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Benghazi Media Monkeys

This cartoon by conservative cartoonist Glenn McCoy motivated me to draw my cartoon below. Glenn forgot the most obvious monkey and I thought I needed to correct the oversight.

Last month I corrected an error in a cartoon by Glenn’s even-more-conservative brother, Gary.  The McCoys are such an inspiration!

123219 600 Benghazi Media Monkeys cartoons

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Bill Day Fundraising Update – Washington Post

 Bill Day Fundraising Update   Washington Post cartoons

Cool news to report – the Washington Post did a story on our fundraising campaign to help save Bill Day and keep the unemployed cartoonist from losing his home. Reporter Michael Cavna spoke with Bill, who said he’s overwhelmed by the response so far to our fundraising drive. “It restores my faith that there are good people in this world who want to help me,” he said.

Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!

Cavna also spoke with Indiegogo co-founder Slava Rubin, who is not only aware of the plight political cartoonists face, but is also a cartoon fan himself!

“Political cartoons have appeared daily in our newspapers for decades, and have been an integral part of American history, art and public life,” Rubin said. “As newsrooms get smaller and online journalism grows, this art form is in decline, and Bill’s campaign is a perfect example of how those from the traditional media industry are looking to alternative sources of funding via crowdfunding.”

Check out the Washington Post’s story here, and continue to spread the word. Bill needs your help, and together we can reach and exceed our goal, and keep Bill drawing for years to come!

indigogo bill day Bill Day Fundraising Update   Washington Post cartoons

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Help Us Save an Editorial Cartoonist

Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!

These are tough times for political cartoonists as newspapers cut back. Cartoonists are still widely syndicated in newspapers across the country, but national syndication pays a fraction of what cartoonists made from traditional staff jobs, making them an endangered species as cartoonists lose their jobs.

Billday Help Us Save an Editorial Cartoonist cartoons

Bill Day

The irony is that political cartoons are more popular than ever; cartoons spread quickly across social networks, look great on tablets and smart phones, and reach millions of readers through syndication. Editorial cartoons are part of state-mandated testing in 8th and 11th grade, and are a part of the weekly homework for millions of students in America.

day small Help Us Save an Editorial Cartoonist cartoonsIn recent years the number of editorial cartoonists has declined by half, to about 60.  One of the best is Bill Day, who drew for decades for The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, and before that the Detroit Free Press. Bill has a room full of trophies from a storied career as an editorial cartoonist, winning almost every prize a political cartoonist can win. Bill’s cartoons are syndicated to half of the newspapers in America, but there is little money to be made from syndication as newspapers pay pennies a day for cartoons.

When he was laid off from his newspaper, Bill went to work for Federal Express, lifting heavy boxes, until that was too much for his back.  Bill now works every day in a bike shop; he draws his cartoons at night; he is in danger of losing his house and faces the tough choice of retiring from his long career in editorial cartooning — ironically, at a time when more readers than ever are reading his work.

Editorial cartoonists are no different from newsroom journalists, who have been losing their jobs in the same proportion as newspapers cut back.  We know that journalism will continue to be important in the future, but we don’t know what form the business will take, as unemployed journalists now work as freelancers and bloggers; the same is true with editorial cartoonists, but since there are so few cartoonists the cuts threaten the viability of the profession. We may soon face a time when there are only a dozen political cartoonists left, and editorial pages will be like McDonald’s, with everyone in the world choosing their dinner from a handful of choices on the same, bland menu.

You can help stop the decline of our profession, stop the bleeding and preserve the public debate by saving one important voice at this important time.  You can keep Bill Day working, and we’ll make sure that his work continues to be seen by millions of readers in syndication.

We’re doing a crowd-funding campaign at www.indiegogo.com/billday to raise $35,000, to be paid as a salary to Bill to draw four editorial cartoons a week, every week, for an entire year, as if he was working for a newspaper. That’s a total of 208 cartoons, covering everything from the presidential election to Wall Street and our corrupt political system. If we’re able to raise more we will keep Bill working longer.  All donated funds will be kept in a segregated fund, only for Bill’s salary. Bill will send his original drawings as premium gifts to contributors, and will sign prints and send e-books to fans who donate in smaller amounts.

Our unique American art-form needs you.  Bill needs you.  Please, save our editorial cartooning profession, save Bill and keep an important, progressive voice in the public debate by donating to keep Bill drawing for the next year and beyond.

Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!

Here’s a video I made for Bill’s fundraising campaign:

 

And here are a handful of Bill’s terrific cartoons:

115170 600 Help Us Save an Editorial Cartoonist cartoons
109997 600 Help Us Save an Editorial Cartoonist cartoons
103597 600 Help Us Save an Editorial Cartoonist cartoons

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Pharoah Morsi

Much of the news this weekend is about Egypt’s president, Mohamad Morsi, assuming near dictatorial powers. Many pundits are referring to him as a “pharoah,” so my drawing him as King Tut isn’t much of a stretch for today’s cartoon, but I made him extra short and stupid looking.  This was just such a simple image, and so much fun to draw, and so likely to get reprinted with editorials on the subject, that I couldn’t pass it up.

For those of you who keep asking me to post my rough pencil sketches, here is the sketch for this one.  I don’t clean these up to show here. I’m really working messy and fast, and making mistakes, like how long his staff should be, and the lousy caricature which I hopefully corrected in the line art. I got his neck too fat and his eyes were wrong. Morsi looks cross-eyed to me, and he’s quite an ugly bastard.

MorsiSketch Pharoah Morsi cartoons

Here he is as line art, for the newspapers that print in black and white.  I think it looks best as line art. I trace the rough sketch in pencil on vellum and scan at high contrast so it looks like an ink drawing. I draw on 11″x17″ tab sized paper.

122899 600 Pharoah Morsi cartoons
And here he is in color …

122900 600 Pharoah Morsi cartoons

One thing I hate about the web is that our standard image size is so small – 600 pixels wide, which loses a lot of the details and character of the line.  These usually look better in print because of the fine details.  For example, below are Morsi’s left hand and foot blown up in a detail – it is much more fun when it is big, and you can see the character of the pencil line and my quick, messy, Photoshop color, which appears to be much more carefully done when it is reduced.

MorsiDetail Pharoah Morsi cartoons

I did this one 9 inches wide at 400dpi, in CMYK tiff format, for you wonks. Smart newspaper people will print it in full resolution and the black line will come out clean and crispy.  Many newspapers will convert it to an RGB jpg at a reduced resolution because that is how they get their photographs from the wire services and it requires no thought; then the nice crispy lines will be half-toned and fuzzy, which is a shame, and the cartoon in print will look no better than it does on the web. I’d estimate that about half of the newspapers that print in color make this error – and a lot of them who print in black and white will convert the line art to half tone also, for no reason other than that they don’t think about it.  Very frustrating.

Here’s a nice King Tut Morsi by Taylor Jones

123025 600 Pharoah Morsi cartoons

Here’s Monte Wolverton’s Pharoah Morsi …

122889 600 Pharoah Morsi cartoons

And Oliver Schopf’s Pharoah Morsi …

122893 600 Pharoah Morsi cartoons

 

 

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Santa Obama

I was listening to Rush Limbaugh this week; he talks a lot about Obama as Santa Claus giving presents to the interest groups that support him – that was the inspiration for my newest cartoon.  Here is the dirty, rough, pencil sketch …

Sketch600wide Santa Obama cartoons

Here it is as line art, traced from the rough sketch …

122852 600 Santa Obama cartoons

I like the line art best, and most newspapers print black and white so this is what most readers see. I’ve noticed that some papers, including my local Santa Barbara News-Press, sometimes print the color versions of my cartoons in grayscale, so I suppose some people don’t like the harsh line look. I put gray into this one to satisfy those people.

122853 600 Santa Obama cartoons

… and here it is in color, as you’ll see it on the Web and newspapers that print in color.

122854 600 Santa Obama cartoons

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Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Cartoons!

Here is my latest cartoon, with the GOP balloon losing air at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

122632 600 Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade Cartoons! cartoons

The Macy’s giant balloons are an ongoing theme for editorial cartoonists. RJ Matson, my cartoonist buddy from Roll Call, is probably the king of the Macy’s balloon cartoons. Here’s is an oldie with president Bush that is probably RJ’s Macy’s balloon magnum opus.
58104 600 Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade Cartoons! cartoons

This one, with Mayor Guiliani and Hillary is my favorite of RJ’s balloon cartoons …

44037 600 Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade Cartoons! cartoons

RJ drew this one a year ago, as Mitt Romney was knocking off his GOP rivals around Thanksgiving time …

101754 600 Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade Cartoons! cartoons

This one is pretty old, but it still makes me laugh. RJ titled it “Dick Cheney’s Hot Air” …

21596 600 Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade Cartoons! cartoons

John Darkow drew this one today, about the fiscal cliff …

122714 600 Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade Cartoons! cartoons
John drew this one last year … when we don’t know what to draw this week, the Macy’s giant balloon metaphor lets cartoonists pile everything in …

86126 600 Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade Cartoons! cartoons

John drew this one when the economy collapsed in 2008 …

58141 600 Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade Cartoons! cartoons

David Fitzsimmons drew this one today, about the GOP, the fiscal cliff and Benghazi hot air …

122712 600 Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade Cartoons! cartoons
The Macy’s giant Thanksgiving Day balloon cartoons are no-brainers, but I love them.

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Fox News Schadenfreude

I watched Fox News while I worked, all day yesterday.  Oh!  Such sore losers.  There is so much bitterness; so many recriminations.  It was delightful, and it inspired the cartoon below.  Here is my rough sketch, somehow, the rough sketch always looks the best.

GOPrainSketchforWeb Fox News Schadenfreude cartoonsThen I drew it up as the line art that most people will see in their newspapers that still print in black and white.  I printed out a map of the continental United States and traced it for the storm cloud.

LineGOP Rain for web Fox News Schadenfreude cartoons

And here he is with messy, rainy color.

ColorRaincloudfor Web Fox News Schadenfreude cartoons
Ah!  Good times.  Fox News should be fun for a few more days, I think.

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Election Cartoons For Whoever Wins!

Some cartoonists will draw two versions of election day cartoons – that’s the best way to be first with the winning cartoon when newspapers go to press with the election results.  Here are my two cartoons that went out today, for Obama winning …

121863 600 Election Cartoons For Whoever Wins! cartoons

And for Romney winning …

121862 600 Election Cartoons For Whoever Wins! cartoons
This week we’re adding a new cartoonist to our site, and to our online store at Politicalcartoons.com, our online pay-per-use cartoon store – Pierre Kroll, the famed editorial cartoonist from Belgium.  Welcome, Pierre!  Here are Pierre’s two winner alternative cartoons …

KrollAltWinners Election Cartoons For Whoever Wins! cartoons

Our liberal cartoonist, Bill Day, drew only one alternative, assuming that Obama will win …

121831 600 Election Cartoons For Whoever Wins! cartoons

Our knuckle-dragging conservative cartoonist, Gary McCoy, also drew only one, assuming that Romney will win …

121796 600 Election Cartoons For Whoever Wins! cartoons

I guess that’s what passes for optimism with Bill and Gary. No one can accuse Pierre of optimism.

 

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My New Cartoons

I get lots of questions about how I draw my cartoons, and requests to see my sketches, so here it is again on my latest “Swing State Twister” cartoon.  I do a pencil sketch where I block out the layout with a 5H pencil on 11″ x 17″ bond paper.  When I come up with a layout I like, I use a #2 office pencil to heavy up the parts I need to make clear.

SketchforWeb My New Cartoons cartoons
Then I draw with a #2 pencil on drafting vellum, over the sketch, and I come up with a line drawing that is what most people see in the newspaper.  In this case, I traced maps of the swing states and positioned them on a layer to make the spots on the “Twister board,” just because that was quick and easier than trying to draw accurate maps in perspective.  I like to do just line art without grayscale – there’s something more pure about that, but in this case I thought the spots needed to be stronger, so I added gray to them.

121669 600 My New Cartoons cartoons
There is always something nicer about the sketch than the finish. Romney’s face is better in the sketch.  I draw my finished line in pencil because I’m always fighting being stiff and I want to keep a loose, comfortable quality to the line.

The last step is to add color behind the line art in layers in Photoshop. I don’t do very sophisticated color, just enough to make it clear.

121670 600 My New Cartoons cartoons
I really draw for the black and white version rather than the color – even though it is always the color version that readers see here on the web. I suppose that if I liked the color better, I would do a better job with the color rather than just doing enough to make it work. I know that’s bad, I should pay more attention to the color – here are my last couple of cartoons in both color and black and white.  I think both are better in black and white.
121424 600 My New Cartoons cartoons

121425 600 My New Cartoons cartoons

121250 600 My New Cartoons cartoons

121251 600 My New Cartoons cartoons

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Disney + Star Wars Mash-ups!

The obvious cartoon to draw for the Disney and Star Wars is a combination character – something from Star Wars with Mickey ears maybe.  I thought of doing a chorus line of different combo characters, like Disney’s Wuzzles –but I’m too lazy to draw a cartoon that won’t get reprinted much because so many other cartoonists are drawing something similar.  Even so, I’m enjoying the mashups.  My two favorites are from Tim Campbell and Frederick Deligne, below.

121535 600 Disney + Star Wars Mash ups! cartoons

121547 600 Disney + Star Wars Mash ups! cartoons
Those are great, huh?  Here are some other good ones …

121493 600 Disney + Star Wars Mash ups! cartoons
121516 600 Disney + Star Wars Mash ups! cartoons
121507 600 Disney + Star Wars Mash ups! cartoons
Those last three are by Joe Heller, Nate Beeler and Cam Cardow.  Want more?  Here is our big section with all of the Disney/Star Wars cartoons.

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Cayman Island Mitt

tucker Romney Cayman Island Mitt cartoonsLast week, we added a Keith Tucker to our little stable of cartoonists here on Cagle.com. Not only is Keith a political cartoonist, he’s also an Emmy award-winning animator who has worked for many of the top studios, including Warner Brothers, Disney, Hanna Barbera, Amblin, Universal and Marvel.

Here is an animated political cartoon by Keith about “Vulture Pirate” Mitt Romney, a parody of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore”:

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Libya Mountain Out of a Molehill

It is fascinating to watch Fox News’ team effort to promote the Libya attack as an Obama administration scandal just before the election – and their consternation that other media doesn’t share their passion. Here’s the cartoon I drew on the topic.

121230 600 Libya Mountain Out of a Molehill cartoons

Our liberal cartoonist, Adam Zyglis drew this “mountain out of a molehill” cartoon …

121143 600 Libya Mountain Out of a Molehill cartoons

And our conservative-team-player cartoonist, Eric Allie, responded to Adam with the cartoon below …

121353 600 Libya Mountain Out of a Molehill cartoons

Even though I think the Libya “scandal” is right wing wishful thinking, I love the ‘toon tit for tat.  See more Libya “scandal” cartoons here.