The Democrats worked on passing Obamacare for a year and we got lots of cartoons with the medical symbol, the caduseus. Republicans don’t have so much time to plan, they are swallowing healthcare whole without chewing – and it is caduceus time all over again! Here’s my Republican healthcare debate cartoon …
I drew this as a live-stream on Twitch. See me in the video below as I start with a blank sheet of paper and no layout in mind.
The next video show me coloring this one, along with tomorrow’s cartoon about Trump and Twitter …
Here’s my cartoon about Republican deliberations as they craft an Obamacare replacement bill, in secret.
This is a cartoon that I drew many years ago, when the Republicans were fighting about some subject that I don’t remember now (I added the Obamacare title yesterday and reposted the cartoon). It seem the Republicans are united when we have a president who is a Democrat, but a Republican president seems to get them fighting with each other again.
American donkey and elephant characters, as representations of our political parties, is a mainstay of American editorial cartoonists, making our cartoons difficult for foreign readers to understand. Since Trump is often at odds with other Republicans, cartoonists have been drawing fewer elephants recently. There was a time when we could count on Republicans to oppose deficit spending and a static list of issues that don’t register high on the Trump agenda, so the elephant character is hard to define now, and even harder to associate with Trump. But when Republicans fight with each other, I don’t have to worry much about definitions.
Leaks are still a big White House story – so here’s my second “leaky Trump” cartoon. I drew this live on Twitch.tv/darylcagle and a chatting fan suggested that I should make the tap out of gold. It is true, Trump would have a golden tap.
See me draw the Trump Tap cartoon in real time, in the video below.
I colored this one with Photoshop in the same session as the previous leaking Trump cartoon. Take a look in the video below …
President Trump asked for the resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn who then “quit”.
Somehow I think I’ll be drawing lots of cartoons about Trump, with a Russian theme.
Watch me draw this one in real time, in the video below. Note that I had no idea what I was doing when I started and I quit and started over a couple of time. I understand why more cartoonists don’t do live-streaming. Perhaps we should see how the cartoon sausage is made.
In the next video I color the cartoon in Photoshop …
I did three cartoons at once! Here’s Trump fighting the Statue of Justice.
Trump has so many mismatched fights going on that I could have done a dozen of these. Justice is all white because she is carved from marble, with a small golden sword and scales, like a couple of the statues I’ve seen. Unlike her better known sister, the Statue of Liberty, Justice comes in many forms.
The next one is Trump versus the State of Washington regarding the recent challenge to the seven nation immigration ban (or, “ban on Muslims” as some might say).
The next one is Trump versus my home state of California, where Trump threatens to defund sanctuary cities. There is legislation in Sacramento to make the whole state a “sanctuary state.”
Watch me draw this one, or rather three, in the video below …
and watch me color all three in Photoshop in the next video …
We hear from editors who want more “pro-Trump” cartoons – but editorial cartoons are a negative art form. Cartoons that support anything are lousy cartoons. And there are few conservative cartoonists to begin with. I drew what could be considered a “pro-Trump” cartoon below.
I think this is about as close as we’re going to get to “pro-Trump” cartoons over the next four years – cartoons that bash third parties, like crybaby Democrats or media bashing cartoons like mine.
I drew this one as a live stream on Twitch.tv – you can watch in the videos below. The first one shows me doing the rough sketch and final line art …
And the next video shows me coloring the cartoon in Photoshop …
I’m happy to announce that we’ve added a new editorial cartoonist to Cagle.com and our newspaper syndication package – Ed Wexler. Here’s Ed’s first syndicated editorial cartoon …
In this stodgy old profession it is rare to see new face that looks so polished. Ed has been a creative director at Disney Television for decades and the recent caucus politics inspired his leap to the editorial pages. Ed also had a long stint as an illustrator of US News and World Report (replacing our own Taylor Jones). Here are a few of my favorite Wexler oldies. The first is Reince Priebus surfing with his GOP buddies …
Ed draws everything on his Wacom tablet. Here’s our new Energy Secretary, Rick Perry …
Here’s Washington in action …
Looks a little like Ed Sorel, huh? Wexler studied under Sorel at Cooper Union. This Ronald Reagan portrait impressed me …
Sorry to be away from doing the videos for so long! Yesterday I streamed my process drawing this one and you can see the whole thing in real time in the YouTube videos below. Here’s the angry face-off between the Trump-USA and Mexican eagles.
The Mexican eagle really should face the other way, but I flipped the bird.
The video below shows me drawing this one, from scratch, on paper, with a pencil.
In the next video I’m coloring the cartoon in Photoshop …
Yes! The beard is gone for the foreseeable future! (I know that is shocking – it’s still me … really.)
On Saturday, the day after President Trump’s inauguration, we’ll see the Women’s March on Washington where the protest fashion of the day is “Pussyhats.” The hats are based on Trump Access Hollywood comments about “grabbing women by the pussy.” My wife is busy knitting pussyhats for herself and my daughter.
Since Liberty and Justice are the most important women in government, they should march with Pussyhats too. The idea of knitting as a protest makes me smile.
King Henry the Eighth by Hans Holbein the Younger.
This is Donald Trump as King Henry VIII, from the famous portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger, shown in the image at the right. That Henry was quite the dresser. Notice that Trump, and Henry VIII have tiny hands and a little purse. I may do a series with more famous king portraits as Trump.
One thing that I have to keep in mind as a newspaper cartoonist, is how the color cartoons look when printed in the papers – the cartoons darken up, with heavy details filling in and cyan (or blue) coming in heavy; this is why I lighten and warm up the colors, which is especially apparent in Trump’s brown, furry vest. I also feel I need to make the flesh tones lighter and I’m always getting mail about how I should make Trump look more “orange.” I added a little white feather on Trump’s cap, which wasn’t in the painting – surely this was an oversight by Holbein the Younger as the feather seems to be necessary!
This isn’t the first time for me with Holbein the Younger and Henry VIII. Ten years ago I did a similar take on George W. Bush as Henry VIII in the 2006 cartoon below. I see that I took even more liberties with the king’s outfit in this earlier, cartoonier version.
There are always a lot of cartoons depicting presidents, and presidential candidates as kings (or queens). During the Obama years the few conservative cartoonists enjoyed drawing Obama as a king as their vision of Obama was vain, self-absorbed and autocratic.
At the beginning of the last campaign there were lots of cartoons with Hillary and presumed GOP frontrunner Jeb Bush as dynastic royalty, including this one I did below …
We saw lots of “Trump Card” cartoons, but Trump was always the Joker in those cartoons, not the King.
Kids dream of getting a puppy for Christmas and Putin is certainly no different. This year, Putin’s dreams come true with puppy Trump and puppy Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson.
Last week’s news was filled with Mitt Romney meeting and having dinner with Donald Trump, after their history of badmouthing each other during the campaign. Romney certainly wants the Secretary of State job, and we may find out if he get the position next week. Trump’s former campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway said today that the job search is expanding, after warning of a popular revolt among Republicans if Romney is the choice.
To be evenhanded (a word seldom applied to editorial cartoonists) I should point out that it isn’t unusual for me to draw butt kissing. Here’s Obama kissing the butt of the King of Saudi Arabia.
There’s a lot of butt-kissing to go around these days.
