Your Week in Cartoons, Annotated With Love!

Another week at the dystopian office...

Well, now that we’ve commented on Ann, let’s get to the cartoons.

The death of President Jimmy Carter was expected for a long time, and I have to say, I couldn’t bear the thought of doing anything in advance. I knew I had to feel the moment in order to get a proper read-out on it. I’m glad I waited. I knew I wasn’t going to use Habitat for Humanity as the metaphor because I correctly assumed that a lot of my colleagues would go there. I try to zig when they zag.

Funny story: When 9/11 happened, the first cartoon that came in was of the Statue of Liberty weeping or something similar, and I thought, huh, I wish I had thought of that. Then 55 more Statue of Liberties came in, by one persons count.

Oh for the days when we had 55 staff cartoonists.

Anyway, I was glad I waited. I was very happy with this on every level, and that’s not a sensation I have when I draw things. I’m usually like, yeah, it’s solid, or it’s fine, or maybe I liked as an aspect or two if something, but usually not the whole package.

In this case, I thought of Carter the farmer, and initially just drew the plowed earth.

Then I drew him. Then I thought, farmers spread seeds. Then I thought about the lighting. It had to have mood and minimize text. A peace sign isn’t text, and I only would have put The Farmer in the corner and not the name and date. But it’s a world of context, and it didn’t detract too much, so I did it.

A reader left a comment for me on FB that noted the similarity between this and a Van Gogh painting, “The Sower”, that I have never seen or heard of. Here it is.

Pretty close.

Again, never saw it. But I see the resemblance.

Anyway, I was happy with it, and maybe I have a future as tortured painter.

The next one I did for Smerconish.

I knew I had a real traffic jam Monday morning because I knew I had to do Carter for Michael, but didn’t want to double up on poignancy, so I chose politics for him. Michael lets me do whatever I want, we get along great, and he’s very kind and encouraging—particularly when I got fired. So I’m a Michael Guy.

I liked this fine.

Next?

Kinda familiar, am I right?

I did this the day before the Vegas Cybertruck bombing, and was I surprised. I mean, these things catch fire all the time, and so I blithely plunged ahead.

Boom.

I drew the truck wrong, and I should have looked at a photo. I also drew the Edsel from memory, or rather, a composite of an Edsel and a car we had in 1966, an orange Plymouth with fins. We had it until 1971, without comment. People drove these tanks unironically back then. My mom traded it in for a ‘70 Mustang. That was my first car.

When I started drawing, my buddy Jim Kelly used to razz me in high school about my car-drawing ability. I think he even wrote in my yearbook, “You’re a nice guy, but you can’t draw cars”.

He also texted this to me the other day. Then he said I can now draw cars.

Mission Accomplished.

Oh. I did not one but two old man/baby cartoons, which would have elicited groans from my colleagues. I’m not exactly against tropes, bit I try to avoid them. I was lucky that neither idea rung any bells with me.

Next up:

This was kind of an inside joke I have shared with my dear buddy Chris Britt, who looks like an Original Seven Mercury Astronaut © to this day, that is, he’s fit and handsome. Oh, and his partner is beautiful and smarter than both of us rolled into a burrito. Anyway, Chris sent me a cartoon of a chicken shitting on my cartoons, so we’re always doing “Chickens Are Indeed Amusing” texts.

All the time.

For years.

“Comedy gold,” as Chris says, a bit too much.

It’s hard to define the love you have for a colleague who came into the business pretty much at the same time. We’ve been through the cartoon wars together, and so we always enjoy our mutual BS.

Anyway, one time Chris and I challenged each other to a duel: who can draw the most chickens in a cartoon without getting busted. I think I won with four chicken days in a row, and it was a real bitch to do it. He did three. But you ain’t throwing a chicken into an Ukraine cartoon, you know? It was dumb (c)luck.

Anyway, I drew a chicken crossing the road cartoon, and, of course, I sent him the rough.

I kinda dug this. Simple, two tones, out.

This was my magnum opus for the week, and it took quite awhile—five hours. That’s a long time in my world. Most of the work was hitting the pencil rough with the right likenesses, taking the time to look up photos, but here’s a secret. I drew Nixon, Kennedy, Reagan, Bush, Lincoln, Ford, and Carter from memory, because I’ve been doing this for awhile. I had to look at a photo or painting of the rest, and I knew I needed to hit them right, otherwise it doesn’t work. Frankly, the Kennedy is more of a portrait, but I did it from memory, which seems kinda weird to me.

I also didn’t draw the stein properly.

I looked up Thomas Jefferson and found out there’s an actual life mask of him, done in 1825. He was only 33 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence if I recall correctly. Let’s see: 1743 plus 33 equals 1776, right?

33.

Anyway, look up the Jefferson life mask. Really cool. I saw the Lincoln life mask in the Smithsonian, and I am still moved by it and the cast of his hands.

Next? Well…

If I can’t get a specific idea, I like to do this from time to time for the Chronicle, and they’re always very accommodating about it. American Journalism Hero Pete Wevurski signs off on my stuff, and so I went ahead and got this done on New Years Day, and yeah, I need some time off.

I like drawing Emhoff, and it was fun to do Harris as a surfer. Also: Peter Thiel as a vampire, which I will now happily employ as a future standard caricature, if I can get it past the AJH.

Finally, because my fingers are getting tired from all this written commentary today:

Surgeon General Vivek “No Fun of Any Kind” Murthy announced that his latest alcohol report shows that booze is carcinogenic. I believe it, and I don’t drink—mostly for weight reasons. This report has sent yet more delirium tremens through Napa and California wine industry, which is already suffering.

I drew this very quickly, maybe 45 minutes start to finish, which is very fast even for your intrepid deadline-loving cartoon loon. Turned out nice: I did it in more comic book colors, which makes it A) faster and B) more distinctive-looking, which I am always trying to go for. I’m not even a comic book guy, which many people find odd, given my line of work. I appreciate it, I’m appreciative of it, and really like talking to my friends who do it. I know the guy who draws Prince Valiant, and wow, I can’t touch him artistically. His name is Thomas Yeates , and, wow, is this guy a megatalent.

Gotta call him and see what up. He lives in Sacramento! The hell. Anyway, this guy is a stunning artist worthy of the mantle.

That’s it, babies.

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Hey, people: Thanks so much for the kind reactions to the Ann Telnaes piece, even if it was actually emotionally painful to write. I took no joy in it. Enjoy the weekend, and I’m taking tomorrow off, completely. Radio silence. I think. Thank you so much for the new subscribers today, and welcome! I am in your debt. Cannot make it without you, and that’s a fact, Jack. —Jack