Here is my weekly post on my new cartoons.  My most recent cartoon, on George Zimmerman’s acquittal, was a quickie.  Here is my rough sketch – I took a scan of the Community Chest Get Out of Jail Free card, made it light in a print out, and did a rough sketch on top.

Then I dropped in the color.  I had it all done in ten minutes, a new record for me.  If only all of the cartoons were so quick and easy.  Usually I muddle and fiddle for a long time with each cartoon.  This one got a lot of attention in social media because it was fast.

The previous cartoon was Obama in the Arab Spring bathtub, with lots of dangerous appliances.  Don’t stick a fork in the toaster!  Here is the rough sketch – this one took some muddle and fiddle time to get the position and appliances to be the way I wanted them.

 

Then I did the finished line art, and added a bit of gray to make it read a bit more clearly. The black and white image is what more readers see in the newspapers.

And here is the color that you see on our site, and the newspapers that print in color. I had fun with this cartoon.

The previous cartoon was about the one year postponement in the employer mandate on Obamacare.  Republicans “jumped on this” as evidence of Obamacare’s “failure” and “chaos.”  Here is the rough sketch.

… And here is the line art, that most people will see in the newspapers that print black and white.  I always like to black and white version better.  There is something more elegant about black and white.  Readers always tell me that color is better.

And here is the color.  I did this one a little differently, with quick, transparent colors.  I think I’ll probably do messier color like this going forward.  I really like Pat Bagley’s sponge texture – that’s the next thing I’ll try.

POSTSCRIPT: Well, after writing that, I couldn’t get the sponge thing out of my head and I added a subtle bit of Bagley texture to the background.  I should do more of that.  And more boldly.  I’m timid starting out.  Here’s the revised version, not too different, but nicely textural.

Here’s a detail from the revised version.