There’s been lots of news about the non-profit National Rifle Association’s recent money troubles – from a $200,000 wardrobe budget for the NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, to a $1,000,000 annual salary for spokesperson Dana Loesch. Infighting forced NRA president Oliver North out of his presidency, after North allegedly blackmailed LaPierre – and there’s an investigation by New York state that might take away the NRA’s tax exempt status, insuring the organization’s demise. So many egos! (I’m guessing that Oliver North is the good guy in the mess, trying to save the NRA from itself.) Here’s my cartoon!
Notice how they are in mirror image positions? When I do something like that I’m bound to get an email from somebody saying “Wayne LaPierre isn’t left handed!” Also, did anyone notice that I only drew the gun and the hand holding it once, and duplicated it another seven times in Photoshop? So lazy. And where’s all the blood?
Here are some of my recent NRA favorites. The first one is by New Zealand cartoonist, Chris Slane, who is one of my favorites!
This one is by our newest CagleCartoons.com syndicate cartoonist, Dave Whamond.
I’m back from my brilliant cartoonist/journalist daughter, Susie’s wedding. I promise I’ll draw more cartoons. Really, I promise. I drew this one live on Twitch yesterday, about Melania Trump’s plagiarism of Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic Convention in 2008. I don’t care much about this non-issue, but it makes for a funny scene, which is the extent of my take on this.
I know that the Donald is quite tall, but I feel compelled to draw him shorter, and I expect that the cartoons of Trump will grow shorter with time. Melania is a wonderful, goofy character to draw and I look forward to more of her! Readers might recognize my group of running media in this cartoon, which I re-use at every opportunity. I like the idea that the breathless media chasing down the next stupid thing is the same, over and over. In the video below see me drawing this one, and importing the media gaggle from a Cagle cartoon oldie.
In the next video below, watch me color this one in Photoshop while I chat with viewers on Twitch.
I have to agree with Donald Trump’s criticism of the Republican party rules. It has been interesting to hear the establishment Republican defense, from Paul Ryan, Reince Priebus and other flacks; I think that all of these arguments could just as appropriately come from the mouth of lil Kim Jong Un.
Watch me drawing this one in the video below!
I color the cartoon in Photoshop in the video below …
I think Trump has good arguments about the undemocratic process of selecting delegates to the Republican convention. The responses defending the system, noted in my cartoon below, miss the point that voters are disenfranchised.
Look familiar? It might if you are from Nashville, where I used the same group last year in a local cartoon bashing Nashville’s infamous Metro Planning Commission.
Many years earlier, the same group made an appearance in a cartoon that I drew in response to a plea for cartoons about the declining ranks of newspaper cartoonists. I’ll bet almost no one saw this one.
So, if this is the first time you’ve seen this slimy, smoky group, I forgive you.
When Trump complains that the GOP convention rules ignore the will of the voters, the retort from establishment Republicans is to say “those have been the rules all along!” Perhaps it is more damning that the rules have been so undemocratic all along. (That, plus I got to draw Trump’s butt.)
See me draw and color this one in real time in Photoshop in the video below!
Donald Trump has been out-maneuvered by Ted Cruz in the Republican delegate selection process, and he has been complaining loudly. Cruz simply does a better job of driving that establishment, GOP elephant. I almost drew this as an elephant character, but I thought the GOP corporate logo made a better point here.
Editors don’t like cartoons that show poo poo, but sometime poo poo is just what a cartoon needs. (Sorry, editors.) Check out the video below to see me drawing this one in real time.
I had great fun at the European editorial cartoonists convention in St Just le Martel France the last two years and I’m going again this year. It is a public event in the small French town, and any fans who would like to visit with the scores of attending editorial cartoonists are welcome to come. The cartoonists often sit at drawing tables and are happy to chat and do drawings for visitors.
The ancient and charming church in St Just le Martel that houses St Just’s bones.This is an adult St. Just breaking his dinnerplate halo with his martel, in an image that the town seems to have adopted as a logo (I don’t know who the artist was on this one).
St Just le Martel is the patron saint of a little French town near Limoges; his bones are housed at an ancient little church in town. The story goes that little St Just was walking along one day when God asked him to throw his hammer (martel); when the hammer landed, water squirted out of the ground. God told little St Just to build a church on the spot, founding the little town. That’s an adult St. Just (right) breaking his dinnerplate halo with his martel, in an image that the town seems to have adopted as a logo (I don’t know who the artist was on this one). That’s the church that houses his bones at the left.
The tiny town opens itself up to editorial cartoonist from around the world every year at the end of September. The townsfolks put the cartoonists up in their homes and get together to prepare giant meals for the cartoonists and what looks like the whole town through the “Salon.” And the little town has built a big, nice cartoon museum (below). It is hard to imagine any little town in America doing something like this (although it looks like Kenosha, Wisconsin and Marceline, Missouri may be headed in that direction).
Here’s an aerial view of the cartoon Museum in St Just le Martel, France. For scale, those are three colorful, life-size, cow sculptures on the roof, over the entrance to the museum.
This is my poster for the exhibition this year.
There is a contingent of Australian cartoonists attending this year, along with six American cartoonists that are coming with me: Steve Sack, Rick McKee, Adam Zyglis, Monte Wolverton and Nate Beeler. We’re doing exhibitions of American Views of Putin and Ferguson Missouri; I expect the Australian cartoonists will have an exhibition of Aussie cartoons.
I did the poster for this year’s Salon (right, click here to see the sketch and a large version of the poster). The Salon/festival runs over two weekends from September 27th through October 5th. The first weekend they give their “Humor Tendre” (tender humor) award to someone like a children’s book illustrator who draws nice, sweet cartoons; the award consists of a live sheep. The week between the weekends can be a bit slow, but some cartoonists hang out for the week between the two weekends.
The second weekend, when most of the editorial cartoonists attend, they give the “Humor Vache” (cow humor, or harsh humor) award to a more satirical, caustic cartoonist. I won the cow last year, which is why I did the poster this year; there seems to be a tradition of the cow winner doing the poster for the following year. See me with my charming prize, Josette the cow, at last year’s event here.
St Just le Martel is way out in the French boondocks, cow country, and they are proud of their cows. The cow has become a symbol for the Salon/festival – the Limoges cow is always brown, like Josette. Here are some more posters from recent Salons …
