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Blog Newsletter Syndicate Top 10

Top Ten Cartoons of the Week – September 18th, 2021

Here are our most reprinted cartoons of the week ending  September 18th, 2021. Congratulations to Rick McKee who drew the most popular cartoon of the week! Rick’s cartoon was reprinted in about 160 newspapers. Rick was also the most reprinted editorial cartoonist of the week overall. Rick and Dave Whamond both have two cartoons in the Top Ten.

Just about half of America’s daily, paid circulation newspapers (around 700 papers) subscribe to CagleCartoons.com. These are the cartoons that editors picked last week.


Our reader supported site, Cagle.com, still needs you!  Journalism is threatened with the pandemic that has shuttered newspaper advertisers. Some pundits predict that a large percentage of newspapers won’t survive the pandemic economic slump, and as newspapers sink, editorial cartoonists who depend on newspapers sink too, and along with them, our Cagle.com site.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes.

#1

Rick McKee took the #1 spot.

#2

Dave Granlund placed second.

#3

Jeff Koterba nabbed third place.

#4

Dave Whamond took 4th place.

#5

Chris Weyant claims the five-spot.

#6

John Darkow came in sixth.

 

#7

Rick McKee has a second cartoon on the Top Ten!  Oh my!

 

#8

Gary McCoy tied for 8th place with this vaccine cartoon.

#8

Monte Wolverton shares 8th place with another vaccine cartoon.

#10

Dave Whamond takes 10th place with this Norm Macdonald memorial cartoon.


Want to get EVERY new CagleCartoon from our 62 syndicated newspaper editorial cartoonists, in your email box every day? Just become a Cagle.com HERO and you get the exclusive daily emails of ALL THE CARTOONS!  See all the cartoons before the newspapers print them and never miss a cartoon!


Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate

Heavy Spending

Here’s my new cartoon on the heavy spending in President Biden’s Infrastructure Bill.  I’m seeing inflation everywhere (except in official reports of the inflation rate). A whole lot of borrowed money has been pumped into the economy by Trump, and now Biden.

I haven’t drawn many conservative cartoons over the Trump years, but looking back on Obama’s eight years I was drawing a lot of cartoons that criticized Obama. Cartoonists like to criticize and with Democrats controlling Congress and the presidency, more of our CagleCartoonists, who aren’t know of drawing conservative cartoons, are drawing conservative cartoons.  Here are a few examples …

John Darkow

 

Ed Wexler

 

Bar van Leeuwen

 

Taylor Jones


Want to get EVERY new CagleCartoon from our 62 syndicated newspaper editorial cartoonists, in your email box every day? Just become a Cagle.com HERO and you get the exclusive daily emails of ALL THE CARTOONS!  See all the cartoons before the newspapers print them and never miss a cartoon!

Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate Top 10

Top Ten Cartoons of the Week – May 1, 2021

Here are our most reprinted cartoons of the week ending May 1st, 2021.

This is a rare week where I took the #1 spot (Daryl Cagle). Congratulations to Dave Whamond who has three cartoons on the list! And congrats to Jeff Koterba who has two cartoons in the Top Ten! Kudos to the other cartoonists who had the most reprinted cartoons this week: John Cole, Rick McKee, John Darkow and Dick Wright.

Just about half of America’s daily, paid circulation newspapers (around 700 papers) subscribe to CagleCartoons.com. These are the cartoons that editors picked last week.


Our reader supported site, Cagle.com, still needs you!  Journalism is threatened with the pandemic that has shuttered newspaper advertisers. Some pundits predict that a large percentage of newspapers won’t survive the pandemic economic slump, and as newspapers sink, editorial cartoonists who depend on newspapers sink too, and along with them, our Cagle.com site.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes.

#1

I won first place! See the Daryl Cagle archive.

#2

Dave Whamond takes second place with the first of an incredible three cartoons in the Top Ten.

 

#3

John Cole wins third place.

 

#4

Jeff Koterba claims fourth place with the first of two cartoons in the Top Ten..

 

#5

Jeff Koterba takes the five spot with his second cartoon in the Top Ten.

#6

Rick McKee takes sixth place.

#7

John Darkow nabs seventh place with his second cartoon on the list.

#8

Dick Wright takes eighth place.

 

#9

Dave Whamond takes ninth place with his second cartoon in the Top Ten.

 

#10

Dave Whamond wraps up the list in tenth place with his third third cartoon on the list.


Want to get EVERY new CagleCartoon from our 62 syndicated newspaper editorial cartoonists, in your email box every day? Just become a Cagle.com HERO and you get the exclusive daily emails of ALL THE CARTOONS!  See all the cartoons before the newspapers print them and never miss a cartoon!


Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate

Dragging the GOP and My Photoshop Recipe

Here’s my new cartoon, with President Biden dragging the GOP doggie to places where it doesn’t want to go.

I get lots of questions from cartoonists about how I recommend that they prepare their cartoons for syndication. Here is the “recipe” we give to our CagleCartoonists. Some new CagleCartoonists are old timers without computer skills, so the recipe is very detailed about little details that are self evident to the tech savvy.

First, I do a line drawing on paper in pencil or ink and I scan it. It isn’t important that it is on paper; drawing it electronically is fine, the important thing is that it is line art. This recipe is for coloring traditional cartoons with black lines.  The point of this is so that the lines remain clean and crispy black, and don’t spread with the poor registration we often see in newspaper printing.

So, scan the art at highest resolution in Grayscale – the higher the better, usually scanners do 600dpi.  Open the art in Photoshop, straighten the angle if necessary (IMAGE > Image Rotation), draw a marquee rectangle precisely around the art, just where you want it cropped, and EDIT > Copy (Command C), open a new document, which will open at the size of the copied art, and EDIT > Paste (Command V).

Go to IMAGE > Image Size, deselect “Constrain Proportions”, select 1000 pixels/inch, Width 8 inches, Height 6 inches – or vary the height a bit if the art is a different proportion, 4”x3” is good. Click OK

Why 4 x 3? Because newspaper leave a wide rectangle as the hole for editorial cartoons, and if cartoons are square or tall, almost no newspapers will print them. This is frustrating for gag cartoonists, and others who like a taller format that works better on the Web. Cartoonists who fight the wide rectangle just don’t get reprinted in newspapers.

Go to IMAGE > Brightness/Contrast, turn the contrast to 100% and adjust the brightness to what looks nice. Repeat if necessary. Make it a little darker than you think is necessary because it will lighten up in the next step. Click OK

GO to IMAGE > Mode > Bitmap, with method “50% Threshold” – if it is too light, UNDO the transformation to Bitmap and repeat the last step on the Grayscale image, making the image a bit darker/denser with the Brightness, then select “Bitmap” again.You’ll get something like this:

Clean up any hickies and make any changes in Photoshop with the brush and lasso tools.

Save as a TIFF format file with LZW compression. The file should be around 2 megs in size.

Then go on to color …

Take the bitmap/line art image we just made, go to the IMAGE menu and change to: GRAYSCALE, then go to the IMAGE menu again and change to CMYK.

Open the Layers Window from the WINDOWS menu. Add about 20 transparent background layers (Command Shift N, twenty times), drag the line art image to the top layer

Select the top layer and select the black line color with the eyedropper tool. Then go to the SELECT menu and select COLOR RANGE, selecting only the black lines, then select the “black” foreground color in the tools menu and make the black: 0%C, 0%M, 0%Y, 100%K, then select the EDIT menu and choose FILL.

With the top layer still selected, go to the SELECT menu and choose INVERSE, selecting the white areas, and delete – it should show a checkerboard pattern meaning the background is transparent and nothing is there. Select MULTIPLY from the drop menu at the top of the Layers window, this makes the color in the layers underneath the black lines print under the black lines so there is no haloing in printing. What this does is print the color under the back lines, so there is no “haloing” with bad registration.

Select the bottom layer from the LAYERS window, Select ALL (Command A), Go to the Tools window and select the foreground color and make it 0%C, 0%M, 0%Y, 0%K (white) and select FILL from the EDIT menu.

Then add colors on the layers in between to your taste. Label layers as you go to make them easy to find and group similar colors together. Save a copy at 1000dpi for your personal files as a CMYK TIFF with LZW compression as a copy with no layers. Go to the IMAGE menu and select IMAGE SIZE and resize the image to 500dpi. Save as the file to upload to CagleCartoons.com as a TIFF file with LZW compression and no layers – the file should be about 6megs in size.  You’ll end up with something like this.

Why CMYK? Most clients prefer RGB, which is best for the Web; they get photos in RGB format, and RGB files are smaller. But this recipe lets us have clean, crispy 100% black lines and if a printer can use a CMYK file, then CMYK is superior. In our system, editors have a choice of downloading the files as RGB, but they can only download CMYK if the file is originally created in CMYK.

In our system we have a 6.5 meg file size limit – that is because we often email cartoons and we don’t want the emails to be too big. We ask artists to make the images no smaller than 4,000 pixels wide. As a last step, reduce the resolution of the image so that it comes in under 6.5megs, and is 4,000 pixels wide. You should be able to come up with a TIFF file with LZW compression that is about 6 megs in size. Remember flatten the image so it isn’t huge with layers – but first, while you have layers …

Make a grayscale version …

We ask artists to make a grayscale version. Most newspapers still print in black and white, and it is nice to be able to control the contrast. When editors go to our site and select a cartoon they want in color, it brings up a preview page where they have a choice of a grayscale version. If the artist doesn’t prepare the grayscale version, our system creates it from the color cartoon, and that isn’t as nice. We also deliver grayscale cartoons by email to newspaper who want that. Better to control this and tweak a grayscale version.

Save Image with a new name. Select from the IMAGE menu: MODE: Grayscale. Adjust the Brightness and Contrast of the layers to taste.

Select FLATTEN IMAGE from the Layers window and save as a TIFF with LZW Compression – or save as a TIFF LZW compression copy with no layers and skip this step.

Why TIFF format? Because it is “non-lossy” and images should be saved in the best quality. Most artists prefer to save files in JPG format, and most newspapers prefer JPG formal also, since they get photos in that format. When editors download cartoons in our system they have a choice of JPG or TIFF. Saving an image as a 12 quality JPG isn’t “lossy,” but it may be bigger than a TIFF.

The grayscale file should be about 3 megs in size, and looks something like this …

I know I overexplained this, but the questions I get from artists are pretty granular.  I’m afraid I can’t really overexplain it.  I’ll bookmark this page and give it to cartoonists everytime this comes up.

The cartoonists push back against being asked for higher resolution that they want to do. They push back against TIFF format, and CMYK. They push back against the wide rectangle format. Especially the international cartoonists. It never ends.

This comes up all the time.


Our reader supported site, Cagle.com, still needs you!  Journalism is threatened with the pandemic that has shuttered newspaper advertisers. Some pundits predict that a large percentage of newspapers won’t survive the pandemic economic slump, and as newspapers sink, editorial cartoonists who depend on newspapers sink too, and along with them, our Cagle.com site.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes.

 

 

Categories
Blog Newsletter Syndicate Top 10

Top Ten Cartoons of the Week – August 8, 2020

Here are the ten most widely published cartoons of the week (August 1st through August 8th, 2020). For the first time since March, a drawing of Trump has made the Top Ten in John Darkow’s #8 cartoon showing Trump as a dog biting a postman. Trump’s attacks on the Post Office are a very popular topic right now (but usually without showing Trump). Seven of the Top Ten cartoons reference the pandemic, two are about the Post Office, and one is about Joe Biden.

Jeff Koterba dominates the week with three cartoons in the Top Ten, taking the #1, #4 and #6 spots! Steve Sack has an impressive showing with #2 and #3.

Kudos to our other five cartoonists with the most reprinted cartoons this week: RJ Matson, Dave Whamond, John Darkow, Rick McKee and Kevin Siers!

Our Top Ten is a measure of how many editors choose to reprint each of our cartoons, from the 62 cartoonists in our syndication package. Just about half of America’s daily, paid circulation newspapers (around 700 papers) subscribe to CagleCartoons.com.


Our reader supported site, Cagle.com, still needs you!  Journalism is threatened with the pandemic that has shuttered newspaper advertisers. Some pundits predict that a large percentage of newspapers won’t survive the pandemic economic slump, and as newspapers sink, so do editorial cartoonists who depend on newspapers, and along with them, our Cagle.com site, that our small, sinking syndicate largely supports, along with our fans.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes.  We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!


#1

Congratulations to Jeff Koterba who drew the #1 most reprinted cartoon this week, the first of THREE cartoons in the Top Ten!

#2

Steve Sack has TWO in the Top Ten this week, taking second place.

 

#3

Steve Sack also takes third place.

 

#4

Congratulations again to Jeff Koterba with his second of three cartoons in the Top Ten.

 

#5

RJ Matson, claims 5th place.

 

#6

Congratulations yet again to Jeff Koterba with his third of three cartoons in the Top Ten.

 

#6

Dave Whamond is tied for 6th place.

#8

John Darkow is tied for 8th place with the first drawing of Trump that has made the Top Ten since March.

 

#8

Rick McKee is tied for 8th place with this Joe Biden cartoon. There aren’t many cartoons about Joe Biden, and editors are looking for them.

#10

Kevin Siers takes the ten spot.


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Don’t miss our most popular cartoons of the week collections:

Top Ten Cartoons of the Week through November 21st, 2020
Top Ten Cartoons of the Week through November 14th, 2020
Top Ten Cartoons of the Week through November 7th, 2020
Top Ten Cartoons of the Week through October 31st, 2020
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Categories
Blog Syndicate

TRUE Stupid Stuff 2!

Here’s another new batch of my old TRUE cartoons from the 1990’s – at least the ones that look like they could still be true. This is from a batch about government.

Categories
Blog Syndicate

TRUE Health Statistics 2!

Here’s another batch of my syndicated TRUE cartoons about Health Statistics!

 

Categories
Cartoons

To Spite Your Face

To Spite Your Face © Daryl Cagle,CagleCartoons.com,elephant,GOP,Republican,noce,trunk,taxes,tax,spending,fiscal cliff,budget,Grover Norquist,pledge

Categories
Cartoons

Fat Uncle Sam

Fat Uncle Sam © Daryl Cagle,CagleCartoons.com,Uncle Sam,cake,food,eat,vegetables,broccoli,Barack Obama,ice cream,budget,deficit,spending,fiscal cliff,obesity,fat

Categories
Cartoons

Dems and GOP Will Not Move on Budget

Dems and GOP Will Not Move on Budget COLOR © Daryl Cagle,MSNBC.com,Democrats,Republicans,Donkey,elephant,roots,trees,budget,taxes,spending

Categories
Cartoons

GOP and Civil Servant Pensions

GOP and Civil Servant Pensions Color © Daryl Cagle,MSNBC.com,Pig, Elephant, Republican, Civil Servants, Wall Street, Pensions, budget, taxes, spending, shoe, stomp, pocket, cigar

Categories
Cartoons

California is Sick

California is Sick Color © Daryl Cagle,MSNBC.com,California,flag,bear,budget,legislature,economy,tax,taxes,spending,pockets,broke,IOU,warrant,hospital,sick