Tom Tomorrow Leaves Salon

Tom Tomorrow is leaving Salon.com after 16 years.

From Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World Web site announcement:

"I’ve had an extraordinary run at Salon, and it has been a fantastic platform, which I have been privileged to share with many talented contributors over the years. But as Blinky notes in this week’s farewell cartoon, I’ve been there for about a million years in internet time."

He will go on cartooning at the Daily Kos. And, not only that, he's been asked to be the site's new Comics Editor.

"It’s an experiment for both of us, I think, but an exciting one. My cartoon will start running there next Monday. Over the next few months we’ll be adding others, and, I hope, building up a go-to destination for progressive cartoon commentary."

Video: "Disposable" Customer Service by Ted Rall

Here's the 4th episode of Ted Rall's "Disposable" series, which is animated by David Essman. In this episode, Dan & Sarah deal with their mortgage lenders -- and there's a special guest star -- uh, well, if I say any more I'll just ruin it for everyone, like back in 1980 when that blabby little kid in line for THE EMPIRE STRIKE BACK talked loudly in line about Vader slicing off Luke's hand. Ooh. I still hate that darned kid.

Tom Toles wins 2011 Herblock Prize

Congratulations to Washington Post editorial cartoonist Tom Toles upon his winning of the 2011 Herblock Prize! The Post's "Comic Riffs" writer Michael Cavna has more here - as well as Mr. Toles' entire submission portfolio.

Video: Rebels of the Ninth Art

African editorial cartoonists ask,

"Why are cartoonists in Africa assaulted, jailed, sacked, banned and even assassinated? And some even forced to flee into exile? Can cartooning be part of a democratization process?"

This is part of a longer documentary titled "Résistants du 9ème Art,” available on DVD or VOD formats.

Video: Zapiro Draws

South African editorial cartoonist "Zapiro" draws "our most famous person" in a Capetown scene.



These are my favorite kind of videos: where we see drawing in real time. No speeding up, no "Benny Hill" music in the backgroung, y'know? Now, so far as I can tell (and I could be mistaken), Zapiro doesn't pencil. He just dives right in with a felt tip on a piece of typing paper. He is, if you know Zapiro, fearless.

Clay Jones (and Ed Stein): Editorial Cartoon Process

Editorial cartoonist Clay Jones show us his preliminary sketches and finish for his recent editorial cartoon "Shouting Match."

"I got this idea from all the phone calls I received today. My editor transferred five and I think one sounded unhappy. The rest were angry, screaming even. Editorial cartoonist Ed Stein wrote about editorial cartooning in a hyper-partisanship climate. Ed’s column contributed to this idea. In fact, I got “political dialog as a shouting match” from his column. Thanks, Ed."

Video: Mike Peters: Walk of Fame

Here's a short video recapping Mike Peter's career, and congratulating him on his addition to the "Walk of Fame." I think the Walk of Fame is in St. Louis. It's kinda treated like we all know what it is, etc. Mike is from St. Louis, as is this report from local sTV tation KPLT Channel 11.

Yes, there is an ad at the top of the video, and, yes, for some reason known only to him, the reporter Patrick Clark begins with some Seuss-like-rhymes -- but then it settles in for a nice biographical portrait of the Pulitzer Award winning cartoonist. It runs under 2 minutes.

 

They really should identify the cartoonist who talks about Mike. Hmm.

Early Watterson Art

CBR's Sean T. Collins is right: There are a lot of places that I've seen before on the Internet and to some, they may be new.

As CBR points out, here's a site that's been around a while that you may have missed: "Rare Bill Watterson Art" has a lot of Bill Watterson's cartoon art from his years at Kenyon College, from his short stint as the Cincinnatti Post editorial cartoonist, his covers for BULLSEYE and more. Wroth a look if you haven't seen it and worth another look now if you have ....

Video: Graham Harrop

Vancouver Sun editorial cartoonist Graham Harrop talks about the jobs he had before he was a cartoonist. I know it runs 8 minutes, which is now generally understood as a massive amount of time, but it's worth considering taking a look, even if you've never heard of Mr. Harrop.



His presentation made me laugh out loud. A truly funny fellow, onstage and on paper.


Mr. Harrop also draws the TEN CATS feature at Comics Sherpa.

Martin Rowson: "Cartoonists Live In the Twilight Zone"

"Sensible editors will allow their cartoonists as free a rein as reasonable, within the bounds of decency." Above cartoon by Martin Rowson

Writing for The Guardian, Martin Rowson describes the function of a full-time newspaper editorial cartoonist.

"Cartoons as a medium, particularly political ones, occupy a curious, not quite respectable twilight place in the realm of journalism, often integral to the topography of a newspaper but also more than slightly semi-detached."

Link here. This is a shorter version of an article Mr. Rowson wrote for the British Journalism Review.

Editorial Cartoonist Matt Wuerker Wins Berryman

Congratulations to Politco's Matt Wuerker for winning the Berryman Award for his editorial cartooning!

Video: TED RALL

Ted Rall was on MSNBC's DYLAN RATIGAN SHOW yesterday. Below is the full clip of his appearance. He talks about his book THE ANTI-AMERICAN MANIFESTO, citing that this is a time for revolution in America

Frances Martle, writing for Mediaite, reflects on Rall's appearance (and on Ratigan's agreement with Rall that revoltion is the answer to America's woes):

"Quoting John Locke, Rall argues that 'the people have an obligation to revolt,' and that 'nothing will radicalize the American citizen more than being thrown out of their home by a bank.' Citing frustration with both parties, who he called 'in bed with the duopoly,' Rall also noted that 'the American left has been very peaceful since the early ’70s… and where has it gotten us?'"

The rest of her piece is here.

Video: Ann Telnaes

Via The Washington Post, award winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes "shows you what it takes" to go from sketch to animation in for one of her cartoons. (Yes, there is an unavoidable ad for the first 15 seconds.) The video runs just under 3 minutes.

Interview: Editorial Cartoonist Cam Cardow

Canadian editorial cartoonist Cam Cardow talks about his life in this interview in the Abbotsford News by Neil Corbett.

I especially liked this exchange, " a conversation Cam Cardow has replayed many times in his life."

“What do you do for a living?”

“I’m an editorial cartoonist.”

“Wow, that’s cool! I’ve never met one before!”

“That’s because there are only about 20 of us in the country.”

“And that’s a real job? They pay you enough to make a living? How much do you make?”

“So far, so good.”

The rest is here.

Video: Swiss Editiorial Cartoonist Patrick Chappatte

Video: Mike Luckovich

Bob Dyer: Unsolicited Rants in Your Inbox

The Akron Beacon Journal's Bob Dyer writes about people who send you VERY IMPORTANT STUFF in the email -- information, they inform you, that has been ''totally ignored by the mainstream media."

Bob points out that there are some simple ways to check this out. The first one, is, please, USE YOUR EYEBALLS.

Case in point:

"Awhile back some clown sent me a bunch of political cartoons critical of Barack Obama and other Democrats that was headlined, 'AUSTRALIAN CARTOONS NOT SEEN IN AMERICA.'

"It ended with: 'These cartoons are not of USA origin. Thanks, Australia. Pass them on. The liberal American press will not.'

"If you looked closely at the credit lines on the cartoons, you'd see one of them was published by The Times Picayune, the biggest newspaper in New Orleans. Another was from the North County Times, a daily near San Diego. Two others were drawn by an American whose syndicated work — featured in the Washington Post, the L.A. Times and the Chicago Sun-Times — was nominated for the Editorial Cartoon Award in 2007 by the National Cartoonist[s] Society — our National Cartoonist[s] Society.

"If those cartoons were published in Australia, somebody in Australia was legally obligated to send money to the United States for the right to do so.

"There are plenty of good reasons to dislike the 'mainstream press' without dreaming up total fabrications that ruin your credibility."

Related: Rob Tornoe: Chain-Letter’s Claim of Australian Conservative Cartoons False

Related: Daily Politics has all of the cartoons here, as do a lot of other blogs. Most of the commenters quickly recognize the names of the US papers and US cartoonists.

J.N. "Ding" Darling and the Conservation Federation of Missouri.

Bill Crawford, 92, shows off a drawing made on a tablecloth by editorial cartoonist J.N. "Ding" Darling. It was doodled by Ding during the first meeting of the Conservation Federation of Missouri in 1935. Crawford is the only living attendee from the first meeting and will be a speaker at the 75th anniversary dinner on Friday.

Eva Dou, writing for The Missourian, cites the 75th anniversary of the first meeting of the Conservation Federation of Missouri.

"The Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist, J.N. 'Ding' Darling, was there, as evidenced by his doodles of ducks and fish on the paper tablecloth. The drawings were saved from the trash by then-Columbia Tribune editor H.J. Waters and later framed by Crawford."

Entire article here.

Paul Conrad 1924-2010

Three-time Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist Paul Conrad died today at his home in Rancho Palos Verde, California. According to his son, David Conrad, he died of natural causes, with his family around him. Mr. Conrad was 86.



One of the major cartoonist stars of his day, Conrad covered the presidencies from Truman to George W. Bush.




From the Associated Press obituary:

"Conrad's favorite target was President Richard Nixon. At the time of the president's resignation, Conrad drew Nixon's helicopter leaving the White House with the caption: 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest.'

"'He always said he was most proud of being on Nixon's enemies list,' David Conrad said."

Memorial plans are not set at this time.

Related: The PBS Independent Lens documentary, Paul Conrad: Drawing Fire, can be viewed online below. It runs 56 minutes.





Related: College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, CA, currently has a Paul Conrad exhibit, I Con, The Brilliant Work of Paul Conrad, through September 30th.

J.D. Crowe Meets J.D. Crowe

One is a Grammy award winning banjo player and the other is an award winning editorial cartoonist. And both J.D. Crowes grew up within 50 miles of each other in Kentucky.

"'I'd be the first to admit he's a little further up the Google chain than I am,' the cartoonist said about the musician. 'To me, he's the number one J.D. Crowe in America.'"

The Kentucky.com article by Jeff McDanald goes on to describe the editorial cartoonist's upbringing:

"'I was drawing before I could talk,' Crowe said. 'My mom figured out early on if she just tore open an old brown grocery sack and laid it flat on the floor and kept my pencil sharp, I'd be a good kid.'

"'I had picture stories in my mind. I would draw all day. I would fill up both sides of a grocery sack, and I guess that was as good a baby sitter as they could have gotten.'"

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/09/01/1415598/name-recognition-tricky-for-ky.html#ixzz0yHU9r99J

An archival print of the above Crowe editorial cartoon, referenced in the article, now hangs in the Baseball Hall of Fame.