundraising campaign and help keep the him drawing!)
What do you think – do we need more gun control laws, or less? Comment below or weigh in on our Facebook page!
Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!
As our campaign to help unemployed cartoonist Bill Day from losing his home enters its third week, we need your help more than ever to achieve our goal of raising $35,000.
Bill Day’s most recent cartoon
So far, we’ve raised over $23,000, but we’re also at the point where many campaigns start to lose steam. Don’t let that happen to Bill!
If you haven’t donated yet, please consider doing so today. Not only would you be helping one of America’s top political cartoonists continue working, you can receive some great gifts in return, such as an eBook featuring Bill’s work, a signed print or even an original piece of Bill Day artwork.
Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!
If you have already contributed, consider forwarding this post to a friend or co-worker, or sharing it on Facebook and Twitter. With Christmas approaching, what better gift can someone give than helping a brilliant cartoonist in his time of need?
Thank you again for your generosity and commitment to political cartoons! The outpouring of support for Bill has been tremendous, and if we can keep this momentum going, I’m sure we’ll be successful in keeping Bill drawing!