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Chinese Dragon and Me

I drew a self-portrait in today’s cartoon. All the news about Chinese hacking strikes close to home as we’ve had lots of trouble with hacker attacks on our servers, that our ISP has traced to China. I’m guessing that the Chinese junta doesn’t like American editorial cartoons much. I drew a Chinese dragon looking over my shoulder.

I did a State Department sponsored speaking tour in China some years ago, and I told the Chinese audiences that when I draw cartoons about China I represent China with a Panda, or a dragon, or the Great Wall, or that guy standing in front of a tank in Tienanmen Square.  The Chinese audience would always murmur and look at each other when I mentioned the tank in Tienanmen Square, which was quite provocative for them and always stirred up the crowd. At one college I said that line and one excited college kid stood up and asked in English, “Oh! Oh! What KIND of dragon?!” That still makes me laugh.

Here’s my very rough pencil sketch.

DragonSketch600wide Chinese Dragon and Me cartoons

 

Next I do the finished line art, in dark, hard pencil on a 14″x17″ piece of Duralene drafting vellum. This is what most people will see in the newspapers since most of them still print in black and white.

127671 600 Chinese Dragon and Me cartoons

Here is the color version. The color on this one was fun. I grabbed a bunch of Chinese dragons from Google Images for scrap on the dragon, and I pulled details from three or four different dragons that I thought were cute.

127672 600 Chinese Dragon and Me cartoons

I don’t know what kind of dragon it is. Sorry.

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Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God

Here are my newest cartoons. Fans always tell me that they like to see my messy rough sketches, so here we go again.

Here’s my quick and dirty sequester cartoon sketch. I drew it up first in hard pencil, I wasn’t happy with my Obama so I drew over him in soft (darker) pencil, made a note to move his position, and fiddled with just how he should be twiddling his thumbs. I often don’t get things right the first time.

sequesterSketch Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God cartoons

Then I drew it up in finished line art, in hard pencil on nice drafting vellum. This black and white line art image is what most people see in the newspaper and I always like the BW version best. I think about the heavy blacks to be sure the image pops and I saw that the speech balloons needed to be reversed to black to give the words more weight.

127407 600 Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God cartoons

Then I saved it with the white background transparent, and colored behind the image in layers in Photoshop to get this …

127408 600 Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God cartoons

The previous cartoon was about former Senator Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be Defense Secretary being held up by angry Republicans. I threw the sketch for this one away.  Sorry.  Here’s the black and white, which looks better.

127356 600 Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God cartoons

I thought about how much cross-hatching to put into the elephant skin. Elephants have interesting, textural skin, and I think I got to the point where he started to look like a rhino – maybe I went too far. It was fun to draw, though.  Here it is in color.

127357 600 Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God cartoons

And here it is a couple of days later in my local newspaper, The Santa Barbara News-Press – printed nicely this time. I like how they put my liberal cartoon sneering at wing-nut Linda Chavez’s Hagel-bashing column.

NewsPressHagel Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God cartoons

The previous one was about North Korea’s “Li’l Kim” annoying China with his missile and bomb tests. Here’s the rough sketch. You can see I fiddled with the position of the missile-cigar and the Panda’s hand.

KimSketch Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God cartoons

 

Here is the black and white art. I made the missile-cigar smoke the only gray part of the image, so it would stand out as extra annoying.

127224 600 Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God cartoons

… and here’s the color version, with a nice Chinese red background.

127251 600 Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God cartoons

The previous cartoon is an oldie that I reposted with the news of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation. I drew this one the last time the College of Cardinals met to choose a new Pope and we were all told that the Cardinals don’t really pick the Pope, it is God picking the Pope through the Cardinals.  That struck me as funny.

14862 600 Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God cartoons

It is pretty common for editorial cartoonists to use Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel image of God in editorial cartoons.  Here’s a recent one by Nate Beeler.

127089 600 Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God cartoons

… and a conservative one by Rick McKee …

106070 600 Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God cartoons

… but I digress. I should post the new cartoons more often! Here’s the previous one, Obama has GOP fleas.

127082 600 Sequester Hagel, North Korea, China, Obama, Fleas and God cartoons

I didn’t do a color version of this one.  That’s it – I’m all caught up!

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That First Amendment is SOOOOOO Annoying

Rick McKee, our brilliant, Conservative cartoonist from the Augusta Chronicle in Georgia, drew this interesting cartoon today, and I asked him to explain.

MckeePhoto600 That First Amendment is SOOOOOO Annoying cartoons

 

Rick writes:

 

“Sticks and stones may break my bones” and apparently, internet Photoshops can really get under the thin skin of Georgia State Representative Earnest Smith, (D-Augusta). Recently, he became upset, to say the least, over a manipulated photo in which a blogger digitally pasted his head onto somebody else’s very naked body.

So, he’s cosponsoring a bill that would make it illegal to alter a photograph so that it “causes an unknowing person wrongfully to be identified as the person in an obscene depiction.” I understand where he’s coming from. Nobody wants their head stuck on an obscene image. Problem is, it’s perfectly legal and protected by the Constitution under the First Amendment. You’d think a guy in his position would know this.

Of course, he’s brought the wrath of the Internet down upon him. Bloggers and forums are trying to outdo one another with lewd images featuring the noggin of Rep. Smith.

But then Smith goes further and says, ““No one has a right to make fun of anyone. It’s not a First Amendment right.”

Wow. This is truly embarrassing coming from an elected official. If that’s true, then as a political cartoonist, I am breaking the law every day. Go ahead and lock me up. Jon Stewart and David Letterman can be my cellmates.

Perhaps, in the future, our elected officials should be required to take a basic middle-school level civics class. Or, at the least, we could include a disclaimer in their job description, “Warning: This occupation may be a hazard to those with thin skins!”

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The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons

We’ve gotten some crazy and provocative cartoons about Pope Benedict XVI in the last eight years. We have a great new topical collection on the Pope’s resignation called “The Pope is Pooped” – come take a look.

Lots of the craziest Pope cartoons came from Latin American cartoonists. There were lots of cartoons showing the German Pope as a Nazi, showing him as a devil, and showing him doing all kinds of things with condoms. Mexican cartoonist Dario Castillejos saw the Pope as an evil Holocaust denier.
61091 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

This one by Cuban/Brazilian cartoonist Osmani Simanca depicts Pope Benedict XVI as the devil – a common theme.

47187 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

Simanca also drew this devil Pope with condoms …

46955 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

Cartoonists just love the idea of condoms on the Pope’s shoe.  here’s one by Taylor Jones.

62563 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

There are a lot with the Pope blowing up condom balloons, here by Rainer Hachfeld …

86069 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

And here by Taylor Jones …

85995 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

There were dozens of cartoons about the Pope and condoms.  Here’s another one by Bulgarian cartoonist “Christo.”

62439 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

This Pope and condom cartoon by Dutch cartoonist, Hajo, made me laugh …

63123 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

French cartoonist, Jiho, drew the Pope with a condom/suicide vest.

62609 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

Here’s another Simanca/Pope/Condom cartoon …

21655 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

Swedish cartoonist, Riber Hanssen, drew the Pope bungee jumping with condoms.

62445 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

When the Pope gave a speech denouncing “comsumer culture” Simanca drew this cartoon about the Pope’s fancy wardrobe, which made me laugh …

53324 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

There were a lot of cartoons about the Pope’s role covering up the Pedophile Priest Scandals. This one is by also by Riber Hansson.

76008 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

Here’s another one  by Taylor Jones that impressed me.  Taylor is the cartoonist for El Nuevo Dia on Puerto Rico, who works from Staten Island, NY.

76393 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

There are loads of cartoons with the Pope being crucified.  This one is by French cartoonist, Frederick Deligne.

76705 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

That poor Pope. Here the poor Pope is crucified by Islam, and Mexican cartoonist Nerilicon.

47931 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

Here the Pope suffers from Islam by Cuban/Mexican cartoonist Angel Boligan – this has gotta hurt.

30644 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

Mr Fish brought his potty-mouth to his depiction of the Pope.

30445 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

I think Simanca had the biggest bug in his ear for the Pope. Here’s Simanca’s Pope shark.

15060 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

Simanca’s Nazi Pope …

15157 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

45639 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

46959 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

I’ll add this one by Pat Bagley, because it made me laugh.

76228 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

I drew one that was a compilation cartoon of all the Pope Yahtzees.

76862 600 The Most Provocative Pope Benedict XVI Cartoons cartoons

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Mail, China, Immigration and More!

Here are my most recent cartoons! Here’s the rough sketch for today’s cartoon, a little snarkiness pointed at troubled newspapers. I drew the three characters on the left, and then took a piece of tracing papers to make some changes for the panel on the right, to keep them looking consistent.

sketch600wide Mail, China, Immigration and More! cartoons

 

Then I drew it up as line art, in pencil on vellum.  This black and white version is what most people will see in the newspaper – if newspapers will print this one. I always like the black and white version best.

126784 600 Mail, China, Immigration and More! cartoons

And here I added color, in Photoshop layers behind the black line art.

126785 600 Mail, China, Immigration and More! cartoons

Those young people are so disrespectful of Grandpa! Here is yesterday’s cartoon …
126723 600 Mail, China, Immigration and More! cartoons

My wife’s Uncle Keene e-mailed this idea to me, which he tells me was given to him by a friend who prefers to remain anonymous. I usually don’t draw other peoples ideas, but what the heck, I liked this one.  Thanks, Keene. Here it is as it looked in my local newspaper this morning.

NewsPress600wide Mail, China, Immigration and More! cartoons

 

I notice they picked up some gray scuzzy tone in the background. Yuck. Why do newspapers take pretty, clean crispy cartoons and muck them up? Here’s a previous cartoon, about the terrible air pollution in China.

126670 600 Mail, China, Immigration and More! cartoons

This one was fun, and it is nice to do cartoons with no words. The previous cartoon was this quicky for Groundhog’s Day.

126414 600 Mail, China, Immigration and More! cartoons

I didn’t bother doing color for this one. The previous one was about the immigration debate …

126386 600 Mail, China, Immigration and More! cartoons

Now I’m caught up!  I need to post more often.

 

 

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Lemmings!

Lemmings jumping en-masse off of a cliff are one of the great chichés that editorial cartoonists rely upon – like the Iwo Jima memorial, clown cars, the Statue of Liberty, movie posters, peeing dogs – it is no surprise to see a new lemming/cliff cartoon and it is fun to see the familiar metaphor with a new twist.  I end up doing a new lemming cartoon once every two or three years.

My lemming cartoon yesterday was about the ongoing tumult in Egypt, and protesting Egyptians running their country off of a cliff.

126311 600 Lemmings! cartoons

Back in 2009, during the Obamacare debate, I drew the Democrat/lemmings jumping off of a political cliff. Of-course, their cliff was on the left.

69009 600 Lemmings! cartoons

 

Back in 2007 at the onset of the mortgage collapse, I drew house/lemmings jumping off of a cliff …

40973 600 Lemmings! cartoons

Way back in 2003 unemployment was on our minds (things never change much) and I drew this graduation lemmings cartoon.

64336 600 Lemmings! cartoons

The lemming metaphor is popular around the world too.  Here is how my graduation cartoon was plagiarized by a cartoonist at a top newspaper in Saudi Arabia.

SaudiPlagiarizedcartoon Lemmings! cartoons

It amuses me to see how the positions of all of the characters in the Saudi cartoon match my own drawing.

Here are some lemmings by some of my favorite cartoonists.  This one is by Mike Keefe from back in 2007 …

36065 600 Lemmings! cartoons

Here’s Colombian cartoonist “Matador” (Killer) with the Eurozone countries as lemmings.

102699 600 Lemmings! cartoons

Joe Heller did the lemmings as a Martin Luther King Day cartoon …

88061 600 Lemmings! cartoons

This lemming/shoppers cartoon by Andy Singer made me laugh …

71378 600 Lemmings! cartoons

This mortgage crisis cartoon that I drew back in 2007 is a twist on the lemmings …

44708 600 Lemmings! cartoons

I did a search on the word “cliff” in our cartoon database and came up with 440 results.  Yipes!  There are cliffs everywhere!

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Editorial Cartoonists are Like Chickens

ChickenColor600wide Editorial Cartoonists are Like Chickens cartoons

Click to see an even bigger cartoonist chicken.

I’m often asked what editorial cartoonists “are like.”  We’re a rare breed; there are only about 60 of us with full time jobs.  What we do and how we do it can seem strange to most people.

I think the best way to explain it is with chickens.  Editorial cartoonists are like chickens.

A flock of chickens is typically all female, with only one male.  Editorial cartoonists are the opposite, all males in the flock with only a couple of females. We work in little cubicles, for chickenfeed. Editorial cartoonists and chickens are all white (it is possible that you might see a brown chicken, but I don’t remember ever seeing a brown one).

When there is a weak chicken in a flock, the weak chicken’s colleagues will peck it to death. Why?  Social Darwinism.  Killing the weak strengthens the flock – a noble cause.  Chickens are little sociopaths, convinced of their righteousness and operating without feelings of guilt or empathy for what they believe is the betterment of the flock.

Chickens strut around like they are important, knowing their heads will soon be on the chopping block. Like chickens, when you cut off an editorial cartoonist’s head, he will keep running around.  I haven’t tested that last fact, but I’m sure it is true – and it gives us hope for the future of our profession.

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Women in Combat, Obama’s 2nd Term and Hillary

Here are my most recent cartoons and the sketches that, for some reason, you like to see.  The first one is on Obama’s apparent transformation into a more liberal Obama in his second term.  First the pencil sketch.

2ndTermSketch Women in Combat, Obamas 2nd Term and Hillary cartoonsThen I trace the sketch for line art on vellum.  This is what most people see in the newspapers that still print in black and white.

Line2ndTermTransformation Women in Combat, Obamas 2nd Term and Hillary cartoons… and here it is in color.

600Wide2ndTermTransform Women in Combat, Obamas 2nd Term and Hillary cartoonsObama also seems to be getting more of a spine.  Here is the previous cartoon, on Hillary’s testimony in congress.

126033 600 Women in Combat, Obamas 2nd Term and Hillary cartoons

126086 600 Women in Combat, Obamas 2nd Term and Hillary cartoonsThat’s really Hillary’s testimony in the small type in her speech balloon, and that’s what she was really thinking in the thought balloon. Hillary is fun to draw, and the glasses are great.

At the right is my most recent cartoon about Defense Secretary Panetta’s announcement that all areas of the military, that had previously been closed to women, will now be open to qualified women – a change that is long overdue.

We have a great collection of cartoons on Women in Combat – come look!

 

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Thank You For Supporting Editorial Cartooning!

I wanted to let all of our amazing Cagle.com readers to let you know that our campaign for cartoonist Bill Day was a complete success!

Your generosity has been overwhelming for Bill, who will be quitting his job at the bike shop to devote more time to his cartoons, and he will be able to save his house from foreclosure – all thanks to you! In the next couple of months, Bill will be working hard to put his e-book together and deliver the other perks and original artwork promised to over 800 fans who will be keeping him in our troubled profession for at least another year.

In the last moments of the Indiegogo campaign, we broke the $40,000 mark for Bill. The more contributions that come in, the longer he’ll work beyond his one year commitment so please continue to spread the word as you have because you can still make contributions. If you would like to make a contribution visit: http://www.indiegogo.com/billday

And you can see my pitch for Bill at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4EPKKLOfkA

And again, many, many thanks for all of your support for Bill and for our profession. A few of Bill’s most recent cartoons are below.

With warm regards,

Daryl Cagle

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Soup to Nutz Kickstarter

Soup to Nutz Kickstarter cartoons

I’m a big fan of the comic strip Soup to Nutz by my cartoonist buddy, Rick Stromoski. Rick has started a Kickstarter campaign to do a new book – come see it here.  I’d love to see Rick reach his goal and see the book happen.  I asked Rick to write a few words for my blog …

Since publication of my first Soup to Nutz collection in 2003 I’ve been asked by many readers of my strip when a second book would be coming out. After much consideration and speaking with other cartoonists who have had success with alternative ways of getting their work published, I decided to try the Kickstarter route. The thing that excites me most is the overwhelming positive response in the first few days where I’ve reached nearly 60% of my goal. I also like the feeling of control over what goes into the book and how it will be distributed. Lastly I’m encouraged by the kind words and supportive calls and emails I’ve reeived in these first few days. So I thank you in advance for your continued interest and support.

The Nutz family is definitely not the Cleavers, the Waltons or the Bradys. But you’ll undoubtedly recognize them anyway. Most likely, they’re a lot like the family you grew up in… Where the oldest boy Royboy when not torturing his younger brother, digs up deceased pet turtles weeks after their backyard funerals, middle child Babs advocates for veganism and solutions to global warming, and youngest brother Andrew would rather wear a tutu than a football helmet and prefer Barbies over GI Joe.

Soup to Nutz is a family comic strip unlike most family comic strips.

Soup to Nutz: A Second Helping is a project long overdue …the second collection of Soup to Nutz daily newspaper comic strips most not seen for a number of years.