Annabel Beichman

Why Political Cartooning?

• Always had an interest in politics, art and satire

• Like to doodle: • Diana Day and Mr.

Fish – great resources!

Mr. Fish• “Editorial cartoons, good ones, help prevent the authoritarian powerbrokers of

society from suffocating the democracy completely with the bogus idea that only professional politicians and high powered businessmen should be allowed to engage in the public debate about how government should function” – Mr. Fish

• Cartoons give artists and ordinary people a place at the debate table

• We discussed literary, satirical and philosophical influences and the ideas behind editorial cartooning

• Mr. Fish said one of his goals is “to get people to think before they have the reflex not to think.”

History and Relevanceof

Political Cartooning

Early Cartoons• Caricature & Protest through images

– Caricatures began with da Vinci examining the nature of the grotesque

– Visual propaganda used in Protestant Reformation

– Not yet true “political cartoons”• Caricatures involved satire and mockery but lacked

a political message• Propaganda had a political purpose, but lacked

satire

American Cartooning

• By Benjamin Franklin at 1754 Albany Congress

Earliest American Cartoon: “Join or Die”

• Encourage an “intercolonial association” to deal with Iroquois threat

Since then, cartoons have continued to influence opinions and the media:

• In the 1870s, cartoonist Thomas Nast represented the Democrats and Republicans with the now iconic donkey and elephant (and the tiger of Tammany Hall)

• The donkey and elephant can be seen not only in CNN graphics, but in countless cartoons.

This is one of my favorite “Calvin and Hobbes” strips by Bill Watterson.

Modern Cartooning

Modern Cartoonists

Mr. Fish

Tom Toles

Adam Zyglis

Winner of 1990 Pulitzer Prize

Mike Luckovich

Winner of 2006 Pulitzer Prize

Paul Conrad

Winner of 1964,1971 and 1984 Pulitzer Prizes

Michael Ramirez

Winner of 2008 Pulitzer Prize

The Process

ACB Cartoons

Ideas …

Doodle it out!

Sketch it!

Ink it!

Erase stray pencil marks

Scan and edit with Photoshop

Blog it!

Publicity

Facebook

My Profile

My Harvard Group

Up Close and Personal

ACB Cartoons

“Showdown”

• Inspired by Hillary’s ferocity in keeping up with the guys

• Also an influence: the “pearls versus diamonds” debate question

• Attempt at collage

• Photocopied color pictures twice to reduce quality and make black & white

• Drew ties and thought bubble and pasted them on

“What a big shotgun you have!”• Within one week of their removal from the EDL, 10 gray wolves were killed

• I didn’t ink it; just darkened the pencil sketch in Photoshop

• One of my harsher cartoons, but I really like the more artsy style

“Talk about lame souvenirs. Could you at least have brought back some archaeological

treasures?”• Not one of my better caricatures, but it got a great response in the comments section (people wanted the shirt)

• Some better caricatures (now utterly useless):

• Personally, caricatures aren’t my favorite style, but are very useful.

“Sound Familiar?”

Critical Acclaim:• “wow....PERFECT argument!!!!! oh Clinton, silly in debt Clinton...” – Anastasia Gamick ’07

• I liked the balance between a caricature and a stylized cartoon.

• I drew this one to fit into a smaller format than the others

“Just in Time for Easter”

Critical Acclaim:

• “haha, great!! smart and very well done political cartoon. very intuitive :) ”

• “I love this one! Definitely my favorite. I especially like the elephant in the background :) ”

Though this was an early cartoon, this is the style I’m most comfortable with and it definitely got the

best response.

Other styles…

Bibliography• Author Unknown. “Thomas Nast.” Ohio State University Libraries,

2002. <http://cartoons.osu.edu/nast/bio.htm>• Author Unknown. “A Brief History of Political Cartoons.”

<http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/PUCK/part1.html>• Author Unknown. “The Pulitzer Prizes.” <www.pulitzer.org>• “Archiving Early America.”

<http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/firsts/cartoon/snake.html>• Booth, Dwayne. “Catch of the Day.” <http://blogs.laweekly.com/fish/>• Booth, Dwayne. “The Con.” Words by Mr. Fish. May 6, 2007. • Booth, Dwayne. “The Fine Art of Drawing Pricks.” LA Weekly. January 31,

2007.• Cagle, Daryl, ed. “The Best Political Cartoons of the Year, 2008 Edition.”

Cagle Cartoons, Inc. 2007• Cagle, Daryl. “Professional Cartoonists Index.” <http://cagle.msnbc.com/>• Conrad, Paul. “I, Con: The Autobiography of Paul Conrad, Editorial

Cartoonist.” Santa Monica: Angel City Press, 2006.• Toles, Tom. “Tom Toles Cartoons.” <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-

srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/toles_main.html> • Watterson, Bill. “The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes.” Kansas City:

Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1990.