The evolution of an editorial cartoon
The Elusive Idea Tree
Today I’m walking through my editorial cartoon development process using a recent cartoon (see below) as an example. Hopefully, in this post I don’t come across as Kamala Harris explaining Ukraine and Russia, or space, or the intricacies of a fingernail clipper.
As an added bonus, I’ve included a very funny video clip from Saturday Night Live that I thought fits in nicely with the cartoon’s topic.
Every day starts the same. First, the gnawing feeling that yesterday’s editorial cartoon was the last idea my brain will ever muster. Been cartooning since 1989 but yeah, today’s the day the well runs dry. But yesterday! Yesterday was a success! To hell with yesterday, what about tomorrow. Gasp. Whimper. Sigh. With my daily pep talk complete, I’m off and running.
First steps are to jump into my pre-productive routines, including a comfy chair, cup of coffee, and if it’s a chilly morning, the gas fireplace. These all combine to yield a great news-absorbing environment. Then my tablet, notebook, and pen complete the much needed creativity-boosted setting.
There are five e-edition newspapers that are my go-to’s each day: Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, Las Vegas Review-Journal, and Las Vegas Sun. These provide a good balance of news, especially now when you can’t rely on a single newspaper to be balanced all by itself.
I still love the tactile feeling of a genuine paper, but e-editions are a nice and convenient compromise. As I read each, I jot down topics as I get my thoughts to start lining up.
Along the way there’s sometimes that aha moment when a cartoon just seems to appear to me, but that’s rare. I usually spend around three hours sifting through publications. After which I’ll doodle around the topics of interest, look deeper into an issue, or just take a walk to let my mind take a wander.
Yesterday I noted the angst over Chuck Schumer’s CR support and also the Democrats poor showing in a couple of polls. Add to this the recent Democrat theatrics like we saw at the Trump’s address to Congress plus the unserious super-hero video, both mentioned in my earlier post “Forget Hollywood, the Best Acting is in Congress.” It paints a picture of the Democrats in disarray, lacking leadership, and without a plan.
Now, how to put that into an actual picture?
Time to walk these thoughts around the neighborhood. At some point my mind wanders to Lord of the Flies. Is that where today’s Democrat party currently resides? Dropped on an island, lost after November’s election? One moment high on self-righteousness and confident that they know all the answers; the next moment adrift.
That would work for a cartoon but I can’t just say “the Lord of the Flies reminds me of the Democrats.” That’s how one might explain the joke, but idealy the cartoon image needs to be doing most of the work.
As a visual, I picture a tattered Democrat carrying a torch and looking like civilization is no longer a recognized concept, oh, and a pig’s head per the book. The Democrat, curious about the outcome of his own situation, asks how the book ends.
Here are the initial, very rough sketches.
Having the Democrat merely asking about the book gives the reader a moment to think through his question, and a half of a beat later the book link is clear without me having to explicitly say it.
Once I’m over the idea development, the most enjoyable part is in the execution. The images below show the final steps including the pencil sketch, inking (which I do now virtually on a drawing tablet), and then color.
This topic and cartoon brought back memories of a Saturday Night Live sketch that has always struck me as very funny. It also seemed to summarize the entire Lord of the Flies story; just substitute a plane crash with a teleprompter. Enjoy:
No, there are no idea trees and the cartoon fairy doesn’t visit me if I leave a broken pencil under my pillow. There is, though, a cartoon mine and sometimes it yields coal and sometimes diamonds. It just requires digging my way through grey matter and chipping the ideas out. Fortunately it produces just enough diamonds to keep the mine open.
Another successful day, but I’m really just thinking about tomorrow.
Gasp. Whimper. Sigh.
Let me know if this is the kind of content you find interesting and if there are any questions on the cartooning process that I should have answered.
Stay in touch!
Thanks for this, Al! It's quite an interesting and EXCELLENT read. I'm always curious about the creative process for any artist, and over the years, I have found it is completely different for each and every one.
I imagine many people will find this article to be quite interesting and worth the read.
The Saturday Night Live skit is a classic and a foreshadowing for the world that followed, much as we witnessed during the Biden years. Troubling and hilarious as it revealed the level of ignorance that had ingrained itself in the population and had become so apparent by that time that it had become a topic for such comedy skits.
And like You, I miss the feel of turning the pages of a hard copy newspaper and the slight trace of fresh ink sometimes it would leave on one's fingertips. That had become one of my everyday morning rituals from my early years and into adulthood, at the urging of my father, who always said a man needed to know what was happening in his world, until such papers closed up the racks and went online.
Thanks again for all You do. God Bless You and Your Family and God Bless This America We Love So Well. May He Keep Her Free for All Eternity.