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Nice work, but to be brutally honest…
I spend quite a bit of time reviewing work from people who want to see their artistic skills put to print. Often, they’re those with a knack for drawing and have proven themselves to be good artists. Some of them actually aspire to draw editorial cartoons and have banked up a number of examples over a period of time proving a genuine passion. The portfolios they let me peek into may or may not be good, but at least they have an idea of what editorial cartooning is about.
Others, however, approach me on how to get their work printed after proving themselves not only to have little experience in editorial cartooning, but really not having much exposure to newspapers in general. Oh, yes their email attachments of landscape paintings and charcoal renderings of celebrities from 10 years ago indicates a firm interest in art, but how does it relate to editorial cartooning?
My response to many is often in the same tone as the one I sent recently below. It received no reply, no thanks for my time, just crickets – which is standard. But rather than let it vaporize into the emailsphere I thought I share it here, and maybe others will take something from it:
Dear aspiring editorial cartoonist,
It’s great that you’re trying your hand at editorial cartooning. Satire is a wonderful way of blending one’s artistic skill with a rant about something and getting a response that provokes laughter, scorn, or a bit of both.
I see by your attached samples that you are someone who has taken quite a bit of time illustrating. The landscape paintings, and illustrations of fruit baskets and pencil sketches prove that you’re someone with an artistic passion. If you’re like me, you’ll know that with every successful creation are 1 to 10 others that were abandoned or crumpled up and sent to the bin. Like painting, editorial cartooning requires a lot of practice and crumpled up pieces of paper. You should see my attempt at painting – lots of unfinished canvasses and others with the quality of paint-by-numbers pieces.
In terms of editorial cartooning, I think, based on the one editorial cartoon sent, that if you really want to get mass print publicity, you need to practice more, loosen up your rigid lines, perfect your lettering, establish a style, and explore technology that allows cartoonists to quickly colour their work beyond using pencil crayons. What editors want to see are bodies of work by prospective freelancers that confirms consistency and experienced quality.
I would also suggest using websites like Pinterest.com, Deviantart.com, and toonpool.com to peruse the works of others and places to post your own work for easy upload, display, and comparison. Share your work on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I looked at your website and each of your email attachments, but the tendency I’ve come to realize is that many editors don’t bother taking the few moments to examine website content or attachments. The aforementioned sites are way more convenient and are also a great way to invite constructive criticism, but it means embracing online activity which I know can be repulsive for some.
As for being bounced around the newsroom from person to person trying to get attention, it’s the unfortunate nature of this industry beast. The people you’ve already emailed to are higher up editors with their fingers on many buttons – illustration is not really one of the buttons. The Entertainment & Life editor also controls many buttons, and one of them is deciding on the odd commission piece that appears in their section. Again, as I stated in my previous email to you, there’s not much of a budget for paying illustrators, which has turned off a lot of artists, hence the tendency for editors is to avoid humiliating artists by paying little and choosing to run stock photos/illustrations instead. Also, the turn around time for completing work is so short that it’s too much of a challenge for too little in return, and that’s not only from the view of the artist, but the editor as well.
I wish I could give you more positive advice. As a guy with no buttons to press except readers’ reaction, I’d love to see more illustrations in the paper, and more women drawing editorial cartoons. All I can offer are suggestions for anyone aspiring to get their work published is to practice, promote and persist at getting attention.
Good luck,
Graeme
Tuesday June 5, 2012
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday June 5, 2012
Gruesome cases bolster talk about zombies
First came Miami: the case of a naked man eating most of another man’s face. Then in Maryland, a college student telling police he killed a man and ate his heart and part of his brain.
In New Jersey, a man stabbed himself 50 times and threw bits of his own intestines at police. They pepper-sprayed him, but he was not easily subdued.
He was, people started saying, acting like a zombie. And the whole discussion just kept growing, becoming a topic that the Internet couldn’t seem to stop talking about.
The actual incidents are horrifying and, if how people are talking about them is any indication, fascinating. In an America where zombie imagery is used to peddle everything from tools and weapons to garden gnomes, they all but beg the comparison.
So many strange things have made headlines in recent days that The Daily Beast assembled a Google map tracking “instances that may be the precursor to a zombie apocalypse.”
The federal agency that tracks diseases weighed in as well, insisting it had no evidence that any zombie-linked health crisis was unfolding.
The cases themselves are anything but funny. Each involved real people either suspected of committing unspeakable acts or having those acts visited upon them for reasons that have yet to be figured out. Maybe it’s nothing new, either; people do horrible things to each other on a daily basis.
But what, then, made search terms like “zombie apocalypse” trend day after day last week in multiple corners of the Internet, fueled by discussions and postings that were often framed as humor? (Source: Newsday)
Letter to the Editor:
As a subscriber to The Hamilton Spectator, I am thoroughly shocked at the lack of sensitivity regarding your choice of editorial cartoon for June 5. The situation is bad enough without adding to the tragedy. I would excuse a newsstand tabloid for sensationalizing a tragic story but, not the Spec. Let’s keep black humour to a minimum and off the editorial page. Stick to making fun of our political system, where there is a lifetime of entertainment value.
Mr. R. McEwen, Port Dover
What a world.
At our daily news meeting here at The Spectator, some editors suggested we point our print readers to the online video by mentioning it on the front page, but others thought it simply in bad taste.
Dead pets are a dicey business for most editors (the same way living ones are always a surefire hit) and we are wary of things that would unnecessarily offend the sensibilities of our readers.
But what is bad taste? And is it even news?
In the end, we decided against pointing to the video, but I didn’t receive any complaints about our decision to post it online. In fact, news organizations around the world also thought this “art” was newsworthy.
I did, however, receive many calls and emails from readers about another piece of art that appeared in the paper this week: an editorial cartoon by The Spectator’s Graeme MacKay.
It depicted a man reading a newspaper that was dripping with blood, and the caption: “What’s black and white and red all over?”
Many readers called and wrote to express their dismay, to say the least. A published letter by Robert McEwen summed it up: “I am thoroughly shocked at the lack of sensitivity regarding your choice of editorial cartoon for June 5. The situation is bad enough without adding to the tragedy.”
Some in the blogosphere reacted to this with “what’s-the-big-deal?” comments, but I heard from enough people to know that it was indeed a big deal, for them at least.
Editorial cartoonists are expected to be funny, and often they are, but they do much more than that they comment on the miseries as much as the inanities of life. And they are expected to push the envelope. All good cartoonists do.
Some of the cartoons I’ve found the funniest in my career as a newspaper editor are the very ones readers have been distinctly “not amused” by.
As for this one, I’m not sure. Obviously, I was not amused by it, but I wasn’t offended either. Was it necessary? There is no good answer. It was, after all, a gruesome week for news, and reality certainly was more shocking than the cartoon.
I can’t say whether we needed to be reminded of that or not.
MacKay himself responded to the controversy this way: “No subject should be off the table” for a cartoon, he said, “but there was a definite lack of them” when he was looking for one last week.
In the end, he chose the subject about which most people were talking.
It’s a challenge, to be sure, for editors and cartoonists alike. We try as best we can to be relevant and incisive and funny (if possible) without being too offensive. We don’t always accomplish it all.
And we try to learn from our readers.
Ultimately, everything is indeed news. As for the question of what is bad taste or good? I’m afraid that will always remain a matter of individual opinion.
Paul Berton is editor-in-chief of The Hamilton Spectator and thespec.com. You can reach him at 905-526-3482 or pberton@thespec.com.
July 19, 2011
Letters bag
Hi Graeme,
Regarding the ‘beached whale cartoon,’ the guys in your little brick ‘Spec house’ must be suffering from amnesia to forget about our own Rupert Murdoch…in Conrad ‘The Con’ Black. Seems to me, the whale was seeking refuge to the former home (The Spectator) of another disgraced ‘Press Baron.’ My point, corruption is everywhere, and contrary to your caption… we are all affected in one form or another.
P. Monson
Hamilton
——————–
Dear P.
I’ve done my fair share of Conrad Black cartoons. Yesterday’s was my first Rupert Murdock cartoon ever.
The tabloid/phone hacking drama is certainly fascinating to watch for some people here in Hamilton, but I’m guessing a fair number of the Spec’s readers are more interested in subjects closer to home. While I felt compelled to draw something on the huge issue I wanted to connect it to Canada somehow. My cartoon is not the best execution the building represents Canada’s Press, not just the Spec — and I’m being facetious with what I stated in the caption. Canadian journalists have already done some naval gazing since the story hit and while it may be in defense or pointing fingers at the competition, this Summer’s newspapers will likely spill some ink explaining practices while hoping to build trust from the readers. In the meantime, I think the stink from a rotting tabloid whale accurately illustrates some notions of how the events unraveling in London may have an effect on news media here.
I hope this helps to clarify,
Regards,
Graeme MacKay
Editorial Cartoonist
July 19, 2011
Letters bag
Hi Graeme,
Regarding the ‘beached whale cartoon,’ the guys in your little brick ‘Spec house’ must be suffering from amnesia to forget about our own Rupert Murdoch…in Conrad ‘The Con’ Black. Seems to me, the whale was seeking refuge to the former home (The Spectator) of another disgraced ‘Press Baron.’ My point, corruption is everywhere, and contrary to your caption… we are all affected in one form or another.
P. Monson
Hamilton
——————–
Dear P.
I’ve done my fair share of Conrad Black cartoons. Yesterday’s was my first Rupert Murdock cartoon ever.
The tabloid/phone hacking drama is certainly fascinating to watch for some people here in Hamilton, but I’m guessing a fair number of the Spec’s readers are more interested in subjects closer to home. While I felt compelled to draw something on the huge issue I wanted to connect it to Canada somehow. My cartoon is not the best execution the building represents Canada’s Press, not just the Spec — and I’m being facetious with what I stated in the caption. Canadian journalists have already done some naval gazing since the story hit and while it may be in defense or pointing fingers at the competition, this Summer’s newspapers will likely spill some ink explaining practices while hoping to build trust from the readers. In the meantime, I think the stink from a rotting tabloid whale accurately illustrates some notions of how the events unraveling in London may have an effect on news media here.
I hope this helps to clarify,
Regards,
Graeme MacKay
Editorial Cartoonist