The National Cartoon!st Issue 3 by National Cartoonists Society

Jason Chatfield Wacoms Jerry Dumas writes Patrick McDONNELL delivers Tom RICHMOND caricatures

The

National

A PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL CARTOONISTS SOCIETY Vol. 1, No. 3

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A CARTOONIST’S CHRISTMAS THENATIONALCARTOON!ST

love the holidays for all the same reasons most people do: the cheery lights and decorations that go up around the neighborhood the day after Thanksgiving (and well into December at my house), favorite Christmas tunes playing in shops and on the radio, festive parties and get-togethers with friends and family and, of course, the annual return of the Pumpkin Spice Latte and Peppermint Mocha at Starbucks! But one of the things I love best about this time of year is the abundance of cartoons that materialize to enliven our holiday celebrations. Cartoons have been woven into the fabric of our holiday traditions to the point where many of us may take them for granted, but cartoon-lovers will recognize and appreciate the huge part they play in the collective Christmaramakwanzukkah experience. In fact, it’s somewhat disturbing to imagine the holidays without cartoons. Picture yourself opening a pile of cards that all have words like “Joy” and “Miracle” and “Celebrate” in beautiful calligraphy on the outside. Very nice. Heartwarming, certainly. But now you’re frantically looking through the stack for a funny cartoon card to chase back the sweetness of family photos and all that filigree — and there are none!

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Walt Kelly Reuben Award-winning Cartoonist of the Year, 1951 Pogo daily, December 22, 1969

Imagine a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with float after float, marching band after performance group followed by another marching band, with not a giant cartoon character balloon in sight! Try to envision December TV viewing without all the classic animated television specials that have become holiday staples! No Rudolph! No Grinch! Good Grief, no Charlie Brown Christmas! Star Wars aside, picture a holiday movie season without a handful of animated features. (This year there are no less than five playing in theaters all over the country!) Don’t forget wrapping paper, tree ornaments or giant inflatable lawn decorations — all commonly adorned with cartoons or cartoon characters. And now we have this special holiday issue of The National Cartoon!st. Will it also become a cherished annual cartoon-related yuletide treat? One can hope and dream, and only time will tell. Maybe someday it will actually be distressing to imagine a holiday season without it. In the meantime, let’s enjoy this issue and celebrate the cartoons and cartoonists herein!

Seasons Grinnings,

Bill Morrison NCS President

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Portfolio

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Artwork ÂŠ2015 Etta Hulme

Etta Hulme Reuben Editorial Cartoon recipient, 1981 Self-caricature

John Fischetti Four-time Reuben Editorial Cartoon recipient Published in the Chicago Daily News, 1974

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“Margaret Spicer! After all these years! And you haven’t changed a bit!”

Charles Saxon Reuben Award-winning Cartoonist of the Year, 1980 Alternate version of a published New Yorker cartoon

Graham Nolan Original pinup page for Detective Comics No. 27 (2014)

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He might draw something else, but he won’t do that again. Kathryn Watterson, mother of the reclusive Calvin and Hobbes creator, in a newspaper story about whether Bill might ever be tempted to resurrect the strip.

......................................................................................................................... “I don’t really believe that newspaper comics died at some point or that they were completely eclipsed by what is going on now, beginning with underground comics. I still think there are cartoonists doing incredibly creative work in newspapers these days. Sure, a lot of it is crap, but you could go back to the days of Winsor McCay, and there was a lot of crap back then, too.”

Talent for drawing consists mainly of a sense of proportion. Genius has been described as the capacity for taking infinite pains. Talent is about five percent of the battle. The capacity for taking pains, the love of drawing and the overwhelming desire to succeed make up the other ninetyfive percent.

Dorman Smith,

Brian Walker,

in “Cartooning – An Absorbing Profession Rich in Distinction, Attainment and Emolument,” the prospectus for his 30-lesson cartoon course, ca. 1940.

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co-curator of the “Masters of American Comics” exhibit, on the decisions about which cartoonists to include — and who to leave out — in an AIGA online interview.

I was crazy. I was nuts. I don’t know what I was thinking.

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Paul has backed a musical college in Liverpool. John would have bought and funded his own art college in Liverpool, where there would be no exams and all the students had to produce were cartoons. It would now be world famous.

Hunter Davies, the Beatles authorized biographer, in an article on John Lennon’s 65th birthday, speculating on what the former mop-top might be doing today.

Stephan Pastis, creator of Pearls Before Swine, on what made him think he could make a living as a cartoonist, in an interview in the Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World.

I never saw myself so much as an actor. I wanted to be a cartoonist like Charles Schulz and create my own world and be able to have a studio at home and not commute and be able to be with my family.

Mark Hamill, of Luke Skywalker fame, in talking about having played one of the most famous heroes of all time.

A comic that will please the women folks is of immense value to the newspaper. Make a note of that. Carl Anderson, creator of Henry, in his book How to Draw Cartoons Successfully – 46 Practical, Easy Lessons (Greenberg, 1935)

… The truth is, I don’t really worry about who I might offend when I set out to create a cartoon. If I did, I might never draw anything. Doug Marlette, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist, in the article “Cartooning Fatwas,” in Stony Brook University’s alumni magazine, The Brook.

It’s a lot of work being a cartoonist. You have to watch old movie serials from the 1940s and read a lot of comic books.

In today’s culture, everybody is an artist except an illustrator.

Jeff Smith,

C.F. Payne,

and then I draw it. I send it off to the magazine and they call back and tell me I must get funnier or they will fire

me. Or they tell me I am a genius, but still must be funnier or they will fire me. Dan Collins, on the creative process, in an online interview at the-cartoon-fiend.blogspot.com

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in a profile in Cincinnati Business magazine.

I try to think of something funny

Alan Moore, British author of Watchman, V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in a profile in USA Today.

My comics make better comic books than they do films.

creator of Bone, on his preparation in updating the legendary hero Captain Marvel, in Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil, from DC Comics.

This guy … works in a penthouse apartment — a duplex — and that’s where I work too, entirely surrounded by foam-cushioned furniture and all the lush evidences of wealth. If this is a sample of the way cartoonists operate, I’ve been wasting my time making movies.

Bob Hope, on his role as a cartoonist’s assistant in the 1956 movie That Certain Feeling.

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Chairman Steve McGarry mac@stevemcgarry.com THE NATIONAL CARTOON!ST Art Director Frank Pauer NATIONAL CARTOONISTS SOCIETY BOARD Honorary Chairman Mort Walker President Bill Morrison First Vice President Jason Chatfield Second Vice President Hilary Price Third Vice President Darrin Bell Secretary John Kovaleski Treasurer John Hambrock Membership Chairman Sean Parkes sean@seanparkes.com National Representative Ed Steckley ed@edsteckley.com NATIONAL CARTOONISTS SOCIETY COMMITTEES The Cartoon!st Frank Pauer Ethics Steve McGarry Education Rob Smith Jr. Greeting Card Contracts Carla Ventresca For general inquires about the NCS and the NCSF email: info@reuben.org The National Cartoon!st is published by the National Cartoonists Society, P.O. Box 592927, Orlando, FL 32859-2927. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the NCSF. Contents ©2015 National Cartoonists Society Foundation, except where other copyrights are designated. All artwork contained herein is ©2015 by the respective artist and/or syndicate, studio or other copyright holder.

The National Cartoonists Society website: www.reuben.org

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NATIONAL CARTOONISTS SOCIETY FOUNDATION

The

National 10

Wacom Draws Out the Best in Tablets Jason Chatfield on converts to the cause

Drawing Caricatures with Tom Richmond The importance of head shapes by the celebrated MAD Magazine cartoonist

Keep Drawing Those Funny Pictures

Advice and good wishes from Patrick McDonnell

The Writer’s Art of Jerry Dumas

An interview with the long-time cartoonist and engaging conversationalist

A Cartoonist’s Christmas Specially drawn holiday greetings from members of the National Cartoonists Society .............................................

’d hazard an educated guess and say that all professional cartoonists are cartoon fans at heart. We create cartoons because we grew up loving the art form and were inspired, perhaps even compelled, to emulate our heroes and favorites and create cartoons of our own. Ask a cartoonist who their

influences were and be prepared to hear them wax lyrical about the genius of a Schulz or a Drucker, an Aragonés or Eisner. There’s also a great tradition among professional cartoonists of exchanging art with peers, whether that means swapping original published art or just trying to get a rise out of a friend with a quick doodle, caricature or good-natured barb! Those of you who have read the first two issues of The National Cartoon!st will know that, on these pages, we like to share art from the private collections of our members and publish pieces that the public

By ..........................

Steve McGarry

at large will not previously have seen. In that spirit, we thought that you might enjoy seeing a selection of the cartoon Christmas cards that NCS members have exchanged over the years. As I say, cartoonists are still starry-eyed fans at heart … so there really is no greater thrill for a professional cartoonist than receiving a personalized note or card from a legend such as Jack Davis. On behalf of the National Cartoonists Society and our organization’s charitable arm, the NCS Foundation, I’d like to wish you all health, happiness and compliments of the season and hope that you enjoy this special holiday themed issue of The National Cartoon!st. Warmest regards, Steve McGarry President, National Cartoonists Society Foundation

Caricature by

Michael Ramirez

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Wacom draws out the best in tablets

By Jason Chatfield

s of 2015, Wacom has revolutionized our industry faster and more dramatically than virtually any other company in the last 100 years. In September this past year, I flew from New York to Sydney to host Wacom’s anniversary celebration of creativity. The gala dinner event gathered the best creative minds in Australia and New Zealand — from movie special effects workshops like Weta Digital, to mobile gaming designers like Halfbrick studios (Fruit Ninja) and a slew of cartoonists, illustrators and artists from all over. One entire wall of the gigantic room was an interactive digital HD display, transporting

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everyone from epic snowy mountains to quiet woods, complete with realistic 3D-rendered falling leaves. The whole room was decked out with the latest Wacom and VR/Oculus tech from around the world, and they intended to use it! Two artists worked away in the back of the room on a secret project that would later be revealed as the night’s big finish. (See: bit.ly/ wacom10 to see video of the night.) Early in the evening I had the opportunity to sit and talk with Masahiko Yamada, the global CEO of Wacom. I asked him about where it all began, and what his vision was for Wacom in the future. His answer may surprise you: “Paper.” Later in the night, I helped Wacom reveal a revolutionary new product that elucidated that vision. A product called “Bamboo Spark.” First, a photo of Australia’s Prime Minis-

ter was projected up on the giant screen for everyone to draw on a small notepad-looking device on everyone’s table. It was a pen and pages of paper. Nothing fancy. What they didn’t know as they were sketching away caricatures and devastating illustrations of the PM, was that at the back of the room Wacom’s team was capturing everything they were drawing into one big catch-all, immediately digitizing all their drawings in the cloud. When they concluded drawing, I told them to drop their pens and pointed at the big screen. One by one, their jaws dropped as their hand-drawn, pen-on-paper artwork stared right back at them in digital form on a 40-foot screen. (See: bit.ly/wacomspark to see how it works.) At the end of the night, the two artists working away in the background on Cintiq 27-inch tablets had their work projected up on the screen, as they took the illustrations everyone had created and turned them in to one giant digital mural, live. It was pretty mind-blowing, even for a geek like me! It shouldn’t surprise you that Wacom has been the leader in their field for the entire time they’ve been around. They weren’t the only company working on drawing tablets, but they were the best. There were early iterations of drawing tablets being used in the 90s at everything from live digital caricaturing gigs to car design presentations and medical lectures. But it wasn’t until the early 2000s that the cartooning industry really took hold of the technology and drove it further. I learned to draw traditionally. I grew up worshipping the penmanship of Jack Davis, Paul Rigby and Pat Oliphant. I drew for my entire childhood on endless sketchpads and on an old wooden drawing board I found on the side of the road. I learned to draw everything and anything, and took tips from anyone who took the time to teach me. I still to this day believe it’s imperative that any young artist who intends on pursuing a career

Photos from Wacom’s anniversary celebration in Sydney, Australia, including (top) Jason Chatfield on stage.

in drawing of any kind must learn how to work by hand before delving into the digital realm, replete with the dreaded “undo” function. I bought my first Wacom tablet over 13 years ago. It was called a

Graphire 2, and was the cheapest, most basic model available. The purchase was made after Wacom was invited to the 2003 Australian Cartoonists’ Association Stanley Awards after then President James Kemsley

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A pair of Wacom-created pieces of art from Jason Chatfield

had the vision to realize these guys were a huge part of the future of our industry. They set up a workshop with a Cintiq, Intuos Tablets and a selection of Mac and PC machines to work on, along with Corel and Adobe software. Cartoonists who had been working in pen and ink, some for more than seven decades, sat and had their first play with the technology. The initial reaction was not overall positive. Back then, the standard nib for the Wacom stylus was slippery plastic that slid all over the surface and didn’t have the friction normally generated by pencil or brush on paper. The control garnered by

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these great artists had a lot to do with those fine motor skills reacting to a surface, and the early Cintiqs just didn’t quite gel. However, Kemsley thankfully insisted Wacom remain partners and sponsors of the ACA, and I’m pleased to say they’ve had workshops of their technology at the Stanley Awards Conference and Awards weekend for more than 12 years. Since those early days, they did something that cartoonists quickly grew to respect in their company ethos: they listened. We artists would bitch and moan about everything that was wrong with the technology they would

bring out, and to their credit, they would go back and make changes to suit the requirements we asked for. I have been testing beta products for Wacom for 10 years, and I have always been bluntly honest with them. There was one product called the Inkling which I think was a precursor to the Bamboo Spark idea. I played around with it for a month and was disappointed to find it just didn’t have any practical use. I told the guys that despite the idea being interesting, the execution just wasn’t there, and I couldn’t see artists being interested in using this product.

They went away and worked on it, perfecting the execution for years before triumphantly returning with what we saw on the screen that night in Sydney. I also did a trial of the Cintiq 21UX for them years ago, but I told them it just wouldn’t be practical for travelling artists if it constantly needed its own power supply. They went away and within five years they’d invented the Cintiq Companion: a battery-operated, full mobile HD drawing tablet. I now work almost completely digitally, only bringing out my inks for live caricaturing and advertising agency gigs. It’s an important skill for an artist to retain, working by hand, but the speed at which I can work on my Cintiq 22-inch far exceeds the supply I was capable of when I worked by hand. If it sounds like I’m preaching like a fan boy, it’s because I am. I’ve seen Wacom go from a small Japanese company to a worldwide giant, dominating a field by doing something so many hardware companies are incapable of because they’re trying to do so many things at once. Wacom does one thing, and they do one thing well. That’s why I trust them. I can say with some conviction that there have been occasions when I was frustrated by something, and have received impeccable support when that happened. My workload requires reliable technology that I won’t have to replace every two years — and that won’t blow up on me with ten minutes to deadline. I’ve made my living as a freelance cartoonist for 12 years and have worked on everything from a Graphire, to an Intuos, to every Cintiq they’ve made, including the very first prerelease Cintiq Companion off the conveyor belt! (I reviewed that product here: bit.ly/hybridreview). I have yet to try the new Cintiq Companion 2, but will hopefully get to try it out soon and post a review on the NCS website — unless someone beats me to it. As of 2013, Between my Cintiq Companion Hybrid for mobile digital gigs and the Cintiq 22-inch tablet in my studio, I’ve never had a problem.

Doing Wacom demonstations at San Diego ComicCon International are National Cartoonist Society members (from top) Sean Parkes, Steve McGarry and Jason Chatfield.

At a Stanley Awards weekend in Australia, cartoonists Steve Panozzo (above) and Gavin Aung Than and Christopher Granet take part in a Wacom demonstration.

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I use a thin, classic stylus (not the default one) and I replace the default tip with a felt-tip nib to recreate that pencil-on-paper friction I need to recreate my style most accurately. My work takes me on the road a lot, so the ability to take my work with me has been invaluable. I’ve drawn big jobs on my tray table on long-haul flights, on trains, in restaurants and hotels — all that used to require me lugging a giant wooden drawing board and drawing tools around with me. As early as 2007, the Australian Cartoonists’ Association had their artists demonstrating Wacom Technology all over the country at the Supanova comic cons. I’m very pleased that we at the National Cartoonists Society have now followed that same route in joining with Wacom to have our talented artists in various fields get to experience their latest A young products and demcartoonist onstrate them to the draws some world online and inspiration in person at comic at Australia’s cons in San Diego Stanley Awards. and New York. There’s still a long, exciting road ahead for digital drawing technology and I believe the next generation of cartoonists in our industry will be using Wacom technology for decades to come. N C n n n Jason Chatfield is Australia’s most widely syndicated cartoonist. His work appears daily in over 100 newspapers in 34 countries through Universal Uclick. As the fifth cartoonist to write and draw the iconic Australian comic strip Ginger Meggs since its creation in 1921, his work has been exhibited in the USA, France, UK and Australia. He is Vice President of the National Cartoonists Society and Deputy President of the Australian Cartoonists’ Association. Jason works out of his studio in New York.

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A convert for the cause

By Steve McGarry ’ve been a professional cartoonist since I was 24 years old — which, I’m staggered to realize, is almost four decades ago! In that time, I’ve seen lots of changes in the business, and a couple of them have been seismic. The arrival of personal computers revolutionized our profession. Suddenly, comics creators had the ability to scan their art, add lettering, do their own coloring and then deliver the files in the blink of an eye across thousands of miles. Just the time saved in not having to parcel up artboards and make that madcap dash to get to the Fed Ex office across town before it closed made the purchase of a computer an absolute must! I contend that the advent of the Cintiq has been equally game-changing! For years, my method of working was to

Both of Steve McGarry’s syndicated features, Biographic (left) and Kid Town, are created entirely on the Cintiq. The drawing on this page is a gag idea for a new “Minions Paradise” game from EA Games — pencilled entirely on his tablet.

pencil and ink in the traditional manner, scan the art into Photoshop and then add color using a Wacom tablet. Seven years ago, I bit the bullet and invested in a Cintiq … and almost overnight, became an evangelical zealot. Immediately, I had the ability to draw directly onto a monitor, to erase and refine the art in seconds, to zoom in on complex areas and work on intricate sections. There was no need to master that hand and eye co-ordination marriage required for a tablet — I was drawing naturally and with more control and options than ever before. Within 24 hours of plugging in that first Cintiq, I had abandoned pencil, paint, pen and ink and I haven’t bought a piece of Bristol board since! These days, I actually use two Cintiqs. My latest desktop workhorse is a 22HD Touch and I use it constantly to create and color all my artwork. I draw in a program called Sketchbook Pro and color the art in Photoshop, in a fairly seamless transition. I also work extensively with Illumination Entertainment, the

studio that brings you all things Minions. The Cintiq and Sketchbook Pro are invaluable in my storyboarding work, allowing me to create animatics very quickly and easily. If I don’t feel like working at my desk and fancy putting my feet up on the sofa in front of the TV, I switch to my portable Cintiq Companion tablet. If I have to travel out of town, and need to keep working — the curse of the freelancer! — the Companion is perfect because it’s essentially a laptop that also allows me to work while I’m on the road. And of course, it’s easy to share my files between the two devices. Every cartoonist I know who has tried a Cintiq has immediately wanted one. My original Cintiq, a 21UX, is now in the hands of my wife, Debs, who is the colorist on the newspaper comic strip Baby Blues. She always maintained that she was very happy using her Wacom tablet … until one day, she succumbed to my preaching and tried the Cintiq. Another convert! N C

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Caricature is not about choosing one feature and making it bigger, it’s about all the features together and how they relate to one another.

Dr wing Caric tures ............................ ..

Part 3: The

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importance

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of Head

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When I first started drawing live caricatures I felt that the eyes were the most important part of the face, and I put a lot of emphasis and focus on them. I still think the eyes are a crucial element, but over the years I’ve come to believe that the head shape is the most important part of a caricature.

Shapes ............................ ..

Tom Richmond

The head shape is the fulcrum upon which a caricature hinges. The heavy lifting of all exaggeration is accomplished via the shape of the head, and it is more easily accomplished that way. Considering that the head shape is a single shape, it is easier to recognize how that shape differs from “normal” and it is easier still to draw a corresponding simple shape that exaggerates those properties as opposed to the more complex multiple relationships of the features. By stretching and exaggerating the head shape, you create the framework within which your other features and their relationships are drawn to achieve your caricature. I have spoken of the “5 Shapes” and the importance of their relationships in early issues of The National Cartoon!st, but digging a little deeper it’s accurate to say that the head shape is the “Alpha Shape” and the other four shapes are planets to its sun, working within its all encompassing field of gravity. If a caricaturist can “see” and exaggerate the head shape, all the other features fall into place and follow along. In the last lesson I talked about the “T” shape being a focal point of the basic caricature, but it’s really the “T Shape” and the head shape together as a whole that acts as the basic foundation of a caricature. With those shapes

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and their relationships established, the rest of the caricature quickly follows suit.

at your subject. This eliminates the details and forces you to see only vague shapes and forms. That makes it easier to see the simple shapes and drawn them.

SEEING THE HEAD SHAPE

n 2. Points of Reference

I talk endlessly about seeing shapes within the features of the face, and the importance of drawing those shapes accurately to capture likeness and to create a convincing drawing. Again, it’s difficult to teach anyone to “see”… that ability is developed over time via practice and hard work. Still, there are a few techniques and tricks I have learned that can help artists to better see what is in front of them, and better interpret it in their drawing. Many work for any feature or “shape” within the face, but some are specific for individual features. Head shapes have several of these tricks for both initial observations and exaggeration.

I look for these with every feature I draw. What I mean by “points of reference” is finding a specific point or part of a feature to use as an anchor point from which you can make your observations. Each feature has unique points of reference, but in general things like horizontal or vertical dividing lines can always be used for this purpose.

CLASSIC PROPORTION It’s important to have an understanding of classic human proportion and anatomy to have a springboard from which observations can be made. This is important both for helping to see what makes a given face unique by comparing it to those “normal” proportions, and for helping to exaggerate those unique aspects by giving the artist a “starting point” from which to depart as much as possible.

SIMPLIFYING SHAPES The head shape is really made up of a lot of different features including cheekbones, cheeks, brow, jaw line, chin, forehead, hair, etc. While these are all important elements of the whole, at this stage we need to treat the head as a single shape and keep it as simple as possible. Simple shapes are easier to draw, control and manipulate than ones with a lot of complex elements to them. It’s easy to get hung up on the details and not be able to see past them to the underlying foundation. Here are some tricks to help make initial observations and come up with a simple head shape: n 1. Squint Your Eyes This is an old portrait artist’s trick. Squint your eyes or almost close them so you are looking through your eyelashes

With the head shape, the horizontal line created by the eyes is a good point of reference. Using this imaginary dividing line, it’s easy to see how much of the head lies above that line, and how much below. I also will look for the widest point of the head shape, ABOVE, knowing that once I have found these points I need only to make sure the rest of the head shape lies in between them. I will also look for straight lines along the contour of the head shape, and draw them accordingly. Finally, I will look for points along the face contour where there is an angular change of direction. The back of the jaw and sides of the chin will often have these points. Any or all of these points of reference can help you “see” the rest of the head shape by comparing what is around it to the point of reference you have established. n 2. Shape Association This is a strange but effective way of grasping a simple head shape, and for exaggerating it at the same time. Try to associate the head shape of your subject with the shape of some inanimate object you are familiar with. Maybe this person has a head shaped like a lightbulb (small, narrow bottom of the face with a big forehead) or that person’s head shape may remind you of a peanut (squeezed at the temples). Whatever strikes you. I don’t mean you draw a light bulb with the face on it, but rather use your imagination and keep that object in mind as a template for the head shape you draw.

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The classic adult head, LEFT, is an oval, slightly flattened along the top. The head is exactly divided in half at the eyes, meaning there is equal distance from the horizontal line of the eyes to both the top and bottom of the head. The head is five eye widths wide, and the widest point is typically at the temples, but can be anywhere from the cheekbones to just above the ears. The distance, or more accurately the “mass” of the head above and below the eyes, and how those two areas relate, is a crucial part of the head shape as it relates to caricature. I refer to it often.

Of course, it’s a fun exercise to draw those objects with faces on them just for fun and practice, ABOVE. Doing that helps your ability to spot those associations within your subject’s head shape.

EXAGGERATING THE HEAD SHAPE I mentioned earlier that the head shape is a place where exaggeration is most easily applied to the greatest effect. This is because altering the head shape to any appreciable degree creates a drawing radically different than a portrait. Any change to the head shape from the “normal” shape has a very high impact to the viewer, and the features (by way of their necessary relationships within the head shape) are forced to follow suit and become exaggerated. My analogy of the head shape being a “fulcrum” is an apt one, because the slightest change in the head shape can radically change all other aspects of the face. Because the head is treated as a single shape, it is relatively easy to make those exaggeration decisions and execute them. Unlike the interior features of the face, which change with expression, the head shape is a constant that only changes with the angle of the head, and then only as any object will change when rotating in space. When exaggerating the head shape, all you really need is ONE observation about it to build your caricature upon. It could be as simple as observing that the model has a skinny face, or a large chin, or a small forehead. Multiple observations are great, but one strong one is all you need because it will create a cascading effect with your drawing to define your caricature.

point of reference like the line of the eyes. We know that in a “normal” proportioned head the mass is equal. However how we perceive the face is different than its physical measurements. Whenever you can depart from the equal mass rule it’s important to do so. That is caricature. n 2. The Law of Constant Mass There are very few “rules” that are universal as it applies to caricature… things like expressions, posture and unique physical attributes make it almost impossible to be able to say “this is always true.” Here is one rule that never changes, however, and it’s a powerful tool to create convincing exaggerations… the law of constant mass. By using it, you can take that “one observation” about the head and follow through with the rest of the head shape. Imagine you have sculpted a perfectly proportioned head out of wet clay. Your head is done, but you have used up all your clay. You decide you want to create a caricature rather than a realistic bust of your subject. Looking at the model you decide they have a large jaw, so you want to make the jaw bigger. With no more clay to work with, you need to get that clay from somewhere to pack on to the jaw and make it larger. Where do you get it from? You take it from the top of the head, taking away from the size of the top to make the bottom bigger, BELOW. That is the law of constant mass.

Here are some methods of seeing and exaggerating the head shape: n 1. Visual Weight One key to exaggerating the head shape is to decide where the “visual weight” of the head lies. That can be as simple as using the aforementioned line of the eyes as a reference point, BELOW, and asking yourself “does more

of the face lie above the eyes, or below?” That is visual weight… the placement of head mass relative to some

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The head has only so much mass. You cannot make one area bigger or smaller without affecting the other areas. A person with a big chin will automatically have a smaller top of a head. Likewise someone with a big forehead will also have a smaller bottom of a face. This serves to create exaggerations of higher impact, since the perception of a large jaw is made more pronounced when the top of the head is smaller. It’s the same concept as when a gray value appears closer to white when surrounded by a much darker value and looks darker when surrounded by white. The law of constant mass also works sideways, with respect to the width of a

face… if the face is very wide you need to take mass from both the top and bottom to create that width. Of course this will also affect the relationships of the interior features, because they must now fit within the exaggerated head shape.

jawed subject does not appear to have a small top of the head, it is important to follow through with that moving of the mass if you want to emphasize that jaw and maintain a balance in your drawing… otherwise your exaggeration will be awkward and a lot less clear.

n 3. Rubber Concept Another way to think about how the entire head shape is affected by a single observation is to imagine a head printed on a sheet of rubber. Now if we make the observation that our subject has a long face, we need to pull our rubber sheet from top to bottom to make it longer. The effect of this is that the features stretch out on the top and bottom. If we decide the head is wide, we pull the sides out… the result is the top and bottom get sucked in. What is good about this method is that if we imagine the features of our subject printed on that sheet, we can see how they will faithfully follow the pulling, stretching and its consequences, ABOVE. It’s important to trust the follow through of the cause and effect associated with the exaggeration of the head shape via the law of constant mass and/or the rubber concept when drawing a caricature. Even if that lantern

The shape of the head is a crucial element to a good caricature… arguably THE crucial element. Accurately observing the head shape, making good decisions on where to place the visual weight and exaggerating that shape is central to an effective caricature. N C n n n You can learn a lot more about drawing caricatures from Tom’s best-selling instruction book The Mad Art of Caricature! – A Serious Guide to Drawing Funny Faces, available directly from the author at www.tomrichmond. com, or wherever art instruction books are sold.

A humorous illustrator, cartoonist and caricaturist, Tom began his career as a caricaturist at a theme park in 1985 at age 18 while studying art in St. Paul, Minn. He now works as a freelancer for a great variety of clients including Scholastic, Sports Illustrated for Kids, GQ, National Geographic World, Time Digital, Penthouse, Marvel Comics, The Cartoon Network, WB Animation, and many, many more. He designed the character “Achmed Jr.” for superstar comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, for whom he also does product illustration.

His art and character designs have been featured on the animated MAD TV show as well as in several feature films and commercials. He is best known as one of the “Usual Gang of Idiots” at MAD Magazine, where his caricatures and illustrations have been featured in film and TV parodies and feature articles regularly since 2000. His work has been honored with several awards, including twice being named “Caricaturist of the Year” by the International Society of Caricature Artists, and with NCS

Tom Richmond .............................................................................................................................................................

Silver Reubens for Advertising Illustration in 2003, 2006 and 2007 as well as for Newspaper Illustration in 2011. In 2012, he received what is arguably cartooning’s highest honor: the Reuben Award for “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year” from the National Cartoonists

Society. Tom served two terms as president of the NCS. He works from a studio in his home near Minneapolis, Minn. Follow Tom on Twitter @art4mad

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Keep drawing those funny pictures

The following is a transcript of Patrick McDonnell’s commencement speech for the inaugural graduating class at The Center for Cartoon Studies, in White River Junction, Vermont. ............................ .

By Patrick McDonnell

am honored and happy to be here with you today on such an historic and special occasion — the first graduating class of the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, an institution that acknowledges the ascension of comics as a legitimate art form. Bravo. Like all of you, I have a total passion and love for this medium. Cartoons, comics, graphic stories, visual narratives, sequential art — we’re not sure what to label it. I call it magic. Little scribbles that come to life to tell stories that make us laugh, make us cry, make us think. Little doodles that touch our lives and become a part of us. Pure magic. Today we celebrate 18 young pen and ink magicians who have studied the old tricks and are now on their way to mystify us with some new ones. Now, first of all, feel free to space out and daydream during my talk. You wouldn’t be true cartoonists if that didn’t happen. I’ll try my best not to do that for the next 20 minutes, but there’s no guarantee. When I started to think about this speech, I tried to remember my own graduation. I went to the school of Visual Arts in NYC. It too started out as a cartoon college. I tried to remember that day’s commencement speech. No luck. Then I tried to remember who the commencement speaker was. Blank. No idea. But I do remember that my graduation was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue in the Egyptian wing. I do remember looking at all the wonderful hieroglyphics and thinking about how they might be the world’s first comic strips. And that telling stories with words and pictures is such a rich part of human history. And that I might be on my way to becoming part of that history. And then I started day-

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dreaming of mummies, pyramids, and cat gods and Cleopatra floating down the Nile. And about how cool it would be if our diplomas would be inscribed on papyrus to honor these Egyptian roots — and, of course, when I came to, the commencement speech was over. This is something to watch out for. As artists we live such rich inner lives that sometimes we miss out on the moment. You know how when you are making your art, drawing your comics — you are totally there. You get in the zone. Your mind and heart are working together. You are following your instincts and just letting go, letting go. Time stands still. Your ego disappears. You are part of something bigger than yourself. You are right here, right now, in the present, and all is beautiful. Well, now ... Practice doing that when you are away from your desk.

Cartoon Life Lesson No. 1 While creating great art, don’t forget to also create a great life I believe cartooning is something you are born to do. I’m a member of the National Cartoonists Society. I was once part of an online chat with a group of 12 other cartoonists, including Will Eisner and Bill Mauldin. We were all asked when did we know when we first wanted to be a cartoonist? We all gave essentially the same answer: five years old, four years old, as far back as I can remember. I’m sure it’s true for most of you. You followed that early dream and it brought you here. Some of my earliest memories are looking at my Mom’s

Cartoon Life Lesson No. 2 Become a great cartoonist for what it will make of you Despite all his fame and wealth, Sparky was, at heart, still a

working cartoonist — like you and me. He inked, lettered, and made his deadlines just like the rest of us. He loved meeting fellow cartoonists. Whenever we spoke on the phone he ended the conversation — in his Minnesota accent — with the cartoonist mantra: “Keep drawing those funny pictures.” Sparky loved to talk about comic strips and all his favorites. Captain Easy, Krazy Kat, Popeye — he was still a fan. We have a 100-year-plus history. You stand on the shoulders of some true giants. The classic illustrations of Winsor McCay, the poetry of George Herriman, the surrealism of E.C. Segar, the humanity of Charles Schulz, the power of Jack Kirby, the honesty of Robert Crumb, the autobio-fiction of Lynda Barry, the intellectual angst of Art Spiegelman. Of course they are all artists — in every sense of the word. Great artists. When I was in college this was debated, but now I think it’s understood. This is a very exciting time to be a cartoonist. Just last year there was a major cartoon art show at Museum of Contemporary Art in LA and another show at the Library of Congress. Graphic novels are the hottest thing in publishing today, with every literary magazine reviewing them. Many of the blockbusters now in Hollywood are animation. There are opportunities in self-publishing, magazine illustration, children’s books, Web site and computer game design, movie storyboards — we live in a totally visual society. Being a part of the first graduating class of the Center for Cartoon Studies, you are at the forefront of a new and exciting era. After I graduated from SVA I printed up some business

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paperback collections of Pogo and Jules Feiffer. I was too young to read, but I was mesmerized by the pen and ink lines that were so alive on the page. I also remember my folks having a huge, definitive book on the art of Leonardo Da Vinci which I also enjoyed perusing. Believe me, Leonardo was absolutely amazing. But he was no Walt Kelly. Then I discovered Peanuts. I grew up in the sixties at the height of Peanuts mania, and I’ve carried that strip in my head and heart my whole life. As a kid, I was vaguely aware of its melancholy overtones, but to me it was — and is — pure joy. Schulz’s pen line and design (Charlie Brown’s perfectly round head, Linus’ stringy hair, Snoopy’s dance, and each lovingly drawn blade of grass) just oozed with happiness. Schulz called that characteristic warmth. The honesty and spirituality of Schulz’s work touched me deeply. I knew I wanted to create like that, to give back some of the joy and comfort I found in Peanuts. Its magic is the main reason I became a cartoonist. And the best thing about becoming a cartoonist was meeting and becoming friends with my boyhood idol Charles M. Schulz. He insisted that you call him Sparky. Upon first meeting him, I think I called him Mr. Sparky. Sparky was everything you would want the guy who drew Peanuts to be: kind, generous, and very funny. A wonderfully complex, deep man.

cards and started dropping off my illustration portfolio. I went to all the second-rate (cheesy) magazines in New York City, thinking they might be more likely to give an amateur a break. I ended up collecting rejection slips. So I figured I may as well get rejected by a classier clientele, and I dropped my work off with The New York Times Sunday Magazine. I was astonished when they actually gave me a trial job — a spot illustration for the weekly Russell Baker column. I drew all that night and went back early the next morning with 15 finished drawings. I got the gig. I can tell you that I didn’t necessarily feel I was ready to do a weekly drawing for The New York Times Sunday Magazine. When I look back on my career I don’t think I really ever felt totally ready for any of the opportunities that presented themselves. Right after college I was asked to co-author a hardcover, 15,000-word book on George Herriman and Krazy Kat. I had never actually written even a term paper. And I can tell you that no one is ever “officially ready” to do a daily comic strip. That’s 365 original drawings and 365 new ideas every year, with no holidays. Not to mention, getting an invitation to give a commencement speech. Had I acted on my (well-founded) fears I would not have done any of these things until I felt I was so-called ready. Cartoon Life Lesson No. 3 Jump in the pool. You’ll never feel you are really ready but don’t let that stop you Just do it. Give it your best shot and let it go. Every great artist starts with baby steps. But the point is, you must first get off your butt. And where will that first step take you? Who knows. When I started my comic strip Mutts, it was just an idea about my own dog Earl, and a silly cat named Mooch. Seeing the world through the eyes of animals made me more aware and empathic to their lives. I began to realize how tough it is for all animals on this small planet, and how fragile and sacred all life is. This became a big part of Mutts, and led to my becoming a director on the board of the Humane Society of the United States. Saying that Mutts changed my life is an understatement. Your own James Sturm helped start a newspaper in Seattle,

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contributed to The Onion, and went on to draw powerful, award-winning graphic novels. This led to his being inspired to create and run The Center for Cartoon Studies, which inspired all of you here today, and will continue to inspire many cartoonists in the future. Charles Schulz drew a comic strip that started in only seven newspapers. It went on to having Snoopy actually going to the moon in Apollo 10. Did you know that it’s the only launched space capsule still in space? As we sit here, Snoopy is circling the sun. Cartoon Life Lesson No. 4 Be open to all life’s possibilities and enjoy your journey around the sun Just the act of making art is so beneficial and sustaining. Cartoonists seem to live very long lives. Sparky was still working at age 77, Will Eisner at 87, and Al Hirschfeld at age 99. I think it’s because we spend a lot of our lifetime at play. Play is very healthy. And to the parents and families and friends and partners of this graduating class of 2007, I remind you that they are cartoonists. You don’t have to understand them, you just have to love them. Learn to accept the late hours, the ink stains on the carpets, the piles of cartoon books and memorabilia, and that vague look that you sometimes get when you are trying to have a conversation with them. And please, try not to ask them to draw too many birthday cards. I’ll end by saying the world today needs great artists. There’s a Chinese proverb which states “May you live in interesting times.” Well they don’t get much more interesting than this. I believe that art can promote the best in mankind. It can raise us to our higher consciousness. It inspires and transcends. It comes from a deeper place, from stillness, from love. It helps bring that mindset into this world. As artists and human beings, we need to manifest this in our work and in our lives. Art is magic, and one of its most magical powers is to heal. I think that’s why we are here — OK, you can stop daydreaming now. So, Andrew, Elizabeth, Colleen, Alexis, Sam, Jon-Mikel, Jacob, Sean, John, Lauren, Robert, Caitlin, aaron, Adam, Ross, Josie, Emily, and Christine — Keep drawing those funny pictures. N C

The bare facts are that Jerry Dumas has written gags for Beetle Bailey since 1956, written thousands of gags for Hi and Lois, has written and drawn Sam and Silo for 38 years, and was a New Yorker contributor for more than 20 years. I would like to write that this is all before breakfast; if not, I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t imagine where he finds the time for everything else. He has a resume that would fill this page, but what would not noted there is

The Writerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Art that he is also an engaging conversationalist.

Jerry Dumas of

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Frank Pauer: You’re a cartoonist, a widely published writer, poet, painter, photographer and newspaper columnist. You’ve written an autobiography of sorts and were a New England handball champion. It’s been said said that you’re a true renaissance man. Jerry Dumas: Mort Walker has said that about me. Once it’s in print people tend to believe it whether it’s true or not. (Laughter) I do like to spread myself thin. I had a thing in Sam and Silo: I had them talking about Thomas Jefferson, and Sam is telling Silo, “You know, this Thomas Jefferson was really some guy. He was not only president of the United States, he was founder of the University of Virginia, he could break a horse, dance the minuet, play the violin and was a gardening expert.” And Silo says, “Boy, if he wouldn’t have spread himself so thin he could have been great.” When I first came to New York I thought that I was going to head for the magazines. I had a vague idea of getting a job on The New Yorker. But after I went to work for Mort, I would draw cartoons in the evenings, and almost right away I sold to the Saturday Evening Post. And then I sold to other magazines. In 1959 I sold my first cartoon to The New Yorker. That’s really where

J 24

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I thought I was headed. But you didn’t devote all your efforts exclusively to magazine cartooning. You know what it was really all about? When I first came East it was to see if I could sell a cartoon to the Post. The Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois work was the steady paycheck, but the other stuff was to see if I could just do it. I wondered if I could write a book, so I wrote Rabbits Rafferty, a children’s novel. I wondered if I could sell to The New Yorker. I wondered if I could write poetry and sell to a big-time magazine, and I sold to The Atlantic Monthly. Only after I sold that first poem did I go out and buy a book about how to sell poems to magazines. (Laughter) It said that the Monthly receives 75,000 poems a year, out of which they select approximately 3545. If I had read that first I never would have sent it to them. Maybe it’s a good idea not to know too much sometimes. How much did you know about selling to The New Yorker? To my surprise, the first cartoon I sold them was one where they just bought the idea, and sent me $50. I was aghast. I thought, no, no — I want to be a cartoonist. When the cartoon came out my gag was a full page drawn by Whitney Darrow, Jr. I thought, well, I should be proud and

everything, but I wished they’d let me do it. The next time I sent cartoons in, I wrote in a letter to James Geraghty, who was the legendary cartoon editor, that if he liked any of the cartoons I really insisted on drawing them myself. If he didn’t want to let me draw them I wasn’t going to just sell the idea. Wow. In hindsight, was that a bit arrogant? Well yeah, kind of, just after [selling] that one. I was just confident. He wrote back and said, “Well, we do like a couple of your ideas. Why don’t you take a stab at drawing them.” And they bought one. The next week I sold them another cartoon, and Geraghty said, “You know, I like this drawing very much. If I knew you could draw like this I wouldn’t have bought the finish for your last cartoon.” And I said, “Well, would you like me to try it again?” “Actually,” he said, “I think you could do better.” So I did it about three or four more times, and I thought oh, yeah, I was too easily satisfied. So I did it again, and you know what? A week later I got another check — they paid me for the cartoon twice just because he asked me to do the finish twice. I thought, boy, what a classy operation.

You said that you originally wanted to be a magazine cartoonist.

“It says, ‘Mr. Kovacs point of view is intensely personal.’”

That’s what my idea was. I’d already been in the Air Force. I got my BA in English Literature at Arizona State in three years. But I wasn’t ready to quit school yet. I was enjoying college so much, so I stayed on and studied for a Masters. The only Masters they offered was in education. I knew I didn’t want

to be a teacher, and after my fourth year — I only needed 12 more hours for my degree — I was tired of college. I wanted to go East. Jerry Dumas artwork ©2015 Jerry Dumas. Beetle Bailey and San and SIlo ©2015 King Features Syndicate

Let’s back up just a bit. In a “First Cartoonist I Ever Met” essay, you wrote about meeting and working for Walt Dizten on the comic strip Fan Fare. What was the jump then to working in New York? I guess you want to know how I hooked up with Mort.

A gallery of Jerry’s work includes, from top, Beetle Bailey, his first published New Yorker drawing, and Sam and Silo.

You were already cartooning for the college paper and such? I did. I’d been a cartoonist for my

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high school paper, and I was for my college paper. I was asked to be the editor of the yearbook, but with working for Ditzen and trying to play on the baseball team and going to school there just weren’t enough hours in the day. I had just begun to send off cartoons to magazines. My first sale to a slick magazine was to Field and Stream; I think I got $15 for it. I was really thrilled to be in a national publication. And so you were ready for the big time. Here I was ready to go off, and I got a call from Jay Roberge. The odd thing is, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now if I hadn’t been in the Air Force. One day, while stationed at Luke Air Force Base, the National Cartoonists Society sends over a plane load of guys, and I’m instructed to take care of them. So all these guys come in from New York and all over, as well as Dale Messick, who then lived outside Phoenix, along with her assistant Jay Roberge. Jay and I got to be friends, and after I got out of the Air Force and was going to college Jay and I would see each other. And then he just plain disappeared, without a word. One day I picked up a magazine and read a story about Mort Walker and Beetle Bailey, and in the story it mentioned Jay. I wondered how he got from drawing Brenda Starr to Beetle Bailey — and writing gags. So I dropped Jay a note, and told him I was heading East. In a few days I got a call from him, and he says, “Hey guess what? I’ve been telling Mort about you for a couple years. I’m leaving [to do another strip], and I’ve been telling him about this guy in Arizona that draws like you.” So I came East and met Mort in his driveway, as he was on his way to Vermont. This is what’s amazing about Mort. He looked

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at my stuff for just a couple minutes and hired me. He wrote out a check for $250, because I was stone broke, said that I should write some Beetle gags and that he’d be back in a week. The thing is, Mort didn’t know a damn thing about me. He didn’t know if I was reliable, whether he could depend on me, whether I could do it. I guess he figured he could always fire me if it didn’t work out. (Laughter) As of next year it will be 50 years. Were you hired to draw, or to write gags? Both. I was hired to assist on the drawings as well as write gags. In 1956, Beetle was only six years old, and Hi and Lois was only two years old. I was writing Hi and Lois gags too; I wrote thousands of Hi and Lois gags over a 30-year period. In those early years it was just Mort and me writing. We would each write ten gags a week. So out of those 20 we had to have 14, with six that we could reject. I always loved writing gags; it’s my favorite part of cartooning — to try to think of a gag that no one else has done before; to try and think up one that you haven’t done before. Kids come to me and want to be a cartoonist, and I tell them there’s a lot of drudgery in cartooning. You’ve got to do backgrounds, you’ve got to draw trees and bushes and once in a while a drinking fountain or a bicycle. Unless you’re James Thurber you’ve got to draw all this stuff. While I can do all this stuff, writing the words has always been far more appealing to me. We always knew that the writing is what makes a strip go. If the gag isn’t funny, nobody cares how well you draw a door or a tree. Which, in some strips, doesn’t really

seem all that necessary anymore. A lot of the newer strips I wonder at. It seems to me that an awful lot of people have never taken the trouble to learn how to draw. I’m aghast at some of the drawing that I’m seeing, not only on the comic pages but also in The New Yorker. The magazine is filled with cartoons that are either really funny or dreadful. People ask, “You know, Jerry, what’s going on with the New Yorker these days? I didn’t get about half the gags.” And I say, “Well, some of the old New Yorker cartoonists don’t get about half the gags, either.” And the drawing doesn’t seem to matter as much as it once did. And I don’t quite know why. Do you think part of the simplicity of the art is, at least in the case of newspaper strips, simply a consideration to space? Well, I would tend to think that, except for a couple things. If you know what Beetle looked like in the 50s and 60s, we drew them much larger and they were printed much larger. We had a lot more space for backgrounds. Yet, take a look at For Better or For Worse. One daily will have five panels and packed with detail, despite the fact that strips are printed so small. One day, for the hell of it, I counted 92 words. In a daily. If you’ve got people in your strip that the reader cares about, whether you’re saying a lot or saying a little, then you’ve got it made. I know there’s no a+b=c in writing gags, or everyone and their uncle would have their own comic strip, but is there some way that works for you? You can narrow it down to two ways of writing gags, basically. You can start with a funny picture, which you’d see in the last panel, and then work your

way back to the beginning and figure out a logical way for the gag to have happened. If it’s contrived, it’s going to be a lousy gag. If you can make the reader believe it, then the funny picture will work. Does it always work? It doesn’t always work. (Laughter) If by the second panel the reader is starting to disbelieve then it won’t be funny, and you shouldn’t do it. But my favorite way, after knowing these characters for 50 years, is to just get them talking. If Beetle says this, Zero is likely to answer that. Eventually, knowing the characters, you’ll know what to come up with. This is the way I lead my regular life. I’ll often walk into a room and start a conversation with my wife. I’ll say anything just to get something started. Often that turns out to be a mistake. (Laughter) I like to write a gag — Mort’s heard me say this so much —that I can tell it to somebody next Friday evening at a dinner party. Mort likes to do the type of gag that you actually have to see to enjoy. If you don’t see the actual scene that he’s drawn there’s no way of describing it. You wind up lamely saying, “Well, I know it’s not very funny in the way that I described it, but you had to see it.” For me, that’s a gag that lives once — the moment somebody sees it, that’s it. It may be terrifically funny, but that’s it. Whereas the type of gag that I like you can repeat again and again. It’s like a really good story.

not the right character. I’ve got Beetle and Killer talking, and Beetle is asking a question that’s a little too stupid. So I’ll switch it over to Zero, and Beetle’s out of the picture. Or maybe I’ll switch it all around and it’s Cookie and Sarge. You’ve got to get the right character to make the gag really work. Although frankly, I can take almost any Beetle gag and work it into Sam and Silo, and take any Sam and Silo gag and work it into Beetle Bailey. And you do Sam and Silo on your own. Right. For 29 years now. So there’s not much difference in your approach. If you’ve seen Sam and Silo, you know that I draw the figures — sort of — like the way figures are drawn in Beetle Bailey. But the backgrounds are completely different. I like to do trees in my own style, the kind of tree that I would do as a spot drawing in The New Yorker. I’m talking about a lot of foliage, messing around and putting in a lot of little lines. Mort once said — he’s very nice about all this — that he didn’t understand why I put in all that time. It’s just the way I like to draw a tree; It just pleases me to add a little extra detail.

But doesn’t that make it less of a comic strip than simply a good joke? Well, yes. A comic strip is supposed to be a combination of words and drawing. There are too many strips these days where it’s just two talking heads. I remember Sparky Schulz talking about that. As far as he was concerned, the drawing was equally important with the writing. I loved Peanuts, but when I would look at the strip … well, he loved to draw funny pictures, but sometimes it was just Charlie Brown walking along and talking to Schroeder.

Is there such a thing as writers’ block? Well, not really. I’ve thought that I’ve got to come to the bottom of the barrel someday. After all this time you must have done every gag, every possible combination of word and picture. But you know what? It never happens. There’s always some other combination. As far as writers’s block, yes — temporarily. You’ll have a slow day. What I’ve found that works for me is that I’ll pick up any magazine, or yesterday’s newspaper, and I’ll start in the middle of a story and not care what the point is. I’m just reading words, waiting for a phrase that will pop out at me. Eventually you’ll get a gag that has nothing to do with the original inspiration.

How much of the writing is for specific characters and how much of it is just a good gag in search of a character? It’s an interesting thing. I’ll get a gag and think, yeah, that’s funny. And then I’ll look at it again and think that it’s

So you’re not too worried about scraping that bottom of the barrel? No, no, it hasn’t happened. If it hasn’t happened in 50 years it probably won’t happen in the next 50. I hope. N C

‘Kids come to me and .................................................................................... want to be a cartoonist, .................................................................................... and I tell them there’s .................................................................................... a.................................................................................... lot of drudgery in cartooning. You’ve got to .................................................................................... do backgrounds, you’ve .................................................................................... got to draw trees and .................................................................................... bushes and once in a while .................................................................................... a.................................................................................... drinking fountain or a.................................................................................... bicycle. Unless you’re James Thurber you’ve got .................................................................................... to draw all this stuff.’ ....................................................................................

....................................................................................

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Wayno

A Cartoonist’s

CHRISTMAS Specially drawn holiday greetings from members of the National Cartoonists Society

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Marcus Hamilton

Jim Allen

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David Silverman 30

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Stephen Silver

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Daryll Collins

Guy GIlchrist

Tim Oliphant

Jeff Stahler

Chad Frye

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Jack Davis

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Jim Russell

Greg Walker

Anne GIbbons

Jeff Smith

Fred Lasswell 36

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Dave Coverly

Arnold Roth

Ray BIllingsley THENATIONALCARTOON!ST

Mort Walker

Jim Scancarelli

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Mark Brewer

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R.C. Harvey 40

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Lynn Johnston

Luke McGarry

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Dik Browne Two-time Reuben Award-winning Cartoonist of the Year, 1962, 1973

from the April 1973 Reuben Awards Dinner edition of The Cartoonist

Specialty art drawn by National Cartoonist Society members for publications issued to coincide with the Society’s annual Reuben Awards Weekend. 42

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NCS Archives

Charles Schulz Reuben Award-winning Cartoonist of the Year, 1955

from the 1968 edition of the Reuben Awards issue of The Cartoonist, featuring a nod to elections

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The Family Circus ÂŠ2015 Bil Keane Inc.

Bil Keane Reuben Award-winning Cartoonist of the Year, 1982

from the May, 1999 edition of The Reuben Weekend Journal

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Artwork ÂŠ2015 Rube Goldberg, Inc.

Rube Goldberg Reuben Award-winning Cartoonist of the Year, 1967

from the Reuben Awards Dinner program, April 23, 1962

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ÂŠ2015 Patrick McDonnell

Unpublished specialty art drawn by cartoonists from private collections.

From the Collection of ...

Patrick McDonnell Reuben Award-winning Cartoonist of the Year, 1999 Mutts specialty sketch, 2001

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ÂŠ2015 Warner Bros.

Chuck Jones Five-time Reuben Animation Award recipient Bugs Bunny specialty sketch, 1979

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Irwin Caplin Reuben Advertising and Illustration Award, 1972, 1981 Magazine gag cartoon rough, undated

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Dick Moores Reuben Award-winning Cartoonist of the Year, 1974

Specialty art, 1979

Bill Amend

Reuben Award-winning Cartoonist of the Year, 2006 Sketch from an inscribed copy of the FoxTrot collection Orlando Bloom Has Ruined Everything

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TIME Magazine cover rough

Jack Davis

Willard Mullin Reuben Award-winning Cartoonist of the Year, 1954

Postcard sketch sent to a collector, November 1940

Walter Berndt

First Day cover sketch of Smitty

Reuben Award-winning Cartoonist of the Year, 1969

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The National Cartoonists Society (above)

Willard Mullin Reuben Award-winning Cartoonist of the Year, 1954

cover art from the program of the 16th annual Reuben Award Dinner, April 23, 1962

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ABOUT THE NCS The National Cartoonists Society is the world’s largest and most prestigious organization of professional cartoonists. The NCS was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the troops. They found that they enjoyed each other’s company and decided to get together on a regular basis. Today, the NCS membership roster includes more than 500 of the world’s major cartoonists, working in many branches of the profession, including newspaper comic strips and panels, on-line comics, comic books, editorial cartoons, animation, gag cartoons, greeting cards, advertising, magazine and book illustration and more. Membership is limited to established professional cartoonists, with a few exceptions of outstanding persons in affiliated fields. The NCS is not a guild or union, although we have joined forces from time to time to fight for member’s rights, and we regularly use our talents to help worthwhile causes.

PRIMARY PURPOSES OF THE NCS n To advance the ideals and standards of professional cartooning in its many forms. n To promote and foster a social, cultural and intellectual interchange among profes-

sional cartoonists of all types. n To stimulate and encourage interest in and acceptance of the art of cartooning by aspiring cartoonists, students and the general public.

THE HISTORY OF THE NCS The seeds for what evolved into the National Cartoonists Society were planted during the volunteer chalk talks that a number of cartoonists did during World War II for the American Theatre Wing. The Society was born at a specially convened dinner in New York in March, 1946, that saw Rube Goldberg elected as president, Russell Patterson as vice president, C.D. Russell as secretary and Milton Caniff as treasurer. A second vice president, Otto Soglow, was subsequently added. Within two weeks, the Society had 32 members: Strip cartoonists Wally Bishop (Muggs and Skeeter); Martin Branner (Winnie Winkle); Ernie Bushmiller (Nancy); Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates); Gus Edson (The Gumps); Ham Fisher (Joe Palooka); Harry Haenigsen (Penny); Fred Harman (Red Ryder); Jay Irving (Willie Doodle); Al Posen (Sweeney and Son); C.D. Russell (Pete the Tramp); Otto Soglow (The Little King); Jack Sparling (Clare Voyant); Ray Van Buren (Abbie an’ Slats); Dow Waling (Skeets); and Frank Willard (Moon Mullins). Panel cartoonists Dave Breger (Mister Breger); George Clark (The Neighbors); Bob Dunn (Just the Type); Jimmy Hatlo (They’ll Do It Every Time); Bill Holman (Smokey Stover); and Stan McGovern (Silly Milly). Freelance cartoonists and illustrators Abner Dean, Mischa Richter and Russell Patterson. Editorial cartoonists Rube Goldberg (New York Sun); Burris Jenkins (Journal American); C.D. Batchelor (Daily News); and Richard Q. Yardley (Baltimore Sun). Sports cartoonist Lou Hanlon and comic book cartoonists Joe Shuster and Joe Musial. By March 1947, there were 112 members in the National Cartoonists Society. At the end of 1946, Milton Caniff left Terry and The Pirates to create the adventure strip Steve Canyon, which debuted in 243 newspapers to instant acclaim. The following May, he became the first artist formally honored by the group as the “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.” The trophy was a silver cigarette box, engraved with Billy DeBeck’s Barney Google and Snuffy Smith characters. The Billy DeBeck Memorial Award

THE REUBEN AWARD for

Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year ....................... 1946 Milton Caniff Steve Canyon 1947 Al Capp Li’l Abner 1948 Chic Young Blondie 1949 Alex Raymond Rip Kirby 1950 Roy Crane Buz Sawyer 1951 Walt Kelly Pogo 1952 Hank Ketcham Dennis the Menace 1953 Mort Walker Beetle Bailey 1954 Willard Mullin Sports cartoons 1955 Charles Schulz Peanuts 1956 Herbert Block Editorial Cartoons 1957 Hal Foster Prince Valiant 1958 Frank King Gasoline Alley

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1961 Bill Mauldin Editorial Cartoons 1962 Dik Browne Hi and Lois 1963 Fred Lasswell Barney Google and Snuffy Smith 1964 Charles Schulz Peanuts 1965 Leonard Starr On Stage 1966 Otto Soglow The Little King 1967 Rube Goldberg Humor in Sculpture 1968 Johnny Hart B.C. and The Wizard of Id Pat Oliphant Editorial Cartoons 1969 Walter Berndt Smitty 1970 Alfred Andriola Kerry Drake 1971 Milton Caniff Steve Canyon 1972 Pat Oliphant Editorial Cartoons

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LOCATION The official headquarters of the National Cartoonists Society are in New York City, with the Society’s business offices located in Orlando, Florida.

CHAPTERS In addition, the NCS has chartered 17 regional chapters throughout the United States and one in Canada. The early 1990s saw the introduction of regional chapters within the NCS. Created to encourage a deeper participation and interaction among NCS members while furthering the aims of the Society, these chapters also afford members a more active role at the national level. The Chapter chairpersons also serve as members of the NCS Regional Council, which serves and advises the NCS Board of Directors. In addition, the position of National Representative on the NCS Board of Directors is held by a Chapter Chair who acts as a conduit between the NCS Board and the Regional Council. There are also many active Regional Chapters, including chapters in: Chicago, Connecticut, D.C., Florida, Great Lakes, Long Island, Los Angeles, New England, New Jersey, Manhattan, North Central U.S., Northern California, Orange County and Southern California, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Southeastern US, Texas, Upstate New York and Canada. New Regional Chapters are continually forming. The Regional Chapters convene on their own schedules, usually three or four times a year. They engage in a variety of social and professional activities and are always happy to receive visiting NCS members.

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1960 Ronald Searle Humorous Illustration

continued until 1953. The following year, the Reuben Award was introduced. In 1948, Caniff was elected NCS President. Rube Goldberg was named Honorary President and Al Capp became the second “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.” In 1949, the Society volunteered to help the Treasury Department in a drive to sell savings bonds by sending NCS members out on the road. A nationwide, seventeencity tour was undertaken by teams of ten or twelve cartoonists and a 95-foot-long traveling display. Through the Society, NCS members have continued to serve the nation in person and through their art. Teams of cartoonists have toured war zones and military installations around the world in cooperation with the USO. Others have entertained at VA hospitals. NCS members have also contributed to many U.S. government programs; their efforts have benefitted NASA, USIA, the Treasury Department Savings Bond division and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness. Other beneficiaries have been the Boy Scouts of America, the American Red Cross and the United Nations. The tradition of lending our talents to worthy causes continues to this day. In 2001, for example, NCS members in the syndicated community dedicated their newspaper strips and panels to a Thanksgiving initiative that raised some $50,000 for victims of the 9/11 attacks, and members contributed a further $18,000 through the proceeds of a private auction.

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1959 Chester Gould Dick Tracy

NCS MEMBERSHIP

1973 Dik Browne Hagar the Horrible

There are four classes of membership in The National Cartoonists Society:

1974 Dick Moores Gasoline Alley

n REGULAR MEMBERS are professional cartoonists, the quality of whose work has

ELIGIBILITY FOR REGULAR MEMBERSHIP Cartoonists who are currently earning a substantial part of their income from cartooning and have done so for at least the past three years; Work must be of a high professional quality and their reputation good. Application must include two letters of recommendation from NCS members, a short biographical sketch and samples of current work bearing a signature. Applications must be accompanied by a check covering one year’s dues, which will be refunded if the candidate is not accepted by the Membership Committee. A candidate is eligible for membership when accepted by a unanimous vote of the Membership Committee. If you are a professional cartoonist and are interested in applying for a Regular Membership, or work in an allied field and feel you would qualify for one of the limited number of Associate Memberships, please contact: Sean Parkes, Membership Chair 16647 E. Ashbrook Drive Unit #A Fountain Hills, AZ 85268

1976 Ernie Bushmiller Nancy 1977 Chester Gould Dick Tracy 1978 Jeff MacNelly Editorial Cartoons 1979 Jeff MacNelly Shoe

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If you are a professional cartoonist and are interested in applying for a Regular Membership or if you work in an allied field and feel you would qualify for one of the limited number of Associate Memberships, please contact: National Cartoonists Society P.O. Box 592927 Orlando, FL 32859-2927 407-994-6703 info@reuben.org

1975 Bob Dunn They’ll Do It Every Time

1980 Charles Saxon The New Yorker

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been judged and approved by the Membership Committee. n ASSOCIATE MEMBERS are those individuals who work as professionals in the cartooning industry or whose expression of interest has been established. n HONORARY MEMBERS are cartoonists, surviving spouses or patrons of the art for whom the Society desires to express its esteem and appreciation. n RETIRED MEMBERSHIP is granted to existing members 65 years of age and older and retired.

1981 Mell Lazarus Miss Peach 1982 Bil Keane The Family Circus 1983 Arnold Roth Humorous Illustration 1984 Brant Parker The Wizard of Id 1985 Lynn Johnston For Better or For Worse 1986 Bill Watterson Calvin and Hobbes 1987 Mort Drucker MAD Magazine

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1991 Mike Peters Mother Goose and Grimm

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE NCS The National Cartoonists Society’s officers and Board of Directors are elected by secret ballot of the entire membership. The Board meets twice a year and a general business meeting is held annually during the NCS Reuben Awards Weekend. There are several standing committees, including Ethics, Social Media, Education and Publicity. These committees function as clearing houses for information pertinent to the rights of cartoonist members, help to air grievances and post warnings about any dubious practices of the firms with which cartoonists do business. The NCS, however, is neither a guild, nor a union.

1992 Cathy Guisewite Cathy 1993 Jim Borgman Editorial Cartoons 1994 Gary Larson The Far Side

OTHER NCS ACTIVITIES AND FUNCTIONS

1995 Garry Trudeau Doonesbury 1996 Sergio Aragonés MAD Magazine 1997 Scott Adams Dilbert 1998 Will Eisner The Spirit

2001 Jerry Scott Baby Blues and Zits 2002 Matt Groening The Simpsons 2003 Greg Evans Luann 2004 Pat Brady Rose is Rose 2005 Mike Luckovich Editorial Cartoons

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2000 Jack Davis Humorous Illustration

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1999 Patrick McDonnell Mutts

The Cartoon!st, the official newsletter of the National Cartoonists Society and distributed only to NCS members, covers the professional and personal activities of the NCS membership. It also contains general information of interest to the professional cartoonist, such as copyright laws, new publications, preservation of comic art, upcoming regional and national shows, events and conventions. The National Cartoonists Society sponsors special cartoon-related excursions abroad. Recent destinations have included Canada, England, Ireland, Italy and Australia. The NCS and its Regional Chapters have also organized cartoon auctions for charity, art shows, educational seminars and golf and tennis tournaments. The National Cartoonists Society maintains relationships with other organizations for professionals in cartooning and various other fields of communication, both domestic and foreign. It works especially close with newspaper and publishing groups. The NCS also often provides introductions for American cartoonists traveling abroad. Through the National Cartoonists Society, members have served the nation in person and through their art. Teams of cartoonists have toured war zones and military installations all over the world in cooperation with the USO. Others have entertained regularly at VA hospitals in various parts of the country. NCS members also contribute tirelessly to certain US government programs; their efforts have benefitted such agencies as NASA, USIA, the Treasury Department Savings Bond division and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness. Other beneficiaries of members’ talents have been the Boy Scouts of America, The American Red Cross and the United Nations. In 2001, the NCS organized the Thanks & Giving Tribute in the nation’s newspapers, syndicated cartoonists raising some $50,000 for the September 11 fund. The National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Awards Weekend is a gala annual event, which takes place at a locale selected by the President, Board and the NCS Founda-

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tion. There, during the black-tie Reuben Award Dinner, the prestigious Reuben Award (a statuette designed by and named after the NCS’s first president, Rube Goldberg) is presented to the NCS’s Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. Cartoonists in various professional divisions are also honored with special plaques for excellence. These “Silver Reuben” awards are voted on by the general membership by secret ballot). Members and their families have enjoyed the annual get-together at recent locations such as: Washington, D.C.; New York, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Pasadena, California; Scottsdale, Arizona; Boca Raton, Florida; Toronto, Canada; Cancun, Mexico; Hollywood, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; Boston, Massachusetts; Las Vegas, Nevada; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; San Diego, California and even on a cruise ship in the Caribbean.

THE NCS FOUNDATION The National Cartoonists Society Foundation is the charitable arm of the National Cartoonists Society. The Foundation was formed in 2005 to continue the charitable and educational works that have been a hallmark of the NCS since its inception in 1946. The National Cartoonists Society Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) charity that works in tandem with the NCS to advance the ideals and standards of the cartooning profession, to stimulate and encourage aspiring cartoonists through scholarships and educational programs, and to provide financial assistance to cartoonists and their families in times of hardship, through its Milt Gross Fund. The Foundation also encourages the active involvement and participation of NCS members in the charitable and educational projects undertaken by the Foundation, thereby utilizing the Society’s greatest assets and strengths. The NCS has a treasured tradition of members donating their expertise and talents to good causes in person and through their art.

2006 Bill Amend FoxTrot 2007 Al Jaffee MAD Magazine 2008 Dave Coverly Speed Bump 2009 Dan Pirarro Bizarro 2010 Richard Thompson Cul de Sac 2011 Tom Richmond MAD Magazine 2012 Brian Crane Pickles Rick Kirkman Baby Blues 2013 Wiley Miller Non Sequitur 2014 Roz Chast The New Yorker

........................................................................................................................................................................................... National Cartoonists Society, Inc. P.O. Box 592927 Orlando, FL 32859-2927 Phone: 407-994-6703 Fax: 407-442-0786 For further information, visit the NCS website at: www.reuben.org

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“Do You Cartoon?” The Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship is here to help In these tough financial times, no one looks forward to taking on student debt. Now in its eighth year, the annual Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship aims to make that burden a bit lighter for those college students with an eye on a career in cartooning. To that end, the scholarship awards $5,000 annually to a rising Junior or Senior. (Applicants do not have to be art majors to be eligible.) But it’s more than just money that’s provided — it’s also an opportunity to meet professional cartoonists at the ©2015 Derek Desierto

National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award Weekend. The National Cartoonists Society Foundation has helped students from the College for Creative Studies, Ringling College of Art & Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Rochester Institute of Technology, Savannah College of Art and Design, and UCLA.

Derek Desierto

The most recent recipient is Derek Desierto, an Animation major at the Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada. The first winner of the Jay Kennedy Scholarship was Juana Medina, who now teaches at the Corcoran College of Art & Design. She has just turned in her illustrations for a children’s book called Smick, written by Doreen Cronin (Click, Clack, Moo; Duck for President), which will come out this year. Juana has also signed a multi-book deal with Candlewick Press, for “a series loosely based on my childhood adventures, in my native Bogotá, Colombia, with my sidekick and dog-friend, Lucas.” The first of these books should be out in the Fall of 2016. (Juana also designed the promotional art for this year’s scholarship.) Chris Houghton, the second scholarship recipient, is currently a Storyboard Director on an upcoming Nickelodeon show called “Bad Seeds,” that premiered in early 2015. He has had similar duties on the animated TV shows “Wander Over Yonder,” “Gravity Falls,” and “Fanboy and Chum Chum.” In addition, Chris has done work for Adventure

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Juana Medina

Chris Houghton

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Diana Huh

Time comics, Simpsons comics, MAD Magazine and his own creation for Image Comics, Reed Gunther. Other recent recipients include Diana Huh, a storyboard revisionist for the Titmouse Inc./Netflix show “Turbo FAST”; Charlotte Mao, who works at Launchpad Toys in San Francisco, a mobile gaming company that develops educational children’s apps; and Renee Faundo, a character animation major at the California Institute of the Arts. The Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship was established in memory of the late King Features editor, and funded by an initial $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation/King Features Syndicate as well as additional generous donations from Jerry Scott, Jim Borgman, Patrick McDonnell and many other prominent cartoonists.

For more information, visit cartoonistfoundation.org

Charlotte Mao

Renee Faundo

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The NCS goes cruising! Jack DAVIS dreams es Tom RICHMOND caricatur Mark FIORE animates

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